glitch
Veteran Member
As per the title, looking for disk images for an Epic Episode, a little Z80 SBC in the same spirit as the Ampro LittleBoard. I have what I believe is a rebranded Episode SBC.
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Epic Episode CP/M Disk Images
- Thread starter glitch
- Start date
ldkraemer
Veteran Member
Glitch,
Are you able to get it powered up to a Monitor or to DDT to get the Disk Parameter Block (DPB). With that information we will
at least know what the Floppy' Definition is.
I've got the Ampro Little Board Z80 OEM 5.25" 360K Floppy archived if you want to try it.
Larry
Are you able to get it powered up to a Monitor or to DDT to get the Disk Parameter Block (DPB). With that information we will
at least know what the Floppy' Definition is.
I've got the Ampro Little Board Z80 OEM 5.25" 360K Floppy archived if you want to try it.
Larry
glitch
Veteran Member
It powers up and displays boot messages, seeks the floppy to track 0, and tries to boot. The ROM contents are really minimal, it looks like it checks RAM and then tries to boot from disk. The ROM sign-on message is not from Epic, I forget who's name is in there, but the Epic copyright notice is still present.
I don't have any disks for it at all, so I can't pull the DPB out of CP/M. I'm looking for CP/M boot media before I start working on customizing CP/M from scratch. It's similar to the Ampro LittleBoard but I don't know if they're similar enough to boot the same media -- I haven't checked on I/O port locations for the SIO, FDC, etc. I do have a LittleBoard Z80 myself, so I'll try some of my boot media on it later today!
I don't have any disks for it at all, so I can't pull the DPB out of CP/M. I'm looking for CP/M boot media before I start working on customizing CP/M from scratch. It's similar to the Ampro LittleBoard but I don't know if they're similar enough to boot the same media -- I haven't checked on I/O port locations for the SIO, FDC, etc. I do have a LittleBoard Z80 myself, so I'll try some of my boot media on it later today!
glitch
Veteran Member
It definitely does *not* boot Ampro LittleBoard disks.
When it signs on, it identifies as "CAIL SYSTEMS LTD." which seems to be a Canadian computer importer from the 80s. I took another look at the ROM monitor, it seems to be a modified version of the Vector Graphic Monitor 2.0 and responds to the same command syntax. Sometimes it seems to run off into the weeds with an invalid command though. There should be enough info from the ROM monitor to figure out where the FDC, Z80 SIO, CTC, etc. live...of course, I'd much prefer to have the original CP/M for the system
When it signs on, it identifies as "CAIL SYSTEMS LTD." which seems to be a Canadian computer importer from the 80s. I took another look at the ROM monitor, it seems to be a modified version of the Vector Graphic Monitor 2.0 and responds to the same command syntax. Sometimes it seems to run off into the weeds with an invalid command though. There should be enough info from the ROM monitor to figure out where the FDC, Z80 SIO, CTC, etc. live...of course, I'd much prefer to have the original CP/M for the system
DeltaDon
Veteran Member
I think the Little Board can format a disk in Vector Graphic format. I'll pull my L.B. out later today and double check that out. What floppy drive are you using (SS/DS and SD/DD)? I'm willing to send you a diskette if the LB will load CP/M onto a V.G. diskette.
glitch
Veteran Member
DeltaDon,
Thanks for the offer, but I don't think VG CP/M will get me anywhere -- I don't think VG used the 1793 disk controller for 5.25" drives (AFAIK they were always Micropolis hard sector, at least for their S-100 stuff). *Lots* of people used the VG monitor, especially the old 512 byte 2.0 version, in the S-100 world, customizing it for whatever hardware they had.
I'm going to load up the ROM image and disassemble it, to see how similar the hardware is to Ampro's stuff. I think that's likely to be the closest match. I do still think there's a very high chance I'll end up having to bring CP/M up myself, though! Oh well, at least with the 1793 floppy controller, there's tons of resources, like John Monahan's utility package, and I've already brought it up on the SD Systems VersaFloppy II, which should be pretty similar.
Thanks for the offer, but I don't think VG CP/M will get me anywhere -- I don't think VG used the 1793 disk controller for 5.25" drives (AFAIK they were always Micropolis hard sector, at least for their S-100 stuff). *Lots* of people used the VG monitor, especially the old 512 byte 2.0 version, in the S-100 world, customizing it for whatever hardware they had.
I'm going to load up the ROM image and disassemble it, to see how similar the hardware is to Ampro's stuff. I think that's likely to be the closest match. I do still think there's a very high chance I'll end up having to bring CP/M up myself, though! Oh well, at least with the 1793 floppy controller, there's tons of resources, like John Monahan's utility package, and I've already brought it up on the SD Systems VersaFloppy II, which should be pretty similar.
DeltaDon
Veteran Member
Transferring "stuff" from one CP/M machine to a second one has always been a PITA, IMHO. I'm trying to figure out the RS-232 data/status ports for the Epson QX-10 & QX-16 right now myself. I can't find the CP/M 2.2 5.25" disk sector info out either, but I know it's not the same as anything the Little Board can create. Top secret stuff I guess. So I just over payed for a copy of the Epson MTERM program so I can get some utilities onto the QX-16 I own. It's 8088 MS-DOS format isn't PC compatible either. So I'm going through the same issue with that beast. At least the QX formats are all on soft sector disks.
glitch
Veteran Member
Ah yes, the joys of old computers I recommend the IQ Technologies SmartCable SC821 for serial debugging, it's a lights box with extras. Serious headache solver, not that I can't figure out RS-232 with a lights box and jumpers (did for years), but the SmartCable makes it a lot faster and requires fewer adapters on hand.
I recommend the IQ Technologies SmartCable SC821 for serial debugging, it's a lights box with extras. Serious headache solver, not that I can't figure out RS-232 with a lights box and jumpers (did for years), but the SmartCable makes it a lot faster and requires fewer adapters on hand.GeoffB17
Veteran Member
DeltaDon - am I reading you right? Should not be any problems with the QX-10 format, although I'm not sure about the QX-16.
I've got an Epson HX-20, still working, and I've got the TF-20 floppy drive for that, which uses the QX-10 format (although the HX/TF no longer connect). I've still got a little pile of QX format disks with CP/M PD software on, and I can read them happily using 22DISK. The only 'oddity' with the format that I'm aware of is that the 'track' is the same as the cylinder, and the sector numbering runs round both sides of the disk. 22DISK handles this fine.
Maybe the CP/M format for the QX-16 is the same, not sure what the PC/DOS variant dows?
Geoff
I've got an Epson HX-20, still working, and I've got the TF-20 floppy drive for that, which uses the QX-10 format (although the HX/TF no longer connect). I've still got a little pile of QX format disks with CP/M PD software on, and I can read them happily using 22DISK. The only 'oddity' with the format that I'm aware of is that the 'track' is the same as the cylinder, and the sector numbering runs round both sides of the disk. 22DISK handles this fine.
Maybe the CP/M format for the QX-16 is the same, not sure what the PC/DOS variant dows?
Geoff
DeltaDon
Veteran Member
QX-16 read/writes QX-10 disks and acts just like the QX-10 when running CP/M. I think is uses the same format for DOS, but with FAT 16 and there's no utility provided with the QX-16 to read/write to a DOS diskette. I don't have 22Disk which is a major problem for me.
glitch
Veteran Member
You should definitely grab a shareware copy! Super useful tool.