Dobbertin Harddisc

Dobbertin Logo

A harddisc manufactured by the German company Dobbertin.

One of the first ways to connect a Harddisc to the CPC. The Dobbertin harddisc has a capacity of 20 MB. The disc was partitioned in four partitions of 5152 KB each. It was delivered with drivers for CP/M(2.2 and CP/M+) and allows up to 512 directory entries for each partition (including date and time stamps under CP/M Plus).

Reviewed in Amstrad Computer User.

Pictures

• Dobbertin 20 Mb Harddisc
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  Dobbertin 20 Mb Harddisc
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  Dobbertin 20 Mb Harddisc interface
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  Inside 1
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  Inside 2
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  Inside 3: PSU
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  Inside 4: XT controller

Disc

• Dobbertin 20 Mb Harddisc (the driver disc, not the harddisc)
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  HD20 Dobbertin CPC Harddisk side B
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  HD20 Dobbertin CPC Harddisk side A

Software using the Dobbertin Harddrive

• Cosmos
• Dobbertin CP/M Plus
• FutureOS using all four partitions (I, J, K and L)
• Prowort via using Dobbertin CP/M Plus (partitions D, E, F and G)
• X-DDOS (v2.10)

• In addition a lot of (cracked) games are able to run from the HD-20 hard disc

Technical

Uses X-DDOS v2.10 (which supports the harddisc, and additionally supports external double sided 80track disc drives). The 20MB harddisc is split into four partitions, with drive names D, E, F, and G (drive name C isn't used here, but may be used as RAM disc, in combination with Dobbertin RAM expansion). I/O Ports:

 #FBE0  Dobbertin Harddisc Data Port
 #FBE1  Dobbertin Harddisc Status, Reset
 #FBE2  Dobbertin Harddisc Select, Configuration
 #FBE3  Dobbertin Harddisc DMA, Interrupt
 #FBE4  Dobbertin Harddisc Reset

Other harddisc solutions for the CPC

• Vortex Winchester Drive (MFM)

Modern:

• CPC-IDE (IDE)
• HDCPC (IDE)
• IDE8255 (IDE)
• SYMBiFACE II (IDE)

Promo (summary) (english)

• Controller: Seagate ST11M XT-controler.
• Harddisc: 20 MB (3.5" Seagate, NEC, Kyocera, or Miniscribe)
• X-DDOS 2.10 (selectable in ROM bank 1-7)
• 4 Partitions of 5152 KB (5 MB) (accessible as Drive D: to G:)
• 512 Directory entries per partition
• support for CP/M 2.2 with 63K TPA (requires 128 KB RAM), and for CP/M Plus
• support for Softwareclock and TIMEROM+ (Real Time Clock under CP/M Plus)
• Price: DM 1100.-

Promo (german)

• Dobbertin Festplatte
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  Frontpage
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  Contents