Re: Focus Modification to Disable RESETS?

[Rubywand <rubywand@swbell.net>]

Sandy writes ...
> 
> When you try to Control-apple-RESET with a Focus as your boot drive,
> The computer locks up because the Focus is not ready to read right after
> the Reset
> 
> Reset cuts power to the drive, or at least the Hard Drive stops spinning.
> 
> 
> This means to reboot from a Focus, you have to either Power down and back
> on, or press Control-Reset, get to the basic prompt, and type PR#X.
> 
> Is there any Modification I can do to my Focus Card to disable Resets?


     I did some experiments with our 80MB Focus and could detect no slow
down or stop during or after a RESET. Even when the boot Slot was set to
boot ProDOS 8 from diskette, the Focus seemed to keep spinning while the
CTRL-OA-Reset keys were being held down (for several seconds) to do a
re-boot.

     Maybe there is some difference in the ROM version or controller
circuit which causes your drive to stop; but, this seems unlikely. My
drive came directly from Parsons Engineering back in 1993; so, it is
likely to be an older model than yours. Turning OFF the drive during a
Reset is not exactly a feature you'd want to add on purpose.

     One possiblity is that your Focus Card is not correctly seated in
its Slot. This could lead to poor contact at one or more pins and some
odd behavior. After powering up the computer and getting to the System 6
desktop, do a Shutdown and turn OFF the computer. If you have the Focus
Driver installed, this is supposed to guarantee that the heads are
"parked" over a non-used portion of the disk surface and help prevent
damage due to bouncing around.

     Gently lift out the Focus Card. Wipe the contacts with alcohol and
get rid of any dust in the Slot socket. With the card and Slot contacts
lined up, reinsert the Focus Card.


     Something else to consider is that the Focus will stop if it is
idle long enough to reach its "Time Out" setting. If your Focus happened
to stop due to the automatic "Time Out" feature, it might not be ready
restart after a CTRL-OA-Reset. (Really, I'd expect the interface to
re-power the drive, wait, and restart with no problem; but, I can't say
how later Focus models handle things.) 

     Supposedly, the purpose of having the Focus spin down and stop
after 2, 10, or whatever minutes of idleness is to prevent over-heating
and unnecessary wear. After a few days of trying various TO settings, I
set my "Time Out" to "Never" and have had no problems with over-heating
or crashes even after many all-day sessions.

     If none of the above ideas works, try moving your Focus to Slot 7.
This is the Slot Focus likes to be in. Whatever is in Slot 7 can, almost
always, go to Slot 2. Slot 2 can be set to "Your Card" so long as your
telecom software does not need to use the Slot 2 firmware-- like, you
are using Spectrum or one of several other popular GS tcom programs.
Slot 6 is a good place for most GS Stereo Sound cards because these
usually do not have any need for a Data bus connection, etc. and Slot 6
can be set to "Disk Port" to control your 5.25" drives.

 
Rubywand