[Note: this is heavily edited version of CONFER.043 of 1985 devoted to
  discussion of the Chipmunk portable disk drive.
  See CONFER.PCG (formerly CONFER.084) for discussion of other PCSG products.
    Both CONFER.043 & 084 of 1985 have been deleted from the Data Library.]

Edited transcript of Chipmunk conference.
 Cast of CHR$: "L Holmes" = Larry Holmes, developer and manufacturer of the
 Chipmunk Portable Disk Drive; "MICHAEL STANFORD" = Sam Redman and Michael
 Stanford of Portable Computer Support Group, CDOS and software specialists
 for the Model 100 and Chipmunk; "MIKE, PCSG" = Mike Anders, who will be the
 principal representative of PCSG on the Model 100 SIG.

10:56:19 AM EDT Sunday, April 28, 1985

(WALT S.) Can a disk be in the drive at power up/down?  Which end of cable
 should be disconnected, disk drive end or computer end, or doesn't matter?
(L Holmes) Actually, the drive is powering up and down constantly; before and
 after each disk access for example. It is NOT a good idea to have a good disk
 in the drive when you turn the power switch on or off; you could lose a disk
 that way!--Doesn't matter which end of cable you disconnect; whatever is
 convenient.


(MIKE, PCSG) I'm using my M200 today.   What's involved in changeover
(L Holmes) Hardware: you need a new cable/plug/hostadapter assembly..
 software needs to be changed also--PCSG is working on that but right now
 we have agreed that the bundled software should be done first.

(WALT S.) Which should be turned on first, computer or disk drive.....PCSG I
 agree with Ed about software but I would like to be involed in Beta testing
(L Holmes) Just a gentle but firm reminder: beta testing means that you get a
 product almost guaranteed to have at least one bug, maybe more.  Make sure
 you can handle that before you get involved.  As far as I know it doesn't
 matter which you turn on first, drive or computer, but for the record,
 I would turn on the drive first.

(Maddi) Some time ago there was mention of developing the capability of adding
 a 2nd Chipper drive. How is that coming?
(L Holmes) The Chipmunk CDOS is already capable of handling two drives...all
 that is required is a two-drive adapter, which has been designed and
 de-bugged. we are just waiting for all the parts to come in, then we will be
 ready to start producing.  My guess though is that it will take anaother
 3-4 weeks before it all comes together.

(Ed R) PCSG, do I call Dallas to help you in beta testing?  Also, will you
 comment on pricing of bundled software and possibility of pricing items
 seperatly for us "pioneers".
(MICHAEL STANFORD) Yes, call us in Dallas to get hold of pre release stuff.
 It is unlikely that we will 'unbundle' the six programs simply because we
 would have to price them so high seperately.  It really is a very good deal
 for them all to be available at such a low cost, and we could not do that if
 they were to be split up.

(DaveW.) My question has to do with technical documentation. Are there any
 plans to make available schematics for the drive and commented disassamblies
 for the software? I would be willing to pay additional for such information.
(L Holmes) I'll comment on schematics and pass disassemblies question to PCSG
 in a min. We cannot make schematics available at this time.  To do so would
 give our competitors the ability to cash in on the hundreds of thousands of
 dollars of research we spent on the design of the hardware, and we can't do
 that the design is a bit unique and must be protected.
(MICHAEL STANFORD) Larry's comments apply equally to the software

(TED R.) I left the power on a few times by mistake, will this hurt the
 batteries or does the chipmunk disconnect from them at a low battery level?
(L Holmes) The chipmunk does not acutally disconnect at low battey but it does
 drop to low power consumption state.  It does not hurt the batteries to be
 discharged fully, though they might begin to resent it after a hundred such
 cycles or more!  In other words, try not to leave it on but if you do, just
 re-charge them for 24 hours (you can use it in between-just make sure there
 is a long charge time within a couple of days after the total discharge
 occurs).  The batteries are not as fragile as we once thought
 according to the people who supply them to us (General Electric).

(Ed R) PCSG, any plans for an M/L single drive backup utility from you? 
 How can other programmers write M/L programs if you don't provide some
 limited knowledge or hooks into CDOS?
(MICHAEL STANFORD) It is very easy to write ML for the chipmunk. The way to
 implement it is to use the BASIC hooks left by Suzuki et al. For the disk
 routines unimplemented in the Standard ROM.
(L Holmes) There is some info in DL (4?) about how to write M/L routines with
 the 'munk; the first person to work on the chipmunk CDOS, Don Corbitt, put it
 there. it may not be 100% correct, but it is close enough for a reasonably
 good m/l programmer to figure out what he wants to do.  It tells how to
 write and read through CDSO, etc., using the hooks Micahel/PCSG mentions.
(Sysop .^Dave^.) The file is CDOSML.INF in DL4.

(HowardC) is the software package in Basic or machine language?
(MICHAEL STANFORD) Most of it is in BASIC. Extended Disk BASIC, of course. 
 You can look at the code and use it as examples for your own code for maore
 rapid learning. But some stuff had to be in ML, notably the Telcom extensions

(Ron J) did you discuss how to ECHO to Chipmunk from TELCOM COnference?
(MICHAEL STANFORD) The way the telcom extension works is just like regular
 Telcom, but when you press Up or Down you are able to put a disk specifier in
 the filename. If you happen to have a disk file that is too big to fit in M100
 memory, there is a very rapid utility to split it up into multiple disk files.
(Ron J) I just did DOWN (F2):0:file and got "download aborted"!
(MICHAEL STANFORD) You need the Telcom extension software from us

(DaveW.) There is a way to download to munk while on line using software in
 this Sig, the program to use is TERM.MR1 in DL4. this does a very good job
 but disk access time can be speeded up by two methods; one which I am using is
 a mod to the program to store incoming to a RAM file and transfer to the disk
 when memory is full; the other would of course be a machine language approach
 such as PCSG is employing.

(DaveW.) I occationally get a low pitch squeek from my munk which used to be a
 warning of possible CRC error coming. Is this a problem or meerly a nuisance?
(L Holmes) The squeak is definitely not normal if I understand you correctly,
 if it is a mechanical noise that is.  Now, the power supply in the 'munk is a
 "switcher" running at 90,000 cycles per second.  When the batteries start to
 "die off", they go VERY fast (fall 2-3 volts in 30 seconds!) and the power
 supply may start to "whine" at an audible pitch when the batteries aresping
 and wheezing.  I suspect this is the noise you are hearing and is perhaps an
 unintended bonus for you!  At least you have a way of knowing that you'd
 better stop and charge the batteries!  Did I understand your question
 correctly Dave W?
(DaveW.) The squeek I hear is very LOW pitch and appears to be when the head is
 moving to a new possition. Maybe a grinding type noise but reverberates and
 vibrates case.
(L Holmes) OK, now I know what you mean, situation is still the same: your
 batteries are very low and need to be re-charged.  At this point, though, your
 low battery light oought to be glowing bright red.  Is it?
(DaveW.) It does come on when accessing the disk then goes back of when access
 is finished. I keep charger on all the time.
(L Holmes) Maybe you should talk to our service dept. via phone, write, or
 just send your 'munk back for service if you wish....could be a number of
 problems.

(WALT S.) What about compatibility with RAM extesions for exampe, it look slike
 the PG DEsign 32K unit fits in the same place as the 'munk circuit board in
 the bottom of the M100. And the same for the PCSG 64K
(MICHAEL STANFORD) We are not familiar with the PG design 32k but believe it
 does not provde provision for other devices to be attached to the bus at the
 same time.  The Cryptronics/PCSG 64k RAM does have such a provision, and both
 it and the Chipmunk can be connected simultaneously. It does, however require
 a minor modificttion to the Chipmunk header board to work in banks 2 and 3,
 though it works in bank 1 out of the box.  The modified header board is
 available from us.

(JIM K) for all of us non-techies out here, why should i invest in a munk
 versus the  bubble product i read about somewhere in this sig?
(L Holmes) The bubble memory product has ultimately the same limitation as
 add-in RAM; once you fill it up (and you will fill it up quickly I can
 promise!), you must start to delete files to make room for more.  With the
 chipmunk, all you do is put in another $5 disk and you have another 36K of
 storage.  Add to that....
(MICHAEL STANFORD) 360k
(L Holmes) oops..thanks Michael....
 the high cost of the bubble and it becomes obvious that the chipmunk
 is more cost effective.  In very harsh envoirnments the bubble may be
 the choice, but in those envoirnments, I would not use a Model 100 anyway!
(MICHAEL STANFORD) There is no question that disk drive storage is superior for
 the vast majority of applications.  Bubble memory conventionally has
 application, as larry says, only in harsh environment conditions, mainly
 military applications

(HowardC) Is there a way in the Telcom software to up or download:
 (1) bypassing the LCD to go faster with faster modems, and
 (2) to up/down load thru the 232 port to other computers --
 hardwired, including binary (nontext) files?
(MICHAEL STANFORD) In answer tio question 2.
 The 232 port is accessable from TELCOM simply by chaging your stats (F3).
 Binary files have certain characters stripped and can cause problems with such
 as ascii 3 and 18. The best solution for transfer of binary files from one
 PC to another is DISK+, our ROM program.

(MIKE, PCSG) Just adding to Larry's comments: specs I've compared show the
 bubble is also slower than the 'munk, at least in data transfer speed
 10K bytes per second compared to 8K. 

(Maddi) Larry, XMODEM.312, as well as TERM, can also handle to disk;
 PG64K also gets around the attachment problem; Have you tried SMART.CHP yet?
(L Holmes) yes, I have used SMART.CHP and it worked just fine--until the sig
 software changed...it is back to SMART compatible format now so should work
 fine.  That, coupled with 1200 baud modem, makes the pocket-book happier
 now!..you did good job.
(Maddi) Never had trouble with SMART.DVI with temp. new & old software.

(MIKE, PCSG) the 64K RAM now is fully compatible with the 'munk

(Sysop Tony) Relating to the subject way back when. The PGDesign expansion uses
 a different expansion plug, so the Chipmunk adapter is not directly
 "Mate-able". Peter says he is working on adapter cables for the Chipmunk and
 DVI which will allow use of those devices.

(MERLE D) Is there any chance the pcsg will start supporting 8201 or 8401?
(MICHAEL STANFORD) yes
(L Holmes) Holmes is also considering supporting the NEC with new products.
 the 'munk is not easily adapted to the NEC as it is not much like the M-100
 in the way it interfaces to peripherals or in software. Should also mention
 that the Chipmunl runs on the Olivetti M-10 U.S. version, requires a new CDOS
 ROM and cable and does not use a 'host adapter". function is identical to
 M-100 Chipmunk in every way....bundled software is NOT currently available
 for it though.

1:35:45 PM EDT Sunday, April 28, 1985