CORVUS SYSTEMS USER GUIDE CP/M®
Table of Contents Chapter 1. Introduction .................................... 1 Chapter 2. Reviewing Some Basic Points About Your System . Start-Up of Your Computer System ............... How to List a Directory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. How to Run a Program.......................... How to Save a File .............................. How to Copy a File ............................. 3 3 4 4 5 5 Chapter 3. Backing Up Your Drive with the Mirror® ..........
~PPENDIX ~PPENDIX ~PPENDIX ~PPENDI~ ~PPENDIX A. B. C. D. E. List of Common CP/M Extensions ............ Corvus Disk Error Codes .................... Description of CDIAGNOS Program .......... Description of Corvus Utilities Programs ...... Supplemental VCR Information ...............
Chapter 1 Introduction The CORVUS SYSTEMS CP/M USER GUIDE provides you wit~ a general introduction to the Corvus hard disk system, the Mirrol option for backup of data, the pipes and spooling features for movin~ files between computers and peripherals, trouble-shooting procedures, and diagnostic programs. Your Corvus hard disk system should already be installed and configured for a single user. Please retain your installation guide for future reference.
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Chapter 2 Reviewing Some Basic Points About Your System Your Corvus hard disk system should be installed and configure at this pOint, following the ·directions provided in the installatio guide for your computer. The standard configuration makes th Corvus 6 MB and 10 MB~·drives appear as two extra-large flopp drives to your compu'ter system (Drives C and D) and a Corvus 20 MI drive appear as three extra-large floppies (C, D and E). These pseud floppies are called virtual drives.
Type the appropriate CLINK program, for example: CLlNK2TN and press < RETURN >. The screen displays: --- CORVUS LINK INSTALLED --8> _ Remember, you must run the correct CLINK program before you can use your Corvus drive. How to List a Directory To list a directory for the one of the virtual drives on the Corvus, follow the same procedure you use for a floppy drive. For example, type D:DIR and press .
Your Corvus drive should already be configured and linked. To rur the program TANGENT (as an example) on Drive D of the Corvu~ disk drive, type D:TANGENT and press . The computel goes to Drive D:, finds TANGENT, and runs the program. How to Save a File Once a Corvus drive has been linked to your computer systerr with one of the CLINK programs, it works just like a giant floppy dis~ drive, and CP/M programs work in the usual manner.
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Chapter 3 Backing Up Your Drive with the Mirror This chapter is for those users who have a Corvus Mirror (eithe built-in or add-on) with their Corvus Disk System. Description of the Corvus Mirror Corvus Systems has developed a unique system for providin! effective, low-cost backup for its hard disk drive, known as the Corvu Mirror, using a video cassette recorder (VCR) and video cassette~ The Mirror creates an "image", or copy, of either virtual drives or thl entire physical drive on the video cassette.
)ther end into the VIDEO IN jack on the back panel of the Corvus ::frive. Connect one end of the other phono connector cable into the JIDEO IN jack on the VCR and the other end into the VIDEO OUT ack of the Corvus drive. ' If you have an add-on Mirror, see the CORVUS SYSTEMS MIRROR NSTALLATION GUIDE supplied with the·· add-on Mirror for nstructions on hardware set-up. rhe Mirror· Menu This is the Mirror menu, which allows you to pick which subrogram of the Mirror program you wish.
B: BACKUP-Pressing B for the BACKUP option starts the Mirror option for recording an image (a copy of all or part of the Corvus hard disk) on the VCR. See below in this chapter. V: VERIFY-Pressing V for the VERIFY option makes the Mirror read a video tape image to check if the image has been properly recorded. A search is made for hard and soft recording errors and a status report is displayed on the screen.
Using the Mirror to Backup Your Entire Corvus Disk 1. First, make sure the Corvus Mirror and the VCR are properly connected. Boot your computer system with the CPIM boot diskette. Run the correct CLINK program. 2. Load the Mirror program from the CORVUS UTILITIES VOL. 1 diskette in Drive B: by typing MIRROR and pressing < RETURN>. The screen displays the~irror menu: 3. Press B for Backup. The screen displays: BACKUP ENTIRE CORVUS DISK (YIN) ? _ L Press Y for Yes.
6. It is strongly recommended that you complete the tape header information. The tape header is information that is written at the beginning of the backup image to help you identify the image. Here is a sample tape file header. Type MAY 9, 1982 and press . The screen displays: TIME _ 7. Type 12:00 A.M. and press . The screen displays: NAME _ .- 8. Enter the name you wish to use on your tape header. Type TEST ONE and press . The screen displays: COMMENT _ 9.
11. Make sure the VCR is on, and the video cassette is loaded properly. Write down the VCR counter number on a piece of paper and save it. Start the VCR recording (on most recorders you will have to press both the play and record buttons). Press . The screen displays: WAITING FOR RECORDER TO SPEED UP ... After about half a minute, the screen displays: »BACKUP HAS STARTED<"<=: 12.
How to Backup Single Virtual Drives on the Corvus Disk 1. Boot your computer system with the CP/M diskette, and thenrun the correct CLINK program. 2. Load the Mirror program on the CORVUS UTILITIES VOL. 1 diskette in Drive B: by typing MIRROR and pressing < RETURN>. The screen displays the Mirror menu: 3. Press B for Backup. The screen displays: BACKUP ENTIRE CORVUS DISK (YIN) ? _ 4. Press N for No. The screen now displays: STARTING DISK BLOCK # ? _ 5.
TABLE 1- REFERENCE TABLE FOR BLOCK NUMBER/ LENGTH 6 MB Drive with CLlNK2 Program Drive Starting Disk Block # Number of Blocks in Drive 580 5908 5312 5312 C: D: 10 MB Drive with CLlNK2 Program Drive Starting Disk Block # Number of Blocks in Drive C: D: 579 10907 10304 10304 20 MB Drive with CLlNK2 Program Drive C: 0: E: Starting Disk Block # Number of Blocks in Drive 580 13212 25844 12608 12608 12608 Type 5908 and press . The screen displays: NUMBER OF BLOCKS ? 6.
7. The Mirror now requests the information for the header block The screen displays: I --- ENTER TAPE FILE HEADER INFORMATION --DATE: __ 8. Type 4/18/82 and press . The screen displays: TIME: , 9. Type 2:30 p.m. and press < RETURN >. The screen displays: NAME: 10. The name cannot be more than 16 characters long. Type TES· FILE and press . The screen displays: I COMMENT: 11. Type COMMENT FINISHED and press < RETURN >, or just pres if you have no comment.
13. Make sure the VCR is on, and the video cassette is loaded properly. Write down the VCR counter number on a piece of paper .and save it. Start the VCR recording (on most recorders you will have to press both the play and record buttons). Press . The screen displays: WAITING FOR RECORDER TO SPEED UP ... After about a half a minute, the screen displays: > -BACKUP HAS STARTED 14. When Backup is finished, the screen displays: BACKUP DONE- NO DISK ERROR,S TASK (L TO LIST) : _ 15.
3. Load the Mirror program from the CORVUS UTILITIES VOL. 1 diskette in Drive B by typing MIRROR and pressing . The screen displays: 4. Press V for Verify option. The screen displays: START RECORDER AT BEGINNING IF IMAGE VERIFY IN PROGRESS 5. Start the VCR playing (not recording).
2. Your computer should be operating under CP/M. The Corvus drive should be on the Corvus link established. The Mirror and VCR hardware should be connected. 3. Load the Mirror program from the CORVUS UTILITIES VOL. 1 diskette in Drive B: by typing MIRROR and pressing . The screen displays: 4. Press I for the Identify option. The screen displays: . POSITION TAPE AND START PLAYBACK SEARCHING FOR IMAGE HEADER .. 5. Start the VCR playing (not recording).
How to Use the Restore Option on the Mirror 1. Connect the Corvus Mirror and VCR hardware. Boot YOl computer system with the CPIM diskette, and then run th correct CLINK program. 2. Load in the Mirror program from the CORVUS UTILITIES VOL. diskette in Drive B: by typing MIRROR and pressing
7. Enter the same number of blocks that you used for Backup (from Table 1). The screen displays: CORVUS DRIVE # (1-4) ? _ 8. Press 1. The screen now displays: POSITION TAPE AND START PLAYBACK RESTORE IN PROGRESS ... 9.· Find the beginning of the image on the video cassette. You may .have to use the Identify feature if you have several images on the same cassette. If you use the VCR counter to find the starting position, make sure you get the complete image.
Chapter 4 Printing Multiple Files It is desirable, in some applications, to print more than one file at a time. Corvus has implemented this by providing a special area on thE disk that you can write files to (spooling) and retrieve files from (despooling). This temporary file area is called the "pipes" area. ThE reason for this name is that like a pipe, the first thing put into it is thE first thing out.
2. Press I to initialize the pipes area. The screen displays: DEFAULT PARAMETERS STARTING BLOCK: BLOCK LENGTH: 64 500 USE DEFAULT PARAMETERS? (YIN) _ 3. Press N for NO. The screen displays: STARTING BLOCK: 4. Type 64 and press . The screen displays: BLOCK LENGTH: 5. Type 600 and press . The screen displays: INITIALIZE? (YIN) 6. Press V for YES. The screen displays: INITIALIZING PIPES AREA Pipes Area Initialized Pmgr [1.1] L)ist P)urge C)lear I)nit Q)uit _ 7.
How to Send a File to a Pipe To send a file to a pipe, the file must already exist on your Corvw disk drive, or on the floppy diskettes. 1. Insert the CORVUS UTILITIES VOL. 1 diskette into floppy drivE B. Type SPOOL and press ...:RETURN>. The screen displays: SPOOLER [2.0]: S(pool D(espool L(ist O(uit _ 2. Press S for S( pool.
INDEX.DOC is the name of the file you want to send. B: is the drive It resides on. 5. Press M for message. The screen displays: M(essage: 6. Type, This is a test file. 'and press . The screen displays: SPOOL PARAMETERS P(ipe name: PRINTER F(ile name: B:INDEX.Doc M( essage:This is a test file.
8. Press a to quit. The screen displays: SPOOL PARAMETERS P(ipe name: PRINTER F(ile name:B:INDEX.DOC M (essage: This is a test file. T(ype of File: F(ormatted Text L(inefeeds: TRUE N (ew pages: .FALS E I(nelude Files: FALSE S( P( F(Me T( LC N( I( Q( : - The other SPOOL options are: P( ipe name- Allows you to assign another name to the pipe. For single user applications, leave it set as PRINTER. T(ype of File- may be changed to U for unformatted text or N for non-text.
Type SPOOL and press . The screen displays: Spooler [2.0]: S(pool D(espool L(ist Q(uit: _ 2. Press D for DC espool. The screen displciys: 3. Say we-wish to des pool the file INDEX.DOC which was loaded in pipe PRINTER [1]. Press P for P)ipe name:. The screen displays: P)ipe name: _ 4. Type PRINTER and press . The screen displays: DESPOOL PARAMETERS P)ipe name: PRINTER W)here: PRINTER M )ax Lines/Page: 8 E)xpand Tabs: 8 L)inefeeds: TRUE D) P) W) M) E) L) Q) _ 5.
next pipe. The screen displays: This procedure will print all pipes named PRINTER. 6. When you press any key, the computer returns to the start of the Spool program and the screen displays: Spooler [2.0]: S(pool D(espool L(ist Q(uit : _ 7. Continue despooling files until you are finished. Press a forQ(uit. The screen displays: B> _ How to Clear the Pipes Area 1. Insert the CORVUS UTILITIES VOL. 1 diskette into floppy drive B. Type PMGR and press [RETURN]. The screen displays: Pmgr [1.
2. Press C for Clear. The screen displays: Clearing Pipes area: Starting Block: 0 Block Length: 500 Continue? (YIN) _ 3. Press Y. The screen displays: Pipes Area Cleared (au have just cleared the entire pipes area of files. -low to Clear a Single Pipe 1. Insert the CORVUS UTILITIES VOL. 1 diskette into floppy drive B. Type PMGR and press [RETURN]. The screen displays: Pmgr [1.1] L(ist P(urge C(lear I(nit Q(uit : _ 2. Press P for purge. The screen displays: ~,urge which pipe (enter pipe number)? 3.
What Is In the Pipes? It is possible to find out what pipes you have spooled to in the following way: 1. Insert the CORVUS UTILITIES VOL. 1 diskette into floppy drive B. Type PMGR and press [RETURN]. The screen displays: Pmgr [1.1] L(ist P(urge C(lear I(nit Q(uit : ___ 2. Press L for list. The screen displays something like: Active Pipes are: 1. PENPLOT 2. PRINTER Closed Closed ------- Contains Data Contains Data A pipe is open only while spooling or despooling.
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Chapter 5 Troubleshooting Your Corvus Drive The Corvus disk system is designed to provide years of problem· free use. At times, however, it may experience a hardware or software problem. If your drive is not performing properly, consult the follow· ing table for recommended actions. Corvus Systems suggests that you take two simple steps when YOL first set up your system: • Make copies of the Corvus Utilities Program diskettes. • Copy down on paper the spared track and virtual drive offse1 tables.
B. FAULT AND BUSY LIGHTS COME ON AFTER POWER UP SEQUENCE. BUSY LIGHT FLASHES FOR A WHILE, THEN BOTH LIGHTS STAY ON. 7. Toggle Reset Switch on front panel. 8. Check all front panel switches for proper position. 9. Check flat interface cable connections. 10. Unplug processor flat cable and video connections (if you are using the Mirror). Toggle Reset Switch.
code program from directoll (see Step 13 above). Afte updating controller code, tun format switch off (to the left) . See Section 6 of this manua for examples of this operation Toggle Reset Switch. If drivl does not become ready afte 1 to 2 minutes, the final steJ is to reformat the drive (SteJ #15). 13. First, read the section or ,reformatting the Corvus drivi (refer to Section 6 of thi: User Guide). WARNING REFORMATTING THE DRIVE WILL DESTROY All DATA ON DRIVE. BACK UP DATA IF AT ALL POSSIBLE.
then the screen displays a long message indicating formatting is finished, and the new controller code has been written out. You should then restore the old values to the Virtual Drive Offset Table (VDO Table) and spare track table. Turn format switch off and toggle Reset Switch. Repeat Step 13 to check controller code. If the system does not become ready after toggling reset, call the Service Center for further information. C. BACKUP OR RESTORE FUNCTION SHOWS DISK ERROR. 14.
G. WHEN TRYING A RESTORE, VERIFY OR IDENTIFY OPTION ON THE MIRROR PROGRAM, THE ERROR MESSAGE "IMAGE NOT FOUND" OR "MIRROR ERROR 7" DISPLAYS. 18. Video cassette not rewound to beginning or VCR conections faulty. First, check video connections and VCR line input/output switches (these switches should be set to either line or VCR, depending on your machine- not TV). Rewind video cassette to correct starting position and repeat function. If problem persists, call your Corvus Service Center. H.
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Chapter 6 Diagnostic Utilities for Your Corvus Drive Corvus Systems has produced a special diagnostics programCDIAGNOS - to allow you to perform certain hardware and software system checks, and to replace the firmware if necessary. You should read this entire section before using CDIAGNOS, and follow the instructions very carefully. CDIAGNOS is usually on VOL. 1 of the CORVUS UTILITIES diskettes. It must be run from your floppy drive, rather than the Corvus disk drive. How to Load the CDIAGNOS Program 1.
4. To use CDIAGNOS, press the number for the task and follow the directions. If you wish to exit CDIAGNOS and return to CP/M, press Q when prompted for a task, or hold the control key and press C «CNTL> C). A Brief Description of the CDIAGNOS Menu 0. LIST THIS MENU Press 0 and the menu displays. 1. LIST INSTRUCTIONS Press 1 and the screen displays: TO CONSERVE SPACE, THE INSTRUCTIONS HAVE BEEN REMOVED AND PLACED IN A SEPARATE FILE: CDIAGNOS.DOC. TO READ THEM JUST TYPE . THE FILE.
A check of the Corvus disk is performed. After several minutes, the screen displays: NO BAD SECTORS FOUND!! TASK (0 TO LIST) : _ If the Disk Format Check test found any bad sectors, it would display them in this fashion: -- BAD SECTORS RE-WRITTEN -SURFACE CYLINDER # # XX SECTOR # TRACK # XX XX XX LIST DATA AGAIN (YIN) ? _ Copy this table down on a piece of paper. The" fourth column, TRACK #, contains the information you will need to spare tracks out, which we will discuss later in this section.
NOTE: You may have different numbers, but the controller code version should be 17.3 or later. 4. HEAD SERVO CHECK Press 4 and the screen displays: CORVUS DRIVE # (1-4) ? _ Press 1 (or the drive number, in case of add-on physical Corvus drives). The read/write heads of the Corvus disk will rapidly move from the outer edge to the center of the disk, producing a whirring sound. This test verifies that the disk reads data and that the disk heads move properly.
Type the controller code file name listed in the Directory of thl CORVUS UTILITIES diskettes; for example, type CORVB173.CLF and press . This starts the procedure for updatin~ the controller code on the Corvus drive, which is contained if protected tracks of the hard disk. Normally, this code cannot bl written to or read by the user (even accidentally). However, i can be made accessible, for writing, by turning on the forma switch. To use this option, follow this procedure: 1. Power the drive up.
Press < RETURN >. The screen displays: SECTOR INTERLEAVING SPEC. =- 12 PRESS RETURN TO CONTINUE NOTE: The Sector Interleaving Spec{ification) is12 for 6 MB drives, and 9 for the 10 and 20 MB drives. CORVUS SYSTEMS STRONGLY RECOMMENDS THAT YOU DO NOT CHANGE IT. Press .
Press S if you wish to change the spared track table. Spared tracks are tracks automatically skipped by the drive- any data on them is lost if not backed up first; and other data may be disturbed. Add or delete tracks by typing the track numbers, and then press < RETURN >. It is not recommended that you change the sector interleaving spec or the virtual drive offsets. 8. LIST/MODIFY CONSTELLATION PARAMETERS This is discussed in the CORVUS SYSTEMS CP/M MULTIPLEXER GUIDE. 9.
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Appendix A. List of Common CP/M Extensions Extension Explanation .ASM .BAK .BAS .OAT .OOC .FOR .HEX .LlB MAC Assembly language source file Backup file BASIC program source file Data file Text (Document) file Microsoft FORTRAN source file Intel HEX format object code file Extension for a Library file Source code for some Microsoft MACRO assemblers.
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Appendix B. Corvus Disk Error Codes (text of CERROR.DOC file from CORVUS UTILITIES DISKETTE VOL. 1) Corvus Disk Error Codes The Corvus controller has a number of error codes that may be issued if either an illegal command is given, or the controller is out of synchronization, or there is a hardware malfunction. A number of the utilities and disk interface programs can list these error codes (in hex) if such an error occurs. For example, PUTGET.
9 A B C D E F 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 1A 1B 1C 1D Read Data Fault Data CRC Error Sector Locate Error Write Protected Illegal Sector Address Illegal Command Drive Not Acknowledged Acknowledge Stuck Active Timeout Fault CRC Seek Verification Drive Speed Error Drive Illegal Address Error Drive R/W Fault Error Drive Servo Error Drive Guard Band Drive PLO (Phase Lockout) Error Drive R/W Unsafe 48
Appendix C Description of CDIAGNOS Program CDIAGNOS.DOC The CP/M version of the Corvus Disk Diagnostic (CDIAGNOS. COM) provides some relatively "safe" disk tests along with the ability to list and/or change some parameters within the controller code. The functions available in this version are: 1. DISK FORMAT CHECK The controller tries to read each 512 byte sector to verify that it is "good" (has a correct CRC). If it gets a bad CRC after twenty read attempts, it will re-write the sector to reset the CRC.
5. UPDATE CONTROLLER CODE This option allows one to update or initially install controller code on the Corvus drive. This code resides on protected tracks of the hard disk. Normally this code cannot be written to or read by the user (even accidentally). However, it can be made accessible (to writing) by turning on the format switch (or by adding a jumper to the drive backplane). This option replaces the separate program: CCODE.COM that had similar capabilities.
6. LIST/MODIFY DRIVE PARAMETERS This option allows you to examine and/or change the: A. The Spared Track Table This table specifies physical track numbers which are to be skipped over when the controller accesses data on the drive. This allows one to hide the existence of media defects from the external user (the data service will look perfect to him). B. The Sector Interleaving Spec The defaults used here have been optimized for small computers like Apple II's.
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. Appendix D Description of Corvus Utilities Programs 1. INDEX.DOC This is the disk index document file. 2. CERROR.DOC This is a short document file listing the controller error codes. 3. PUTGET.COM This is a disk utility that can be used under CP/M to read and write from memory to the Corvus drive as well as fill various sections of the disk with data. The routine has its own disk drivers and is mainly useful as a SYSGEN routine to write a configured CP/M 2.
9. PMGR.COM This is a program that allows the user to manage the pipes area of the drive. It allows the user to initialize the pipes and clear the pipes area, purge as pipe, and list the current pipes and their status. 10. SPOOl.COM This is a program that use the pipes facilities on the Corvus drive. It transfers files to and from an area of the drive that is accessible by any user and/or system through pipe commands.
not meet your needs. Consult the CORVUS SYSTEMS CP/M PROGRAMMER'S GUIDE for instructions on how to modify CLlNK2.ASM. 14. SEMA4.ASM SPOOLGEN.SUB SPOOL.SRC SPOOL.DEF SPOOL.PAS SPOOLM.PAS PIPEGEN.SUB PIPES.SRC PIPED.PAS PIPEC.PAS PIPES.PAS CPMIO.MAC Sources for the SEMA4 and SPOOL programs. These sources are provided as examples of how to use the Semaphore and pipe features of the Corvus drive. 15. CLOADR.ASM This is a short boot loader program to be used with CP/M 2.X.
NOTE 1: Source for the programs PUTGET, CDIAGNOS, and MIRROR is available by special order. NOTE 2: All of the disk utilities contain their own Corvus disk drivers. They can be run from floppy-based CP/M systems that are not yet linked to the Corvus drive. NOTE 3: Support for pre-2.0 versions of CP/M. has been discontinued. The last release of pre-2.0 software, dated 7-May-81, is available by special order.
Appendix E Supplemental VCR Information Corvus Systems recommends that you purchase a VHS-type video cassette recorder (VCR).
