From: jewison@aurora.physics.utoronto.ca (Mike Jewison)
Subject: Re: IBM 360K Drive Mechs/Percom Controllers
Organization: University of Toronto Dept. of Astronomy
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 16:01:28 GMT

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Ah, stupid me.  I post this article and them almost immediately accidentally
cancel it.  I thought I'd better post it again; if you receive it twice, my
apologies.

- Mike

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In article <1992Aug13.012124.29183@news.ysu.edu> ab588@yfn.ysu.edu (joseph sabatino) writes:
>
>Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou, Ben, for this info...I was depressed
>about the fact that mine would not read both sides.. I have an 
>RFD series Percom.  I don't think it is double sided..from my tests of
>IBM 5 1/4 and 3 1/2 drives.

Joe,

I've got a Percom RFD-44S1 and it's most definitely double sided.  In fact,
I have managed to snarf a currently unused 360k mechanism from work and can
format it double sided off the slave port out the back of the Percom box.  If
your RFD won't work double sided there may be a bad chip on it.  I know when I
first got my Percom back in 1983-4(?) the WD 1795 controller chip was flaky.
It would do DS just fine until it heated up (after about half an hour).  After
that DS wouldn't work worth s**t, but SS was OK.

Anyway, guys, I've done some digging, and I have discovered some information
regarding Percom supplies.  Some of this is old news, some of this I found
this morning after making a couple of phone calls.

Old News:

Some time around 1985 Percom dumped all support for the classics (sound 
familiar?).  At that time Computer Service Land, in Chantilly, VA, obtained
whatever necessary rights from them to become *THE* authorized Percom repair 
depot/supplier.  I know this because I purchased an upgraded ROM from them for 
my Percom RFD drive in 1987.  I called them this morning to see if they are
still in the business of supporting Percoms and the answer, surprisingly enough,
was "No".  However....

New news:

Around two years ago, CSL sold their entire Percom inventory to an individual by
the name of Robert Burtt.  I called Robert this morning to try and get a feel
for what he has on hand.  Before I give you the list, let me add this caveat.
He does not repair Percom drives, so please don't send him any.  He doesn't
have a list (except in his head) of what parts he's got on hand, but if you
call him with a specific request he will know whether or not he can help you.

That said, here's a rough list of some of the things he's got:

          Drive cases/power supplies
          Drive mechanisms
          Controller boards (both the AT88-SPD and RFD)
          Cans of Percom drive case paint (believe it or not)
          Generic 8-bit stuff (he wasn't specific)

Most of the boards he has are only partly populated.  If you would like to buy 
a board and don't mind looking for the missing parts yourself, he indicated
that he would sell these at a fairly reasonable price.  To get a fully 
functioning, tested, board would take a lot more time and likely cost you a 
few more bucks.

I asked him if the source code for the ROMs was available.  He said he thought
he might be able to find a copy of it somewhere, but that it would be on an 
Apple // format disk, since Percom did all their development for the ROM on 
Apples.  I personally think it might be kinda neat for one of you ML gurus to 
get hold of this and try to add UltraSpeed capabilities (if possible) to the 
Percoms.

Here is how you may get hold of him:

   Robert Burtt
   (703) 641-9764  (between noon and 10pm EDT, please.  This is a home number.)

Sorry, it didn't occur to me to get a mailing address.

I hope you find this information useful.  I know I did.

- Mike Jewison
  David Dunlap Observatory
  University of Toronto
  jewison@centaur.astro.utoronto.ca

     *** DISCLAIMER:  I'm not an astronomer, but I play one on TV. ***