Larken Drive Cable issues (I think)

2 messages · 2012-07-02 → 2012-07-02 · Yahoo Group era · View archive on archive.org

Participants: pxx1_2000_32724

Preserved from the Timex/Sinclair 2068 Yahoo Group (2001–2019), which is no longer online. Text reproduced from the archive.org archive; email addresses masked.

Messages

1. Larken Drive Cable issues (I think)

pxx1_2000_32724 · Mon, 02 Jul 2012 13:16

I am experiencing disk reading issues with my Larken System and I need to go over some of the "rules" if you will. Is it true that when using multiple drives, the drive closest to the end of the cable is to have its drive select jumper set as drive(0) and the rest of the drives to (1), (2) , and (3)? I am getting a lot of "jibberish" on the screen after a CAT command. I have used the eraser end of a pencil to freshen up the edges of the edge connectors, but this hasn't helped. I assume that the voltage is correct and sufficient being delivered from the 200 watt power supply to the drives...Perhaps it is only oxidation on the disks preventing me from reading them. 
  I found several boxes of 3 inch disks marked Larken format and would like to try to hook up one of these 3 inch drives to see what is on them and make fresh disks. I have 3 or 4 of the 3 inch Toshiba drives here so, one of them should work if I can figure out how to set the drive select pin properly. There is an 8 inch Tandon drive also,(very vintage) but I don't think I'll be going the 8 inch route.
  The Larken Ramdisk project that I started last year is now ready for the edge connector to be soldered into place. That is supposed to happen sometime this month.
 We're experiencing record heat here in the South, good thing I put an indoor swimming pool in the oversized garage where the Timex work bench is located to cool off.

2. Re: Larken Drive Cable issues (I think)

pxx1_2000_32724 · Mon, 02 Jul 2012 20:20

I was finally able to get one 3.5 and one 5.25 drive going with the Larken system. I was never able to designate a drive to (0). There are several factors working against me...30 yr old drives, 30 yr old disks. I managed to locate a full box of what I thought to be fresh media disks, but, they were all cleaning disks with all of the solution packets were dry. So I rubbed a little water on the "wet here" holes and did a catalog search for a couple of seconds and the drive did actually perform better.
 ****
I came across a disk titled - LARKEN DOCK/AROS utility with documentation that had been sent to Eric by Larry Crawford on Sept.25,1993. On the disk were several listings, one titled "dokdoc.c1" a document for Tasword that has a title DOCUMENTATION FOR THE PROGRAMS THAT MAKE UP THE T/S AROS UTILITY WHICH USES THE LARKEN RAMDISK BANKS....followed by..his address and phone number in Canada and donated to the public domain 18aug'93. There is a tutorial I have not read yet but I am thinking this is the key to using the Ramdisk. I need to have an EASY way to move these files from the Timex to a PC. 

--- In [email], "pxx1_2000_32724" <pxx1_2000_32724@...> wrote:
>
>  I am experiencing disk reading issues with my Larken System and I need to go over some of the "rules" if you will. Is it true that when using multiple drives, the drive closest to the end of the cable is to have its drive select jumper set as drive(0) and the rest of the drives to (1), (2) , and (3)? I am getting a lot of "jibberish" on the screen after a CAT command. I have used the eraser end of a pencil to freshen up the edges of the edge connectors, but this hasn't helped. I assume that the voltage is correct and sufficient being delivered from the 200 watt power supply to the drives...Perhaps it is only oxidation on the disks preventing me from reading them. 
>   I found several boxes of 3 inch disks marked Larken format and would like to try to hook up one of these 3 inch drives to see what is on them and make fresh disks. I have 3 or 4 of the 3 inch Toshiba drives here so, one of them should work if I can figure out how to set the drive select pin properly. There is an 8 inch Tandon drive also,(very vintage) but I don't think I'll be going the 8 inch route.
>   The Larken Ramdisk project that I started last year is now ready for the edge connector to be soldered into place. That is supposed to happen sometime this month.
>  We're experiencing record heat here in the South, good thing I put an indoor swimming pool in the oversized garage where the Timex work bench is located to cool off.
>

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Disk & floppy systems (Larken, AERCO, Oliger) · Repair & restoration