🚀 go-pugleaf

About the Colorado Memory Systems tape drives.

*Ahem* ... some of you Delphi/GEnie/CIS members will remember I first
wanted to start this project many years ago (when none of these
companies had Internet connections).  It was with the
floppy-interface-based QIC-40 40meg tape drive.  A couple of us on
Delphi conversed and had actually ordered & received several of the QIC
committee's standards documentation; some of them were still in the
process of being ratified by ANSI & ISO.  I'd actually bought a CMS
drive from a local retailer (at the time it had a decent price of about
$300 and I didn't have to pay shipping etc.).

This drive's interface and the PClone drivers are originally designed to
act like your MSDOS B: drive; it even expected that "flip" in your
ribbon cable.  It would've been precisely attachable to our CoCo floppy
ribbon cable and standard floppy 5- & 12-volt power supply plug.  It'd
even fit inside a standard 5.25" half-height slot.

*Ahem* ... If those of you will recall, I mentioned there are some
deeply technical issues why the floppy-based interface was going to be
too intricate because we needed a "serial protocol" across the 34-pin
ribbon cable signals (this would've ruined OS-9's multitasking abilities
just as Tandy's floppy controller does).  A DMA-based floppy controller
(such as the Performance Peripherals model I have) won't help: you had
to treat the "serial signals" just like ya do with the CoCo's "bit
banger" port, and there wasn't a signal from the WD17xx chip to use as
an IRQ we could set up for this, so you'd hafta shut off IRQs to do the
readin' & writin' of the commands & data with timing loops.  You did
this with a few different signal lines along the 34-pin cable via the
appropriate WD17xx flags & registers.  In fact some of the commands had
to be sent along the "head step" signal line and not your normal
"read/write data" line, see.

I had gotten CMS's interest perked up (the people I talked to sorta knew
about CoCo3 OS-9 Level 2 at that time and were willing to help a
little).  I even called up Western Digital to get info on how to
send/receive "serial data" thru the WD17xx chip found in our floppy disk
paks.  CMS & WD would have helped us out, but ... ... :

*Ahem* ... just like mostly no one around here is wanting to help
continue other projects I've tried to start, I gave up on this CMS QIC
tape project.  I sent public msgs on Delphi back then saying we should
get the SCSI-based QIC drives because there were already a couple of
CoCo SCSI hardware & software vendors out there who'd help.  And I'm
_still_ sticking to my decision here, and want to sway y'all to see it
this way, too.

Back then, I sold my tape drive within months to a (now retired)
coworker/boss who needed it on his PClone (it's even working thru his
Lantasic set-up to another PClone).

Right now I'm a bit miffed.  I had originally wanted y'all's help on
this.  I spent some big bucks to get the QIC project going over here on
Delphi.  No takers (except for one person who'd bothered to get the QIC
specs himself, too).

SCSI-based QIC tape drives can be found, even from CMS.  It still uses
the same "QIC Command Set" and it's 100% fully documented with *no*
"semi-proprietary" interfaces like the "parallel port" version or the
"floppy cable" version.

Actually, all of these interfaces *are* documented with the QIC folks.
You *can* get the pin-outs and expected electrical signal structures for
the parallel and floppy interfaces (and of course SCSI).  You *can* get
the "QIC Common Command Set", too.  All for free.  Need to ask for their
catalogue listing.  No matter what kind of hardware interface is being
used, you must get the Command Set papers and write the protocol from
it.  Then, for example, if you use the floppy interface, you "serialize"
that protocol along the correct ribbon wires at the proper b.p.s. rate
(which matches the MFM/RLL serialized speeds, see).  Just like SCSI, the
actual data will be "wrapped" inside a protocol.

QIC also dictates how the "directory structure" on a tape will look
like.  Lots of things are standardized, and to me it looked like it was
a well-thought-out platform (even "long" unix filenames etc.).

I've not kept anything related to QIC, so I can't be of any further
help.  With the "dryness" I've been experiencing with respect to asking
for volunteers to help on my projects (including as I said this QIC
project), surely you can see why I'm skeptical and presently unwilling
to help myself.  I'll change my tune about our "user community" once
some people start wanting to help me.  Remember I was trying to
instigate this QIC project with my own money several years ago to no
avail.  And I'm presently still awaiting anyone interested to get back
with me concerning the MIDI, 12-bit timer, etc., projects I've recently
(re)posted to Cabrales & WUArchive which have been available on
CIS/Delphi/GEnie for a couple of years.

As with any other discussion I bring up like this, send replies to my
private e-mail account (preferably), _OR_ reply to this list, but not
*BOTH*.  We Delphians $pay$ for doubled-up messages like that.

-- thx, Paul Seniura (from Oklahoma)


What I've said has been well-documented and is The Truth.  How can
anyone dispute The Truth?  Therefore, send flames to /NUL, /dev/null,
NUL:, //SYSOUT DD DUMMY, etc. depending on your o.s., or they'll be
bounced right back at ya.