Difference between revisions of "Vortex Disc Drives"
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== M1 == | == M1 == | ||
− | A 3.5" disc drive. 80 tracks and | + | A 3.5" disc drive. 80 tracks and 704KB Formatted per Disk. |
* '''M1 - S''' Single 3.5" drive with controller. | * '''M1 - S''' Single 3.5" drive with controller. |
Revision as of 15:53, 3 January 2010
Disc drives from Vortex.
Contents
F1
A 5.25" disc drive. 80 tracks and 704Kb.
- F1 - S Single 5.25" drive with controller.
- F1 - Z Single 5.25" drive without controller.
- F1 - D Double 5.25" drive with controller.
The disc drive also was available as an extended versions :
On the F1-S/D Controllers the Disc operation system VDOS 1.0 on ROM was included.
On the F1-X/XRS Controllers the Disc operation system VDOS 2.0 on ROM was included.
M1
A 3.5" disc drive. 80 tracks and 704KB Formatted per Disk.
- M1 - S Single 3.5" drive with controller.
- M1 - Z Single 3.5" drive without controller.
- M1 - D Double 3.5" drive with controller.
The disc drive also was available as an extended version:
On the M1-S/D Controllers the Disc operation system VDOS 1.0 on ROM was included.
On the M1-X/XRS Controllers the Disc operation system VDOS 2.0 on ROM was included.
Tape
- Tape
The Vortex disc drive controller
The Vortex disc drive controler was similar to Amstrads own controller on DDI-1.
It used the same controler chip, the NEC765.
It has VDOS on ROM.
I/O Ports
Standard Addresses (same as used by AMSDOS): FB7Eh 765 FDC (internal) Status Register (R) FB7Fh 765 FDC (internal) Data Register (R/W) Special Addresses (secondary FDC): FBF6h 765 FDC (Vortex,ext) Status Register (Read) FBF7h 765 FDC (Vortex,ext) Data Register (R/W) (The Special addresses are mentioned in the manual for the Vortex -X drives) (but apparently they are referring to other/older Vortex drives, not the -X drives)
The Special addresses are used only on CPC 664/6128 and only if the Vortex drive includes an FDC chip.
- Note1: The -Z and -X drives do not include FDC chips.
- Note2: The -S and -D drives do reportedly work only on CPC 464 (?).
So, not sure if/when the Special addresses are used at all?
RS232 Ports (for -X drives with RS232) FADC/FADD=Serial Data/Control FBDC/FBDD/FBDF=Counter 0/1/Mode. So it's probably compatible with Amstrad/Pace (and probably also including, but not using, Channel B Ports FADE/FADF and FBDE).
Vortex Disk Format
Sector numbers are 01h..09h (same as AMSDOS IBM Format, but with a 9th sector) Disks are Double-Sided, Double Density, 80 Tracks, 9 Sectors Total capacity is 720K (704K available):
- First 9K contain two System Tracks (eg. CP/M Bootstrap)
- Next 4K contain directory (see Note)
- Next 704K are data (allocated in 4K blocks) (aka 4K clusters)
- Last 3K are unused (due to 4K allocation size)
Note: According to the manual, the directory can hold 128 entries under VDOS2.0 (whole 4K used), but only 64 entries under VDOS1.0 (only half of the 4K area used).
The Vortex -Z drives do not seem to include any VDOS ROM (so they do support only normal 40-Track AMSDOS Formats, but NOT the 80-Track Vortex format).
Pictures
- The Vortex F1 Drives
- The Vortex Disc Drive Controller
Controller with VDOS mounted