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================================================================= | ADAM HARD DISK DRIVES | | INSTALLATION AND USAGE REVIEW | ================================================================= By Ronald W. Collins President: Northeastern Ohio Adam Hackers March 16, 1989 A guide to installing and using a hard disk drive on an Coleco Adam Computer System and history of it's origin. The Adam can support up to an 85 Megabyte drive with proper software available only from AJM Software of CANADA and it's distributors. All software referred to and all materials included with it are Copyright (c) 1989 by AJM Software, Tony Morehen and John Lingrel. EOS drivers are Copyright (c) AJM Software, Guy Cousinou, Tony Morehen and John Lingrel. This users' guide and instruction manual are Copyright (c) 1989 by Ronald Collins. This guide may be freely distributed, but may not be sold for profit. Distribution may be made on bulletin board systems, remote systems and pay services as long as the download is for connect time only charges. Users' groups my also distribute the manual either in print or on disk as long as it is only done so at the cost of the media and not for a profit. PARTS LIST AND NEEDED TOOLS 1 - Z80 OR Z80A Microprocessor 4 - 40 pin - round-legged IC sockets (highest quality!) 1 - phillips screw driver 1 - small flat bladed screw driver 1 - small iron-tipped low heat soldering iron 1 - roll small gauge electronics grade solder 1 - keyhole or jig saw 1 - hot melt glue gun and a few glue sticks 1 - hard disk interface 1 - set hard drive mechanics 1 - cabinet to house the hard drive (w/or w/out power supply) 1 - IBM grade power supply if the housing you have doesn't have it already. Check Computer Shopper for the best deal on a unit supplying 135 or 150 watts. (between $28 and $50) 1 - set of tin snips 1 - set of small rubber feet (the kind that peel off and stick) 1 - fine bladed small metal file 1 - sharp utility knife INTRODUCTION AND HISTORY Well friends, the one piece of equipment so long lacking from our list of possible add-on products has just become a reality. I guess from the first time I saw an original Coleco 160K disk drive, I've wanted to get as far away from digital data packs as possible. My first use of the Adam with it's one data drive was the "perfect" system for learning computing. I was impressed by the capabilities of this little machine, so the relative slowness of data packs was offset by the data storage size. When I heard about 160K disks, I really didn't see a need for one..after all, my data packs worked just fine, and besides, why should I give up about 100K of storage space just to speed things up? After a while, I decided to add even more storage space to my system, so I purchased a second data drive. It was then that I first encountered that dreaded illness we all succumb to at one time or another...the installation shakes! I was scared to death of missing a pin or something while hooking up the two cables. I could just feel those drops of sweat popping out on my forehead! With a hot, flushed feeling, I went ahead and installed it. All those stories of people missing that single pin and blowing up the controller inside the CPU were going through my head as I worked. I carefully lined up the plugs with the pins that Coleco spent so much time and effort in making inaccessible, all the while cursing that so called engineer for such a tight lay out. Well, it all came out just fine, and I learned to be careful with my prized computer accessories, how to pay close attention to hardware installation details, and how to READ INSTRUCTIONS! I had also set up the desire for maximum storage space and ever more stuff! Over the next 14 months, or so, I added components to the system. An Orphanware MX64 gave me a taste of what running from a RAM disk is all about. I also learned how to appreciate the running of programs at lightning fast speeds! From then on, I worked my way up through the ranks and acquired a 160K drive (boy was I feeling like a king now that I had a disk drive!), a 300 baud modem, a 256K memory expander (quickly upgraded to 512K when Orphanware's Big John made it possible), and yet a second disk drive. Well, with this setup, I finally "had it all!" Not so! John came out with a 320K disk drive upgrade. Then a 720K disk drive upgrade. Now, at the end of all this, I had a massive system running as many as 6 disk drives, an 80 column display and so much other hardware that it would take another page to contain the list! It was during this time that I first started asking John about the possibility of adding a Hard Disk to my Adam. Just thinking of the high speed AND high storage capacity of a hard disk made me dream of one. "No dice" was always his reply. "It's just not going to reach enough of a market to make it profitable..." I was told. Well, thanks to the move in other computer circles for ever more speed and storage, the type of hardware needed to run a hard disk on the Adam has been falling in price. Nobody wants a mere 20 Meg drive anymore. "Joe down the street has a new 40 Meg on his computer..I think I'll go for a 60 Meg!" Well, because of that attitude, we can now add that unwanted 20 Meg to our system for about the same price I paid for my 720K disk drive! The first step in the right direction was when I received a phone call from Glen Smith in California a few months ago. Glen had seen an add for an interface used to add hard drives to Kaypro computers. Since the Kaypro is also a Z80 based machine, "why wouldn't the same interface work on my Adam?" he asked. To go even further, Glen proposed to purchase an interface from the dealer and send it to me. I was to get it to Big John for possible installation on an Adam. After some preliminary work, John sent the interface to Tony Morehen of AJM Software. Tony would see about writing the software needed to let Adam "talk" to the interface which would, in turn, talk to the hard drive. Tony not only patched the software, he also wrote a special version of his now famous T-DOS operating system to drive it! He is currently working on a version of T-DOS that will allow those of you with TV screen/monitor displays to use the same system we 80 column owners enjoy. This version, I am told, will enable those with an 80 CVU to still use it and toggle back and forth from TV display to 80 columns. Those with no 80 column monitor can still run up to 4 disk drives AND a hard disk, any size memory expander and still retain those digital data drives! If all that isn't enough, the TPA size will be slightly higher, so programs needing extra TPA space will now become available to all Adam owners. I'll go into a bit more detail on the current version of T-DOS (version 3.2) after I finish the installation report. A few days after Tony managed to get his 20 Meg MiniScribe running in Canada, he sent us the new software by modem (amazing the convenience one of those little things affords!) for testing on this end. That started the mad scramble to obtain another interface, and some inexpensive hard drive mechanics. Well, just to show you how things work in the Adam community, a friend of mine in Cleveland, Ohio had run into a good deal on a hard drive about a year ago (a Seagate ST225 for $139 is hard to beat!) He knew that he couldn't use the drive yet, but purchased it for "if and when" usage. Well, he (George Harpster..the fellow who added grayscale printing to Davinci) decided to loan Big John the use of his drive for testing and installation on our BBS. This went so well, I ordered a MiniScribe 3.5" 20 Meg unit from a company I found listed in Computer Shopper Magazine for only $179 bucks. Still not a bad deal! Glen went ahead and ordered his own interface, which he is letting me use in my machine for a while. What follows what I had to do to get it into my machine. THE INSTALLATION CAUTION: This is not advised for the first time installer. If you are not well qualified to do this type of work, PLEASE take it to someone who IS! This is not for the amateur technician! Upon seeing the interface, I realized a potential problem. The board is designed to plug into a Z80 socket on the computer's mother board. The Z80 then plugs into the interface. The problem arose from the fact Coleco decided to solder the Z80a in place rather than socket the chip. This saved Coleco a trifle in production costs, but made our work a good deal harder. The computer you plan to use must be stripped of all existing hardware. That means removal of the data drives, AdamLink modem, memory expander, printer interface, unplugging the monitor, keyboard and any disk drives as well as the power supply cord. The next step is to remove all the screws that hold the two halves of the CPU housing together. You will have to place your CPU upside down and remove the screws using a phillips screwdriver. All the screws are recessed into the bottom of your Adam, so about a 4 or 5 inch shaft on the screw driver would be best. My advice is to find a small can to place all of these screws into. You'd be surprised how many will be missing when you reach for them later if you don't! Next, remove the 4 screws that hold the front of your Adam onto the CPU. This swings forward from the bottom edge (where the 4 screws were) and pops right off. Now carefully turn the Adam back to it's upright position and make sure your anti-static wrist band is well grounded. Using a bit of care, remove the top half of the case and set it aside. Next, remove the two reset covers and place them by your screws. You are now looking at the metal RFI shield Coleco wisely placed over the game board. You will spot the screws holding this in place in strategic corners. Don't miss the ones holding the monitor plug in place! Put these screws with the others. Carefully remove the metal shield and set it with the top half of the CPU. You are now looking down on the famous Coleco Game board. Almost in the center, you will see a long 40 pin chip. This is your Z80 and you are about to DESTROY it! Take a good look at it to make sure you've located the right one. It will say it's a Z80 right on top. Now, if you are lucky, you will find yourself to be one of the luck FEW with a socketed Z80 (most were not). If it has a socket, just slip a flat bladed screw driver under the edge and carefully pop it out. Be sure to note the position of pin #1. The Z80 can be popped into the hard disk interface (again, be sure to install the pins in the correct direction based on pin #1!) If you were not so lucky as to have a socketed Z80 chip, you will have to remove your existing Z80 from the game board. You will find two screws holding this board in place along with a wide ribbon cable at the back. Remove the two screws and place them with all the others, gently lift the board and pull off the cable that connects it to the main board. The easiest way to remove the Z80 is to forget about saving it and just snip the legs free. Now, turning the board over, you will have to dress it with solder wick to clean up any possible solder bridges. Be careful with this or you could lift a trace by mistake! Now, you are ready to install the first 40 pin IC socket. Be sure to always line these up with pin #1. Very carefully, solder the legs in place on the bottom of your game board. Look this part over very carefully. A mistake here could cost you your computer AND your new hard drive later! If you are satisfied that you did a good job and left no solder bridges, you can go ahead and replace your game board. Reconnect the ribbon cable and replace the two screws holding the board in place. If you look at your game board, you will notice quite a few components preventing the interface from a low profile installation. To clear these parts, just press the 3 extra IC sockets into the newly soldered one. This will build up the socket so that your interface will clear the existing hardware. Don't stack on to many, or you will loose stability. Using round legged sockets should make for a tight fit with maximum stability. You are now ready to install the interface. If you look at the bottom of your interface, you will see 40 pins lined up neatly under the socket you plugged your Z80 into earlier. The ribbon connector pins will point towards your game controller ports. In fact, when installed, the board will stick out past those ports about an inch or so. Be careful to line up all the pins as you plug the interface into your built up 40 pin IC socket. Make sure it seats firmly. It should rest on the left game controller port on one edge. If you're a little high, you can use one of the small screws to make a leg. You can also use anything solid of the correct height to support the opposite side. Now would be a good time to reconnect your power supply, keyboard and monitor to test for proper computer operation. If everything is OK, the system should come up normally. Try to boot a tape or disk and put the system through a few tests until you are satisfied that the new interface isn't interfering with normal operations. If it won't come online, try to "nudge" the interface a bit. It may not be quite seated correctly. This is the one spot that gave me the most trouble. I had to call on Big John for help. To show how willing John is to go out of his way to help someone with problems, he showed up at my door at 4:30 am....soldering iron in hand! By 6:30 am, my hard disk was finally online. John had to rework the socket, resolder the game board and perform other modifications to my original work. Now we were ready to install the hard drive into it's new cabinet. I used a half-height vertical cabinet. This one can hold two half height drives and contains it's own power supply. The mechanics simply stand on their side. Holes on the bottom of the housing allow easy access to bolt the drive into place. Carefully plug the wiring harness from the power supply to the hard disk. Next, connect the two ribbon cables to the hard disk. YOU MUST BE SURE TO LINE UP ON PIN # 1 OR YOU WILL DAMAGE YOUR UNIT! Route the two ribbon cables out of the housing and slip the cover into place. You can replace any screws you had to remove in the case. FORMATTING YOUR DRIVE Now you are ready to begin the formatting of the new hard drive! Before putting your system back together, it is best to let it sit for a while to make sure it keeps running. There's nothing worse than putting the system back together only to find that it quit working! That's what happened to me, you know! The new hard drives rarely come with a low level format, so you will have to take care of this yourself. Unlike a disk drive where you just say format and it does so, this job is much more involved. You will now be working with multiple heads as well as cylindars. A format is in two parts..the low level format and the final format. To perform the low level format, you will first have to run an operating system capable of talking to the hard disk. The only system in the world that can do this is Tony Morehen's new Hard drive version of T-DOS 3.2. (An EOS routine is in the works and should be ready within the next few weeks). Now, the program you want to run is called HDINSTALL.COM. The system will prompt you for the type of hard disk you have, the interleave you wish to use and the base port address. Follow your installation instructions (on screen) for these areas. The program will take a few minutes to do the low level format. Just sit back and take it easy for a while. You are now ready (providing the low level format went ok) to do the final format. This is done using Tony's modified HDFORMAT. The questions will be similar to the HDINSTALL programs', but the result will be a high level format in a pattern your Adam can access. The drive will be partitioned into 4 logical devices for you as well. When this is finished running, it will generate yet another program called HDDIAG.COM. Run this next to verify the format and disk integrity. When this task is complete, you will have yet one more program to run...FINDBAD.COM. This little utility will check out the entire disk on a track by track basis. To make it a bit easier to run, you can use your text editor in non-document mode to write a short submit file. Call it FIND.SUB for ease of remembering. The file only needs 4 lines..... findbad a: findbad b: findbad c: findbad d: When you run submit, just type "submit find <RETURN> and each drive will be checked automaticly. At this time, you can either go ahead and put your CPU back together or start to load the hard disk with software. I prefer to load it up as this gives me a further means of testing its reliability. (Actually, the test is for the reliability of the installation of the interface board.) If you are ready to put it all back together, proceed to the next section. PUTTING IT BACK TOGETHER Start this slowly. You don't want to bump the interface and possibly break contact somewhere! Plug in your hotmelt glue gun and let it start warming up. While it's heating up, start looking over your installation. Try to find any spots where the interface comes in close contact with other components of the game board. Those resistors and capacitors you had to clear earlier near the Z80 already have some glue on them, so they should work well! The left game port socket is also a good location for some glue. The better job you do here, the stronger your interface will be bonded to the game board. This will keep it from coming loose on you later. (Just don't use too much glue and never glue to a chip. If it has glue on it now, it's probably safe. If not, take a close look at what your planning to glue to. When this is all cool, try your system out again to make sure it still works properly. You will now need to modify that metal RFI shield if you plan on replacing it. I recommend using it to cut down on the radio interference the interface tends to put out. The only real mods you will have to make will be in preparing the end covering the game ports and side port. The left tab and the side port shield will need to be removed using the metal snips and the remaining tabs straightened so that they will reach. Use the fine metal file to smooth out any sharp areas. Peel off two of those rubber feet I mentioned in the parts list and place them on the highest points of the interface. This will keep the metal shield from touching the board itself. You can now CAREFULLY replace the metal shield and screw in the retaining screws. Install the monitor port and then retry the system. If you are sure that all things are still working properly, you can go on and prepare the top half of the CPU cabinet for installation. Mark a long rectangle on the outside of your CPU housing. Start at the left joystick port about half it's width toward the right controller port. Trace a line up from this point about 5/8" and over toward the back of your CPU a line about 4 and 1/2" long. From this point, just bring the line down until it is even with the other end and connect to this side forming a rectangle. You will need the keyhole or jig-saw to cut out this rectangle. Use the metal file and the sharp utility knife to smooth your work. Measure as accurately as possible to see if the hole will clear your interface when the cabinet is reinstalled. If you are satisfied with the job, power down your CPU and unplug everything from it. Disconnect the ribbon cables from the hard drive very carefully. You can use the small flat bladed screw driver to pry the cable off the connector pins. Do this very carefully. Now, holding your cabinet at an angle (the cut out side down and the section covering the data drives up), gently slip the edge of the cutout over the end of the interface and carefully bring down the other end until the cover is resting in place. Gently turn the CPU over and replace the front cover plate. Install the 4 screws to hold this plate on. Now, replace the screws that connect the two halves of the CPU cabinet. You can now turn it back over and reconnect the various other pieces of hardware. In my case, I reconnected the disk drive cable, then the power cable and key board. Next went the two data drives. Then the Y-cable to connect my RS 232 serial port and my 80 CVU. Then I installed my 512K memory board, PIA2 printer interface and finally my clock. Before reconnecting the ribbon cables to the hard drive, it's a good idea to test the system out yet again. If all still works fine, you can power down and reconnect the hard drive cables. At this point, you can be pretty well assured of a well working system from now on! The worst is over and you've just completed the most difficult hardware installation ever made on an Adam! Congratulations! A WORD ABOUT T-DOS (c) version 3.2 Probably the most useful software packages ever written for the Adam, T-DOS is the only software capable of running your new hard drive. The reason is that no other software written knows how to "talk" to the hard drive. Every other software package is addressed to the various peripherals such as data or floppy disk drives. This one must be addressed straight through the Z80 microprocessor itself! To do this required a software system culminating from 3 years of hard work on the part of Tony Morehen. He had to rewrite the software several times to keep up with the many hardware innovations of John Lingrel, but this one was the all time show-stopper! It is doubtful that anyone else could "develop independently" such a package at this late date, so if one shows up claiming such a thing...remember..you were warned! T-DOS 3.2 (or later) addresses the hard drive as 4 logical devices. The first section becomes Drive A0: and can hold up to one megabyte of programming. Drives 2,3 and 4 are named B0:, C0: and D0: respectively and can each hold 7 megabytes of data. As you can see from a bit of simple addition, Tony managed to glean a full 22 MEG from an ordinary 20 meg hard drive. To make this software/hardware package work as a unit, Tony installed a path feature so that anything placed on drive A: at user level 0 (you have 16 user areas for each device under CP/M and T-D0S..0-15) can be run from ANY drive or user area! The A0: drive is where I placed all of the utility software I use frequently. Such things as FORMAT, CLOCK14, UNCR, DELIB, UNARC, ARK4, SD, etc. are found here. I also put my WordSTAR 4.0 "com" file here. The nice thing about this set up is that, even though WordSTAR 4.0 is now located on C3: with all of it's accessory files and overlays, I can still use it from ANYWHERE! If I am on D15: and need to write a text file for something, I can type WS <return> and in just a few seconds, the path will go out to A0:, load WS.COM which will branch out to C3: to pick up it's overlay data, then back to D15: so that I can use it. All that in less than 13 seconds. If I happen to boot WordSTAR 4.0 FROM C3:, it will be up and running in slightly under 5 seconds! I wrote patches to several useful utilities that will make using the hard drive even easier. SD.COM (super directory) wouldn't search beyond drive C:, so I patched it to cover the 4 hard disk areas (A,B,C and D), the RAMdisk area (E), the two disk drives (F and G...soon to be 4 drives!) and even the two digital data drives (H and I). I also patched a program by Irv Hoff called "WHERFIND" to access all the different drive and user areas. I also patched WHEREIS to do a search of all drives. To use, just type whereis <filename.type>(can use wildcards too!) <RETURN>. No matter what drive and user area you are on, the path will go out to A0:, run the program and begin a search of all drives and user areas for your requested program title. I also patched a park routine from Plu Perfect!! Systems to allow you to move your hard drive, should you ever need to do so. Thanks to the new T-DOS, all one really ever needs is one disk drive and the hard disk. This new version of T-DOS copies itself into VRAM were it resides to quickly run your software. If you need to reset a disk, just hitting a ^C will reset from VRAM instantaneously! You also have a built in directory program as well as all the other built in utilities found on standard CP/M. On top of all this, Tony installed a built in COPY command that can copy files from and drive/user are to any other drive/user area! For 80 column users, it has a built in CLS (clear screen) command, the ability to access an external modem, a dot matrix printer, and recognize any size memory expander you may have. It even has a GO command to let you rerun the last program you were using! By using this version of T-DOS with my hard disk, I've found the ADAM to be quite a bit faster than I'd ever dreamed it could be. My favorite modem programs will boot in 2 seconds flat, as mentioned above, my WordSTAR 4 can boot in as little as 5 seconds and everything else just seems to process faster and access quicker! The Adam can no longer be called a mere "toy" by the supporters of other computers. THIS Adam can run at speeds surpassing an IBM XT! If you have any problems or questions, please feel free to call the BBS (1-(216)882-4720) and leave me a message. I'll get back to you so fast you won't believe it! Yes, you guessed it! The bulletin board is ALSO running on an Adam equipped with a 20 meg hard drive! Ronald W. Collins