pair of Osborne Executives...archiving software with Kryoflux?

[KennyPowers]

I just acquired a large amount of vintage computer stuff (my dad is cleaning out his garage). There's a lot of Apple II and early Mac stuff, but also a pair of Osborne Executives. I remember using one of these when I was very young. So far, I've only looked at one of them and it's working fine after a cleaning and replacing some capacitors in the power supply. I also have a large number of floppy disks, including many disks for these Osbornes. I want to digitally archive these floppies if they haven't already degraded. I don't have any experience doing that, but it looks like I could accomplish this with a Kryoflux. Wikipedia says that, unlike the Osborne 1, the floppy drives in the Executive are Shugart standard. Does that mean that I can just connect one of the Executive's floppy drives to the Kryoflux to both read and write floppies that will then be readable by the Executive?

 

[ldkraemer]

While the Kryoflux is one (higher priced) option, there are a couple more options that are much cheaper. Check out this URL:
https://forum.kryoflux.com/viewtopic.php?t=853

Other options are GreaseWeazle & FluxEngine, both are very inexpensive, work wonderful, and will do a good job.

GreaseWeazle:
https://github.com/keirf/Greaseweazle
https://github.com/keirf/Greaseweazle/wiki/Downloads
https://github.com/keirf/Greaseweazle/wiki


FluxEngine:
https://github.com/davidgiven/fluxengine
http://cowlark.com/fluxengine/

You must be careful removing the Osborne Floppy Drives and using them with the above Flux Imagers as the OSBORNE FLOPPY's
have POWER +5VDC (3 Pins) +12 VDC (4 Pins) that will require +5VDC to be applied to to specific pins to make the drive functional.
You would be better off to have a Standard Floppy Drive as a standalone unit, connected to a Flux Reader. (You should be sure to not
plug a Standard Floppy Drive into the Osborne Computer's Floppy Cable(s)).

Another option would be to send your Floppy's to someone who could create *.SCP files and return the Floppy's and *.SCP files.

Larry

 

[KennyPowers]

Thanks for the info. The Kryoflux's cost isn't prohibitive. I have hundreds of floppies to go through, so I'd rather not risk shipping them and then pay for hours of someone else's time. I have a "standard" 1.2mb 5.25" drive (Mitsumi D509V2) that I could connect to a flux reader as a standalone unit. I'm guessing I could use that to reliably read and archive the Osborne Executive floppies, but would I also be able to use that drive to write floppies for the Executive? I don't have my head wrapped around everything yet (so many drive specs and file formats), but I've read that 40 track drives like my Osbornes' can't reliably read disks written by an 80 track drive. As for properly powering the Osborne floppy drives when used with a flux reader, could I not just leave them connected to the Osborne's power supply but connect them to the flux reader's data cable?

 

[ldkraemer]

You have to remember that you are now dealing with Pins 11, 13, 15, and 17 with +12VDC, and Pins 21, 23, and 25 with +5VDC, which are
typically GND for the IBM and Shugart Interfaces.

IBM Interface

Pin Name Dir Description
2 /REDWC --> Density Select
4 n/c Reserved
6 n/c Reserved
8 /INDEX <-- Index                                Floppy is STRAPPED for DS1 - Driv Sel B
10 /MOTEA --> Motor Enable A --\  /-----/MOTEB --> 10 Motor Enable B
12 /DRVSB --> Drive Sel B ---\/-\/------/DRVSA --> 14 Drive Sel A
14 /DRVSA --> Drive Sel A ---/\-/\------/DRVSB --> 12 Drive Sel B
16 /MOTEB --> Motor Enable B --/  \-----/MOTEA --> 16 Motor Enable A
18 /DIR --> Direction
20 /STEP --> Step
22 /WDATE --> Write Data
24 /WGATE --> Floppy Write Enable
26 /TRK00 <-- Track 0
28 /WPT <-- Write Protect
30 /RDATA <-- Read Data
32 /SIDE1 --> Head Select
34 /DSKCHG <-- Disk Change/Ready



Shugart Interface

Pin Name Dir Description
2 /DCD --> Disk Change Detect
3 Key no pin in this position
6 /DS3 Device Select 3
4 /INUSE A common open-collector LED driver signal?
8 /INDEX <-- Index
10 /DS0 --> Device Select 0
12 /DS1 --> Device Select 1
14 /DS2 --> Device Select 2
16 /MTRON --> Motor On
18 /DIR --> Direction
20 /STEP --> Step
22 /WDATE --> Write Data
24 /WGATE --> Floppy Write Enable
26 /TRK00 <-- Track 0
28 /WPT <-- Write Protect
30 /RDATA <-- Read Data
32 /SIDE1 --> Head Select
34 /RDY --> Drive Ready/Disk Changed

Larry

 

[DeltaDon]

Thanks for the info. The Kryoflux's cost isn't prohibitive. I have hundreds of floppies to go through, so I'd rather not risk shipping them and then pay for hours of someone else's time. I have a "standard" 1.2mb 5.25" drive (Mitsumi D509V2) that I could connect to a flux reader as a standalone unit. I'm guessing I could use that to reliably read and archive the Osborne Executive floppies, but would I also be able to use that drive to write floppies for the Executive? I don't have my head wrapped around everything yet (so many drive specs and file formats), but I've read that 40 track drives like my Osbornes' can't reliably read disks written by an 80 track drive. As for properly powering the Osborne floppy drives when used with a flux reader, could I not just leave them connected to the Osborne's power supply but connect them to the flux reader's data cable?

If you write with an 80 track drive you need to make sure to wipe the diskette with a strong magnet first so the every other track doesn't have leftover data bits that will be read by the double width heads of your 40 track drives. A second device that does archiving is the SuperCard Pro that does flux level reading of any diskette for archiving and can write to a disk at the flux level. So it doesn't even need knowledge of the formatting. USA made so no problem with importing if you are in the USA.

 

[ldkraemer]

Kenny,
I did reply on the Kryoflux Forum. You are doing it properly by using a TEAC 360K Floppy to write the Image. The Image you write will be one
that is built from the .RAW Kryoflux stream files, that should be in an individual subdirectory. Something like OSB001, OSB002, OSB003, etc.
Those sub-directories will have 0.0.RAW, 0.1.RAW, 1.0.RAW 1.1.RAW... 39.0.RAW, 39.1.RAW

That way you can make as many copies using the .RAW as you ever need. You will always use either SAMDISK by Simon Owen = Windows, or
dsktrans a libdsk utility or dd in Linux to write the *.IMG file. The *.IMG file is a Sector Dump and that is written to your floppy. It should
boot properly in the Osborne. You don't want to write the .RAW stream of flux files back to the floppy.

On the Kryoflux Forum, I've broken out the commands so you can create the .RAW streams, and then stream the .RAW files with the DTC software to create the *.IMG file, and write the floppy.

It should work fine with the 360K floppy drive.

If you haven't read my Guide on the Kryoflux forum, you need to read it, and try some of the commands.
https://forum.kryoflux.com/viewtopic.php?t=853

I got a Notification of a PM but nothing there when I opened it because there is a BUG in this GREAT new system.

Larry

 

[agentb]

You have to remember that you are now dealing with Pins 11, 13, 15, and 17 with +12VDC, and Pins 21, 23, and 25 with +5VDC, which are
typically GND for the IBM and Shugart Interfaces.

Just a quick note that the Osborne Executive does use the Shugart standard floppy interface which doesn't have power on the lines, unlike the Osborne 1 which does.

 

[ldkraemer]

agentb,
I sure didn't realize that. I guess I should have looked at the schematic to 100% sure.

Thanks.

Larry