[NTLK] Fun with Flash

[Pawel Piotrowski]

Matthias,

You rock, man! This is first what I want to say. 

Second thing is that your email has caused a lot of questions in my head: Is that mean that you are able to read PCMCIA card content? What about make a copy of ROM cards? Do you think it is possible to put ROM card into Newton, read it and save content on computer, and then make a copy on another Flash card?


> At the last Wonk, we talked about emulating Flash cards. Of course, I was intrigued, and what was supposed to be an hour or two of tinkering with Einstein became a whole day of in-depth fun with - hold your breath - my *physical* Newton. Yes, I dug deep into my storage boxes and unearthed my MP2100 and a surprisingly large stack of PCMCIA cards that accumulated over the years.
> 
> I installed NewtsBug and Hammer, the lowest low level debugger on the MP and Basilisk, hooked up a USB-C to USB-A adapter to a USB-A to 9-pin serial adapter to a 9-pin to DIN adapter, and a DIN to Newton dongle - easy as π - and already I could dump Newton memory.

Here is the solution for people with newest Macs with USB-C only :)

> My plan was to find the PCMCIA raw data and the CIS, the card information structure, dump the to Basilisk, copy them to the Mac, convert them to a C data structure, and import them into Einstein. More π. I did not manage the last step yet, but I did discover two things, and I wanted to write about them.

I’m sure you will find the way soon xD

> Discovery 1: PCMCIA cards can have a 32-bit bus. Sounds boring? But no, it is not. That means that we can write an app that stores a regular Newton ROM on a 8MB PC-Card, and map that new ROM where the original ROM is located. That trick would make the clone of the original ROM writable! We can fool around in the ROM, fix bugs, change stuff, add files, without ever opening the case. Sweet!

Is that mean you can read ROM, add extra software and make NewtonOS 2.5 (OS patch, NIE, WiFi driver, and few other) version of ROM on your custom ROM board for Newton 2x00?

> Discovery 2: I picked up 8 or so flash cards over the years, stuffing them away in a box, but never really looked at them. Well, dumping the content of the first card I found, I suddenly saw familiar names inside the raw machine code. Well, Andrea, could be anyone. But wait, Björn? What are thos German names doing here? Well, you guessed it. This was *my* original card from my very first PDA, and it contained tons of names I had long forgotten, addresses that are hopelessly outdated, some great memories, but also some names of friends who have long passed. Wow! And sigh!

I have also w few cards with data from people from whom I bought their Newtons. Data and software too. I don’t deleted them. I’m making a copy of Newtons content, but I wasn’t sure how to make PCMCIA card backup. Your research will be very useful!

> I have stacks of media, floppy disks, dat tapes, SyQuests, even Sinclair Microdrive cartridges, but this was somehow a very unexpected blast from the past. First of all, PDAs keep record of much more personal data than some floppy disks, but secondly, the data is still there and readable! All of my VHS demagnetized years ago, the dat tapes stretched or shrank, the SyQuests insist on a PC with a parallel printer port (LOL), but the PCMCIAa are still fine. Amazing.

Nice collection! xD I have some PCMCIA HDDs and iClicks (also PCMCIA). And a few old ATA 2.5” HDDs :)


Best regards,
Pawel Piotrowski

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