help for external disk drive

[emilen72]

Hi to all,
I have an external low profile floppy drive, its look is very well and I want to connect it to my cpc6128...


[attach=2]


the floppy is a citizen U1DA-41L with 26 pin connector (not flat type) that work with only +5v 420mA


[attach=3]


the best is if I can reuse the original cable to connect the drive to one female 34 pin EDGE connector type...
[attach=4]
I can't find any info about the drive, its jumper and 26 pinout description (this last than wikipedia)... anyone have these info?

[attach=5]

and more... I can use +5v directly from the edge connector?

can anyone help me? any other suggestion is much appreciated...

many thanks to all in advance

[db6128]

If you decide that a 34-pin drive would be easier, e.g. by using ikonsgr's excellent 34-pin cable and PSU set on eBay, I'd love to buy or even swap that 26-pin drive from you!

Pinout found quickly on Google: http://pinouts.ru/Storage/26pin_microfloppy_pinout.shtml I imagine it will match your drive, as I don't think there was more than one type of 26-pin drive. It's a very rare interface. I don't know whether it's easily adapted to the CPC, but I doubt there will be any huge barriers in the way.

[Bryce]

The 26pin Shugart connection is a standard usually used in laptops. I have converted 26pin floppies for the CPC in the past, and they work fine. You can see one here that I converted: 464+ Mod
I have the connections documented somewhere, I can look it up and post it here if you like, but you'll find the info online too. Here's the pinout of the 26pin side: http://pinouts.ru/Storage/26pin_microfloppy_pinout.shtml

The great thing about these drives (other than usually being really slim) is that they have a proper "Ready" signal, so you don't need to do any messing about to get the ready signal to work

Bryce.

Edit: Found the file faster than expected. This is all you need to connect it up:

[attach=2]

Note: The CPC pins in the file refer to the internal CPC header, not the external connector, so they won't be correct for external connection.

[emilen72]

@db6128


thanks for your tips and offer but I want use it with my CPC because it case look very well next to CPC... and I have yet a 3,5" 34 way disk and cable in working order


@Bryce
thanks for your schematics and infos... I have build a cable adapter and I have obtained a strange behavior...
when the disc is connect to the cpc and a disk 3,5" in insered (I have put in the R-Type game disk by easter-egg)
typing the |B command the CPC reply ok
when I type the CAT command, with this game instead of the directory the "Hall of Fame" is loaded in normal way
but when I type RUN"DISC" the game it begins to load but after some initial screen change as when I load it with the 3,5" 34 way adapter... the screen remain black for an infinite time and the disc in in infinite turn...


can be the motor belt the trouble?


thanks again to all in advance

[Bryce]

Have you tried any other discs? Do they work as normal? 3.5in drives don't usually have belts.

Bryce.

[emilen72]

I will try another disc... but this floppy drive have a belt for disc spinning motor... I will post a photo...


thanks Bryce

[db6128]

3.5in drives don't usually have belts.

26-pin ones do. Edit: well, not necessarily usually, but it's perfectly possible. I imagine it's more common in, or limited to, the ones with headers of pins and IDC cables, rather than the slim ones from laptops.

Example: my Yamaha SY99 and SY77 synths. Classic Yamaha, choosing a barely standard interface for which it's nowadays almost completely impossible to find drives. So, not only do you have to replace the belt every however-many years: you also have to be able to make your own cables/adaptors if you want to use a more sane 34-pin drive. Thankfully, I hope to be soon installing a custom-made USB floppy emulator in it, which will do away with all this malarkey about belts, cables, and flimsy tiny square disks. 100 floppies' worth of data at any time! Seems too good to be true, and perhaps this USB emulator will make that unfortunate possibility a reality... :|


Edit: And no, I don't feel like putting an HxC in there. Firstly, that's more expensive than what I've ordered; secondly, it would still require me to source an adapting cable from elsewhere; and thirdly, these keyboards use standard MS-DOS filesystems, so I don't need the raw format support of the HxC. That sort of thing is much better saved for my 6128, eventually.

[Bryce]

Interesting, I didn't know that. I've only ever dealt with 26pin drives from Laptops (because you can squeeze them into almost anything and they came in dark colours that match the CPC/Spectrum+ etc).
Making a 26 to 34 pin or 34 to 26pin adapter isn't a huge problem and you only have to do it once, but drive-belts are a pain in the arse.

Bryce.

[db6128]

Yeah, the combination of a belt and a connector for which no adapters are available anywhere is frustrating. I replaced the belt on my SY99 recently, so it's good to go for another x years – the old belt hadn't disintegrated, but it was stretched to honestly about twice its original size – but I'm looking forward to replacing all the infuriating bits like that inside the synth and then leaving it closed forever.

I say that, but even once I replace the internal soldered-on batteries (for the 'non-volatile' RAM) with holders, I'll still need to open it to get to said holders if I ever need to replace the batteries... which I hope to live long enough to require! That's unless I can mount the holders somewhere external/accessible, but that might require some fairly long wires, so could that ruin the connection to the battery?

Making a 26 to 34 pin or 34 to 26pin adapter isn't a huge problem

Would someone like to make one or two for me...? O:-) (for a nominal fee, naturally)

Sorry to hijack the thread with talk of something completely different, but it was too tempting to resist asking whilst an expert is here.

[caver99]

what was the make and model of the external floppy drive?