Re: Radio Shack 8MB hard disk for Model II
On Mon, Nov 30, 2020 at 6:22 PM dwight via cctalk wrote: > Is there a terminator on both ends. If not it is a static 15 ma. > There's a 220/330 terminator to +5V at both ends. The thevenin equivalent of one of these terminators is 132 ohms to +3V. A driver trying to pull this to 0V is going to have to provide 22.7 mA for a single terminator, but since it's doubly terminated, it will be 45.5 mA. They're only using 24mA rated drivers, which would be within spec if it wasn't doubly-terminated. SCSI uses double termination, but it also specifies minimum 48 mA drivers.
Re: Radio Shack 8MB hard disk for Model II
Is there a terminator on both ends. If not it is a static 15 ma. Dwight From: cctalk on behalf of Eric Smith via cctalk Sent: Monday, November 30, 2020 2:52 AM To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts Subject: Radio Shack 8MB hard disk for Model II I had occasion to look at the service manual for the Radio Shack 26-4150 8MB hard disk which was used with the Model II (and potentially could be used on 12, 16, 16B or 6000). Note that this drive is not compatible with the Model I, 3, or 4, and the cable wiring between the computer and the controller (inside the drive box) is entirely different than what was used on the later 5, 12, 15, 35, and 70 MB drives. The Model II host adapter for the 8MB drive thus is only useful with the 8MB drive, and vice versa. There were later Model II host adapters that could be used with the 12, 15, 35, and 70 MB drives, which were also useful on the Model I, 3, and 4. Anyhow, I discovered that according to the documentation, the 8 bit data bus between the host interface and controller uses 8T26 bidirectional buffers at each end, which are rated to sink up to 24 mA, but the schematics show that Radio Shack put 220/330 ohm terminators on the data bus lines at BOTH ends of the cable! That requires the 8T26 to sink as much as 55 mA, which means that its logic zero output voltage is likely to exceed its normal rating. At the very least, this will result in reduced noise immunity. I don't have an 8MB host interface or drive in hand to confirm, but the photos I've found online do show the resistor networks on both ends. The controller (inside the drive box) is a modified version of a WD1000, configured for use with the 8-inch SA1004 drive, which operates at 4.34 Mbps, NOT 5.00 Mbps like 5 1/4" drives. Aside from that, it has a different host pinout than a normal WD1000 (or than the later Tandy controllers), and has extra circuitry for dealing with write protection. Electrically, the host interface is otherwise the same as the WD1000. Normally the data bus for the WD1000 would only be single-terminated at the controller end. That is in fact what Radio Shack did on all of the later host adapters.
Radio Shack 8MB hard disk for Model II
I had occasion to look at the service manual for the Radio Shack 26-4150 8MB hard disk which was used with the Model II (and potentially could be used on 12, 16, 16B or 6000). Note that this drive is not compatible with the Model I, 3, or 4, and the cable wiring between the computer and the controller (inside the drive box) is entirely different than what was used on the later 5, 12, 15, 35, and 70 MB drives. The Model II host adapter for the 8MB drive thus is only useful with the 8MB drive, and vice versa. There were later Model II host adapters that could be used with the 12, 15, 35, and 70 MB drives, which were also useful on the Model I, 3, and 4. Anyhow, I discovered that according to the documentation, the 8 bit data bus between the host interface and controller uses 8T26 bidirectional buffers at each end, which are rated to sink up to 24 mA, but the schematics show that Radio Shack put 220/330 ohm terminators on the data bus lines at BOTH ends of the cable! That requires the 8T26 to sink as much as 55 mA, which means that its logic zero output voltage is likely to exceed its normal rating. At the very least, this will result in reduced noise immunity. I don't have an 8MB host interface or drive in hand to confirm, but the photos I've found online do show the resistor networks on both ends. The controller (inside the drive box) is a modified version of a WD1000, configured for use with the 8-inch SA1004 drive, which operates at 4.34 Mbps, NOT 5.00 Mbps like 5 1/4" drives. Aside from that, it has a different host pinout than a normal WD1000 (or than the later Tandy controllers), and has extra circuitry for dealing with write protection. Electrically, the host interface is otherwise the same as the WD1000. Normally the data bus for the WD1000 would only be single-terminated at the controller end. That is in fact what Radio Shack did on all of the later host adapters.
