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The third item of hardware required, is some means of powering the beast. When a winchester is started, the motor draws a large amount of current from the +12v supply. In addition both the winnie & Controller card guzzle amps from the +5v supply. Typically amperages are shown below:

In addition there is the rest of the system to power. As a general rule of thumb something like a 100w supply is needed. However the later Gemini GM817’s (85w) are able to supply high amperages for a short while and will run a winnie system quite happily.

Last, and certainly not least is the software. How do you tell your CP/M implementation about the winnie. Well let’s deal with Gemini CP/M 2.2 users first. It will be necessary to acquire a new CP/M with a winnie BIOS. Gemini can no doubt supply an upgrade if you return your Master disk. The later Gemini CP/M’s BIOS 3.3 for example have a SYSTEM.CFG file which is edited to indicate the type of winchester and what configuration is required. It will as far as I understand only cope with Rodime 200 Series drives, and some NEC and Miniscribe drives, so this limits your winchester options. The Gemini winchester CP/M does have a nice feature in allowing you to Boot direct from the winchester.

If you are running a MAP-80 CP/M 2.2 or CP/M 3.0, no further purchases are necessary, you may merely edit your BIOS files and place details of your particular winchester into them, then re-assemble and generate a new system. Apart from saving some cash, the MAP route has another advantage in that most any type of winchester can be catered for. If you need to upgrade your CP/M to cope with the winchester a phone call to. MAP-80 might be worth your while.

Putting it all together

Apart from arranging the winnie & controller’s place in the card board box, the rest is all down to links & cabling. I shall assume you have manuals for your CP/M and Floppy/​SASI card, it’s useful to have one for the winnie, and not really essential for the Xebec controller.