a186@mindlink.UUCP (Harvey Taylor) (11/29/89)
In Msg-ID: <22842@gryphon.COM>, collins@pnet02.gryphon.com (Steve Collins) writes: | A local electronics store is selling 3.5 IBM compatible floppy | drives (cheap!) that seem to have the same connectors as the Amiga | internal drive. What are the chances that this drive will work in an | Amiga? Steve, Hello. You can use a generic 3.5" drive with the addition of a small circuit to generate the Drive ID at power up. There is a (slightly flawed) circuit in Amiga System Programmer's Guide by Abacus. There is also mention of the reading the Drive ID process in the RKM_Hardware(1.2 & 1.3) and in the Amiga Tech Ref Manual from CATS. To build the circuit all you need is the ASPG book. <-Harvey "Political equality was a thing of the past; all eyes watched for Imperial commands." -Tacitus Harvey Taylor Meta Media Productions uunet!van-bc!rsoft!mindlink!Harvey_Taylor a186@mindlink.UUCP
collins@pnet02.gryphon.com (Steven Collins) (11/29/89)
A local electronics store is selling 3.5 IBM compatible floppy drives (cheap!)
that seem to have the same connectors as the Amiga internal drive. What are
the
chances that this drive will work in an Amiga?
A friend has a broken drive in his 1000 and I am considering trying to
hack together another external drive...
thanks in advance
steve collins
UUCP: {ames!elroy, <backbone>}!gryphon!pnet02!collins
INET: collins@pnet02.gryphon.comsparks@corpane.UUCP (John Sparks) (12/05/89)
In article <751@mindlink.UUCP> a186@mindlink.UUCP (Harvey Taylor) writes: >In Msg-ID: <22842@gryphon.COM>, collins@pnet02.gryphon.com >(Steve Collins) writes: >| A local electronics store is selling 3.5 IBM compatible floppy >| drives (cheap!) that seem to have the same connectors as the Amiga >| internal drive. What are the chances that this drive will work in an >| Amiga? > >Steve, > Hello. You can use a generic 3.5" drive with the addition of a > small circuit to generate the Drive ID at power up. The circuit you mention is only required if you want to hook the drive up as an EXTERNAL floppy. Me and a friend just installed a 720K MSDOS compatible floppy in his 2000 as DF1: internal drive. The only things we had to do was set a Jumper on the mother board and the drive select on the floppy drive. It works great. I forget what the number was on the mother board jumper, but it is noted in the back of the Amiga 2000 manual. It's located in the center of the board just to the left of the frame that holds the drives. I would recommend getting 720K MSDOS drives and not the 1.44M ones. The drive we installed was a panasonic brand. -- John Sparks | {rutgers|uunet}!ukma!corpane!sparks | D.I.S.K. 24hrs 1200bps ||||||||||||||| sparks@corpane.UUCP | 502/968-5401 thru -5406 Don't worry if you're a kleptomaniac, you can always take something for it.
33014-18@sjsumcs.sjsu.edu (Eduardo Horvath) (12/06/89)
In article <1246@corpane.UUCP> sparks@corpane.UUCP (John Sparks) writes: [Fun with Line Eaters!] >I would recommend getting 720K MSDOS drives and not the 1.44M ones. Would 1.44M drives work on an Amiga (other than software-wise)? I looked at the old Hadrware manual, and I don't see why not. Why didn't C= stick them into the 2000? >John Sparks | {rutgers|uunet}!ukma!corpane!sparks | D.I.S.K. 24hrs 1200bps >||||||||||||||| sparks@corpane.UUCP | 502/968-5401 thru -5406 Eduardo Horvath | 33014-18@sjsumcs.SJSU.EDU | IMI - International Microsystems "Why don't you stop your whining, and get back to work!" - Doctor Science
mks@cbmvax.UUCP (Michael Sinz - CATS) (12/07/89)
In article <1989Dec6.145527.2958@sjsumcs.sjsu.edu> 33014-18@sjsumcs.SJSU.EDU (Eduardo Horvath) writes: >In article <1246@corpane.UUCP> sparks@corpane.UUCP (John Sparks) writes: >[Fun with Line Eaters!] > >>I would recommend getting 720K MSDOS drives and not the 1.44M ones. > > Would 1.44M drives work on an Amiga (other than software-wise)? >I looked at the old Hadrware manual, and I don't see why not. Why didn't >C= stick them into the 2000? Well, the data rate is too high on the 1.44Meg floppies. (Actually, 2Meg unformatted...) The PAULA chip can not transfer data fast enough to attain that density. > >>John Sparks | {rutgers|uunet}!ukma!corpane!sparks | D.I.S.K. 24hrs 1200bps >>||||||||||||||| sparks@corpane.UUCP | 502/968-5401 thru -5406 >Eduardo Horvath | 33014-18@sjsumcs.SJSU.EDU | IMI - International Microsystems > "Why don't you stop your whining, and get back to work!" > - Doctor Science /----------------------------------------------------------------------\ | /// Michael Sinz -- CATS/Amiga Software Engineer | | /// PHONE 215-431-9422 UUCP ( uunet | rutgers ) !cbmvax!mks | | /// | |\\\/// When people are free to do as they please, | | \XX/ they usually imitate each other. | \----------------------------------------------------------------------/
nigel@ultima.cs.uts.oz (Nigel Pearson) (12/09/89)
From article <8859@cbmvax.UUCP>, by mks@cbmvax.UUCP (Michael Sinz - CATS): >> >>>I would recommend getting 720K MSDOS drives and not the 1.44M ones. >> >> Would 1.44M drives work on an Amiga (other than software-wise)? >>I looked at the old Hadrware manual, and I don't see why not. Why didn't >>C= stick them into the 2000? > > Well, the data rate is too high on the 1.44Meg floppies. (Actually, 2Meg > unformatted...) The PAULA chip can not transfer data fast enough to > attain that density. Does anyone know if it would be possible to make a board (DMA?) which is fast enough to use these drives? Also, would it be possible to have the machines boot from it? (Should be possible on the A500/2000, but I don't know about the A1000s) Would be neat to be able to put a bigger default ( DF0: ) drive in. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nigel Pearson, overpaid research assistant @ University of Technology, Sydney. "Do you want to live for ever?" - Conan the Barbarian & Highlander. ACSnet: nigel@ultima.cs.uts.oz Phone: (+61 2)[OS] (02)[Aust] 281 2552 Surface: Nigel Pearson, Key Centre, UTS, PO Box 123, BROADWAY, Australia, 2007 ______________________________________________________________________________
mks@cbmvax.UUCP (Michael Sinz - CATS) (12/09/89)
In article <16757@ultima.cs.uts.oz> nigel@ultima.cs.uts.oz (Nigel Pearson) writes: >From article <8859@cbmvax.UUCP>, by mks@cbmvax.UUCP (Michael Sinz - CATS): >>> >>>>I would recommend getting 720K MSDOS drives and not the 1.44M ones. >>> >>> Would 1.44M drives work on an Amiga (other than software-wise)? >>>I looked at the old Hadrware manual, and I don't see why not. Why didn't >>>C= stick them into the 2000? >> >> Well, the data rate is too high on the 1.44Meg floppies. (Actually, 2Meg >> unformatted...) The PAULA chip can not transfer data fast enough to >> attain that density. > > Does anyone know if it would be possible to make a board (DMA?) >which is fast enough to use these drives? Also, would it be possible to >have the machines boot from it? (Should be possible on the A500/2000, but >I don't know about the A1000s) Would be neat to be able to put a bigger >default ( DF0: ) drive in. There is no REAL reason something like this would not work. You would build it just like a AutoBooting HardDisk controller. However, be warned that doing this a REPLACING DF0: would be trouble for all those programs that go directly to the hardware to do the copy protection or other such tricks. If you write some tricky code, the replacement of trackdisk.device could be achieved but the hardware-level replacement can not be. However, I would LOVE to see someone with such a beastie as that would make it possible to read/write 1.44 MS-DOS and 1.76 AmigaDOS and the new 1.6 MAC disks. This would really give interconnectivity to the Amiga. (We can read/write any disk format, so there...) Just do it like CrossDOS did but with that new hardware/drive combo... > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >Nigel Pearson, overpaid research assistant @ University of Technology, Sydney. > > "Do you want to live for ever?" - Conan the Barbarian & Highlander. > >ACSnet: nigel@ultima.cs.uts.oz Phone: (+61 2)[OS] (02)[Aust] 281 2552 >Surface: Nigel Pearson, Key Centre, UTS, PO Box 123, BROADWAY, Australia, 2007 >______________________________________________________________________________ /----------------------------------------------------------------------\ | /// Michael Sinz -- CATS/Amiga Software Engineer | | /// PHONE 215-431-9422 UUCP ( uunet | rutgers ) !cbmvax!mks | | /// | |\\\/// When people are free to do as they please, | | \XX/ they usually imitate each other. | \----------------------------------------------------------------------/
FelineGrace@cup.portal.com (Dana B Bourgeois) (12/11/89)
[line eater food] I asked some questions along this line once before and the answer comes out like so: You can do anything you want to do hanging hardware off the expansion bus. You could build hardware that supports all kinds of floppies or tapes or whatever. But you'd also have to write the drivers for them and link them into the system. What you can't do is get more than 880K from the current hardware/software floppy support. Unless C.A. wants to change floppy hardware (and supply the proper software support), the current size and type and number of floppies is fixed. Too bad, too, because I would like to be able to just buy a double density drive and boom! 1.7 Meg Workbench. But only in my dreams. Dana @ cup.portal.com
bdb@becker.UUCP (Bruce Becker) (12/11/89)
In article <16757@ultima.cs.uts.oz> nigel@ultima.cs.uts.oz (Nigel Pearson) writes: |[...] | Does anyone know if it would be possible to make a board (DMA?) |which is fast enough to use these drives? Also, would it be possible to |have the machines boot from it? (Should be possible on the A500/2000, but |I don't know about the A1000s) Would be neat to be able to put a bigger |default ( DF0: ) drive in. I think SCSI HD floppies might be the best approach. Perhaps they already exist, anyone know? Cheers, -- ^^ Bruce Becker Toronto, Ont. w \**/ Internet: bdb@becker.UUCP, bruce@gpu.utcs.toronto.edu `/v/-e BitNet: BECKER@HUMBER.BITNET _/ >_ "The Rounder I go, the Faster I Get" - Tenderfeed for QuodUseNet