Cold Load Read 
Type: 
Purpose: 
Description: 
HP 9895A 
Disc 
Memory Command Set 
A-39 
Disc read. 
The  cold 
load 
read 
is  a 
command 
to 
read 
from  unit  0, 
cylinder ° 
at 
a  specified 
head 
and 
sector 
address.  This 
command 
consists  of  a 
seek 
to 
cylinder ° followed  by a 
read 
operation starting 
at 
the specified 
head 
and 
sector. 
Consecutive sectors are 
read 
until the 
bus 
controller 
stops 
the 
read. 
Following reception of the 
Read 
command, 
parallel poll is 
disabled, the 
DSJ cleared 
and 
the 
first status bit checked. 
If 
first  status 
is 
set, 
the 
format of the disc 
is 
determined 
and 
the first status bit cleared. 
If 
the unit 
can 
be 
accessed, the 
9895A performs a  seek 
to 
cylinder 0, 
reads 
the 
specified 
sector into  the  internal  buffer, 
then 
asserts  parallel  poll 
waiting for  the 
send 
data 
secondary.  After 
the 
send 
data 
secondary 
is received, parallel poll 
is 
disabled 
and 
the 
buf-
fered 
sector 
is 
sent 
to 
the 
bus 
controller. 
When 
the 
sector 
has 
been 
sent, the controller 
fills 
the buffer with  the next 
sector 
from the disc 
and 
then 
sends 
it 
to 
the 
bus 
controller. 
This process is 
repeated 
until 
one 
of the terminating condi-
tions occurs: 
1. 
If the  unit 
becomes 
unavailable 
or 
a 
sector 
cannot 
be 
found 
when 
the  buffer is  empty,  a 
byte 
tagged 
with 
EOI is sent. 
2. 
If 
a  CRC 
error 
or 
D bit is 
encountered, 
the 
sector 
is 
sent 
followed by a byte tagged with 
an 
EOI. 
3. 
If 
at 
any time during 
the 
operation 
the 
device notices 
that 
it  has 
been 
untalked 
or 
that 
the 
bus 
controller 
has 
sent 
a byte, 
the 
transfer 
will 
be 
stopped. 
FollOWing 
any 
of 
the 
above 
terminations, 
status 
is 
updated 
and 
parallel poll  response is  re-enabled. 
If 
there 
was 
an 
error 
in reading 
data 
from 
the 
disc, the target 
address 
is 
left 
pointing 
to 
the 
sector 
in  which the 
error 
occurred. Other-
wise, the target 
sector 
points to the 
sector 
following the last 
sector 
read 
from 
the 
disc. 
The cold  load 
read 
uses  unbuffered  HP-IB  protocol,  al-
though 
all 
sector 
transfers take place 
through 
the buffer. 
Thus, there is a 
pause 
in 
data 
flow  to the HP-IB 
each 
time 
the buffer is re-filled from 
the 
disc. This 
pause 
occurs 
at 
the 
beginning of the 
read 
and 
after every 
sector 
is transferred. 
Depending 
on 
when 
the 
read 
is started 
and 
the 
staggering 
of the sectors (see the 
Format 
command), 
this inter-sector 
pause 
may 
be 
up 
to 
160 
milliseconds long.