BassGuitari Posted September 25, 2018 Share Posted September 25, 2018 I seem to be having a little trouble with my Premium Softcard //e. I've got it plugged into the Aux. slot on my //e Platinum (for some reason my regular //e is being a horse's ass about both of my I/O Controllers for the DuoDisk I'm using, so I just went to the Platinum...it might not like standard Disk ][ controllers either but I haven't tested that far yet), and I've got the Premium Softcard //e CP/M 2.26 master disk, which the card requires--I don't think any other version of CP/M works with it (good move, Microsoft...). So my setup is: Apple //e Platinum Aux Slot = Premium Softcard //e Slot 6 = I/O Controller (5.25 Drive Controller Card) --> DuoDisk unit (All other slots empty) I tested this setup with standard DOS disks with normal results. So far, so good. Then I tried booting CP/M 2.26 (again, the proprietary master disk for this card) from the copy I made with my CFFA3000, and also from the CFFA3000 itself. Either way, it starts to boot, but just stops at a blank screen before anything comes up. If I put the I/O card in another slot, I at least get a message "Must boot from Slot 6." The LED on the card does not light up at any point. Possible issues I can come up with: -Dead card -Bad disk image -Premium Softcard //e incompatible with //e Platinum system -CP/M boot disk requires a Disk ][ controller and doesn't play nice with the Uni/DuoDisk I/O controller for some reason Any troubleshooting tips before I starting digging out all my parts, Frankensteining things around, and making a 10-ton mess of my computer room? Or, rephrasing that, is there a way to test the card without the CP/M software, say, from Applesoft or DOS? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c0op3r Posted September 27, 2018 Share Posted September 27, 2018 Make a Disk from the image on Asimov, I used a real Disk I made using ADT https://mirrors.apple2.org.za/ftp.apple.asimov.net/images/cpm/os/ I remember to get mine to work I had to be a version behind I think the newest SoftCard IIe Premium image was corrupt. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassGuitari Posted September 28, 2018 Author Share Posted September 28, 2018 Thanks for the tip, I'll give that a try later! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rpiguy9907 Posted September 28, 2018 Share Posted September 28, 2018 Does this work with 3.5" disks? I have a Softcard, but only have a 3.5" disk drive and after looking around I have never found a boot disk to boot CP/M from the 3.5" media. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassGuitari Posted September 29, 2018 Author Share Posted September 29, 2018 Make a Disk from the image on Asimov, I used a real Disk I made using ADT https://mirrors.apple2.org.za/ftp.apple.asimov.net/images/cpm/os/ I remember to get mine to work I had to be a version behind I think the newest SoftCard IIe Premium image was corrupt. It worked! Good call on the disk image. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianoid Posted October 27, 2018 Share Posted October 27, 2018 It worked! Good call on the disk image. So which image worked for you? I've had a lot of trouble testing my cards, I don't think I've gotten one to work. And I don't think it's the cards. Plus it's a pain to even fit in a //e case. Maxed out card length. Unlike the other versions of the Softcard, you can't just PR# your card. It requires specialized CP/M software to start up and be utilized. I think it has to do with the way it deals with the coprocessing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassGuitari Posted October 27, 2018 Author Share Posted October 27, 2018 So which image worked for you? I've had a lot of trouble testing my cards, I don't think I've gotten one to work. And I don't think it's the cards. Plus it's a pain to even fit in a //e case. Maxed out card length. Premium Softcard CP/M 2.25 is doing the trick for me. It's in the directory linked above. I hear you on the card length. I thought I was going to break something getting it into the AUX slot. It does fit, of course--barely--but it definitely takes a little finagling. Dumb question, but can the AUX slot on the //e even be called by a PR# command? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianoid Posted October 27, 2018 Share Posted October 27, 2018 Good point on the PR#, but PR#3 does activate your 80 column card. Then again, not sure what will happen if you have a different card in slot 3, perhaps the AUX call supercedes the slot 3 device. Premium Softcard CP/M 2.25 is doing the trick for me. It's in the directory linked above. I hear you on the card length. I thought I was going to break something getting it into the AUX slot. It does fit, of course--barely--but it definitely takes a little finagling. Dumb question, but can the AUX slot on the //e even be called by a PR# command? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassGuitari Posted October 27, 2018 Author Share Posted October 27, 2018 Good point on the PR#, but PR#3 does activate your 80 column card. Good point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.