**Need Setup HELP** with Classic Amiga 2000 HARD DISK (Bridgeboard)

[Dandy]

...
A SCSI controller can be connected to 7 devices, any of which can be a controller.
...

Wutt?   :confused:
Why would anyone connect 7 controllers to an SCSI - the correct term is - host adapter?
The SCSI host is the one that controls the up to 7 devices on the SCSI-II chain (up to 15 devices on UW-SCSI chains)...

(Typo edited)

[Dandy]

Moving Forward (Setup almost done)

*** SOME ADDITIONAL CLUES ***

The WD HDD Controller is DOUBLE HOOKED UP to Hard Drive
as shown below:

(And the Next Photo of the OLD WORKING WORKBENCH DISK IS ANOTHER CLUE)
...

Well, this photo makes it clear that it is a MFM/RLL harddrive.
I still have a self-built dual 5 1/4" harddrive unit (2 x 65 mB) with integrated XT power supply, that is connected to the Amiga500 via the so called 'ct-interface' (from the 'ct Computer Magazine), that provides one PC/XT Slot and is plugged into the A500s Expansion port at the left side. In the PC/XT slot sits a 'OMTI MFM/RLL' controller from an old XT PC.

The driver software to operate it on the Amiga was named 'Boil3'.

Provided your controller was not just capable of the MFM format, you could also format a harddrive in RLL format, which allowed for roughly 1/3 more capacity on the same drive.

In my case I got 65 mB when I formatted the drives in RLL format - compared to 43 mB in MFM format.

Back then I also had a "PC Bridge board" in my A500 - the Vortex ATonce 286 Classic .  I could run the Amiga and the PC in parallell and switch back and forth between the systems, which was pretty cool back in 1988/89...

The PC side was started from the Amiga side - I had all the necessary files on the Amiga side of my harddrives. There also was a partition for the PC side on the one of the drives, from where I booted M$-Dos 6.22 or later one of the early Win versions - but just in "monochrome" (IIRC, it was called 'Win for 286')...

[Dandy]

@ Wally

I was looking at documentation for the A2386 and the A1060, other Bridgeboards that also use the Janus software. According to those docs, DJMount appears to be self contained. It's apparently able to detect the partition layout on hard disks connected to the PC side and automatically mount Amiga partitions.
...

You mean the PC side boots before the Amiga side was booted?
I don't believe it works that way.

I mean - I have no experience with Janus and the bridgeboard he has - just with the Vortex ATonce 286, PC Task and PCx.

All of them REQUIRE the Amiga to be booted first and then the PC to be started from the Amiga side - and not the other way round.

[Dandy]

So here is how far I got.

Basically I have a working Bridgeboard disk that I can actually boot from.

-> I used the disk to boot, followed instructions from README

-> PC Booted MS DOS from Floppy (Which is nothing new)

-> Then I ran the SAME commands like on my WORKBENCH DISK

Things Worked.

-> But no HARD DRIVE PICKED UP by Either the Amiga or the PC

Could this mean Hard DRIVE IS TOAST / Maybe Controller Board?
* NOT GIVING UP THAT EASY. I think they are fine **

There are Install Scripts on that Bridgeboard disk that copy stuff to a working Workbench Disk (personal one).

I like the idea of making a new WORKBENCH disk and copy over what I had, and see if things work.

My SUSPICION is there are config files missing on the GENERIC "Bridgeboard DISK". Drive Mappings, Mount points etc.

HERE ARE SHOTS of What I did, and how things worked

Any idea's on next steps???

...

I have BLANK Floppies ready.

Over to you guys for your advice.

Well, your screenshots clearly show you have to start the Amiga first to access the bridgeboard.
So I would assume the HD is Amiga formatted and contains all the stuff to start (initialise) the PC from there, as well as a PC-partition for booting the PC side...

[wbrejnia]

Well, this photo makes it clear that it is a MFM/RLL harddrive.
I still have a self-built dual 5 1/4" harddrive unit (2 x 65 mB) with integrated XT power supply, that is connected to the Amiga500 via the so called 'ct-interface' (from the 'ct Computer Magazine), that provides one PC/XT Slot and is plugged into the A500s Expansion port at the left side. In the PC/XT slot sits a 'OMTI MFM/RLL' controller from an old XT PC.

The driver software to operate it on the Amiga was named 'Boil3'.

Provided your controller was not just capable of the MFM format, you could also format a harddrive in RLL format, which allowed for roughly 1/3 more capacity on the same drive.

In my case I got 65 mB when I formatted the drives in RLL format - compared to 43 mB in MFM format.

Back then I also had a "PC Bridge board" in my A500 - the Vortex ATonce 286 Classic . I could run the Amiga and the PC in parallell and switch back and forth between the systems, which was pretty cool back in 1988/89...

The PC side was started from the Amiga side - I had all the necessary files on the Amiga side of my harddrives. There also was a partition for the PC side on the one of the drives, from where I booted M$-Dos 6.22 or later one of the early Win versions - but just in "monochrome" (IIRC, it was called 'Win for 286')...

Interesting..... Especially the comments about "Boil3", and drivers on the Amiga side.

One last effort I'm going to make, since know so much more about the bits and pieces I have and how they work separately (eg. WD controller), compared to when I started this journey, is to go through the 3 Custom Workbench disk I have Labelled "From Past" as "working" (but are partially not readable, so I can't boot with them) is to go through them all and examine the "startup-sequence files".

There might be a clue in the startup of the Past Working Amiga for something not described in the Bridgeboard Install Manual.

Will try before I start hacking things in the 386, and running the WD Low level format (which could end all hope of data recovery)
 
 Also since I have to take the HD out, I'll put back the original Kickstart ROM, and cut off that Battery (which hasn't leaked yet).

[Dandy]

On the TOPIC of Photo's and Labeling.
 
 You should get a copy of SnagIt.  It's the best Photo Capture, cropping, labeling, Video All in one tool.  Quick, Easy.  I use at work, and even my kids used at school.  (Worth every penny the few bucks).

I use Xabier Payet's 'SnapShoter (http://www.xabierpayet.com/).

[wbrejnia]

What's making me scratch my head, is that with this last attempt, I'm putting in a 5.25" DOS boot Floppy to boot the Amiga PC, and thinking I need Drivers to get the WD Controller recognized to recognize the Hard Drive on the PC side.

I'm pretty sure that I never used any 5.25" disks or I would have had some in my collection. The 5.25 disk I have were bought two years ago so that I could boot the Amiga PC.

So somehow the Amiga did Boot from the 3.5" Workbench disk, and the AmigaPC was available to use (thus the PC booted from the Hard Drive, with some kind of access controlled by the Amiga side....Thus the WD controller was activated somehow not thru a PC Floppy boot, but from Amiga having access to the HD passthru the bridgeboard [maybe ADISK as mentioned in the BridgeBoard Install instruction manual). I just don't get how that WD controller woke up and presented a C: drive without a Driver (so maybe it doesn't need a driver, or PC activation, it just need proper Jumpers setting to Match the HD type[which it should since nothing has been changed ] )

THE STARTUP SEQUENCE my OLD WB Disk may hold that answer.

Dandy, I'm going to blame-you/thank-you for getting me motivated again [but first I need to stabilize my fish tank water chemistry(manual top up)]

[wbrejnia]

The AMIGA PC floppy disk DOS boot is only needed ONCE to Get access to DOS DEBUG command, to run the INITIAL Low Level Format via the WD Controller BIOS.

[Chartus]

I have put together many DOS base computers  back in the day.  My first DOS system was a 386-40 with an IDE hard drive.  Reused the hard drive (50meg quantum) from my Amiga 500 system.  Still got that old drive in my closet.  

I came across an old 286 system that had a working MFM hard drive in it. (think it was 20 megs)  I forget what version of DOS that was in it but it was an older version.  Disk compression was popular at that time so I installed that with DOS 6 and got a nice increase in size.  The point is that I didn't need any drivers to install to run it.

So you have a A2000 with an 8088 bridgeboard in it with a MFM card installed in one of the ISA slots running a hard drive. Your trying to get your information from the drive.

The A2000 is making it complicated.  Take the controller card and hard drive out and install it in a PC compatible.  The BIOS on the controller card will help the system detect the drive.
You need to make sure it is working.  If you don't hear the hard drive it is stuck.  (You will hear it if it is spinning) The heads are stuck to the platter. That happens when it sits for too long.   Assuming it works; you can use a boot disk (DOS 6 will work)to boot the computer and read your info.

If you get it running I would just copy the complete drive to something more modern.

[wbrejnia]

I have put together many DOS base computers back in the day. My first DOS system was a 386-40 with an IDE hard drive. Reused the hard drive (50meg quantum) from my Amiga 500 system. Still got that old drive in my closet.

I came across an old 286 system that had a working MFM hard drive in it. (think it was 20 megs) I forget what version of DOS that was in it but it was an older version. Disk compression was popular at that time so I installed that with DOS 6 and got a nice increase in size. The point is that I didn't need any drivers to install to run it.

So you have a A2000 with an 8088 bridgeboard in it with a MFM card installed in one of the ISA slots running a hard drive. Your trying to get your information from the drive.

The A2000 is making it complicated. Take the controller card and hard drive out and install it in a PC compatible. The BIOS on the controller card will help the system detect the drive.
You need to make sure it is working. If you don't hear the hard drive it is stuck. (You will hear it if it is spinning) The heads are stuck to the platter. That happens when it sits for too long. Assuming it works; you can use a boot disk (DOS 6 will work)to boot the computer and read your info.

If you get it running I would just copy the complete drive to something more modern.

Chartus, thanks for popping in.... (The Hard Drive spins (hear it, feel it), the head is moving (hear it do a the classic shake sound on power up), but no grinding-screach sounds that it's touching the platter, LED on Hard drive blinks )

That is next plan. (Use my 386 PC and put Controller card and HD into it)

That will at least prove something.

I say this because the next POST confirms the Hard Drive at least has an AMIGA Partition (which PC wouldn't be able to read)

However if there are two partitions (a DOS too), then maybe I could read off PC (AND THAT IS MY GOAL)

[wbrejnia]

HERE IS HOW MY Original (AMIGA/PC) Workbench compares to a Regular Workbench.

It clearly shows there was an AMIGA Partition on the HARD DRIVE (Doesn't confirm if there was an DOS Partition [ but there could be one] )

Looks like PC-DISK along with DJMOUNT exposes the PC HD (AMIGA PARTITION) to the Amiga side (thru the bridgeboard).

Then after mounting directories, it boot Workbench of that Hard Drive.

[wbrejnia]

Before I do the 386 trial.
 
 I'm made a copy of the Native BRIDGEBOARD (Workbench disk)
 and copied over the "Startup-Sequence".
 
 First attempt to boot didn't work since the paths to all the commands are different.
 
 Adjusting...

[Pat the Cat]

I'd just compare contents of S, DEVS, LIBS and L folders. That should show main differrences.

C could be important too if it contains command used by the startup-sequence. PATH and ASSIGN for example.

You probably won't find much in the way of C commands, they are usually stripped out from Aminet downloads, as they are still copyrighted, and people still sell Workbench disks (Amiga Forever).

[wbrejnia]

I'd just compare contents of S, DEVS, LIBS and L folders. That should show main differrences.

C could be important too if it contains command used by the startup-sequence. PATH and ASSIGN for example.

You probably won't find much in the way of C commands, they are usually stripped out from Aminet downloads, as they are still copyrighted, and people still sell Workbench disks (Amiga Forever).

I did create a NEW WB Disk (from pieces of OLD) that works (Except STILL NO Hard Drive JH0)

However I did learn something.

When DJMOUNT is run there is some kind of PORTAL CREATED for JH0:

(I have proof if I run the ASSIGN command on the Amiga Side) since the DEVICE=JH0 shows up ONLY when DJmount is run.

I figure if the Controller/Hard Drive on the PC side was working it would link the Amiga side to to PC Side. (What the Bridgeboard and Janus does together).

The screen Shot shots below show this: (also notice the DIFFERENT behavior when Typing the JH0: drive, vs a Drive that doesn't exist JH1)



So this motivates me to work on the 386 computer and get the WD Controller working with the Hard Drive.

If I somehow fix the combo (ie BIOS Format), I could bring that back to the AMIGA and it might work.


(but that's MSDOS 286 Build is becoming a Complex Chore).. Things are picky, order of Drives hooked up matters, BIOS settings, etc.

PROJECT#2 is becoming 2 projects (Since I'm painfully building two DOS 6.2 Machines. THE 386 and I Put a EMPTY Drive in the Explorer PC) will explain later.

[wbrejnia]

You probably won't find much in the way of C commands, they are usually stripped out from Aminet downloads, as they are still copyrighted, and people still sell Workbench disks (Amiga Forever).

I am using Originals (I own), not downloads of Workbench. But doesn't make a difference.

What has been making me pull my hair out is in some cases the commands don't work. (a copy from one disk to another [eg DJmount] ). Appears the OS workbench and the commands are dependant on each other (like library versions to executable). I'm no expert but in my unix days things don't work well when mixing different versions (ie Like trying to run a DOS 6.2 command in DOS 3.1).

[wbrejnia]

ONE MSDOS 6.2 Computer has been built (Explorer PC).
 
 But the XT computer (386) is a challenge.
 
 I can't change things much.  Taking our one Hard Drive, craps out HD controller.  I got two drives in, but I can't make the one I want C: (Even thought I jumper it MASTER).
 
 All I want is a MDOS 6.2 Boot HARD DRIVE, and Floppy to bring stuff in so I can boot DOS and put the WD Controller and HD.
 
 Is there some concept of TERMINATION on the Ribbon Cables?  There are no twists in ribbon cable like the Floppy drives.