HP 9885M and Series 200/300 Computers

[Michael Fehlhammer]

9885 is not a typo in the headline - I am trying to operate an old single sided 8 inch floppy drive (mainly used along with 9825 computers) connected to a series 200/300 computer and BASIC 5 or BASIC 6 for workstations.

There MUST be a way to accomplish that because:
1. There is a dedicated binary "HP9885" since early versions of BASIC/WS, up to version 6
2. There is a special cable "5061-4211 98622A-002 to 9885M Disc Cable" I just have bought, which fits to the special connector of the 9885M and the widely used GPIO interface "98622A".

Currently I have connected my 9885M to a 9000/382 running under BASIC 6.21.
I installed the binaries for the GPIO card and the HP9885.
If I now try to access the drive with commands like CAT ":HP9885,13" (my 98622 uses select code 13, 12 is used by the standard parallel interface), the drive gives a clicking sound (locking the disk into place?), then either the system hangs or I get a "bad mass storage system" error message.

The problem is that this behavior can result from a bad disk drive as well as from a wrong configuration (maybe).

I haven't got any of these old calculators 98x5 or 98x0 and don't want to start to collect them. Therefore I can test my newly acquired 9885M only in combination with series 200 and 300 computers via the 98622 interface. (The seller claimed that it was working connected to a 9825 computer).

Regarding configuration, there are LOTS of switches and jumpers on the GPIO card, and according to the series 200/300 peripheral install manual, these switches have to be set according to the requirements of the peripheral.
But unfortunately the 9885M and its requirements aren't mentioned in that manual.

The documentation for the 9885 that is available online was printed before 1980, therefore series 200/300 computers can't even be mentioned.
Maybe there is kind of an addendum that describes the settings of the GPIO card for use with the 9885 drive?

I am curious whether anyone has ever successfully driven a 9885M by a series 200/300 computer ? Or by a series 80 or series 100 computer?

[Paul Berger (Canada)]

(12-19-2019 11:25 PM)Michael Fehlhammer Wrote:  9885 is not a typo in the headline - I am trying to operate an old single sided 8 inch floppy drive (mainly used along with 9825 computers) connected to a series 200/300 computer and BASIC 5 or BASIC 6 for workstations.

There MUST be a way to accomplish that because:
1. There is a dedicated binary "HP9885" since early versions of BASIC/WS, up to version 6
2. There is a special cable "5061-4211 98622A-002 to 9885M Disc Cable" I just have bought, which fits to the special connector of the 9885M and the widely used GPIO interface "98622A".

Currently I have connected my 9885M to a 9000/382 running under BASIC 6.21.
I installed the binaries for the GPIO card and the HP9885.
If I now try to access the drive with commands like CAT ":HP9885,13" (my 98622 uses select code 13, 12 is used by the standard parallel interface), the drive gives a clicking sound (locking the disk into place?), then either the system hangs or I get a "bad mass storage system" error message.

The problem is that this behavior can result from a bad disk drive as well as from a wrong configuration (maybe).

I haven't got any of these old calculators 98x5 or 98x0 and don't want to start to collect them. Therefore I can test my newly acquired 9885M only in combination with series 200 and 300 computers via the 98622 interface. (The seller claimed that it was working connected to a 9825 computer).

Regarding configuration, there are LOTS of switches and jumpers on the GPIO card, and according to the series 200/300 peripheral install manual, these switches have to be set according to the requirements of the peripheral.
But unfortunately the 9885M and its requirements aren't mentioned in that manual.

The documentation for the 9885 that is available online was printed before 1980, therefore series 200/300 computers can't even be mentioned.
Maybe there is kind of an addendum that describes the settings of the GPIO card for use with the 9885 drive?

I am curious whether anyone has ever successfully driven a 9885M by a series 200/300 computer ? Or by a series 80 or series 100 computer?

I have not done it yet but I have thought about it. Page 1-3 of the manual for the 98622A GPIO lists the switch setting for the GPIO and it looks like the the cable would be a straight through cable with the appropriate connectors on each end. The simplest way to make a cable would be to get IDC connectors and crimp them onto a 50 conductor ribbon cable. I don't have a IDC connector on hand so I am working up an adapter for the usual cables I use on my GPIOs.

You may want to post your questions about 9000s on the VintHPcom group on groups.io I believe you will reach a larger audience of HP 9000 user there than you will here.

Paul.

[Michael Fehlhammer]

Good idea, I will post a copy on groups.io.

(12-20-2019 04:25 AM)Paul Berger (Canada) Wrote:  I have not done it yet but I have thought about it. Page 1-3 of the manual for the 98622A GPIO lists the switch setting for the GPIO and it looks like the the cable would be a straight through cable with the appropriate connectors on each end. The simplest way to make a cable would be to get IDC connectors and crimp them onto a 50 conductor ribbon cable. I don't have a IDC connector on hand so I am working up an adapter for the usual cables I use on my GPIOs.

You may want to post your questions about 9000s on the VintHPcom group on groups.io I believe you will reach a larger audience of HP 9000 user there than you will here.

Paul.

I just wanted to insert a link to the source where I bought the cable ( one of two available), but strangely the offer has been canceled. Maybe anyone who read my post ordered the second cable meanwhile? Would be nice to hear from him and his experiences with the cable and the 9885.

[Paul Berger (Canada)]

Disregard my statement above that the cable is straight through looking at the wiring diagram in the 98032A manual clearly shows that it is not however it could be used as a wiring guide as the order of pins on the interface connector is the same as on the connector of 98622A, with A1 corresponding to pin1 and B1 to pin 26.