NOTICE Corvus Systems, Inc. reserves the right to make improvements in the product described in this manual at any time without notice. DISCLAIMER OF ALL WARRANTIES AND LIABILITY Corvus Systems, Inc. makes no warranties , either express or implied , with respect to this manual or with respect to the software described in this manual, its quality, performance, merchantability, or fitness for any particular purpose. Corvus Systems, Inc. software is sold or licensed "as is.
THE CP/M USER GUIDE TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Scope of the Manual ................................. 2. The Corvus Mirror .................................... Connecting the Mirror ................................ Using the Mirror ...................................... The Mirror with CP/M ........... . ..................... 3. Diagnostics, Troubleshooting, & Updating .............. The Diagnostic Program: CDIAGNOS .................. Troubleshooting Guide .......................... .. ....
Chapter 1 SCOPE OF THE CP/M USER GUIDE This guide is for use with Corvus hard disk systems connected with any of the following computers which use the CP/M operating system.
Chapter 2 THE CORVUS MIRROR Connecting the Mirror to the Corvus Disk If you have a drive that contains a Mirror, then you need only connect the video cable. For directions on how to connect your video cable, see the section below labeled 'Video Cable.' If you order a Mirror to complement an already existing Corvus system, the Mirror is packaged in its own box complete with installation instructions. Video Cable You received a phono plug set with your Mirror.
USING THE CORVUS MIRROR This section is presented in two parts: The first part consists of a general description of the function of the Mirror and a general description of its software. The second part consists of the specific application of Mirror software for your particular operating system. About images With the Mirror you can make a video tape copy of an entire disk or of portions of a disk. This is called a 'backup.
Mirror Utility Options QUIT QUIT exits the Mirror utility. BACKUP BACKUP creates a Mirror image of an entire drive or a portion of the volumes on a Corvus drive. The tape file produced has a 'header block' that is used to save information about the image being made. This information includes date, time, image size, and system type. There is also an optional user comment line. RESTORE RESTORE reads an image from the tape and places it on the disk in a volume of equivalent size.
VERIFY VERIFY allows you to check the accuracy of the data recorded as a video image. Verify is similar to the restore, but it does not write the stored data back to the disk. Verification is accomplished by CRC checking, not by comparison to the disk data. After reading the image, it reports the status of errors encountered and indicates whether retry passes will be needed when data is restored to the drive.
Summary of Commands: An image header (which includes the source and length information as well as the level of redundancy) is stored at the beginning of the stored data. Each image can be assigned a number from 1 to 255, while 0 is reserved for directory usage. Image headers can be read by using the IDENTIFY command. A check for the proper file ID can be made or the next file header encountered can be read.
THE MIRROR WITH CP/M The standard single user version of the CP/M Mirror utility program contains its own Corvus disk driver. Thus, it can be run from diskette based systems that are not yet interfaced to the Corvus drive. To use the utility, load the Mirror program as you would any other.COM file. Type: MIRROR . A Mirror menu displays: In CP/M based systems, each drive is divided into one or more large volumes, usually two. Volumes may be any size, up to 8MB.
BACKUP Press B for BACKUP. The computer asks you whether or not you want to backup the entire disk. Press N for 'no' which indicates you want to backup only a portion of the disk. You must specify the starting disk address and the number of blocks your information covers if you are not backing up an entire disk. B N 18000 20 You are prompted for tape header information that includes the date, time, a name, a comment, and normal format or fast format. Type in the date, time, name and a comment.
When the backup is done: BACKUP DONE -- NO ERRORS This is the display assuming no errors are encountered. If errors occurred during the backup, an error message will display. VERIFY Press V for VERIFY.
IDENTIFY Press I for IDENTIFY: When the header is found, the following is displayed: --IMAGE RECORDED FROM CORVUS DRIVE-IMAGE 10 : 1 IMAGE LENGTH : 20 BLOCKS SYSTEMS : CP/M DATE : 6/3/83 TIME : 11 :46 a.m.
RESTORE Press R for restore. The computer asks you if you want to restore the entire disk. Whether or not you are restoring the entire disk, you must specify the starting disk address and the number of blocks your information covers. TASK (L FOR LIST) : RESTORE ENTIRE DISK (YIN) ? STARTING DISK BLOCK # ? NUMBER OF BLOCKS ? CORVUS DRIVE # (1-4) ? POSITION TAPE AND START PLAYBACK RESTORE IN PROGRESS ...
Chapter 3 DIAGNOSTICS, TROUBLESHOOTING, & UPDATING The Diagnostic Program .................. .... ........... . Troubleshooting Guide .. . ... . .. ................... .. ...... 8 Firmware update or replacement .................... .. . .. 10 Checking the firmware version ......................... 10 Updating the firmware ......... ..... . . ................. 11 Formatting the drive ................................... 12 Sparing tracks ........................................ 14 The interleave spec. . .....
Chapter 3 DIAGNOSTICS, TROUBLESHOOTING, UPDATING THE DIAGNOSTIC PROGRAM This is the CP/M version of the Corvus Disk Diagnostic (CDIAGNOS.COM). This diagnostic program provides some relatively safe disk tests along with the ability to list and/or change some parameters within the controller code. Please read the whole section on diagnostics before attempting to run CDIAGNOS.COM.
A> NOS -----CORVUS DISK DIAGNOSTIC----( VERSION 2.1 ) --- TEST MENU --LIST THIS MENU LIST INSTRUCTIONS DISK FORMAT CHECK READ CONTROLLER CODE VERSION # HEAD SERVO TEST MANUAL CONTROLLER DIAGNOSTIC UPDATE CONTROLLER CODE LIST/MODIFY DRIVE PARAMETERS LIST/MODIFY CONSTELLATION PARAMETERS 9. EXIT BACK TO CP/M (CTL-C ALSO WORKS) O. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. TASK (0 TO LIST) : These are the functions available in the diagnostic program.
2. DISK FORMAT CHECK Media defects may occur on the surface of the disk. A media defect is defined as a read error that occurs more than ten times at anyone track location. If not attended to, these physical defects might show up as error signals from your computer when running a valid program. Or perhaps a valid program just will not function correctly. The cyclical redundancy check (CRC) function checks for bad sectors on the disk and reports the number and location of each of them.
To use this option: A. Power the drive down. If your drive has a format switch (under the front bezel of the drive), turn it on and proceed to step C. The format switch is the second switch from the right under the bezel.) B. Power the drive back up. C. Run this program from your floppy based CP/M and select the update option. D. After the code is written out, turn off the format switch and reset the drive by either using the reset switch or by powering the drive down and up again.
8. LIST/MODIFY CONSTELLATION PARAMETERS Note: This option is reserved for systems which are compatible with the Corvus Constellation network system. The option does not apply to single-user flat-cable systems. This option allows the examination and/or modification of: A. master multiplexer connection table (MUX table) and B. The Constellation polling parameters (polling constants). From the CDIAGNOS menu, choose option 8. TASK (0 TO LIST) : 8 CORVUS DRIVE # (1 - 4) ? --- CONSTELLATION PARAM .
To examine or modify the MUX table, enter M. M N The MUX table is used to specify what is connected to the master multiplexer. It is usually set to assume that all the slots have MUX on them. This allows it to work correctly on systems that are only using a host multiplexer.
TROUBLESHOOTING GUIDE If your disk system is not performing normally, review these points: 1. Be sure the drive fuse is the proper value. Place all switches under the lights on the front panel to the left position. Then connect the ac cord, provided with the drive, to your drive and to a wall socket. 2. Power on the drive and wait for it to come ready (as long as 40 seconds). When all the lights on the front panel go off and the ready light stays on, the drive is ready and all should be well.
FIRMWARE UPDATE OR REPLACEMENT You should follow the procedures described in the following sections in order to check your firmware version, to update your firmware version, to format your drive, or to verify and change the Virtual Drive / Track Offset Table. These procedures require that you have the latest version of the Corvus utilities diskette and a floppy drive connected to your computer.
This will select the controller code CORVB5.CLR from drive B: . This file will be read in from the diskette and its identification record will be listed on the console. At the end of this printout, the system will ask if the format switch is ON. The update can usually be done with the switch OFF but the program will only accept an answer of Y. IS FORMAT SWITCH ON (OR FORMAT JUMPER INSTALLED) (YIN) ? y The program next asks if you still wish to proceed.
The process of formatting is quite simple and is accomplished through the diagnostic program. First, turn the format switch on and power up the drive. FOR 10 AND 20 MEGABYTE DRIVES, YOU MUST MAKE SURE THE HEAD RE-ZEROES AND THE DRIVE IS READY. ON 5 MEGABYTE DRIVES THE HEADS MAY NOT RE-ZERO UNTIL YOU BEGIN FORMATTING. The FORMAT option is a hidden suboption of the CP/M diagnostic program (CDIAGNOS.COM) and should be performed only under the direct supervision of Corvus Customer Service personnel.
Sparing Tracks The REV B Corvus drives contain a total of seven extra tracks for the user area. These tracks can be used in place of tracks in the user area if a user track is found to be defective. Defective tracks are 'spared out' by making the disk controller simply skip over them (rather than re-direct requests to a separate spare track pool). This choice of sparing methods was chosen to allow our mirror backup system to function more simply.
The CRC/FORMAT check returns any errors in the form: cylinder number, head number, sector number, track number You can calculate the physical location from the head and cylinder number.
If there are any spared tracks, you should write the list on a piece of paper (to attach to the drive) or in a notebook. If you ever have to reformat your drive, you will want to spare out these tracks again. Then : SECTOR INTERLEAVING SPEC.
These tracks are simply added to the spared track table with the ADD option. The table is sorted automatically after each addition. Spared track numbers are displayed (and later stored) in ascending order. TASK S ? --- SPARED TRACK TABLE --> NO TRACKS ARE SPARED < ADD, REMOVE. OR ·EXIT (A.R.E) NEW TRACK # TO SPARE ? A 17 ? --- SPARED TRACK TABLE --17 ADD. REMOVE. OR EXIT (A.R.E) TRACK # TO REMOVE ? R 17 ? --- SPARED TRACK TABLE --> NO TRACKS ARE SPARED < ADD, REMOVE. OR EXIT (A.
The Virtual Drive Offsets TASK v ? ALL CP/M BASED SYSTEMS CAN ADDRESS THE DRIVE AS ONE UNIT. THUS THE VDO TABLE SHOULD BE SET WITH AN OFFSET OF 0 FOR THE VIRTUAL DRIVE 1 --- VIRTUAL DRIVE/TRACK --OFFSET TABLE DRIVE TRACK 1 VIRTUAL DRIVE 1 VIRTUAL DRIVE 2 o : 0 :- Checking the virtual drive/track offset table (20 MB drives only) You should still be in the diagnostic program. Select the DRIVE PARAMETERS option. J After entering the drive #, you will set a display of the drive parameters.
Note: If your system does use these offsets for drive 2 - 8 then be sure to record the values used and restore these values whenever the drive is reformatted. If you use the wrong values later on, the data stored on the drive wiJ/ be addressed wrong and thus be unusable. Updating the virtual drive table (for 20 MB drives only) EXECUTING THIS OPTION WILL DESTROY DATA ON THE DRIVE. DO NOT PROCEED UNLESS YOU HAVE BACKED UP ALL DATA ON THE DRIVE. You should stiff be running the diagnostic program.
NOTES:
Chapter 4 WHERE DO YOU GO FROM HERE? The current Xerox 820 and Zenith Z89/H89 Corvus compatible product line consists of single user flat cable interface products only. Future enhancements will include Corvus Constellation and Omninet Network compatibility. ·In addition, add-on disk systems will be available which will allow up to 80 MB of mass storage connected to a single disk or network system.
