The First Floppy to Finally Boot our AWS!

Updated January 8, 2020:

Today, we just got CTOS installed and running for the first time (we *think* in the 21st century!) on a Convergent Technologies AWS Turbo machine.

So where did we get these floppy disks from?  And what exactly are the binaries (and flux transitions!) contained on them?  Well, this page aims to answer ALL of those questions...

First, THE Disk:

10.2 STANDARD SOFTWARE AWS INITIALIZATION Disk 1 of 1 Part No. 71-01436-01

To download/use ALL of the floppy disks we used for this install, 

you can download them from this Google Drive Folder.

Just let us know how you used them, and how they helped you!

Then, the binaries...

I used Jim Drew's SuperCard Pro to image the raw flux transitions on the disks.  You can view and/or download those binaries by clicking here.

Then I used HxC Floppy Emulator free software to convert those to .hfe emulator files.

After that, I'm still playing with Cpro's recommendation of https://github.com/keirf/Disk-Utilities to convert one of these files to the "raw binaries" so I can analyze them in a hex editor.  Maybe after another night's sleep...

You will notice that not all disks may have this conversion uploaded to the folder I link above.  Sorry, but I share this so that you can make that conversion on your own should you feel so inclined.

History:

Back in March, 2020, we saw this auction on eBay.  Note the comment from the seller right in the auction details that says: "software is untested. I have no idea what this is used for."

He didn't say "I have no idea where they came from", but this was close enough that, even though I wanted to, I didn't bother asking.  So the source is a mystery.  But what IS there is now NOT a mystery any longer...

Original eBay Auction Archive

And thankfully, there was only one other bidder for $50 that we needed to outbid, and on March 5, 2020, we were the winning bidder at $51.  If you were that other bidder...sorry!  But IF you are that other bidder, please do tell...what were you going to use these disks for?  Or what collection do you have that you wanted to add them to?  It's always great to know who else is out there who is interested in these enigmatic and rare Convergent machines...

To download/use ALL of the floppy disks we acquired in this auction, 

you can download them from this Google Drive Folder.

Just let us know how you used them, and how they helped you!