Thursday, 11 February 2021

Using SCSI2SD on RM Nimbus PC-286 / 386 M-Series via MCA SCSI Controller Card

  

Using SCSI2SD on RM Nimbus PC-186 is very easy-peasy with the help of RM Nimbus PN 12865 Issue 3 dual Floppy/HDD SCSI (SASI) Controller Card! But when it comes to RM Nimbus PC-286 / 386 M-Series? 

 

This is totally different ball game and the way of technology has changed with having MCA slots instead of ISA slots and having Integrated Fixed Disk Controller (@60E9.ADF) - see one of pic or this pic showing inside of RM Nimbus PC-386/20 with 72-pin edge connector at the back of HDD such as IBM WD-L40S from Interface on the bizarre PS/2 hard drive? or see both image 27 & image 48 from Cracking Open: IBM PS/2 Model-55sx | TechRepublic instead of RM Nimbus dual Floppy/HDD SCSI (SASI) Controller Card with 34-pin connector to 50-pin SCSI connector cable. If in any event, existing 72-pin IBM WD-L40 HDD have failed and not sure how to replace or repair these ancient HDDs? It's a shame that you can't use XT-IDE with or without CF Card to 3.5 Female 40 pin IDE Adapters, but it's not the end of the world. Instead, you can use SCSI2SD Adapter on your RM Nimbus PC-386, but how?

 

For that to happen, you'll need the following:

Note: One of the best MCA SCSI Controller cards from what I've found out on the Internet is Future Domain MCA SCSI Adapter, but there are two versions of them: Future Domain Fast SCSI-2 Adapter MCS-700 or IBM Fast SCSI-2 Adapter/A (IBM SCSI-2) like this one as shown in Tube Time on Twitter. You can purchase this same card from eBay: 71G3575 IBM MICROCHANNEL SCSI CONTROLLER - this is where I've purchased mine from. Either one will be fine as your RM Nimbus PC-386 M-Series is IBM Compatible and it'll work without any problems.

 

Using SCSI2SD Adapters have many advantages compared with using existing HDD such as nice and quiet operation, more reliable, much more bigger capacity as SCSI2SD supports up to 4 different (partitions) SCSI ID's, each using a different section of the SD card depending on which configuration setting used and much more. The list just goes on. 

 

Let's get started with programming your SCSI2SD Adapter by following Using SCSI2SD on RM Nimbus PC-186 instructions except choose any hard drive capacity by clicking on any RAR icons on the left hand side to download configuration settings for using with scsi2sd-util program and same SCSI2SD Firmware v4.6 from the table below that I've created e.g. selecting 450MB as the maximum size available per drive to get a total of 1.8GB in 4 HDD partitions on 2GB Micro-SD card! 

 

Using WinRAR software to extract the file and use it by clicking on File >  Open file... and select the XML file to load up my configuration settings and click [Save to device] without any more settings required!

  Capacity
(approx)		 Partition formatting
time (approx)		 Total
Capacity
40MB 4s 160MB
60MB 5.30s 240MB
 120MB 9.76s 480MB
160MB 12.96s 640MB
200MB 16.01s 800MB
327MB 25.56s 1.3GB
450MB 34.85s 1.8GB

Total capacity (approx) refers to when using all 4 partitions on SCSI2SD adapter, please beware when using MS-DOS versions either 4.0 or 5.0 supports hard drive partitions up to 2GB size limit otherwise you'll received error messages when trying to create much bigger capacity such as 500MB or above on all 4 partitions.  

 
  40MB (38.98M) Capacity Fixed Disk Drive Preparation Formatting 60MB (59.98M)  Drive
120MB (119.98M) Capacity Fixed Disk Drives Preparation
 
 
  160MB (159.98M) Capacity Fixed Disk Drives Preparation  
 
  200MB (199.98M) Capacity Fixed Disk Drives Preparation
 
 
  327MB (326.98M) Capacity Fixed Disk Drives Preparation  
Formatting 1.84 GB (1841.98M) Capacity Fixed Disk Drives / Error messages
 

After that, you'll need your copy of PC 286 386 Reference Disk PSetup Ver 3.00C PN 30421 (DSKA0000_30421.IMA) via USB stick, using WinImage software on your Windows PC to edit the image file and inject @60E9.ADF file into it, then save the image file.

 

When you're done, take both your SCSI2SD Adapter and USB stick containing modified copy of PC 286 386 Reference Disk PSetup Ver 3.00C PN 30421 with @60E9.ADF file added, putting them near your RM Nimbus PC-386 and starting removing the bottom cover and mainboard by removing the screws using Phillips screwdriver, similar to opening up Slimline PC-186 case by following page 2 and onwards from RM NIMBUS PC-186 Fitting the IBM Utility Card Booklet.


You'll have to disabled the existing IBM WD-L40 40MB HDD for good and leaving it disconnected by getting Integrated Fixed Disk Controller out of MCA slot, remove it if you can. Next, fit your IBM Personal System/2 SCSI-2 Adapter/A (see 1st pic as shown above, in this case I've ordered 2 of them for both RM Nimbus PC-386/20 (90) & RM Nimbus PC-386/20 (91)) into one of the spare MCA slots - for me, I've used slot 2 at the moment for testing / experimenting purposes and get it connected up to your SCSI2SD Adapter with customised 50way Ribbon Cable, finding a most suitable place for your SCSI2SD Adapter. But as for me, I've left the HDD disconnected inside base unit temporary until I've find a way to remove it completely and I've put SCSI2SD on top of HDD for now - see 1st pic as shown below.


Put your USB stick into Gotek drive and switch your RM Nimbus PC-386 on, pressing one of the buttons from Gotek drive to make sure it's set to '000' for loading up your PC 286 386 Reference Disk. From that point, you'll see how useful with Gotek drive really is in this situation, trust me you'll love it! While it's starting up, press ENTER to contniue, press ENTER again to select  Configure your computer (PSETUP), then press <TAB> key once and hopefully you'll see IBM Personal System/2 SCSI-2 Adapter/A listed in PSETUP Slot Setup screen as shown in 4th pic above, when it does show up, press F10, then press Y to save the changes. Press <ESC> and then press Y to quit to the main menu. Press <ESC> and then press <ENTER> to reset. 

 

While your PC reboots, press one of the buttons from Gotek drive again to make sure it's set to '001' this time for loading up your copy of PC 286 386 System Disk. After all the loading has done, change the directory on 'A' drive to DOS directory by typing: CD A:\DOS, press <ENTER> and then press one of the buttons from Gotek drive one more time to make sure it's set to '002' and type: FDISK, then enter.

 

When the FDISK Options screen comes up, press 5 to Change current fixed disk drive, you'll see 450Mbytes on Disk from 1-4, clear up any errors if necessary e.g. in Fixed Disk Drive Number 4 by deleting any unwanted partitions and select option 5 when you're done to see all the errors have been cleared up in Change Current Fixed Disk Drive screen as shown in 1st pic below.

Change Current Fixed Disk Drive screen

 Drive Configuration Formatting 450MB F:\ drive Booting from HDD - Successfully

When all the errors has been cleared, then you can start creating Primary DOS Partitions using maximum available size for each Fixed Disk Drive starting from Number 1-4. When you've done all that, select option 5 to make sure that you've Drive Letters from C-F, then press one of the buttons from Gotek drive again to make sure it's set to '001', from there, keep pressing <ESC> key until you see System will now restart..., then press any key to start the reboot.

 

While your PC rebooting, you'll see Drive configuration (as shown in 2nd pic above) with C-F on the screen, after all the loading has done, change the directory on 'A' drive to DOS directory by typing: CD A:\DOS then press <ENTER> and this time type: FORMAT C: /S, then <ENTER> key, press Y and then <ENTER> key again to start formatting your C: hard drive. 

 

Repeat the same step except this time type: format d: and press <ENTER>  then the 'Y' key and then <ENTER> again for formatting the D:\ drive. Then, repeat the same steps for Drives E: & F: All that is done including Format F: (as shown in 3rd pic above) is complete, just remove the USB Stick out of Gotek drive and pressing CTRL, ALT and DEL keys to reboot, allowing your RM Nimbus to boot from the hard drive - C: working perfectly when you see 'Enter new date (mm-dd-yy)' on the screen (as shown in 4th pic above), that's means your work is done successfully!! 

 

You can check all your drives have been successfully formatted by typing dir /w on each drive if you want. I don't know about you but I feel like transferring lots of files between computers right now!!

 

Update on 15/3/2021 07:01:

I've finally transferred all the files onto fresh, newly created 450MB HDD partition on RM Nimbus PC-386/20 (90) via RM Nimbus PC-386/20 Serial communication with Windows based PC from 40MB HDD back up copy (transferred onto SanDisk 2GB Micro-SD card via KiWiBiRD 3 in 1 - CF, SD & Micro SD USB 3.0 Card Reader) on e-Machines 320 PC running Windows 98 SE via Multi-boot Operating System facility.


All the files transferring between computers was very smooth operation without any problems and I was loving it every minute of it while I was typing up this blog on Dell XPS 8940 PC and catching up all my TV soaps from Sky Q mini box as well eating all at the same time.

 

It's a good thing that I've transferred all the files from 40MB HDD earlier (see pics as shown below) saving as back up copy (PC-386_20 40MB HDD - 1ST_eBay_bcc-148 - Previous.rar) via RM Nimbus PC-386/20 Serial communication to Windows based PC as mentioned in RM Nimbus PC-186 Serial Communication with Windows PC (see under Update on 9/12/2020 15:48) after I've purchased RM Nimbus PC-386/20 from eBay, just in case the existing IBM WD-L40 40MB HDD has failed later on - you'll never know. 

 

  

Update on 14/4/2021:

 

After Intel N80387SX-20 Maths Coprocessor has been installed and working very successfully as shown in 1st & 2nd pics below on both RM Nimbus PC-386/20's around 27th ‎March ‎2021, I've decided to move IBM Personal System/2 SCSI-2 Adapter/A - @60E9.ADF from Slot 2 to Slot 4 with IBM Expanded Memory Adapter 0-8MB XMA - @F7FE.ZIP on Slot 3 & 3Com Etherlink/MC Ethernet Adapter - @6042.ZIP on Slot 2 to have exactly the same setup as shown in both 3rd & 4th pics (taken from Gotek Floppy Emulator on RM Nimbus PC-386/20) below on both RM Nimbus PC-386/20's after ctesales (Brian) has cut me a deal with not only 2 x 3COM 3C523 ETHERLINK/MC ETHERNET MCA MICRO CHANNEL ADAPTER MCA-II ASSY 4233-08 Network cards, also with 1 x IBM XMA 0-8Mb Expanded Memory Adapter/A MCA, another IBM XMA 0-8Mb Expanded Memory Adapter/A MCA with OKI MSC2304-12YS9A 1.5MB RAM installed & IBM 1Mb 70Ns 30 Pin SIMM Lot of 4 for a total of US $317.43 (US $225.00 + P&P: US $33.47 & Import charges: US $58.96) and paid on my birthday at 4:28AM.

 

Update on 29/07/2021:

 

While Installing Microsoft Office 4.3 Professional after freshly installed Microsoft Windows for Workgroups 3.11 on one of RM Nimbus PC-386's using SCSI2SD and Gotek drive, I've find out the following:

 


Notes:

  • Not very good idea installing Microsoft Office 4.3 Professional on PC-386/20's as they are extremely very slow like 6h or 7hr+ for installing from 24 floppy discs!

  • While going through my computer hard drives around 15/4/23 04:20am, according to my one of my old City of Westminster College Paddington Green notes - PA1 & PA2 Documentation dated 20th January 1997, it was RM Nimbus PC-386/20 used in during Spreadsheets classes with RM Network Logon (RM Net LM 2.0) screen, saying "Switch on the computer. Wait for 45 seconds until the RM Network Logon is showed on the computer screen. Type your username 'CITUnn (station number'), then click 'Logon'. Wait for 23 seconds until the Program Manager is showed on the screen completely... ...PLEASE NOTE: THIS DOCUMENTATION IS BASED ON RM NIMBUS PC-386/20".


Update on 31/7/2021:

 

After changing both to Relocated memory: 384Kb & Pages Relocated: ABCDEF settings in PSETUP program from 09/12/2020 15:09 to get System RAM: 640K + Extended RAM: 1408K, making it to a total of 2MB onboard, have been experimenting with both RM Nimbus PC-386/20's to see roughly how much total memory can be installed using both IBM XMA 0-8Mb Expanded Memory Adapter/A MCA with 1.5MB RAM installed (just needed 2 more of either OKI MSC2304-12YS9A - 120ns or OKI MSC2304-15YS9A - 150ns to make it the full 14,336 KB - 14MB installed on RM Nimbus PC-386/20 - 93 from IBM Expanded Memory: 8MB [2MB installed * RM PC286/386 /4MB AOR Card] + RM PC286/386 /4MB AOR Card + 2MB onboard) and additional 2 x OKI MSC2304-15YS9A - 150ns.

RM Nimbus PC-386/20 (92) has been increased to 6,144 KB - 6MB from IBM Expanded Memory: 2MB installed using 8 x 256KB 30-pin SIMMs 150ns (OKI MSC2304-15YS9A) * 2MB onboard + 2MB onboard while RM Nimbus PC-386/20 (93) has been increased to 13,824 KB - 13.5MB from IBM Expanded Memory: 7.5MB (1.5MB installed using 6 x OKI MSC2304-12YS9A * RM PC286/386 /4MB AOR Card + 1MB onboard) + RM PC286/386 /4MB AOR Card + 2MB onboard whilst ordering 2 x 3COM ETHERLINK III 3C509B-C COMBO 10MBPS ISA for £86.38 (£57.98 + P&P: £14.00 + VAT * £14.40) for both RM 4100 - PCI Accelerator 486 DX4 100 & RM Window Box PC6400 but it didn't happened as the Seller has changed his mind at the last minute as well ordering 6 x OKI MSC2304-15YS9A for RM Nimbus PC-386/20 (92).

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