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Teamdrive

Started by TFM, 17:59, 29 October 11

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TFM

Hi there,

Does have anybody here a Teamdrive:

http://www.ebay.de/itm/110762524346?ssPageName=STRK:MEDWX:IT


Do you use it like a regular B-drive or does it have something special?
TFM of FutureSoft
Also visit the CPC and Plus users favorite OS: FutureOS - The Revolution on CPC6128 and 6128Plus

Bryce

Looks like a standard external 5.25 drive. Nothing special.

Bryce.

TFM

Quote from: Bryce on 18:51, 29 October 11
Looks like a standard external 5.25 drive. Nothing special.

Bryce.

Well, it offers 820 KB... (So maybe a DOS with 82 track support, or something else!)
TFM of FutureSoft
Also visit the CPC and Plus users favorite OS: FutureOS - The Revolution on CPC6128 and 6128Plus

Bryce

Or maybe that only works when connected to a PC?

Bryce.

TFM

Quote from: Bryce on 19:48, 29 October 11
Or maybe that only works when connected to a PC?

Bryce.

No, it was definitely inteded to be used at the CPC with 820 KB (see advertisments).

However, it doesn't matter if the drive is connected to a CPC or PC, because the connected computer will not alter the floppy-disc-drive-station itself in any way.

Further, a PC would use it with 720 KB DOS format most likely. Or 360 KB DOS format, when selected as 5.25". But not 820 KB.
TFM of FutureSoft
Also visit the CPC and Plus users favorite OS: FutureOS - The Revolution on CPC6128 and 6128Plus

MacDeath

5"1/4... I have fond memory from tyhose on my first PC...

the fun was that you could transport the disks on any book at school.


But is this stil practicle nowadays ?
I mean can you still find new disks for those ?

OCT

#6
Quote from: MacDeath on 14:15, 01 November 11
5"1/4... I have fond memory from tyhose on my first PC...
the fun was that you could transport the disks on any book at school.
There was at least one case where prosecutors punched and filed a few of them with their papers... there goes the evidence  ;D usually, but they were lucky to be in a region that still used a smaller size of top-left punch units backwards-compatible to the 19th century (at a minimum), just about sparing the inner magnetic disc...

QuoteBut is this stil practicle nowadays ?
I mean can you still find new disks for those ?
The hard part is finding 5.25" drives that still work, and mainboards that still do support more than one drive - many manufacturers such as Fujitsu-Siemens or HP seem to have (more or less silently) reduced the mainboard connector wiring for floppy ports to just one unit (sometimes in spite of a twisted cable looking like it was for 2), even though the controllers could often handle the standard 2 drives, or even up to 4.

TFM

Can you connect two drives at that single cable then? (At least?)
TFM of FutureSoft
Also visit the CPC and Plus users favorite OS: FutureOS - The Revolution on CPC6128 and 6128Plus

Gryzor

Is it really that hard to find working 5.25" drives? The world is full of these beasts!

OCT

#9
Quote from: TFM/FS on 23:50, 01 November 11
Can you connect two drives at that single cable then? (At least?)
Well, the trouble is that even though SMSC (maker of the common I/O chipsets) have licensed ye olde 765 controller core which does allow MOTOR_ON and DS for two drives, many manufacturers just don't carry the _1 pins to the mainboard's FLOPPY ("Shugart bus") connector.
I.e. the cables (and often even BIOS descriptions) look like they were for two drives but only one will work on them (proven by hours of angry attempts in every corner of the globe).
Using Linux, you may override the BIOS by specifying an option of e.g. " floppy.floppy=1,4,cmos" to the kernel, but this will only make /dev/fd1 time out with misleading error messages after up to an hour if the mainboard pin header isn't properly wired to the SMSC controller for a second drive.
With ace fine-pitch soldering skills on an LPC SMD (a precision task for watchmakers or neurosurgeons), one might be able to complete the connections, but the respective pins might also have been reconfigured as GPIO so one cannot be sure whether the I/O is able to work correctly in the respective circuit at all.

OCT

Quote from: Gryzor on 17:07, 03 November 11
Is it really that hard to find working 5.25" drives? The world is full of these beasts!
Yes, but (oblig Universal Soldier quote) after just a few years of service at the most (much worse than for 3-3.5") regrettably:  :o
QuoteGod damn it the whole fucking platoon's dropping like flies!
And not all of those still around and working can actually be wired to work on a CPC (the knowledge how to make them double-step seems largely lost already).

TFM

@OCT: Thank's for your detailed comments :)
TFM of FutureSoft
Also visit the CPC and Plus users favorite OS: FutureOS - The Revolution on CPC6128 and 6128Plus

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