Trackstar E (250-1038) Installation Faxback Doc. # 5541 EQUIPMENT INCLUDED Before beginning the installation, please take a moment to review the enclosed parts list an verify that everything you need was included with you TrackStar E. If anything is missing, do not attempt to install the product. Contact your Dealer or Diamond Computer Systems for assistance. COPYING THE TRACKSTAR UTILITY DISKETTE Before you proceed you should make one or more backup copies of your Trackstar Utility Disk. Complete instructions for duplicating diskettes is given in your MS-DOS operating manual. A brief summary of the procedure is given here. First, place you MS-DOS System Disk in Drive A: and a blank diskette in drive B:. At the A> prompt type: "FORMAT B: [ENTER]". This will format the diskette in drive B: as an MS-DOS data diskette. Now, remove the MS-DOS System Disk from drive A: and insert the Trackstar Utility Disk. Type "COPY A:*.*B: [ENTER]". All of the files on drive A: will be duplicated onto the diskette now in drive B:. You have created a duplicate copy of the Trackstar Utility Diskette. At this time please place the original Trackstar Utility Diskette in a safe place. It should only be used again if the copy becomes damaged or otherwise unusable. EDUCATION AND NETWORKING If you are placing the Trackstar into an educational, networking or lab environment, it is recommended that you read Chapter Three of this manual and then the section on Education and Networking before beginning the installation (Appendix B). INSTALLING THE HARDWARE This section contains diagrams of the components that will be used for the installation. These diagrams should be studied carefully both before and during the installation process. Familiarity with each part will help significantly in installing the board. Before you begin installation, the workspace should be clean and all the necessary parts and tools should be assembled. Please observe the following precautions: * All power to the computer should be turned off. * All cables should be disconnected. * All diskettes should be removed from the area. Each step of the installation should be followed carefully. PRE-INSTALLATION CHECK 1. Before beginning these steps, please check to see that all power cords are disconnected, and all peripheral devices (such as printers, disk drives, etc.) are turned off and unplugged from the computer. 2. Refer to the owners manual for your computer for instructions on opening the case. If you have a Tandy computer, refer to page A-14 before continuing. 3. With the case open, locate an empty slot for the Trackstar. Ideally, but not necessarily, the Trackstar will be located in an eight-bit slot that is one slot away from the disk controller card (if present). This will leave room for the various adapter cables. Do not insert the Trackstar into your system yet. INSTALLING THE DISK ADAPTER CABLE The Trackstar Disk Adapter Cable connects your Trackstar E to the Apple ready 360K MS-DOS disk drive(s). Its presence allows Apple-ready 360K drive(s) to read and write Apple floppy diskettes. Please refer to the section on "Apple-ready" drives at the end of this appendix (page A-14) if you have questions about the compatibility of your drives. The Trackstar Disk Adapter Cable will in no way interfere with the operation of the 360K drive(s) under MS-DOS. NOTE: 1.2MB 5.25" disk drives can not read Apple diskettes--even if they are capable of reading MS-DOS 360K software. DO NOT install this cable if you have no Apple-ready 360K drive(s). If you have an External Apple Disk Drive to connect to the Trackstar and do want to read Apple diskettes with your 360K disk drive(s), then installation of this cable is optional. The Trackstar Disk Adapter Cable will be connected between your 360K disk drive(s) and the disk controller card. If you have a disk drive other than a 360K drive installed as drive A:, you must follow installation Procedure "A". If you have one 360K drive installed as drive A: then you may follow installation Procedure "A" or "B". If you have two 360K drives use Procedure "B" only. Read both procedures completely before deciding which is best for your system. TRACKSTAR E DISK ADAPTOR CABLE INSTALLATION PROCEDURE A You will notice that the Disk Adaptor cable is composed of two parts. The cable is shipped with both parts plugged together such that male and female 34 pin molex connectors are exposed. Grasping the small green PC board in one hand and the attached gray connector in the other, gently separate the two halves of the Adapter Cable. Now, connect the male and female molex connectors together. The colored wire (pin 1) on the wide cable MUST be on the same side of the connector as the colored wire on the long narrow cable. Locate the ribbon cable that connects your disk drives to their controller. The controller may be a separate card or it may be built directly into the motherboard. Carefully disconnect this cable from the back of your 360K disk drive. Note the position of the colored wire on the edge of the cable (pin 1). If you have two 360K disk drives then disconnect the cable from the back of Drive A: Take the Trackstar Disk Adapter Cable and connect the female edge connector to the back of the disk drive. Make sure the colored wire (pin 1) is on the same side as it was on the cable you removed. Take the cable you previously disconnected from the disk drive and attach it to the male edge connector on the Trackstar Disk Adapter Cable. The colored wire form the adapter cable should be on the same side as the colored wire on the drive cable. You have now installed the Trackstar Disk Adapter Cable between your 360K drive(s) and the cable coming from the disk controller. Next the long, narrow cable must be connected to the Trackstar. Please refer to the section on CONNECTING THE DISK ADAPTER CABLE TO YOUR TRACKSTAR for this information. TRACKSTAR E DISK ADAPTOR CABLE INSTALLATION PROCEDURE B Locate the ribbon cable that is connected to your floppy disk drives. Follow this cable to it's connection point on a disk controller card or to the motherboard of your PC. This figure is a composite picture of a disk controller board. The cable from the disk drives will be connected on one side of the board. The same is true if the cable is connected to the motherboard of the PC. It will terminate in either a double row of pins or an edge connector. If the connection point is a pin (or molex) type connector then skip forward to CONNECTING THE CABLE TO THE DISK CONTROLLER. If the connection point is an edge connector then you must re-configure the Trackstar Disk Adaptor Cable. You will notice that the Disk Adaptor Cable is in two parts. The cable is shipped with both parts plugged together such that male and female 34 pin molex connectors are exposed. Grasping the small green PC board in one hand and the attached wide gray connector in the other, gently separate the two halves of the Adaptor Cable. Now connect the male and female molex connector together. The colored wire (pin 1) on the wide cable MUST be on the same side of the connector as the colored wire on the long narrow cable. CONNECTING THE CABLE TO THE DISK CONTROLLER Again, locate the connector where the ribbon cable from your disk drive(s) is attached to the disk controller board or motherboard. Gently remove this cable from the controller. If the Trackstar Disk Adapter Cable has been configured correctly it can now be inserted between the MS-DOS disk controller and the cable you have just removed. Remember to keep the colored wires on the same side of each cable. CONNECTING THE DISK ADAPTOR CABLE TO THE TRACKSTAR You will notice that a long narrow ribbon cable is attached to the Trackstar Disk Adaptor Cable. This narrow ribbon cable attaches to a connector on the lower left hand corner of the Trackstar. There are two possible attachment points for the cable. These connectors are labeled J5 and J6 on the Trackstar main board. If the cable from your MS-DOS disk drive connects to the disk controller by way of an EDGE type connector, then you should connect the narrow ribbon cable to location J5 on the Trackstar main board. If the cable from your MS-DOS disk drive connects to the disk controller by way of a PIN (molex) type connector, then you should connect the narrow ribbon cable to location J6 on the Trackstar main board. You have now completed the Disk Adapter Cable Installation! ATTACHING THE OPTIONAL APPLE COMPATIBLE DISK DRIVE Your Trackstar has a connector for attaching an Apple compatible 5.25" disk drive directly to the Trackstar main board. See Figure 11. Apple compatible disk drives may have one of two different kinds of connectors. The most numerous drive, those built for the Apple II and IIe have a small 20 pin rectangular molex connector on the end of the disk drive cable. Disk drives built for the Apple IIc are equipped with a 19 pin oval 'D' type connector on the end of the drive cable. Disk drives equipped with the 20 pin molex style connector may be connected directly to the Trackstar main board at location J4. Thread the Apple compatible drive cable through an empty slot in the back of your computer and gently attach it to the Trackstar. One edge of the cable has a colored stripe on it--this colored edge MUST go to the left as you face the Trackstar. WARNING: The cable is not "keyed" so it is physically possible to plug it on backwards. Connecting this cable backwards will damage the disk drive and possibly the Trackstar as well! If your Apple compatible drive is equipped with the 19 pin 'D' style connector you will need an adaptor cable. This adaptor cable is available from your dealer or Diamond Computer Systems. ATTACHING THE VIDEO CABLES Select the video cable that matches your MONITOR: Color or TTL Monochrome Monitor: Select the RGB or Monochrome Video Cable. Composite Monitor: Select the Composite Video Cable. Locate the expansion slot in the rear of the PC where the Trackstar is to be inserted. Thread the female molex (pin) connector through the opening of the expansion slot in the rear of the computer. Attach the female molex connector to the Trackstar Video Input connector. You are now ready to install the Trackstar board into your computer. INSTALLING THE TRACKSTAR BOARD Locate the metal shield attached at the back of the Trackstar. Notice that this metal shield has an oval cutout at the bottom. The video cable that you just attached to the Trackstar will exit the computer through this notch. The video cable has a narrow metal band circling it four inches from the end. Center this metal band in the notch as you insert the Trackstar into the expansion slot. The RGB color video cable has a small metal eyelet at the Trackstar end. fasten the Trackstar and the eyelet to the back panel of the computer using the screw that held the blank metal plate in place. NOTE: The Composite Video Cable does not have an eyelet or the small metal ring. ATTACHING THE MONITOR There is one last step to perform before closing up the computer. On the outside of your machine locate the video out connector. This connector is the one the monitor was attached before the Trackstar was installed. Connect the Video Adaptor Cable from the Trackstar to the Video port on the computer. Next, take the video cable from the monitor and connect it to the Trackstar board. An RGB color or TTL monochrome cable will connect the TOP 9 pin 'D' connector on the Trackstar board. A Composite monitor will connect to the RCA plug centered on the back of the Trackstar board. NOTE: The BOTTOM 9 pin 'D' connector on the back of the Trackstar board is for an Apple Joystick ONLY! Connecting a monitor to this port may cause sever damage to the monitor! You have completed the Hardware installation. Return now to Chapter Three to continue installation. (SMM/jlc-03/28/94)