🚀 go-pugleaf

>I'm wondering if anyone has a list of BIOS calls for the Rainbow under
>MS-DOS.  I am going to try to write a device driver to handle TEAC
>FD-55F floppy drives (double-sided, 96-TPI -- replacements for an RX50).

   An interesting project, Ray. I'd recommend you retrieve the file
RBIODIF.ZIP from the INFO-DEC-MICRO files archives; look for it in the
[.prog] directory. This ZIP contains difs and a discussion on changing
the Rainbow's BIOS so that a pair of TEAC 96TPI drives can be used in
place of the RX50's. It's the work of Richard Thomsen back in 1987 and
by all accounts it works.

   Here's a few tidbits from the file READ.ME included in RBIODIF.ZIP:

              ----- snip, snip, snip -----

    Modified Rainbow BIOS

The files in this archive are files containing the differences between
the original Digital Equipment Corporation files for the Rainbow BIOS
and the new ones that I wrote to allow the Rainbow to support double-sided
disks.

This archive and all differences are Copyright 1987 by Richard Thomsen,
but are released for public use for anyone, as long as it is not sold for
profit.  Contributions are welcome (of course), and may help pay for a
new monitor to replace the one currently on my Rainbow.

The files are the differences between the original version as supplied
by DEC, and my version to use double-sided disks.  Since the DEC version
is copyright by DEC, I am not allowed to release it, so I can release only
the changes.  If DEC decides to release the source files, and gives me
written permission to distribute my changes, then I will be willing to
release the entire changed code for public use.

Other changes made were for the console.  I first pulled out the console
routines into their own file, then modified the console driver to extend
the type-ahead buffer and to allow keys to clear the type-ahead buffer and
to terminate a running process.  I added IOCTL routines to allow the user
to specify which keys activated these functions, or to turn them off.  Since
I got the basic idea from someone else, I have not included these files
either.  Given written permission from the original author, I will give
out these files as well.

The FORMAT, MSBOOT, MS-DOS Floppy Boot, and some other files were not
provided to me with sources, so I had to disassemble them and then make
the changes.  The Z-80 programs had to be changed to work with the public
domain Z-80 assemblers that I have.  The 8088 programs all use MASM.

[ description of each file deleted, GAT, 19.12.89 ]

    Richard Thomsen
    Mountain Route 234
    Jemez Springs, NM  87025

              ----- snip, snip, snip -----

I don't have Richard's email address handy, but you might grab some of
the archived messages from INFO-DEC-MICRO and grep that. Look first at
the stuff from 1987Q4 as I'm pretty sure that's when he was posting to
IDM/csdm about it. Lastly, scan back issues of _Rainbow News_ for 1988
as Richard wrote an article for RN describing the project.

George

---
BITNET: GTHEALL@PennDRLS               Dept. of Economics
Internet: GTHEALL@PennDRLS.UPenn.Edu   University of Pennsylvania
AT+TNet: 215-898-3419                  Philadelphia, PA   19104-3987