Spinning the drive for head cleaning

[+OLD CS1]

I am using a BwG card. Is there a way to get the drive spindle motor running for the 30 seconds necessary to run a proper cleaning kit?

[+mizapf]

See http://home.arcor.de/system-ninety-nine-user-group/bwg/bwg_e.pdf

page 14, near top of the page. You have to set CRU bit 1 to 1, i.e.

   LI   R12,>1100
   SBO  1

If you have a debugger like Bugout, you may have a chance to set CRU bits directly without writing an assembly program.

[+OLD CS1]

Can I do that with Easy Bug?

[+InsaneMultitasker]

You can try this in Extended BASIC. Change the '10' in line 130 to a higher number to increase the number of attempts. I haven't tested this, so cross your fingers. Essentially, we're just telling the controller to open a file (to spin the drive) and when it errors out, XB traps the error and tries again.

 

 

100 ON ERROR 200
110 OPEN #1:"DSK1.NOFILEHERE",INPUT
120 X=X+1
130 IF X<10 THEN 100
140 END
200 RETURN 120

[Omega-TI]

I'm truly amazed... in 32+ years there has never been an E/A 5 program to perform that simple task?

With all the disintegrating media out there it might be a popular program!

[+mizapf]

@Tim: This was my idea shortly after I posted my suggestion. Just keep reading some file. I thought of opening the directory and reading the first record repeatedly, but this makes only sense when there is a valid disk inside, of course.

 

@Omega: 32 years ago we did not have disintegrating media.

 

One reason why there is no such program: See what I did? I looked up the CRU definition in the BwG spec. In other words, there is no common way of turning on the floppy motor (regardless whether every controller indeed uses bit 1) because in the DSR point of view, it is not our business to manipulate those lines. If you wanted to write such a tool you would have to know about all controllers that you want to support.

 

Try this: Go into Extended BASIC

 

 

CALL INIT
CALL LOAD(-24576,2,12,17,0,29,1,4,224,131,196,4,91)
CALL LOAD(-31804,160,0)

 

Tell me.

 

(First time I wrote a CALL LOAD program )

[Tursi]

Bah, just disregard the whole thing. I didn't notice the BWG part.

 

The file access method from XB seems a lot simpler.

Edited June 5, 2015 by Tursi

[+OLD CS1]

You can try this in Extended BASIC. Change the '10' in line 130 to a higher number to increase the number of attempts. I haven't tested this, so cross your fingers. Essentially, we're just telling the controller to open a file (to spin the drive) and when it errors out, XB traps the error and tries again.

 

 

100 ON ERROR 200
110 OPEN #1:"DSK1.NOFILEHERE",INPUT
120 X=X+1
130 IF X<10 THEN 100
140 END
200 RETURN 120

 

Bah, just disregard the whole thing. I didn't notice the BWG part.

 

The file access method from XB seems a lot simpler.

 

Does the head move during this? If so, what are your thoughts here:

 

I think the problem with moving the head during is that these cleaning disks are at least a little abrasive, and moving the head has the potential to put abrasions across the normal motion of regular disks. As well, since the head essentially makes contact with and drags across the cleaning disk, moving the heads may put undue lateral stress on them and their supports.

 

That is my hypothesis, in any case, and why I would be hesitant to try it. I welcome any comments on this thought.

[Tursi]

Does the head move during this? If so, what are your thoughts here:

Hmm... I don't know the answer to either of those, and I can't test. I thought on the TI the head would stay on track 0 after it moved there the first time.

 

I'm also not sure about lateral pressure causing potential issues.

 

I used to use those cleaners on the Apple 2, where the head did move, but it wasn't frequent. I used them even less often on my TI, maybe twice. The only part of that concern I personally wouldn't worry about is the abrasiveness, the ones I had were not harder than the wire. (But, who knows what they are like 30 years later, either ).

 

I personally would probably just go for it, but I don't honestly know if the risks you cite are genuine.

[+Schmitzi]

Hi,

 

I´ve just found that proggy here in the Triton Spring´86er catalog: MENTOR

 

Maybe somebody has this software ? It´s for spinning the diskdrive for the cleaning-disk....