Oric, cassette recorder and disk drive questions

If you want to ask questions about how the machine works, peculiar details, the differences between models, here it is !
How to program the oric hardware (VIA, FDC, ...) is also welcome.
Panzerdragoon
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Oric, cassette recorder and disk drive questions

Post by Panzerdragoon »

Hello i m new here,

i have for view weeks buy a Oric Atmos on an junk market (in Germany).
I have 3 questions, i will connect the Oric to a cassette recorder i need
a cassette recorder and a cable. I have two links for this:

http://www.elta.de/productinfos/5001n.pdf

http://cgi.ebay.de/Midikabel-5m-5-polig ... dZViewItem

Are this the right recorder and the right cabel to connect ????????

And the next question, wich Disk Drive can i use for Oric ?? I m not sure,
need i a interface to connect a Disk Drive ???

It is possible to buy a RBG-Cable ??

Sorry for my English that is not so good.
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Dbug
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Re: Oric, cassette recorder and disk drive questions

Post by Dbug »

Hi :)
Panzerdragoon wrote:i will connect the Oric to a cassette recorder i need a cassette recorder and a cable.
Well, you don't have to use a cassette recorder.
Technically you can connect the Oric to anything that can output audio, like a mp3 player or a pc.

You can easily do the cable yourself, just look at the pin-out on the following page:
http://www.48katmos.freeuk.com/ports.htm

For the links you gave, beware, sure it uses the same kind of DIN connector as used on a midi-cable, but it is not the same connection inside.

Really, try to do your own cable, it will be easier, or find a standard DIN to jack/jack as was used on the old tape recorders :)
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Symoon
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Post by Symoon »

Hi,

Try these, apparently OK to connect to a recorder, or to your PC (but the cable seems rather short though ;))
Double check, the picture is not very clear.
http://cgi.ebay.fr/Audiokabel-5-polig-m ... 240%3A1318
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Twilighte
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Post by Twilighte »

Oric Disk drives are becoming almost as rare as Rocking horse manure. Well actually not the drives themselves but the interface.
You need an interface board which sits between the Oric expansion port and up to 4 drives. The interface board supports 3", 3.5" or 5.25" but 3.5" are most common these days.
Unfortunately the interface board is difficult to find. I have lots of them but they are unpopulated. And whilst they take alot of discrete components readily available off the shelves of Electronic stockists some of the chips are more difficult to find.
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Post by highwayman »

what interface are your pcb's for?
i can get a lot of old chips - i may be able to help.
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Xeron
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Post by Xeron »

Hmm ... someone needs to come up with a new interface board. You could probably do it with a microcontroller and some glue logic.
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Post by carlsson »

As for the cassette cable, I have found the one used with Acorn BBC and Electron to be identical (?) with the Oric pinout. I'm not sure if it helps you any.

I seem to remember the US computers like TRS-80, IBM PC (!) and PCjr use a 5-pin DIN cable but I'm not sure the important pins are in the same positions as on the Oric/Acorn ones.
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Post by Panzerdragoon »

Thanks for all nice answers :) !!

A friend from me build me the two cabels. Then i can start with my Oric.
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carlsson
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Post by carlsson »

Which kind of RGB (SCART I assume) cable did your friend make? As far as I remember there has been some argumentation over the years which is the best and most reliable way to do it.
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ibisum
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Post by ibisum »

I'm also very interested in this subject as my Oric ATMOS just arrived in the mail (YAY, I finally got the upgrade I've wanted since I was a teenager!)

So I think I will make the cables to rig up my Oric to an MP3 player which will have as many .WAV files as I can find .. but if there is a way to get the floppy interface working, I'd be very happy to do that ..

Twilighte - I'd be very happy to buy one of the unpopulated boards from you and make the interface myself .. is this something you are willing to sell? Please PM me and let me know ..
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Twilighte
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Post by Twilighte »

Ibisum wrote:Twilighte - I'd be very happy to buy one of the unpopulated boards from you and make the interface myself .. is this something you are willing to sell? Please PM me and let me know ..
Yes, i can let you have a board but i need your snail mail address and money for postage. Let me know if you are still interested.
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ibisum
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Post by ibisum »

I got the board you sent me, Twilighte! :) (Making too much noise about it on the boards, I know, I know..)

One thing: any chance you have a digital parts list available? I've been looking everywhere but I can't seem to find the list I had saved in anticipation of the day this board arrived .. :(
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Post by waskol »

ibisum wrote:I got the board you sent me, Twilighte! :) (Making too much noise about it on the boards, I know, I know..)

One thing: any chance you have a digital parts list available? I've been looking everywhere but I can't seem to find the list I had saved in anticipation of the day this board arrived .. :(
Maybe could you rebuild your list from the cumana controller schematics available here :
http://www.48katmos.freeuk.com/projects.htm
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ibisum
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Post by ibisum »

waskol wrote:Maybe could you rebuild your list from the cumana controller schematics available here :
http://www.48katmos.freeuk.com/projects.htm
Yeah, looks like a good way to go about getting this complete list made up .. thanks for the tip.

If anyone has one of these Cumana boards already working, it'd be really, really helpful if we could just get a scan of the board (both sides) on a flatbed scanner, so that I can easily find the exact components online .. I don't know anyone with this Cumana interface yet, but if someone reading this message has it, and has the time to do so, it'd be really helpful. I will of course be documenting my progress with getting my PCB built and booted up, and I hope it will help future Oric'ians who want to get a disc interface for their systems too ..
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waskol
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Post by waskol »

There is also the Jasmin2 controller board schematics in an issue of Theoric magazine (issue n°22 orecisely) :
Image

link to full size
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