Ricardo Birmele
Compuserve 70215,1234
 
 
 
 
 
PC MAGAZINE - Kamerman Labs 10 Megabyte Hard disk review
 
 
 
 
 
        Do you remember the first time you heard about computer
storage?  Back then, everything was cassette.  Either that,
or leave your machine on all the time.
        Then came floppy disks.  160k of storage space! (Whatever
"k" was.)  Enough space to store almost 80 pages of infor-
mation.  80 whole pages!        
          By this time you had learned how useful your computer
could be.   You had learned that "k" was an abbreviation for
"kilobyte"--1024 bytes of information.  You also learned how
little space 160k represented.  And how expensive, and incon-
venient to store, floppy disks could be.
        The solution seemed to be dual sided floppy disk drives. 
With them you could store about 120 pages of information on
a floppy that would hold 320k of data.  Because of something
technical, having to do with the directory on the disk, you
could store more than twice the information on a 320k floppy
as you had on a 160k disk.  When DOS 2.0 came out, you saw
an opportunity to squeeze another 40k onto your floppy disks. 
        Unfortunately, even though you could hold more data,
it also took a long time to get that information into your
computer's memory from the disk and back again.  Some database
programs which went to the disk to find your information or
leave it there seemed to take forever to do so.
        You had heard they were faster and so you knew that a
hard disk, say about 10 Megabytes worth, would be Nirvana. 
Just think!  About 5 THOUSAND pages of information!  No more
floppy swapping.  No more wondering which disk held what infor-
mation.
        They were expensive, however.  Some even cost as much
as $2,500 for a claimed 12 Megabytes--which turned into 10
megabytes when you finally got it hooked up and formatted. 
To buy one you would have to sell your first born male child.
        Well friend, once again the young shall lead us.  
        A short while ago, Joel Kamerman, a 28 year old engineer
from Wisconsin, was working on a project for Tektronix in
Beaverton, Oregon.  Part of the project involved buying com-
ponents, and what he saw while working on the project gave
him an idea.
        He saw what large corporations were paying for computer
parts.  He also saw what they were charging customers for
those parts, and he thought he could do better.
        As a result of following up on his idea, Joel formed
a company called Kamerman Labs in February of this year. 
At that time his only product was a 10 Megabyte internal hard
disk which he sold for less than $1,000!  And he included
a DTC-5150BX hard disk controller at that price!
        As the saying goes: he had gotten down to my price. 
I bought two; one for my Compaq, and one for my IBM PC.  Now,
after having used them for a while, I believe they pass the
true old time military mechanic's test: Works good, lasts
long time.
        They each came, protected by serious amounts of foam,
in a box, inside a box, next to a box, inside another box. 
Kamerman Labs are taking few chances on the gentle handling
of their equipment by shippers.  Also included were two printed
instruction manuals, a photocopied letter and manual addendum,
and a software disk.  The whole business weighed 10 pounds.
        Kamerman Labs hard disks are manufactured either by Micro-
science or Cogito.  Each brand works as well as the other. 
The only difference between them is that the Microscience
drive pulls a little more power than the Cogito drive.  
        This is not much of a problem unless you have a lot of
expansion boards running in your computer.  The biggest power
consumers are combination memory boards and board modems.
        Installing a Kamerman Labs hard disk is almost a snap. 
The instructions which are included explain the process using
a 1-2-3 format with illustrations.  I say almost, because
we will be talking about installing one in both an IBM as
well as in a Compaq transportable, and the Compaq installation
is a little more involved.
        No matter into which computer you plan to install a Kamer-
man Labs hard disk, the first thing is to look at the DTC
controller board.  It is a full size board, and will take
up one slot in the expansion bus.  An included note warns
you not to put it into the leftmost slot of your PC, as it
would interfere with the system's speaker.  Kamerman Labs
also thoughtfully included a small plastic bracket to stabilize
the unsecured far end of the board.  
        The instructions said to look over the DTC controller
board's DIP switch and six jumpers before installing it into
a computer, so I did.
        Jumper locations are no more than places where the en-
gineers who designed the boards let you put a connection if
you want one.  The DIP switch is similar, only in this case
the connections are already there.  You make them, or don't
allow them to be made, by closing or opening the switch. 
DIP switches and jumpers are used by engineers so the same
board can be used in a number of applications; controlling
a number of different hard disks.
        To do the check, I first removed the controller board
from the anti-static bag it came in.  I placed this bag on
a flat surface, and then put the controller board on the bag
it had come in.  I did so in order to run a lesser chance
of "blowing it up" with a static discharge.  This is important
because taking chances makes a lot of money for technicians
from "do-it-yourselfers".  A sensible precaution such as this
may also be the difference between your installing a board
into your computer and having it hum--or having it smoke. 
        First about the DIP switch.  It is toward the upper left
corner of the controller board and has eight positions.  In
our case, the four positions to the left should be down (open)
and the four to the right should be up (closed).  This is
because the DIP switch configures the board to control a number
of hard disks, from a 5 megabyte drive with 2 heads to a 28
megabyte hard disk with 5 heads.  The Kamerman Labs 10 megabyte
hard disk drives have four heads.
        There are six jumper locations on the DTC hard disk con-
troller, all of which should be checked.  My manual said that
both jumpers W1 and W2 should be installed.  These jumper
locations refer to the address at which the computer will
"talk" to the hard disk.  When I checked, jumper W1 was not
in and W2 was.  Nothing ventured, nothing gained; when I went
ahead and tried the thing it worked.
        W17 and W18 are jumper locations which have to do with
enabling the controller's system PROM (Programmable Read-Only
Memory).  This is the chip which contains the software that
controls the controller.  Both were there.
        Finally, the jumpers at  W19 and W20 have to do with
the hard disk's sector size.  Data Technology Corporation
engineers have made their board so that it can work with data
stored in sectors of 256, 512, or 1024 bytes.  When IBM's
engineers designed their long term data storage scheme, they
decided on 512 byte sectors.  To keep things compatible, the
manual indicated that the jumper at W20 should be in and the
one at W19 should not.  That checked.
        The last thing to do with the controller board before
installing it, is to attach the two included cables.  The
wider one, with 34 conductors, is the Drive Control connector. 
The other ribbon cable is the Read/Write connector.  
        To attach them, the manual said to line up the edge of
each cable with its red wire towards the number 1 silkscreened
next to its PCB connector on the controller board.  The numbers
were hard to find, at first.  It took a short while, but finally
I was able to get things connected.
        The next task was to actually install one of the hard
disks into a computer.  I thought I would start with the IBM
PC because it looked easier. 
        The first thing, of course, was to take the computer's
cover off.  With an IBM PC this means removing two small screws
located at the rear bottom corners of the system unit.  Then
you slide the system unit's cover forward, gently, so as to
not pull any ribbon cable connectors out.
        If you have two floppy disk drives installed, you will
have to remove one, preferable the one on the right as you
face the machine.  You may know it as Drive B:.  This was
the drive I removed.
        There are two small screws which hold the floppy disk
in place, located on the outer side of the floppy drive. 
Both are easily removed and lost.  By the way, another sensible
precaution is to have an old muffin tin handy to put small
parts in. 
        When I had laid the screws aside, I gently pulled the
floppy disk forward to about half way out.  There are cables
attached to the circuit board on top of the floppy drive,
and one coming out towards the bottom.  
        The ribbon cable, which is on the top side of the drive
and carries data signal back and forth from the disk drive
pried off with a slight back and forth rocking motion.   The
other wires to its left I simply left alone.  They are there
for the floppy drive's circuit board to communicate with its
Read/Write head and motors.
        The cable with the white connector was a little more
difficult to disconnect.  It is the cable which brings elec-
tricity from the power supply to the disk drive.  To disconnect
it takes two hands and a little oompf--and I was still holding
the floppy disk drive in one hand, right? 
        "This is America--you'll figure something out", I said
to myself.
        I finally lay the drive down gently and pulled on the
white connector.  The engineers who designed the machine wanted
to make sure that thing never fell apart.  They must think
all people who go messing around inside a computer have leather
knuckles.  A tug, and a mumble expletive later I had the con-
nector apart, and the drive slid out.
        Now I was at the point where I could install the hard
disk controller board.  I began by attaching the machined
aluminum facade to the hard disk using what looks like indus-
trial Velcro already attached to both pieces.  I found it
a bit tricky to make sure that the little Light Emitting Diode
at the front does not get bent in the process of snapping
the pieces together.  Once attached, they will not come apart
easily.
        I had received a Gogito drive, and so had to remove a
small "L" shaped piece of metal from the head drive stepper
motor.  It was under a white warning sticker.  If this little
gem is forgotten, the hard disk won't work because the head
stepper motor won't work.  The head stepper motor is what
moves the Read/Write head back and forth over the hard disk's
surface.
        I was surprised that the hard disk came without something
more substantial than a piece of cardboard covering up the
unit's circuit board.  I suppose it has to do with cooling. 
But somehow I don't like to see things spinning more or less
out in the open in my computer.  According to Joel Kamerman,
however, the unit is hermetically sealed and no more covering
is necessary.
        Next I inserted the hard disk part way into the recess
vacated by the floppy drive.  I then connected the two ribbon
cables coming from the hard disk controller and the power
supply cable.  Fortunately both are "keyed" and will only
go on one way comfortably.  Finally, I slid the hard disk
in all the way and secured it with the two screws I had left
aside.
        The only thing left to do was to neatly lay my cables
down, and close the system unit cover.
        After all this, would it work?
        You bet, and like a charm.  With the power switch thrown,
I could hear the music of the hard disk spinning up.  Since
the IBM PC is a newer one with a newer ROM, and since Kamerman
Labs pre-formats all the disks they sell, my computer beeped
a little beep, and presented me with a C>.  I love it when
they work right the first time.
        Installing a Kamerman Labs hard disk into a Compaq is,
unfortunately, a bird of another color.  
        I feel that the Compaq is far and away the better machine,
and I simply can not understand why the corporation is making
the mistake of keeping their good work a secret by not making
a technical reference manual available.
        One of the reasons IBM's not-so-great computer is such
a great success is because of the IBM corporate decision to
help those who would work with their machine by giving us
full information.  Compaq should be the "Transportables Stan-
dard" (especially since IBM came out with their portable)
in the way IBM is the "Desk Tops Standard", but it will never
be so as long as the Compaq mucky-mucks persist in their mis-
take.
        Well, enough of that.  Let's look at the procedure.
        I'm not going to go into a lot of detail here; just enough
so that if you are mechanically inclined and want to do it
yourself you won't have a lot of trouble.  
        If you are not, don't take a chance on breaking your
computer.  Have a service man do the job for you.  Better
still, do the job with him and learn a new skill.  I did just
that with my friend Mike Norton of the local computer store,
and was very glad I did.
        The first thing with a Compaq is to get both covers off. 
This is most easily done by sliding a small flat blade screw
driver along the edge of the plastic outer cover while holding
it up with your fingers.  If I hadn't seen Mike do it first,
I am sure I would have broken my cover by pulling too hard
in the wrong place.
        Next I had to remove all of the "Swiss Cheese" sheet
metal shields and lay them aside.  I didn't have to remove
the screws.  I just loosened them enough that they slid out.
        Each of the circuit boards held in expansion slots had
to come out as well.  In this step you have to be particularly
careful with the cable and connector routed from the video
display board to the Compaq's CRT compartment.  It is protected
from wear by a rubber grommet, but it still isn't something
to pull hard on.
        The floppy disk drive, and later the hard disk, are held
in place by four screws.  They are two on each side of the
drive, running through a rubber shock mount.  I took the top
two out first, and then supported the drive as I removed the
final two.
        With all this accomplished, wiggled the drive gently
out of its resting place moving in the direction of where
the expansion boards were.  I took two or three tries getting
it out because the drive always seemed to hang up on some
edge or other.  Again, this was a place where Mike's experience
was invaluble.
        Installing the hard disk is the opposite of removing
the floppy drive.  The only problem I had with this step was
with the shock mount screws which were too long and pressed
against the frame of my hard disk.  A moment with my bench
grinder "modified" them just fine.  A more elegant approach
would be to go to the local hardware store and buy screws
which are of the correct size.
        If you ever do this sort of thing there is something
you should keep in mind.  When you place the DTC hard disk
controller into your Compaq, be sure and put it into a slot
which is well supplied with cooling air.  I recommend the
slot farthest to the back. 
        After I had made this installation and gotten my computer
buttoned up, I checked the temperature of the air coming out
of its cooling fan.  The room was around 70 degrees at that
time of Spring.  The air coming out of the computer was at
105 degrees.  With electronic stuff, the cooler you can keep
it running, the longer you can keep it will do so.
        All that was left was to replace the expansion boards,
route the cables, button up the "Swiss Cheese" sheet metal
shields, and snap on the plastic covers.  With that, I was
done.  Now to enjoy my new toy.
        If you are using a Compaq, or an older IBM PC, you will
have to have a system disk in drive A: in order to boot. 
Although you can buy a ROM from Compaq which will allow you
to boot directly from the hard disk, its circa $100 price
tag is not quite worth it.  Not yet, anyway.  I don't know
what IBM would charge for a comparable ROM for an older PC.
        The software disk supplied with the Kamerman Labs hard
disk has a number of useful files on it.  I Put the program
called HDBOOT.COM into an AUTOEXEC.BAT file on my normal boot
disk and it got things going by themselves, nicely.  
        Other programs provided include DTCFMT.EXE which allows
you to reformat your hard disk if you want to.  You are also
able to format it through the DOS 2.0 FDISK command if you
would rather, of course.  
        ROMTEST.COM lets you check the PROM (Programmable Read
Only Memory chip) on the DTC controller board.  This is the
chip which holds the software used to run the controller and
is analogous to the computers ROM BIOS.
        Probably the most important program supplied, called
PARK.COM, is one which you should run every time you are ready
to turn your computer off.  It is a utility routine which
moves the hard disk's Read/Write heads to a safe position,
on an inside track, for moving your computer.  They won't
take an abusive banging around, of course, but this program
will at least keep things reasonably safe against the smaller
bumps.
        I also received a nice surprise the first time I ran
CHKDSK.COM.  When I had, I found that I had 10 and half mega-
bytes available rather than just 10.  That extra half megabyte
is more space than is on a DOS 2.0 floppy disk.  
        Another nice surprise was how much faster my programs
which need to access disk storage run now.  Until you actually
run programs with a hard disk that you had run using floppies,
you really have no idea how much faster a hard disk is.  Espe-
cially with programs, such as database programs, which have
to access disk storage often.
        According to Joel Kamerman, if you are going to have
a problem it will probably be with the hard disk controller
board rather than with the disk drive.  This is because of
the mechanics of his testing procedures.  He says he has to
test his products carefully because he can't afford to support
a high return rate.  I wish other, larger, companies felt
the same way.
        I also know, from personal experience, that Kamerman
fully supports what he sells.  Of the two controller boards
I had received, one didn't want to work at first.  Installing
both hard disk drives and then swapping the DTC boards between
my computers showed which was the bad one.  
        I called Kamerman Labs up, got a return authorization,
and sent the controller board back to them.  Within a week
UPS was knocking on my door with a replacement.
        By the way, they had no idea at the time that I was a
writer.  That is important because it means this wasn't a
case of a company being nice because of what I would be able
to say about them in print.  I like that kind of caring approach
to a "John Doe" customer.
        So what did I get for my money and time?  Once I got
my files organized using advice from back issues of PC Magazine,
I find I no longer have to swap floppy disks.  The database
programs I write and test for clients run much more quickly. 
In short, my use of my computer is more efficient.
        All in all, I have to say that the Kamerman Labs hard
disk is one of the better buys available right now.  They
will be expanding their product line to include external hard
disks and streaming tape backups shortly.  
        These items will also be priced as realistically as Kamer-
man Labs first offering.  It is inevitable, of course, that
Joel Kamerman's action will effect the price of all hard disks. 
The point is, he has proven that the sometimes ridiculous
prices demanded by manufacturers is not necessary.
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