[fpc-pascal] MS DOS 8086 compiler?

[Rolf Grunsky]

On 13-04-29 04:48 PM, Adrian Maier wrote:
> On Mon, Apr 29, 2013 at 7:37 PM, Nikolay Nikolov
> <nickysn at users.sourceforge.net <mailto:nickysn at users.sourceforge.net>>
> wrote:
>
>     On 04/29/2013 12:49 PM, Michael Schnell wrote:
>
>         On 04/27/2013 02:11 PM, Bart wrote:
>
>             On 4/27/13, Reinier Olislagers <reinierolislagers at gmail.com
>             <mailto:reinierolislagers at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>                 Noticed that an 8086 branch was merged to fpc trunk. Is
>                 it time to get
>                 out some 5.25" diskettes[1]?
>
>                 [1] Shame I dumped all the accompanying hardware long
>                 ago ;) Perhaps
>                 break out DOSBOX ;)
>
>
>         I think I still can dig out some 8" single sided single density
>         diskettes with 160 K or something.
>
>
>     Actually, for me, the most convenient way to transfer data to and
>     from a vintage PC is via an RS232 null modem cable. You can connect
>     it to your modern PC directly - even if you don't have an RS232
>     port, there are cheap USB to RS232 converters available, if
>     necessary, while there's no normal way to attach a 5.25 inch floppy
>     to a modern PC.
>
>
> Hi ,
>
> Hmm... as far as know there should be no problem to use a 5.25 floppy
> with a modern PC ?  ...  as long as the motherboard has the floppy
> connector and you have a cable like this
> http://www.simulationexams.com/tutorials/aplus/core/images/fdd-cable.jpg  ?
>
> --
> Adrian M
>

Most (all?) current boards no longer have a floppy connector. My most 
recent motherboard, a mini-atx, doesn't even have an IDE connector.

I still have my Z-80A system with two Tandon half-height 8" single sided 
drives. I haven't attempted to power it up in 25 years. I also have my 
original CP/M 80 disc and my original TurboPascal version 1.0 for Z-80 
on an eight inch disc with the manual. I doubt any of the discs are 
readable.

Single sided, single density eight inch discs hold 243 KILO-bytes. If I 
remember correctly, a standard disc had 77 tracks with 26 sectors of 128 
bytes per sector per track. The original 5.25" single sided disc had a 
capacity of 160K. I don't remember the layout.

Rolf


-- 
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