Simple Question

[Jordi Delgado]

Hi

Have you got it to boot yet Jordi?

Well, yes. It boots with MS-DOS 3.10b, CP/M-80/86 and CCP/M-86. In
fact, I run all kind of diagnostics. It's a machine with RAM 640 Kb,
Hard Disk RD52 (31 Mb) and graphics board. According to the
diagnostics, everything is ok but the Hard Disk does not work. I am
waiting for a replacement.

I had to open the machine to try the corrective actions detailed in
the service guide (trying, unsuccessfully, to fix the Hard Disk), and
there discovered it is a 8088-Z80 Rainbow. So, it is not a Rainbow 190
if what says the Rainbow FAQ is true (there it is said that the
Rainbow 190 has a 80286 inside).

Given that the Rainbow is MS-DOS compatible (but NOT IBM-PC
compatible), does anybody know the details to program this machine? I
mean, all the 8086 assembler books end up detailing the IBM-PC MS-DOS
model. I would like the same details, but applied to the Rainbow. I
know there is a book by Ch. Chien called "DEC Rainbow 100: Assembly
Language" but it is impossible to find (even second hand).
Is there another source of information to program the Rainbow in
8088/86 assembler?

Well, thanks in advance for your answers...

Bests

Jordi

[Dave Weatherall]

Post by Jordi Delgado
Hi

Have you got it to boot yet Jordi?

Well, yes. It boots with MS-DOS 3.10b, CP/M-80/86 and CCP/M-86. In
fact, I run all kind of diagnostics. It's a machine with RAM 640 Kb,
Hard Disk RD52 (31 Mb) and graphics board. According to the
diagnostics, everything is ok but the Hard Disk does not work. I am
waiting for a replacement.

Glad to hear it. To partition the new hard disk, you'll probably need
the WUTIL (Winchester Utilities) program. This allows to create
partitions (CP/M and DOS) and set up the boot partition. No silly
restriction of 4 paratitions. Mine, IIRC has 4 of each for SP/M and
DOS.

Post by Jordi Delgado
I had to open the machine to try the corrective actions detailed in
the service guide (trying, unsuccessfully, to fix the Hard Disk), and
there discovered it is a 8088-Z80 Rainbow. So, it is not a Rainbow 190
if what says the Rainbow FAQ is true (there it is said that the
Rainbow 190 has a 80286 inside).

The 286 CPU board was done by the firm Suitable Solutions. I bought
one for my wife; it was much quicker :-) Too quick for the graphics
card and I had to recode the loop counters to address some timimg
issues :-)

Post by Jordi Delgado
Given that the Rainbow is MS-DOS compatible (but NOT IBM-PC
compatible), does anybody know the details to program this machine? I
mean, all the 8086 assembler books end up detailing the IBM-PC MS-DOS
model. I would like the same details, but applied to the Rainbow. I
know there is a book by Ch. Chien called "DEC Rainbow 100: Assembly
Language" but it is impossible to find (even second hand).
Is there another source of information to program the Rainbow in
8088/86 assembler?

I used the Digital Research Assembler on CP/M and MASM on DOS. I
believe, there is a license-free DR assembler somewhere but never
needed it. ISTR I got it from Caldera when the open-sourced (?)
DR-DOS.

There is a BIOS programming guide in the Rainbow Technical manual that
you'll find in on the website mentioned previously. It is large
though.

Well-behaved DOS applicatations (i.e. using the Int 21 API and not the
IBM-PC ones e.g.10h) work quite well on the Rainbow. There was an IBM
emulator (CodeBlue) thta trapped Int10 calls and translated them to
Rainbow firmware calls. This worked well. Turbo-C worked OK
.Turbo-Pascal Ok until V4 (?) when they started going direct to I/O
ports for 'speed'

Post by Jordi Delgado
Well, thanks in advance for your answers...
Bests
Jordi

You're welcome. Time for work.

[Phil]

Post by Jordi Delgado
Hi

Have you got it to boot yet Jordi?

Well, yes. It boots with MS-DOS 3.10b, CP/M-80/86 and CCP/M-86. In
fact, I run all kind of diagnostics. It's a machine with RAM 640 Kb,
Hard Disk RD52 (31 Mb) and graphics board. According to the
diagnostics, everything is ok but the Hard Disk does not work. I am
waiting for a replacement.
I had to open the machine to try the corrective actions detailed in
the service guide (trying, unsuccessfully, to fix the Hard Disk), and
there discovered it is a 8088-Z80 Rainbow.

There's another one of these on ebay Germany at the moment,
they seem to be appreciating in value as well.
Phil