Getting the 1600 running

[DJ Sures]

Hey gang - I'm going to get my NABU 1600 running. But I have a few questions to educate myself on this old hardware.

First, the mass storage device unit is mentioned in the documentation as having a built-in hard disk drive controller (wd-1001). Is there a "retro vintage" device that emulates the wd-1001 that I can connect to the "hard disk drive" connector on the rear of the computer?

There is no mention of an external floppy controller, so I'm guessing it is onboard the nabu CPU? I haven't opened it up to examine yet, other than taking a quick peek to see if any chips are missing. She all looks good. So I'm guessing any 5 1/4 double-density mfm drive would work if I wired up the correct connector.

[DJ Sures]

Oh so it does look like the CPU contains the floppy disk drive controller onboard - I'll only need to wire a cable from a floppy drive to the plug on the rear.

[DJ Sures]

The floppy emulator will need to support the Tandon TM 100-4 (a popular drive). Does anyone have floppy emu experiences to share?

[LeoBinkowski]

So, the development NABU PC used the MSU from the NABU 1600.

This is the unit which is actually a cabserve unit.

I have two of the Tandon TM-100-4,

but only one of the Seagate Hard drives.

Do you want pictures of it's innards? It's currently bagged up in storage because I haven't been able to do anything with it.

[snuci]

DJ, if you have good pictures of the Nabu 1600 motherboard, we can see if there is a floppy disk controller chip set on the board. It's also possible that Leo's MSU has a "floppy out" port that connects to the 1600 but I would otherwise think that the floppy disk controller is onboard.

[DJ Sures]

DJ, if you have good pictures of the Nabu 1600 motherboard, we can see if there is a floppy disk controller chip set on the board. It's also possible that Leo's MSU has a "floppy out" port that connects to the 1600 but I would otherwise think that the floppy disk controller is onboard.

Thanks dude. There's another post I did after this where i booted it and dove in a bit further here: viewtopic.php?t=52

I ordered a drive emulator that leo sent me which he uses. Santo told advised him on that. There is a floppy controller onboard, but no harddrive controller.

The connection expects to connect to an external wd1001. I found a few wd1001's on ebay, so i might order one because the pinout from the 1600 is direct to the wd1001. Although, reading the datasheet shows it might not be to hard to emulate.

[snuci]

Hi DJ,

I was fortunate enough to find a Nabu 1600 so I'll also see what it can do. The one I am getting (hasn't arrived yet) does not have an MMU board like yours does. It also does not have the internal memory expansion board so mine is just a stock 1600 from what I can see.

in the meantime, I'm looking into cables for the floppy drive and the WD1001 controller (possibly).

Did you get any further? I don't know if mine works at all so if it does, perhaps we can work together to make these work, if you have time? We will probably need Leo's help, as usual I see Hugh here also has one. Perhaps he can dust his off and we can figure this thing out.

Santo