• Fully hardware and software compatible
• High speed transfer rates
• Diagnostics load from PC
• Easy file transfer to and from PC
• Capability to perform complete system backup to PC

Now instead of using the 8" floppy disc subsystem on your Honeywell 4500 or 45000 series process control computer, you have the option of a PC-based replacement.  The H-4000 FDC consists of a single PC circuit board which plugs into a 16 bit (ISA) slot in an IBM-compatible PC, and in combination with emulation software supplied, performs all of the functions of the original 8" floppy disc subsystem.

The 50-pin cable connector which now plugs into the Honeywell 8" floppy disc cabinet, now plugs into the back of your PC (into the DB-50 connector on the new board).  

The H-4000  is supplied with a DOS or Windows based program to emulate 8" floppy disc operations.  Both of these programs emulate the operation of the Honeywell floppy system in all respects, including compliance with the standard Honeywell floppy disc diagnostic.

Under the Windows based program, both emulated discs can be open at the same time.

Operation:

The user first turns on the emulation program in the PC.  The program prompts the user for the name of an existing file, or the name of a new file.  Each 8" disc is represented as a 300K byte file in the PC.  Once an existing file has been opened or a new file created, the PC program will indicate that the system has been initialized.   In the Windows version, the user is prompted for file names for both "A" and "B" drives.  The user may use one or both drives as required.   Once file operations have been completed, the files may be closed by pressing any key on the PC keyboard. 

Since the H-4000 system is fully compatible with the Honeywell 8" disc system, loading diagnostics is performed in the same manner as before. The exception is that a file is opened in the PC which contains the standard Honeywell Diagnostic programs. 

Utilities Supplied with the System:

PAL2FDC: a program to convert the ".bin" files output from the PALASM PAL assembler to the floppy disc format.  Using the PAL assembler with the above utilities allows users to write their own diagnostics and enter them in the catalog on a diagnostic disc.

System Backup Programs:  Three programs are available to perform "off-line" system backups.  These programs support the 4500 drum, LCS, and Moving Head Disc drive.