rajeev@mit-caf.UUCP (Rajeev Jayavant) (05/26/88)
Does anybody out there know whether the 3.5" drives that Radio Shack sells for the Tandy 1000EX be used with Amy? They're on sale for $99.95 this month - about the right price for an additional drive, eh? The ad claims 720K capacity, but is that a hardware limitation or just a result of the way the PC clones format the drive? Thanks for any help. Rajeev -- /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ Rajeev Jayavant Quote: "Excuse me. I've lost my marbles." (P. Opus) ARPA: rajeev@caf.mit.edu UUCP: ....!mit-eddie!caf!rajeev
davidc@pyr.gatech.EDU (David Carter) (05/27/88)
In article <1003@mit-caf.UUCP> rajeev@caf.mit.edu (Rajeev Jayavant) writes: >Does anybody out there know whether the 3.5" drives that Radio Shack >sells for the Tandy 1000EX be used with Amy? They're on sale for >$99.95 this month - about the right price for an additional drive, eh? >The ad claims 720K capacity, but is that a hardware limitation or just >a result of the way the PC clones format the drive? Thanks for any >help. I took a close look at that drive when it was on sale here a couple of months ago. It looks like it will work, but you would have to build a whole new cable (theirs didn't have enough conductors, and of course didn't have a DB-23 plug). I think the drive was the older style, 1.26" tall Teac. If you're willing to make your own case and get a better drive, try Jade. I just got a sale flyer in the mail, and it has their Toshiba drive for only $98. The drive itself is 1" tall and requires only 5vdc. It includes the universal mounting kit (with 5.25" mounting bracket, and 4 face plates- black/beige, 4"/6" wide) as well as a few connectors you can canibalize. Oh yes, and you get a 90 day warranty. You're right- capacity depends on how they're formatted. The drives are 1M bytes unformatted, 720K on the PC, and 880K on the Amiga. -- David Carter Georgia Insitute of Technology, Atlanta Georgia, 30332 uucp: ...!{akgua,allegra,amd,hplabs,ihnp4,seismo,ut-ngp}!gatech!gitpyr!davidc ARPA: davidc@pyr.ocs.gatech.edu
davidc@pyr.gatech.EDU (David Carter) (05/27/88)
[] For either the RS or Jade drives, you will also need to build the 2-3 chip "motor latch and Amiga ID" circuit (which has been passed around both here and on various BBS's).
ggibeau@ucqais.uc.edu (George Gibeau) (05/28/88)
In article <5842@pyr.gatech.EDU>, davidc@pyr.gatech.EDU (David Carter) writes: > In article <1003@mit-caf.UUCP> rajeev@caf.mit.edu (Rajeev Jayavant) writes: > >Does anybody out there know whether the 3.5" drives that Radio Shack > >sells for the Tandy 1000EX be used with Amy? They're on sale for > [stuff deleted] > I took a close look at that drive when it was on sale here a couple of months > ago. It looks like it will work, but you would have to build a whole new cable > If you're willing to make your own case and get a better drive, try Jade. I > just got sale flyer in the mail, and it has their Toshiba drive for only $98. > You're right- capacity depends on how they're formatted. The drives are 1M > bytes unformatted, 720K on the PC, and 880K on the Amiga. > -- > David Carter One item to check on before purchasing a non-Amiga standard drive is to make sure the drive in question recognizes Disk-Change signal. While most drives will have the micro-switch mounted in them for this signal, not all drives pass the signal through the connector. The drives will still work but you will have to always type mount and dismount when changing disks. THis can get to be a pain in the butt. George Gibeau -- (Why do we drive on our parkways and park on our driveways?) Idiots? They're worse than idiots. They're bureaucrats!! UUCP: ucqais.uc.edu!ggibeau BBS: (513) 721-7977 GT NODE: 006/005 US Snail-Dept of Biology ML 06, University of Cincinnati, Ohio 45221
vkr@osupyr.mast.ohio-state.edu (Vidhyanath K. Rao) (05/29/88)
I am not sure, but the drive in the Pacific peripherals subsystem is a Toshiba. If that is true, check out the drive carefully. I get soft errors if the drive head has to move several tracks at once. For example I get a soft error on long files written on a disk 80% full; or after formatting, when the heads move from track 79 to track 0. But given a second (my reaction time to clicking on the requester), every thing goes smoothly. This is not a problem with the power supply as the subsystem drive is powered externally and I have never had this problem with the internal drive.
cmcmanis@sun.uucp (Chuck McManis) (05/31/88)
In article <548@osupyr.mast.ohio-state.edu> (Vidhyanath K. Rao) writes: > I get soft errors if the drive head has to move several tracks at once. This is characteristic of a drive that has a minimum head step rate that is greater than 3 milleseconds. When stepping from one track to another the head can keep up, but when you get to a bunch of tracks the head can't keep up an boom! error. Get a copy of 'StepRate' from the archives or from one of the later fish disks and slow down the step rate to make those errors go away. -- --Chuck McManis uucp: {anywhere}!sun!cmcmanis BIX: cmcmanis ARPAnet: cmcmanis@sun.com These opinions are my own and no one elses. But you knew that, didn't you.