Greetings. I have recently acquired a Laser 128 - new case, non-silver badge. I'm running Laser 128 ROM 6.0. I have an external 5.25" drive set up and it works fine. I'm very familiar with Apple in general as a user, but not with regards to a technical/electronics level. That being said, I'm trying to learn, but I'm a slow study. One of my rare but most cherished success stories is how easy it was to connect ADTPro to my iMac. That is giving me a lot of opportunity to play while I tackle the punch list below.
I've had this system working now for about 2 months. Very happy with it, but ready to take it to the next level. Here are the current issues I'm having, and I am hoping that someone can help guide me on any or all of my quests.
1) Would like to get a digital output to my VGA monitor. Currently running composite to it via a Mini AV 2VGA adapter. Works OK, but I would like a cripser display. I know that there are some products out there, but most are very expensive. Any affordable solutions that I may be able to pin together myself? I am aware of the TangyPack HDMI VGA converter that is designed for the IIc that plugs in, but I don't think that it pulls in the true digital RGB that the Laser explicitly has vs the composite output of the IIc.
2) Can't seem to boot from an SD card to save my butt. I think my solution is Floppy EMU - of course the most expensive option out there, but after all I've spent already, I should have just taken this route to begin with. Here's what I've done so far: Bought SDisk ][. It failed on me, and I received a refund from seller. Bought wDrive. I have power to it, but I guess the Laser 128 isn't SmartPort compatible, so I can't boot off of it. I tried BMOW's switcher, but it didn't work - even with advice from their page specific to the Laser 128. Maybe I just have to buy the Floppy EMU? Right now, the wDrive is Daisychained to the back of my 5 1/4" drive. All that does is provide it with power so I can scroll though the directory menu. Interestingly it lights up and numbers flash whenever my internal is operating.
3) I have a PS/2 Mouse. I bought a PS/2 to female DB9 converter. Bought a M/M adapter to connect it to the mouse port. It doesn't work. Do I need a NULL M/M instead?
4) How can I download my ROM 6.0 so I can save it for posterity and/or use it in an emulator?
Thanks all!
1. The Laser 128EX outputs digital RGBI, so you'll need a RGBI to VGA/HDMI converter. The display port only includes a subset of the IIc display port signals in order to support the LCD display. My guess is that RBG/HDMI converters designed for the IIc would not work (The COLORREF signal is missing).
2. There are two switches inside of the machine that control whether Slots 5 and 7 are mapped to the external expansion port or the internal firmware. You'll want to make sure they're set to internal.
BMOW did a deep dive into the Laser Universal Disk Controller, which is built into the Laser 128EX. You may want to review this thread, but here are some points:
So, make sure the slot 5/7 switches are set correctly, connect your wDrive directly to the machine, configure the wDrive emulate a 3.5" drive with .woz image, then try to boot from slot 5 or 7.
3. I don't think a PS/2 mouse will work. The DB9 adapter converts it into a PC serial mouse, which is not supported by the IIc or Laser 128.
4. To dump your ROM, see this project: https://github.com/rharke/laser128romdumper
Thanks for the reply. I have skimmed through the UDC page you referenced and just paid it a bit closer attention. With the box showing a physical card, I just assumed it was a discussion about the card. Now I'm not quite sure if the ROM version they are talking about is for the Laser 128 or specifically located on the UDC. I'm still unclear if CPU ROM variations would even make a difference on the baseline 128.
BTW, I did ensure the switches are both on internal.
When I have the Switcher installed, it does see the wDrive in slot 7, but I can't seem to access it. Have not tied to boot a WOZ file, but id rather be able to boot DSK files. That would answer some questions for sure though. When I get home I'll try that next.
I found doing cga to hdmi with the laser128 was only OK. I only liked the output of it to a certain CRT I had which supported the ttl rgb. The handling of it thru converters left much to be desired.
Ultimately for VGA, I used the a2heaven slot expander and a briel vga card with iie firmware, it worked excellently. And it left a slot for a Yellowstone or another expansion.
I sold and serviced a lot of Laser 128's back in the day and I concur with earlier responses in this thread. The wDrive should work on the 128. I wonder if the DiskSwitcher is doing something unexpected. I have never tried to boot the wDrive using the DiskSwitcher.
Just out of curiousity, if you remove the external 5.25" drive, does the wDrive work properly as S6,D2? As I recall, you could daisy chain 5.25 drives to 3.5 drives, but not the other way around and you could only hook up one external drive of the same size as your internal drive. My EX/2 with ROM 6.x has an internal 3.5 and I hve booted a single wDrive using PR#6. I have also used a wDrive as an external 5.25 connected directly to the Ex/2 and also daisy chained to Laser external 3.5 drive and 3.5 to Apple Unidisk to wDrive. Again, just from memory, the base 128 and 128EX seemed to use the 6.0 ROM and the EX/2 normally used a 6.1 or 6.2. I think the MIDI support was the big difference. No 6.x ROM supported Smartport.I think the Laser 128 Technical Reference Manual is available at Asimov to confirm these recollections.
I have used the Floppy Emu as an 800k 3.5 drive on my 128/Ex2 without issue.
For what its. worth, I always had great video results with the Magnavox 8762 CGA monitor, but somewhat hit an miss with several other CGAs. Not sure if or how the monitors might have handled variations on the CGA standard.
Hooked it all back up. Nothing useful. Here's what happens when I try to catalog it, and when I switch the switch to try and boot from it.
I've mentioned this before, but may be worth mentioning again... If you see in the 2nd video, the ROM is LASER 128 ROM 6.0, not LASER 128 EX ROM 6.0. Not sure of the differences between the 128 ROM builds and the 128 EX ROM builds.
Will try .woz files to see if it acts any different. Unfortunately Archive.org is down at the moment.
Unfortunately, I have to completely remove the tap and everything if I want normal functionality. I can't just leave the tap in with connecting it to the switcher. If I don't connect it, it won't read the internal drive.
I can't even get it identify S7 anymore. It at least used to do that.
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