cramer@sun.uucp (Sam Cramer) (04/01/86)
A friend wants to put a third party low density floppy drive in his AT so he
can write PC-readable diskettes. I've been told that any standard low density
drive will do. Is this the case? Or do I need a special AT
controller-compatible low density floppy drive? Also, who are reputable drive
vendors?
--
Sam Cramer uucp: {cbosgd,decwrl,hplabs,seismo,ucbvax}!sun!cramer
arpanet: cramer@sun.arpalotto@talcott.UUCP (Jerry Lotto) (04/02/86)
In article <3427@sun.uucp>, cramer@sun.uucp (Sam Cramer) writes: > A friend wants to put a third party low density floppy drive in his AT so he > can write PC-readable diskettes. I've been told that any standard low density > drive will do. Is this the case? Or do I need a special AT > controller-compatible low density floppy drive? Also, who are reputable drive > vendors? I recently picked up a TEAC 55 series drive for the AT from PCs Limited (Yes, I should have known better). I ran into two problems. First of all, the drive was built with the planar board mounted on top. In the AT, this means that the ribbon cable has to connect to the lower drive with the 3" A drive extension facing down. To reconnect the high density drive then requires wrapping the cable around itself, something which it is too short for. The other problem was that the rails were cut so far off that I would have had to shave off 1/4" in order to fit it under the existing drive. Rather than playing around, I returned the drive. BTW, to add to the PC Limited Horror stories: Returning the drive entailed a series of phone calls like this: call 1 Me: I want to return a drive. Them: Sure, my name is George but I can not help you after hours. Call back tommorrow. call 2 Me: Is George there? Them: Noone named George works here. Me: Oh. I want to return a disk drive. Them: Who sold it to you? ... Them: I cannot find your order. Me: It has already been filled. I want to return something. Them: Do you have a problem with it? Me: Yes. Them: You have to call Tech. Support. call 3 Me: Is this Tech. Support? Them: Yes, my name is George. May I help you? Goto call 1 -- Gerald Lotto - Harvard Chemistry Dept. UUCP: {seismo,harpo,ihnp4,linus,allegra,ut-sally}!harvard!lhasa!lotto ARPA: lotto@harvard.EDU CSNET: lotto%harvard@csnet-relay
brown@nicmad.UUCP (04/03/86)
In article <583@talcott.UUCP> lotto@talcott.UUCP (Jerry Lotto) writes: >I recently picked up a TEAC 55 series drive for the AT from PCs Limited >(Yes, I should have known better). I ran into two problems. > >First of all, the drive was built with the planar board mounted on top. >In the AT, this means that the ribbon cable has to connect to the lower >drive with the 3" A drive extension facing down. To reconnect the high >density drive then requires wrapping the cable around itself, something >which it is too short for. > >The other problem was that the rails were cut so far off that I would >have had to shave off 1/4" in order to fit it under the existing drive. We (I) have been buying the TEAC FD55B drives for our XTs for some time now. All of the drives that I have received are circuit board on the bottom. The red light on the front panel is above the slot for the floppy. I have never had any problem fitting them into a PC or XT frame. I know it isn't an AT, but shouldn't the hole sizes be the same. I even stack two of the 55Bs together and install them into one of the PC/XT slots. Every TEAC drive that I have seen here (we ship different model drives with our digital scope) has the circuit board on the bottom (if positioned that way). So, I am not sure why you had the problem. -- ihnp4------\ harvard-\ \ Mr. Video seismo!uwvax!nicmad!brown topaz-/ / decvax------/
2212msr@whuts.UUCP (ROBIN) (04/03/86)
> A friend wants to put a third party low density floppy drive in his AT so he > can write PC-readable diskettes. I've been told that any standard low density > drive will do. Is this the case? Or do I need a special AT > controller-compatible low density floppy drive? Also, who are reputable drive > vendors? > Has he tried writing a low density(i.e. 360K) floppy in his high density drive? Both the 1.2M drives on my AT regularly write 360s which are readable by other IBM PCs and AT&T 6300 & 6300+. Max Robin AT&T Bell Laboratories email:whuxg!2212msr voice:201-386-6865
lotto@talcott.UUCP (Jerry Lotto) (04/04/86)
In article <598@nicmad.UUCP>, brown@nicmad.UUCP writes: > In article <583@talcott.UUCP> lotto@talcott.UUCP (Jerry Lotto) writes: > >I recently picked up a TEAC 55 series drive for the AT from PCs Limited > >(Yes, I should have known better). I ran into two problems. > > > >First of all, the drive was built with the planar board mounted on top... > We (I) have been buying the TEAC FD55B drives for our XTs for some time now. > All of the drives that I have received are circuit board on the bottom. > The red light on the front panel is above the slot for the floppy. I have > never had any problem fitting them into a PC or XT frame. I know it isn't > an AT, Thus the problem. The lever either swings opposite to the way the other drive lever swings and they hit each other, or you mount the drive upside down. > >The other problem was that the rails were cut so far off that I would > >have had to shave off 1/4" in order to fit it under the existing drive. > but shouldn't the hole sizes be the same? I even stack two of the > 55Bs together and install them into one of the PC/XT slots. And in fact the hole size was fine, what I said was "the rails were cut so far off". TEAC did not make the rails, they were obviously purchased by PC Limited (and added value?). Let me add that I was very satisfied with my two TEAC drives when I owned a PC. Furthermore, I am sure that there is a model of 55's that is the right color/chirality for an AT. I just think that the ability to determine the proper combination is beyond most retailers. Purchasers of add in drives for AT's and clones should be aware of these two potential problems. -- Gerald Lotto - Harvard Chemistry Dept. UUCP: {seismo,harpo,ihnp4,linus,allegra,ut-sally}!harvard!lhasa!lotto ARPA: lotto@harvard.EDU CSNET: lotto%harvard@csnet-relay
jrv@siemens.UUCP (04/05/86)
>Has he tried writing a low density(i.e. 360K) floppy in his high density >drive? Both the 1.2M drives on my AT regularly write 360s >which are readable by other IBM PCs and AT&T 6300 & 6300+. > >Max Robin >AT&T Bell Laboratories >email:whuxg!2212msr >voice:201-386-6865 You can format, and write double density diskettes in the high density drive on an AT. However, the experts(?), i.e. IBM's manuals, say that this is not reliable. The disks may not be able to be read from the 360K drive of another PC machine. Reading of any density diskette in the high density drive is Ok. Jim Vallino Siemens Research and Technology Lab. Princeton, NJ {allegra,ihnp4,seismo,philabs}!princeton!siemens!jrv
farmer@ico (04/08/86)
>A friend wants to put a third party low density floppy drive in his AT so >he can write PC-readable diskettes. I've been told that any standard low >density drive will do. Is this the case? Or do I need a special AT >controller-compatible low density floppy drive? Also, who are reputable >drive vendors? I installed a drive like this once a while back. At first it didn't work. I found that I needed to cut the trace on the third connection from the end. I think it was the connection opposite number 3. I used a thin piece of scotch tape over the connection so that the cable wouldn't make contact. Make sure it works before cutting anything.