--- In NorthStar_Computers@yahoogroups.com, "brianties" <btt@...>
wrote:
>
> I just acquired a really nice N* horizon with 64k ram. Had to
make a
> small repair when a tantalum capacitor exploded. However, I
replaced
> it, and I am ready to test. Problem is, none of the tools out
there
> are going to get me anywhere without n*dos or a PROM monitor.
Would
> anyone out there be willing to sell me a boot disk? I should be
able
> to transfer anything I want from that point forward.
>
> Thanks for any help,
> -Brian
>

Hi Brian,
Welcome to the group! I acquired my Northstar Horizon about a year
ago and had the same problem. Dave Dunfield's simulator is a must
have and is great to transfer disks with. However, you cannot
transfer disks with it unless you have a Northstar dos boot disk to
start with! You could use a monitor in ROM to do the initial
transfer of the NST stub program in order to make your own boot disk
but I don't know of any available. Also you would probably need to
modify it anyway for your own I/O. If you can modify the I/O
routines then you can probably write your own monitor but then you
would still need a ROM card to be able to use it. Very frustrating!
Usually the only ROM in a basic Northstar Horizon is a small program
to boot the floppy. It's a classic Chicken and Egg story. You need a
chicken (Northstar running a monitor program) in order to make an
egg (a boot disk) but in order to make the chicken you need the
egg!!

Now for the good news. Andrew came to my rescue with boot disks when
I needed them. Now it's my turn to help. I can and will make the
boot disks you need. I have a working hard sector disk punch and can
make 10 and 16 sector disks from soft sector disks. The disks I make
are identical to factory made 10 and 16 sector disks and work
perfectly. Media is not a problem for me. I can make you a NorthStar
DOS Boot disk and a CP/M Boot disk. You need to be careful with CP/M
disks because CP/M can be set up for fast disk access (stepping) or
normal disk access. If the CP/M you are trying to boot is set up for
fast disk access and your drives can't handle it you will have all
kinds of weird things happen. You will think (as I did) your
hardware or memory is bad. Some programs load while others do not.
The directory may look fine but the file names are not correct or
have illegal characters. The CP/M disk I send will be set for normal
stepping. Please let me know if you still need boot disks. If so,
also let me know what disk controller you have so I can make the
correct disks.

Steve