 4-Nov-82 19:56:00,430;000000000000
Date: 4 Nov 1982 2156-EST
From: ELIOT at MIT-DMS (Eliot Scott Ramey)
To: northstar-users at MIT-MC
Subject: NS Disk controller
Message-id: <[MIT-DMS].248526>

	Is there ANY way to read a softsectored disk with the NS disk 
controller?  I imagine that the BIOS would have to be modified to
make sense out of it, but there must be someway to at least look
at a softsectored disk?  Any suggestions?
						-Eliot at Mit-DM
 5-Nov-82 15:11:00,429;000000000000
Date: 5 Nov 1982 1711-EST
From: ELIOT at MIT-DMS (Eliot Scott Ramey)
To: northstar-users at MIT-MC
Subject: Standard I/O ports
Message-id: <[MIT-DMS].248657>

The standard I/O ports of the North Star Horizon are Intel 8251 USART's.
8251's are VERY nice chips and among the capabilities, it is supposed
to have software baud rate control.  NS has not implemented this,
is there any way to do so?
						-Eliot at Mit-DM
 6-Nov-82 09:51:00,1074;000000000000
Date: 6 November 1982 11:51-EST
From: Greg Heise <AUTHOR at MIT-MC>
To: NORTHSTAR-USERS at MIT-MC, eliot at MIT-DMS

	The North STar motherboard does not do baud rate switching.
There is however, an 8251 usart option to scale the baud rate selected
by a factor of 1, 4 or 16 -- so a kluge should be possible if you
want to switch to any multiple of those from one of those.
	In any event, the 8251 is a stupid chip in some ways, and the
9551 by AMD (among others) is a real win; NorthStar now supplies
Horizons with 9551s instead of 8251s.  In addition, you can make a
N* motherboard run 19K baud (shakily) by putting a jumper on the
motherboard; you HAVE to have a 9551 for this.
	One of the tech support guys at N* told me years ago that it
is possible to run the N* controller in soft sector -- they didn't
do it because the software development (one guy, at that time) was
lazy and it was real easy to think in ten sectors...oh well.  In my
opinion, it would be difficult to get the controller to read other
format disks, if that's your aim.
	--Greg
 6-Nov-82 10:46:00,562;000000000000
Date: 6 November 1982 12:46-EST
From: Frank J. Wancho <FJW at MIT-MC>
To: AUTHOR at MIT-MC
cc: FJW at MIT-MC, NORTHSTAR-USERS at MIT-MC, eliot at MIT-DMS

A "recent" issue of COMPASS, the magazine of the International North
Star Users Association, describes a kludge that doubles each of the
speeds available on headers.  Thus, it is possible to run at 19.2
instead of a top of 9.6, and no mention was made of not being able to
do this with the existing 8251.  Note that the HSIO-4 cards come with
8251's and are programmable up to 19.2...

--Frank
 6-Nov-82 17:41:00,396;000000000000
Date: 6 November 1982 19:41-EST
From: Devon S. McCullough <DEVON at MIT-MC>
Subject:  NS Disk controller
To: ELIOT at MIT-DMS
cc: NORTHSTAR-USERS at MIT-MC

take a look at the schematics.  The double density board at least, counts holes
in hardware to tell what sector is coming up....not sure that this makes what
you want impossible, but it may be impossible to get initial bit synch.
 6-Nov-82 17:44:00,313;000000000000
Date: 6 November 1982 19:44-EST
From: Devon S. McCullough <DEVON at MIT-MC>
Subject:  Standard I/O ports
To: ELIOT at MIT-DMS
cc: NORTHSTAR-USERS at MIT-MC

You must be confusing these chips with some similar part number, since of
course N* would have used software baud rate generation were it possible.
 6-Nov-82 18:31:00,386;000000000000
Date: Saturday, 6 November 1982  20:31-EST
From: Mike Blackwell <Blackwell at CMU-20C>
To:   Northstar-Users at MIT-MC
Subject: Take me off the list

There doesn't seem to be any Northstar-Users-Request, so...

I seem to be getting Northstar-Users mail, but I never asked to be added
to the list. Could you please remove my name?

		Thanks,
		-mike-		(Blackwell at CMU-20C)
27-Nov-82 17:33:00,425;000000000000
Date: 27 November 1982 19:33-EST
From: Frank J. Wancho <FJW at MIT-MC>
Subject:  Wanted: FC00H PROM
To: NORTHSTAR-USERS at MIT-MC

I need to find one or more suppliers for the FC00H PROM set for the
MiniDisk Controller, other than from NorthStar.  I had found one at a
since misplaced address in either Tustin or Irvine, CA.

I need either four sets, or the HEX file to burn my own, if necessary.

Thanks,
Frank
