Thinking of buying this 3/1/2 inch drive

[Bryce]

It depends on the drive. If you can take a hi-res picture of the PCB on the floppy drive I'll tell you what you need to do. You'll also have to remove the ready jumper on the cable once it's done.

Bryce.

[dcdrac]

what if I connect one of these or something like it to the floppy drive I am getting?

IDE/SATA to USB 2.0 | Maplin

[dcdrac]

I had one of those face slap moments of realization this morning, plug the drive into one of he standard 6128s and use that to format the discs then use CPCXP....tired not to turn bright red

[Bryce]

Hi Bryce


I have one of these kits and the floppy, as you say, doesn't send RDY, or rather it is always RDY. This is unfortunate because DISCKIT3 wants all disks removed before it will exit, and it must be using RDY=FALSE to tell if you complied. How do you convert the drive to proper RDY functioning?


Cheers


JonB

Hi JonB,
     I just sent you an email with the instructions to convert the drive. For others who also have the same drive, here's the picture, which more or less says it all:

Bryce.

[Ace]

It depends on the drive. If you can take a hi-res picture of the PCB on the floppy drive I'll tell you what you need to do. You'll also have to remove the ready jumper on the cable once it's done.

Bryce.

...I have a SONY MPF920 and the PCB is shown in the picture below, (hope it's good enough):

[attach=2]

What I must do in order to convert it, for proper ready signal?
Thanks in advance!

[Bryce]

Hi Ace,
     unfortunately, this is one of the drives with a controller that doesn't supply an option for Disk_Change / Ready signal. So the mod isn't quite as simple, but still possible. Here's a description on another Forum of how to do it: http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=43265

The SEL0 / SEL1 Zero ohm resistor mentioned in this mod changes the drive from a DS1 to DS0 drive.

Bryce.

[gerald]

Hi Ace,
     unfortunately, this is one of the drives with a controller that doesn't supply an option for Disk_Change / Ready signal. So the mod isn't quite as simple, but still possible. Here's a description on another Forum of how to do it: http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=43265

I have the same drive, and this mod does not work !
The signal used to drive the RDY pin looks more like an index pulse than a Ready signal.

A 'proper' ready signal is on pin 17 of the 20pin IC. When I say proper, it is really telling the floppy controller that the drive motor is turning at correct speed. However, it is NOT correct for driving pin 34 as it is not masqued by the nSEL signal, and I do not think it is an open collector output.

A direct connection of pin17 to IDC pin 34 would work at the condition you only have 1 disk in your system. (and you cut the track that originally goes to IDC pin 34). I am using it like this.

A complete mod would require an OR gate with open collector output (which does not exist  ), where inputs are nSEL and pin17, output driving nRDY.

As a side note, most of the mods that does not rely on a simple resistor move or pin swapping are subject to caution : some connect the RDATA signal to the RDY. This also tell us how much an Amiga cares about the RDY signal, if it cares at all.

[Bryce]

Hey, thanks, good to know. I haven't got this drive myself, so I wasn't able to test the mod. I was assuming it was fully tested by the author.

Bryce.

[dcdrac]

Drive working CPM sees it and attempts to format the 3 1/3 inch disk using disckit, might be using duff old discs but only one got as far as track 3, and I have taped over the HD hole to try and con the drive into thinking it is an old 720K floppy.

[dcdrac]

Might be a better idea to get some new discs

5-pack 3.5" DS/DD Floppy Disk 720K Clear Case DSDD IBM Format All New | eBay

[dcdrac]

ok CPM claimed it formatted a disc so when trying to get the 6128 to read it using cat it cannot read it what else do I need to do?

yes I had set it to B drive

Drive connected up using a cable with switches on, drive gets detected fine by AMSDOS and CPM.

Disckit states it has formatted it so I must be missing something.

[TFM]

You can try the Verify option of DISCKIT3 too. Dunno it this helps you. 

[dcdrac]

Will give it a go later today as it is Midnight and off to bed soon.

[dcdrac]

This drive looks like it would fit in the drive bay of the 6128 Plus I have got, so questions.

1. Would the connector be the same? Connector looks the same

2. The power connect would it fit? power is the power connector the same as for a 3/12 inch drive?

I have parados on cartridge, but would probably need cpm on a cart if such a thing exists

1. solution to CPM issue use the DD1 I have as drive A: then format discs in the internal drive using CPM.

[Bryce]

This drive

Which drive??

The Plus drive is 5V only, so it the drive you are referring to needs 12V then it won't work.

The Plus also has a 26pin connector to the drive, so a 34pin drive will need an adapter.

How about just putting CP/M on a 3.5in floppy?

Bryce.

[JonB]

@Bryce


I have checked the drive mod and tried with the cable switch set to side B but I am still not getting the !RDY when removing the disk after formatting, so disckit3 jams while waiting for the disk to come out. Something else, perhaps..?


Cheers


JonB

[Bryce]

And you've removed any Ready jumper from the cable?

Bryce.

[dcdrac]

i am going to retrieve an old laptop from my Dads house that has a built in floppy drive and use CPCXP

[JonB]

And you've removed any Ready jumper from the cable?

Bryce.

Yep.

[Bryce]

Then there's something damaged in you CPC. Probably one of the inverters has died (can happen if the floppy cable was ever connected the wrong way around).

Bryce.

[TFM]

Yes, that's a good point. I heart it happens more often with the Plus if people use a regular cable (forgetting that the drive B connector is shifted one line). Here saving money gets pointless.

[JonB]

Which chip? Any idea? I'll whack a new one in there pronto... but the chips by the disk interface are 74LS38s - NAND buffers?

[Bryce]

On the 6128 it would be the IC203 (74HC240) and IC208 (74LS38). I had to replace one or more of these on occassions from people connecting a 3.5in drive incorrectly. I've also had to replace the µPD765 once, but I've no idea how the owner managed to fry that one. IC203 is responsible for the Ready signal and it should be really difficult to damage because only its inputs are facing the drive. The most likely situation is that IC208 is damaged and it's input (which is also connected to the Ready signal) is pulling the signal high or low.

Bryce.