Caterpiggle Posted October 1, 2013 Share Posted October 1, 2013 No, I don't know any different. I will check mine Corvus Drives and see what revision that I has. I assume that you don't have any Corvus Card for Atari 8 bits ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fibrewire Posted October 2, 2013 Author Share Posted October 2, 2013 (edited) Both drives will work with the atari interface. There are a couple of utility disks that have basic programs on them. When the format switch is flipped on, the basic program can format the drive. After a format, one can check the drive for errors using a CRC program, check the version of firmware on the drive, upgrade the drive firmware, or install an OS on the drive. All the basic programs require the Atari basic cartridge and the utility or sysgen disk in drive 1. From basic a command like RUN"D:DIAG" or RUN"D:SYSGEN" or RUN"D:MIRROR". After a format, all utilities can be installed to virtual drive D1. I have more time with my fantastic new job, so I'll see if I can post a video how-to Edited October 2, 2013 by fibrewire Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caterpiggle Posted October 2, 2013 Share Posted October 2, 2013 May I see full population of hardware card for Corvus HDD ? In picture, not just bare card. Many thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fibrewire Posted October 2, 2013 Author Share Posted October 2, 2013 I could only find this one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caterpiggle Posted October 2, 2013 Share Posted October 2, 2013 So the right side , wide cable is connecting to Corvus HDD and left side , 2 smaller cables connecting to Atari 800 or 400 joysticks port 3 and 4 ? Right ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fibrewire Posted October 2, 2013 Author Share Posted October 2, 2013 Yes, but the cables are a little odd. I'll get more pics shortly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TXG/MNX Posted October 2, 2013 Share Posted October 2, 2013 Will the software, and schematics, just everything to build yourself a corvus be released aswell to the public ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fibrewire Posted October 3, 2013 Author Share Posted October 3, 2013 Will the software, and schematics, just everything to build yourself a corvus be released aswell to the public ? Of course it will. Included in this post are: * multiple versions of Corvus software for the Atari 800 * Pre-made boot-disk * Some old XFormer disk images of the software * Article 41 from Frank Seipel about the Corvus interface * The long-lost Corvus manual for "Disk System Installation Guide" and the "System Manager's Guide" for the Atari 800 Atari-Corvus.zip 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caterpiggle Posted October 3, 2013 Share Posted October 3, 2013 The only I have Corvus external HDD and smaller one and NO interface card. On eBay is NOT likely to find that particularly specific card that you show the image above. Oh, well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillC Posted October 3, 2013 Share Posted October 3, 2013 The only I have Corvus external HDD and smaller one and NO interface card. On eBay is NOT likely to find that particularly specific card that you show the image above. Oh, well. It said in post #21 that they hope to eventually have some reproductions of the interface card made. The reverse engineering is the reason for the bare card shown in post #23, the components were removed to get good pictures of the traces and create a schematic. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NGFrankW Posted October 3, 2013 Share Posted October 3, 2013 I assume that you don't have any Corvus Card for Atari 8 bits ? Correct. Like 95% of the Corvus owners No, I don't know any different. I will check mine Corvus Drives and see what revision that I has. I have found some manuals and technical information about the drives here: http://bitsavers.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de/pdf/corvus/ and some (non Atari) software here: http://bitsavers.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de/bits/Corvus/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NGFrankW Posted October 3, 2013 Share Posted October 3, 2013 Both drives will work with the atari interface. Great! Have you daisy changed your both drives ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fibrewire Posted October 4, 2013 Author Share Posted October 4, 2013 Great! Have you daisy chained both your drives ? Not yet, I need to make a cable. In the mean time, here are the two disk sets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fibrewire Posted October 9, 2013 Author Share Posted October 9, 2013 Daisy chaining drives works successfully with the Atari 800. Requires firmware version 18.3 on both Corvus drives, up to 4 drives for 80MB of storage! Took an older 34 conductor floppy ribbon cable with no keyed pins, cut the twisted part of the cable off next to the center connector. I then connected one end to the drive connector of the first drive, connected the other end to the processor connector of the second drive. All drives ship configured as drive one, so I followed the instructions pertaining to daisy chaining drives and reconfigured the second drive to 'drive 2' Link to full Corvus H-Series Service Manual here Corvus Daisy Chain.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fibrewire Posted October 9, 2013 Author Share Posted October 9, 2013 With a Corvus Multiplexer, use up to 8 Atari 800 computers with 1 to 4 daisy chained Corvus drives! I'm gonna take a crack at building one of these boards and fitting it into a Corvus Utility Server chassis. Link to full Corvus Network Service Manual here Multiplexer Installation & Troubleshooting.pdf Corvus Multiplexer Schematic.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caterpiggle Posted October 9, 2013 Share Posted October 9, 2013 Is possible for you to make 1 Atari Corvus Interface Card for me ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fibrewire Posted October 9, 2013 Author Share Posted October 9, 2013 (edited) Is possible for you to make 1 Atari Corvus Interface Card for me ? Working on a schematic in spare time. As soon as its finished I'll throw a few packages together for interested members. Then the gerber files and bill of materials will be posted in this thread and a few other places, and that should be it! If I can just get a ROM dump of the ADS Integrator board, David Small can show me how he modified the SIO vector directly in the Atari ROMs (no address-decoder/force new address in stuff) and how to patch the Newell RAMROD to operate with integrator functionality. It sure will be amazing to see the Atari boot directly from the Corvus Disk system, and even more amazing to see 8 Atari 800s booting into a giant BBS system http://analog.klanky.com/funstuff.htm#TCS Edited October 9, 2013 by fibrewire Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caterpiggle Posted October 9, 2013 Share Posted October 9, 2013 Really coolsome. As for start, I try out 1 Atari 800 for now and see if it is really works. If it is really works , then I will hooks up 2 Atari 800 as communication each other ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fibrewire Posted October 9, 2013 Author Share Posted October 9, 2013 Really coolsome. As for start, I try out 1 Atari 800 for now and see if it is really works. If it is really works , then I will hooks up 2 Atari 800 as communication each other ? One Atari interface is required to talk to a Corvus drive (or multiple daisy chained drives). For multiple Atari 800 computers to talk to a single Corvus disk drive, a Corvus Multiplexer is required. Also an Atari-Corvus interface for each Atari computer to attach to the multiplexer is required. It can get a little messy... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caterpiggle Posted October 9, 2013 Share Posted October 9, 2013 Oh , I see that there are 2 different type of Corvus cards.. Interesting. So I pick Atari Interface Card. If you make a few of them for a members , what it will be cost to make and sell cards to us ? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fibrewire Posted October 9, 2013 Author Share Posted October 9, 2013 Well, I'll make them the best I can for as little as possible. This is all based on free time, so I won't announce anything until I've got a schematic that is verified working, and a couple of boards under my belt. I'll keep posting as new information is available. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NGFrankW Posted October 9, 2013 Share Posted October 9, 2013 Daisy chaining drives works successfully with the Atari 800. Great! Requires firmware version 18.3 on both Corvus drives, up to 4 drives for 80MB of storage! Do you know where the firmware is stored ? On an eprom or on the hard disk ? Is this updatable without an eprom burner ? As soon as its finished I'll throw a few packages together for interested members. I'm very interested Frank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fibrewire Posted October 10, 2013 Author Share Posted October 10, 2013 (edited) Do you know where the firmware is stored ? On an eprom or on the hard disk ? Is this updatable without an eprom burner ? Frank Firmware is on the Utilitles disk, the more recent disk set from Jan '83 has the 18.3 firmware. The file is called "CF183.DAT" Firmware is written to the drive using the Corvus Utilities program. First, boot the computer win the Atari BASIC cart in the Atari 800. At the ready prompt type RUN"D:DIAG and then select U for update firmware. I'll have a new Corvus video up shortly. Edited October 10, 2013 by fibrewire Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fibrewire Posted October 24, 2013 Author Share Posted October 24, 2013 Finished the pad2pad board layout, now to order 7 boards for a mere $21.50 a piece. Corvus Atari.zip 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NGFrankW Posted October 25, 2013 Share Posted October 25, 2013 Nice Progress! Have you used the pad2pad autoroute funktion ? I suggest to add also a description like "Corvus Atari Interface, Rev. 1.0" to the silkscreen layer. Perhaps also the part numbers of the IC's. Frank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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