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XENIX booting on a F48

Hans01

Experienced Member
Joined
Feb 17, 2014
Messages
459
Location
Netherlands
XENIX booting on an F48 (The red freHD for the Big Tandy's)
I managed to make a bootable version of XENIX that runs on an F48.
The hardware and software details are:

Model II type 16; 16b and 6000
68000 sub system with at least 256K RAM
Type 2 hard disk controller
F48 hard disk emulator
XENIX install disks XNX110D1, XNX110D2 and XNX110D3
root password: no password (Enter)
Disk: 306 cylinders, 17 sec/trk, 512 b/sec, 4 heads, format char 00

A bus interface with 5 slots has now been developed for Model 12 users (hans-06B)
with hans-04 as control pcb. The patch TB 12/16B:5 daisy chain' must be executed on this PCB.
This demo version is only made to demonstrate the capabilities of the F48.

To start the demo put hard4-0 on an empty SD card and put it in a working F48 system
A manual for XENIX can be found in the model2archive.
Be careful not to turn off the system until there has been no disk activity for some time.
Otherwise, you can quickly damage the file system.

Read more about it on Discord. https://discord.com/


5-slots.jpg
 
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Summary of the XENIX for the F48 developments.
First of all, what is the F48. The F48 is the specially adapted for the Big Tandy's
widely known FreHD by Fred Vecoven. I have been involved in the development of the
F48 and would therefore like the F48 to become as well-known as the FreHD. The name F48 was invented by Mav.
(Fred for forty eight).
What hardware can the F48 be used for. All Big Tandys can work with the F48. Condition is that
the system is equipped with a type 2 hard disk controller. This is the least hard-disk controller available
and the most user friendly. It is also possible to obtain a clone version via Mav.
For XENIX you need a Motorola 68000 sub system. The model II has an 8 slot card cage and can therefore
68000 system accommodate. The problem is that you probably also need a more powerful power supply. The Model 12
with card cage is suitable for a 68000 system. A Model 12 without card cage must be expanded with additional slots.
I have developed the duo hans-04 and hans-06 for this. This makes it possible to add 5 extra slots to the Model 12.
If there is sufficient interest, Mav will take this set into production. If you already have a hans-04, you must implement the TB12/16B-5 patch.
You may also need a stronger power supply. The Model 6000 is suitable for this application.
The 68000 sub-system consists of a CPU board and up to 3 memory cards of 256 k each. There is a very promising development
from peburrell, he has developed a CPU board and a stick-on board with a maximum of 6 Mb memory.
The software.
The F48 is very universal and there is a bootable system with TRSDOSII, CP/M 3; CP/M 2.2 and LSDOS (not bootable)
If you change or modify the SD card, you must turn off the system and wait approx. 60 sec. After that you can start the system again.
If the boot does not work at once, press Reset once. There are various adjustments for the Reset system for various Tandy's, but adapting it is quite an operation.
For a 68000 system with a maximum of 128k extra memory I made an image with XENIX version 1.10, more is not possible.
The file hard4-0.zip contains XENIX 1.10
Use a blank SD card with a Fat32 format on it. Unzip the file hard4-0.zip and put it in the F48. After a reset, the system should boot.
The file hard4-3.zip contains XENIX 3.20 with Pete's patch for the 6mHz long board. Unzip and rename to hard4-0
You need at least 256k memory for this.
The file hard4-7.zip contains XENIX version 3.3 and supports a 70 Mb hard disk. Rename the unzipped file to hard4-0
The file hard-11.zip contains a blank 70 Mb disk which can be added to the previous system. Unzip the file and
rename to hard4-1. Add the file as /hd1 to an existing system.
I hope Pete will also test the files and then include them in the GitHub model2archive for general use.
If you have any question or could not get an imagefile, please PM me and I'll try to help you.
Have fun.

Upload of the image files is not possible, send me a PM if you want to have the file(s).
Or download the from Discord group XENIX.
 
Anyone here, please PM me for an invite to the Discord. Thanks.
Unable to DM, but it sure would be handy to have a prebuilt image that will work with the F48 as I'm trying to bring up a model 6000.
 
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