External floppy drives DE 6128 vs 6128Plus

zhulien · 15:38, 12 September 23

I am wondering why Amstrad chose to make the 6128 Plus external floppy connector pinouts different to German CPC 6128s. Is it designed to make people short circuit their internal drives or was it actually a design error?

GUNHED · 16:30, 13 September 23

Maybe it was more easy to design the PCB that way.

When making a flat cable to connect drive an 6128plus its no problem actually. Just don't confuse CPC and 6128plus then.

eto · 19:17, 14 September 23

Quote from: GUNHED on 16:30, 13 September 23Maybe it was more easy to design the PCB that way.

In that area of the PCB it would not have made any difference to make it exactly like the German 6128. Printer port ist identical. There is absolutely no reason and that you even have to remove one wire on one side to crimp the cable pretty much shows that it's not far fetched that this was a stupid mistake.

Bryce · 07:22, 15 September 23

The design was definitely rushed out the door to get it to market as quickly as possible, so it was most likely a mistake. There are other mistakes too.

Bryce.

McArti0 · 10:16, 15 September 23

Maybe it was "You must pay Now and Here" like Joy for Spectrum +2,+3.

Bryce · 12:30, 15 September 23

I think it was a case of "We've missed the boat, 16bit computers just entered the market. Sell some of these as quick as possible before we have to write off the entire development investment completely".

Bryce.

GUNHED · 14:56, 15 September 23

Quote from: eto on 19:17, 14 September 23
Quote from: GUNHED on 16:30, 13 September 23Maybe it was more easy to design the PCB that way.
In that area of the PCB it would not have made any difference to make it exactly like the German 6128. Printer port ist identical. There is absolutely no reason and that you even have to remove one wire on one side to crimp the cable pretty much shows that it's not far fetched that this was a stupid mistake.

Well, in this case it was an error probable.
However, there is no reason to remove a wire. It's just crimping the cable one position to the side. So no problem actually.

eto · 15:57, 15 September 23

Quote from: GUNHED on 14:56, 15 September 23However, there is no reason to remove a wire. It's just crimping the cable one position to the side. So no problem actually.

You have to cut one wire.

GUNHED · 16:06, 15 September 23

No, I don't have to. And it works perfect since 1992 (3", 3.5" and 5.25").

pelrun · 20:32, 15 September 23

You're both referring to the same thing, just using different words. You don't have to *cut* the red wire, but it's not going to *go* anywhere either, since there's no place for it in the Plus connector.

GUNHED · 00:07, 17 September 23

Well here it is and works since 31 years. For the regular Centronics connector one 'line' is left free using the regular cable. Now just shift the flat cable one position (now the free 'line' is at the other side of the Centronics connector). That's it. I posted that picture before somewhere here, because this topic comes up every 3-5 years again. :-)

eto · 08:02, 18 September 23

Quote from: GUNHED on 00:07, 17 September 23. That's it. I posted that picture before somewhere here, because this topic comes up every 3-5 years again. :-)

can you share again? I have not seen it since I joined 3 years ago and it might be impossible to find it using the search.

GUNHED · 18:46, 19 September 23

Quote from: eto on 08:02, 18 September 23
Quote from: GUNHED on 00:07, 17 September 23. That's it. I posted that picture before somewhere here, because this topic comes up every 3-5 years again. :-)
can you share again? I have not seen it since I joined 3 years ago and it might be impossible to find it using the search.

That's the best quality I can get night now. If you want to see it in person, just stop by. You live just around the corner anyway.

Ugly new picture...

News:

External floppy drives DE 6128 vs 6128Plus