A series of external 3,5" and 5,25" floppy disc drives from [[Vortex_Computersysteme|Vortex]] providing up to 720K capacity (704K available). The Vortex drives were most popular in Germany. For more information regarding [[VDOS ]] and the Vortex Disk Format, see the dedicated [[VDOS]] Wiki page.
== S- and D-Drives (720K) ==
These are the first generation of 720K floppy disc drives from Vortex. They came in variants having either a single drive ("S" variant) or two drives ("D" variant). The "S" variant (as well as the less expensive "Z" variant) was delivered with the same double-height casing as the "D" variant, so that a second drive could be retrofitted.
The F1-S, F1-D, M1-S, M1-D drives have their own FDC765 in the controller, and this one supports all DS0 up to DS3. The Vortex interface can manage 4 floppy drives in total.
=== F1-S and F1-D (5,25") ===
Image:Vortex f1 manual disk.jpg|F1-S/D system disk<br />(CPC 664/6128)
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The floppy controller of the F1-D / F1-S was cloned by Hans Hübner of FutureSoft with MX4 connector and without ROM slot. It supports four drives. Under FutureOS they are named E-H.
=== A1-S Upgrade Kit (5,25") ===
=== M1-S and M1-D (3,5") ===
The M1-S and M1-D models are based on 3,5" disk drives. Controller and DOS were identical for 5,25" and 3,5" devices.
=== FDA-1 3" Drive Adapter ===
This adapter allows to connect an external FD-1 3" drive on Vortex F1/M1 setups on the CPC 464. Since only two drives can be used at the same time, the external 3" drive first had to be selected manually with the RSX commandscommand '''|S'''. This RSX command worked also with VDOS 2.11 on CPC6128.
{| class="wikitable"
Image:Vortex 3rd drive adapter plug floppy.jpg|FD-1 3" floppy drive plug
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=== Clone of the F1-D controller ===
A clone of the F1-D controller was created by [[Hans Hübner]] of [[FutureSoft]] in 2024. The card fits on the Mother X4 board and doesn't contain an extra ROM slot. Using [[FutureOS]] this card allows to add four additional floppy disc drives to the CPC, being called E, F, G and H.
=== FDC I/O Ports ===
=== F1-X and F1-XRS (5,25") ===
The F1-X model is based on either a single BASF 6138 (81690-001 or 81757-001) or a single BASF 6139 5,25" disk drive. The BASF 6139 is a revisioned version which is slightly more compact (~1cm shorter), and also a number of electronical and mechanical design flaws that affected durability were corrected. The F1-XRS variant is equipped with an additional RS232-C interface.
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|-
| 0xFBDD || 8253 counter 1 (R/W)
|-
| 0xFBDE || 8253 counter 2 (R/W)
|-
| 0xFBDF || Mode word (W)
SPARA was either the predecessor or a cut-down version of PARA 3.0 and was supplied with the F1-Z drives, only supporting 40 track formats.
=== FileCopy ===
FileCopy 3.0 is a comprehensive tool to copy files with up to 16 different devices (using letters A to P), it supports the Vortex 704 KB format for 80 Track drives.
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== 3rd Party Software ==
=== dBASE II ===
Markt & Technik released a version of Ashton-Tate dBASE II 2.41 for owners of a Vortex disk drive.
=== FutureOS ===
[[FutureOS]] has support for Vortex drives, it uses the Vortex 704 KB format for 80 Track drives.
=== House of Usher ===
Besides tape and 3 inch floppy disk release, the game [[House of Usher]] has been officially released on 5.25 inch floppy disk for the Schneider CPC with Vortex F1 floppy drive.
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House of Usher ads.jpeg
House-of-usher-floppy-cover.png
House-of-usher-floppy-no-cover.png
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=== Microsoft Multiplan ===
Markt & Technik released a version of Microsoft Multiplan 1.06 for owners of a Vortex disk drive.
=== ParaDOS ===
[[ParaDOS]] supports Vortex X-drives and can be used as a replacement for the VDOS-X ROM. There is also a patched version called VaraDOS, which is configured to use a Vortex X-drive as drive B per default. ParaDOS does not provide a way too boot CP/M from drive B.
=== WordStar 3.0 ===
A version of MicroPro WordStar 3.0 was released by Markt & Technik for owners of a Vortex disk drive.
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