Subject: Re: New finds: enough Torch stuff to sink a battleship

From: Jules Richardson<[email-masked]>
Date: Fri Jun 27 07:14:00 2003

Hi Pete, 

>>   Torch Z80 disc pack 
> Unusual.  Production ones were brown. 

Agreed on the Z80 disk pack - doesn't appear to have ever had anything other
than drives and a cable in it. The PSU is still intact, so it'd be complete
again with the addition of drives (which I now have plenty of spares of!). No
idea why it's grey rather than brown, except that so are the XXX 'prototype'
and the 725 machine.

>>   Two Torch Computers 68000 boards.
> Not CP/M, that was the board below.  These would run a Unix derivative, I
think.

Fair call. One's an 'Atlas' board, which is what the 725 machine also has in
it. The other is a "Torch 68000 board" and seems to date from a year earlier
(1983 rather than 1984). the earlier board has an 8MHz 68k, the Atlas board a
10MHz - but both have CCCP 1.02 ROMs so I expect they behave identically, with
one just being slower than the other.
 
> CPN, by the way, isn't CP/M.  It looks and feels similar, and *some*
> CP/M software is compatible, but not all -- the memory map is different.

given that the 68k boards have CCCP ROMs too I'm not surprised :)

>>   Four Xebec boards with a 50 pin connector, 3x 20 pin connectors and single
>> 34-way edge connector.  Single Xebec board with a 50 pin connector, 2x 20
pin 
>> connectors and single 34-way edge connector.
>
> SASI interfaces to ST412-compatible drives. 

I found the manuals to these (and all the other interface boards that I have I
believe) - it seems the cards with the three 20-pin connectors on have SCSI
interfaces. The C520 machine meanwhile has a Torch SASI controller in it and
one of the "2 connector" Xebec boards is plugged into that - so unless a SASI
controller can drive a SCSI device, the "2 connector" Xebec boards have a SASI
interface.

>> CP/N hard disk utilities (single floppy, hand-written label)
>> Torch hard disk utilities (single floppy, again just hand-written label)
>
>Hmm... Could I get a copy of those?  I think I have the correct MCP ROM
> somewhere here.

sure, I'm a bit snowed under at the moment so it might not be for a few weeks -
plus I need to find a good way of copying the disks unless my PC's controller
will read them. I should have spare Torch ROM sets for everything so I can
always copy the ROM if I can find a good way of doing it (I've got that EPROM
programmer for the Apple 2 but getting data onto and off the machine needs
figuring out). worst-case there'll be a way of me reading the data via a BBC
and mailing it to you I suppose!

>> Acorn Technical Manual - dated 1979, for a 6502-based SBC. Display is quoted
in
>> the manual as being 9 digits with the leftmost one unused, which may
identify
>> the machine. Possibly a System 1-4 ??
>
> No, it wasn't a System device.  That's the original Acorn SBC, I think.
>  I've got the matching User's Manual.

It sounds like one of these:

  http://www.machine-room.org/computers/6360/technical.html

Of course the website info may be innacurate; and piecing together information
about exactly what Acorn produced in the early days is proving hard - what
little data there seems to be on the web is generally labelled with disclaimers
as to accuracy! :-)

I've since found I have manuals for some of the 'other' cards that seemed to be
available (which I believe worked with the later 'system' machines):

  o Laboratory Interface Manual
  o Visual Display Unit Interface Board technical manual (issue 1, dated 1979),
also mentions the same teletext decoder as used in the BBC so looks like Acorn
were messing around with that even then.
  o Acorn 32K DRAM technical manual (issue 3, 1982) - looks to be designed for
the 'system' machines or the Atom.
  o Acorn Extension Memory Board manual (issue 3, 1980) - an 8KB board
  o PROM Programmer Board manual (Issue 2, 1981)
  o VIA Board (Issue 1, 1980)
  o Acorn Analogue Interface technical manual (Issue 1, 1980)
  
Looking at the list, you can see where the BBC had its origins :)

>> Acorn 6809 users manual - dated 1980, this looks to be for a SBC a
> Mine has a fold-out circuit diagram inside the back cover.

rats, I'm missing that unless it's been tucked away inside something else. 

>>   Atom Disc Pack construction notes, schematics etc. (anyone got a
>> dump of the ROM to go with this?)
>
> Yes :-)

Hmm, I may have to ask you nicely for a copy of that sometime and build one of
these to go with my Atom... I think everything else I need is covered in the
manual (my Atom's had the memory expansion and BASIC upgrade anyway so it's not
a 'pure' original)

[ BBC FITs]
> Yes, I've got one -- and every Beeb I've ever repaired has passed the
> FIT.   You need the software for it; I think the basic A version is
> printed in the manual but there's a B version as well (is that also in
> the manual?  I've got one, but not to hand).  

What I have is a copy of a confidential Acorn pre-release manual for the FIT
and the PET which makes it a little unique :)  But yes, it has listings for the
A and B machines.
 
It wouldn't surprise me if copies of the associated manuals are still at the
house where I got all this from; stuff from all kinds of machines was just
*everywhere* so there's likely a lot that was missed...

cheers,

Jules

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---

From: [email-masked] (Tony Duell)
Date: Fri Jun 27 18:59:27 2003

> the 'system' machines or the Atom.

Yes, the expansion bus on the Atom is almost identical to the 'System' 
bus, and most cards work in both machines. The Atom manual mentions that 
one 'System' Eurocard can be fitted inside the Atom case. Normal choices 
for this were the 32K DRAM card or one of the I/O cards (lab I/O, ADC, etc).

-tony