Hopefully this page will help with getting this project up and running.
Equipment Required
You will also need a fine tipped soldering iron and fine solder for fitting the surface mount components.
(* the Dealer Software is intended to be run on a Master Computer, you can run it on a BBC B if you have a coprocessor and V4 BASIC fitted.)
Order of Testing
I would suggest the following order for testing:
Backplane and Power Supply
Obviously the first board you will need is a Backplane, you can use the specific FileStore 4 or 5-slot backplane or an unbuffered System Backplane if you already have one in a rack.
If using the FileStore Backplane then the two pads at one end labeled +5V and 0V are intended for the power supply connection but you can also use the 4-pin connector J6.
FileStore E01E only requires +5V unless you are attaching a real SCSI drive. Typically the CPU, Econet and FDC Boards draw about 500mA at 5V. If you add a couple of 3.5" drives then these typically require between 250mA and 1A so something like a 3A power supply should be sufficient.
Before plugging in any of the Eurocards its worth making a quick check that you have +5V at pin 1 with 0V at pin 32 on one of the DIN sockets, it would be a shame to plug in the CPU card and then find its the other way around !
CPU Board
If you've not fitted front panels to the CPU Board yet then its useful to attach a push switch to Reset (either SK2a on the CPU or J7 on the Backplane) and a toggle switch to FSMode (SK2b on the CPU or J8 on the Backplane). Also remove (or don't fit yet) LK1 and 2.
When the processor is reset it broadly carries out the following activities:
(a lot of other stuff happens but these are the significant things to know about for testing)
Power-up the board, I would expect the current to be no more than 100mA, you can then make a couple of basic processor checks:
The Mode LED is driven by the FDC Latch so can't be seen yet however if you monitor IC13 pin 12 FDC Latch you should see a low going pulse at start-up which confirms the FileStore firmware is running and attempting to write to the latch.
Then monitor IC19 pin 9 (EPROM CE), approximately 200mS after RESET this should go high signaling completion of the EPROM copy to RAM.
If these events don't occur then you need to check around the EPROM (address, data bus etc.), is it programmed correctly ?
Next fit the two links LK1 and 2, this will enable and charge the battery. Whilst the battery is charging monitor TP1 and adjust C3 for a 1024Hz clock.
Once the battery has had a little time to charge monitor IC1 pin 24, this should be at almost +5V. Switch off the power supply and pin 24 should hold at around 3.5V confirming the battery is working.
That's about all you can do at this stage.
(Don't forget to remove LK1 'Boost' to prevent damage to the battery)
Econet Board
You can now add the Econet Board. LK1 should be fitted in the 'Mono' position and again if you don't yet have a front panel fitted connect an LED across SK2.
Connect up the Econet clock source and FileStore Econet Board.
Switch on, the current will have jumped up to around 200mA.
The Econet Clock Status LED attached to SK2 should come ON, this confirms that the ADLC (IC1) is running and that the 65C22 (IC31) on the CPU Board is also working as that is where the Clock Status signal is derived.
At this stage you will not be able to log-on to the FileStore (i.e. with I AM SYST) however if you load up the FileStore Dealer Test Software you can run some checks (FileStore default adddress is 0.254).
You will not be able to use the main menu as this tries to log-on, just CHAIN "FServTest" (CHAIN "FSTEST" on the .ssd version) and try out the following options:
'T' the Real time clock test will not work as it uses the E01S Econet clock circuit which is not included in the E01E.
That concludes Econet testing.
FDC Board
Fit the FDC Board but for the moment no drives are required.
Ensure LK100 is fitted then monitor TP2 and switch on. Remove LK100 and there should be a clock present at TP2, adjust C11 for 250kHz, the floppy interface is then set-up.
The first challenge is to create a new disk image for the FileStore, this is straight forward for a GOTEK just copy the files from the FileStore FDC Page to a new USB memory stick. To create 3.5" floppy disk(s) requires a PC running OMNIFLOP (I used OMNIFLOP32 V3.0 running on a Windows XP machine).
I first formatted the disks on the Master Computer using the Welcome Disk formatter and then copied FileStore New Disc Image.img (this is the same as FileStore New Disc Image.adl just with a different extension) to the disk with OMNIFLOP using file format '80/2/16x256 Acorn ADFS L (conventional heads) 640kB'. You must use DD disks i.e. those with a single hole and not HD (with two holes).
If you're using GOTEKs then you will next need to program the processors, this is described here on the FileStore FDC Page. You can then plug-in USB memory stick(s) configured as described here on the FileStore FDC Page.
If using floppy drives then you can now fit either one or two 3.5" floppy drives. Only use a straight 34-way ribbon cable and not a PC type twisted type. Most 3.5" drives are set to be drive 1 and are typically not fitted with links to change this, you may need to resort to finding technical manuals online and then removing soldered links to make a drive 0. I have successfully used Sony MPF920-E and Alps DF354H, both required solder links to be changed.
You're then ready to go, connect the drive to the FDC Board and power-up the FileStore (with the FSMode switch in the closed, 'User' position).
The Red LED will light up, after more than 10 seconds the LED will go our and Drive 4 will be accessed followed by Drive 5 and then Drive 4 again. If all is well the Red LED will remain off.
You should then be able to connect to the FileStore with the command '*I AM SYST'.
SCSI Board
When used in a FileStore you do not need to fit any of the components associated with the 1MHz Bus interface, those with 200 series ref numbers i.e.IC200, J200, R200-202 however you must always fit R200 and R201.
Fit LK200 and 201 in the FS positions. You do not need to provide power via J201.
Then it depends if you are using a real Winchester drive or BeebSCSI.
Note: you cannot mix a real drive and BeebSCSI !
SCSI Board (Winchester Drive)
You need to fit PL1 and 220/330R terminating resistors for RP1a-d. Obviously none of the components associated with IC100 should be fitted.
I have not actually connected a Winchester drive to the board in FileStore configuration only as a Host Adapter connected to a BBC, you will need to use the tools on the Dealer Test Software Disk to format the drive.
SCSI Board (BeebSCSI)
You only need to fit 10K pull-ups resistors for RP1a and c.
If you have one of the boards supplied with the CPU already fitted then this will already be programmed ready to go. If not then the first thing is to program the AVR (IC100), this is carried out using JTAG via J102. I use a PICKit4 interface and the Microchip/Atmel MPLAB IPE package. Probably best to use the Debug version of the code, at least to start with, as it provides extensive messaging via the console.
Connect a 5V FTDI USB serial interface to J100 to see the debug messages (57600 baud)
You then just need a FAT32 formatted SD Card to copy the SCSI images files to and you're good to go (described on the FileStore SCSI page).