Apple IIe / 8 inch floppy drives
John Rollins
Well, I'm sitting here with a Shugart 801 and an Apple IIe. Is there any
way to hook them up? I have about 10 8" disks marked as CP/M disks for
the H/Z-89, but since I don't have one of those I'd like to try to see
what's on the disks using my Apple IIe. Assuming it's not too hard to
build the interface, how do I power the drive? It needs 120v and has a
strange(compared to what you can find now) power connector. Any ideas?
TIA
-JR http://members.tripod.com/~jrollins/index.html
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Lair/1681/
Michael Engel
John Rollins (rexs...@ptld.uswest.net) wrote:
: Well, I'm sitting here with a Shugart 801 and an Apple IIe. Is there any
There once was a project for building an 8" floppy interface in the
German c't magazine - must have been around 1986 ...
The interface mainly consists of a WD2797 FDC with the usual support
logic, some drivers for 56k CP/M for the Apple ][ were also available.
Unfortunately, the article is written in German, so it will probably
not of much help to you ...
: I have about 10 8" disks marked as CP/M disks for
: the H/Z-89, but since I don't have one of those I'd like to try to see
: what's on the disks using my Apple IIe. Assuming it's not too hard to
: build the interface, how do I power the drive? It needs 120v and has a
: strange(compared to what you can find now) power connector. Any ideas?
Can't help you with that, sorry.
regards,
Michael Engel (en...@unix-ag.uni-siegen.de)
Jim Reid
John,
There was a card manufactured by Vista Computer Co.(now defunct) that
allowed the Apple II to access a double density 8" drive. The card was
called the A800 and came with disks to patch into DOS 3.3, Microsoft CPM
2.20, and Apple Pascal 1.1. I picked up one of these cards at a swap
meet a number of years ago. I don't know how popular they were, but I
would suspect they made quite a few. Good luck in your search. If you
find the card, I have the book and the disks.
-Jim
BigLouS
Lobo made an Apple 8" drive controller back in 1980 and Twainese knock offs
were subsequently available. The controller came with software that booted Dos
3.3 from the 8" drives. My experience with this controller predated the
Apple CPM cards so I don't know if CPM drivers were ever available. I've been
looking for one of these controllers for quite a while and have had no luck.
If I remember correctly 8" drives need 5 volts and 24 volts.
Lou
Tony Diaz
I have this SVA 8" card:
www.apple2.org/images/InterfaceCards/Hard.FloppyDisk/SVA8InchDriveCTRL.JPEG
..as well as the Vista Computer card, but thats one that I have not come
across with the camera out yet. I do not have the manuals and disks for
it.
I do have a ProDOS driver for the SVA and Vista card buried someplace though.
My BBS' used to run off a couple 8" drives, and even with the ProDOS
driver, as well as the 20 Meg Corvus drive based on an 8" hard drive.
Tony
Axel Berger
*BigLouS* wrote on Tue, 98-01-06 02:16 in comp.os.cpm:
B>If I remember correctly 8" drives need 5 volts and 24 volts.
Didn't they run the motor directly from the AC?
john r pierce
big...@aol.com (BigLouS) wrote:
>If I remember correctly 8" drives need 5 volts and 24 volts.
If _I_ remember correctly, they needed +/- 5, +/- 12, 24VDC AND 115VAC. The
SA80X family had AC synchronous motors for the spindle (which makes for far more
accurate speeds than the DC motors most 5.25" drives used, hence your data
seperator PLL needed far less dynamic range).
-jrp
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Don Maslin
john r pierce (anti...@here.not) wrote:
: big...@aol.com (BigLouS) wrote:
: -jrp
AFAIK, all 8" drives except Tandon had AC synchronous spindle motors -
which ran constantly. All 8" drives required +24vdc for solenoids and
servo motors. (Tandon also used it for spindle motor power.) Early 8"
drives required both + & - 5vdc for electronics. Later 8" drives did not
require the -5vdc.
- don
do...@cts.com
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Don Maslin - Keeper of the Dina-SIG CP/M System Disk Archives
Chairman, Dina-SIG of the San Diego Computer Society
Clinging tenaciously to the trailing edge of technology.
Sysop - Elephant's Graveyard (CP/M) - 619-454-8412
*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*
see old system support at http://www.psyber.com/~tcj
Tim Shoppa
In article <88424254...@optional.cts.com>,
Don Maslin <do...@cts.com> wrote:
>AFAIK, all 8" drives except Tandon had AC synchronous spindle motors -
>which ran constantly.
NEC, Mitsubishi, and the very last Shugart drives also ran the
spindle motors from +24VDC, and thus didn't have a need for 60Hz
(or 50Hz) AC. (This was a big advantage if you wanted to sell the
exact same drive around the world without having to provide both 50Hz
and 60Hz-compatible pulleys!)
And several manufacturers made little kits consisting of a Triac, a 555,
and some opto-isolators which turned off power to AC spindle motors
after some period of head load inactivity. With most floppy controllers
the extra delay from spinning up didn't matter, but some required
hardware and/or software modifications.
Tim. (sho...@triumf.ca)
Jeff Jonas
>>AFAIK, all 8" drives except Tandon had AC synchronous spindle motors -
>>which ran constantly.
>NEC, Mitsubishi, and the very last Shugart drives also ran the
>spindle motors from +24VDC, and thus didn't have a need for 60Hz
>(or 50Hz) AC. (This was a big advantage if you wanted to sell the
>exact same drive around the world without having to provide both 50Hz
>and 60Hz-compatible pulleys!)
Gee, I think my Tandon 8" drives were 5, 24 volt only.
In fact, I don't recall encountering ANY "half height" 8" floppy drives
with the 115 VAC motor, only the full sized ones.
And I remember my hald height 8" drives spinning down too
via the motor control line, right?
>And several manufacturers made little kits consisting of a Triac, a 555,
>and some opto-isolators which turned off power to AC spindle motors
>after some period of head load inactivity. With most floppy controllers
>the extra delay from spinning up didn't matter, but some required
>hardware and/or software modifications.
Interesting!
--
Jeffrey Jonas
jeffj@panix(dot)com
Meow? PRR PRR PRR !
John Rollins
> Gee, I think my Tandon 8" drives were 5, 24 volt only.
> In fact, I don't recall encountering ANY "half height" 8" floppy drives
> with the 115 VAC motor, only the full sized ones.
> And I remember my hald height 8" drives spinning down too
> via the motor control line, right?
drives in it, and a 120vac socket on the back. As far as I can tell(I
haven't opened up the case yet, just peered in from the bottom) there is
no PS, or for that matter enough room to put one in, which would seem to
indicate that they operate from 120vac plus whatever came in through the
cable from the system. The power switch is nice, though. It's a wierd
pushbutton with green paint hidden behind clamshell-like doors. And below
that is a write-[rotect switch. No markings anywhere, and I haven't had
time to open it up beyond that small cable access plate on the bottom, so
I don't know who makes the drives inside. Has anyone seen something like
this before? I'm completly baffled...
Don Maslin
Tim Shoppa (sho...@alph02.triumf.ca) wrote:
: In article <88424254...@optional.cts.com>,
: Don Maslin <do...@cts.com> wrote:
: >AFAIK, all 8" drives except Tandon had AC synchronous spindle motors -
: >which ran constantly.
: NEC, Mitsubishi, and the very last Shugart drives also ran the
: spindle motors from +24VDC, and thus didn't have a need for 60Hz
: (or 50Hz) AC. (This was a big advantage if you wanted to sell the
: exact same drive around the world without having to provide both 50Hz
: and 60Hz-compatible pulleys!)
: And several manufacturers made little kits consisting of a Triac, a 555,
: and some opto-isolators which turned off power to AC spindle motors
: after some period of head load inactivity. With most floppy controllers
: the extra delay from spinning up didn't matter, but some required
: hardware and/or software modifications.
: Tim. (sho...@triumf.ca)
I stand corrected and embarassed! I have the SA810/860 manual and
never bothered to look at it. :{
John Rollins
I was just looking at my S801, the motor that moves the head is 24v, but
the main drive motor is 120v. Three pin connector for the 120vac, and a
wierd connector(looks like two of those 3-pin connectors hooked together)
I assume is for 5/24v. As for the 8" drive on my Series/1, it just has a
small 240vac plug and a ribbon cable to plug in. Very simple. Well, it is
if you have the ribbon cable, which I don't...
john r pierce
do...@cts.com (Don Maslin) wrote:
>AFAIK, all 8" drives except Tandon had AC synchronous spindle motors -
>which ran constantly. All 8" drives required +24vdc for solenoids and
>servo motors. (Tandon also used it for spindle motor power.) Early 8"
>drives required both + & - 5vdc for electronics. Later 8" drives did not
>require the -5vdc.
Don't forget the dual Persci drives with the voice coil seeking, these were DC
motors for the spindle too.
(boy, anyone remember what a #$@$@# it was to align one of those?)
Clarence Wilkerson
I have several NEC half height 8" drives that don't
use AC.
Clarence
--
Clarence Wilkerson \ HomePage: http://www.math.purdue.edu/~wilker
Prof. of Math. (topology)\ Internet: wil...@math.purdue.edu
Dept. of Mathematics \ Messages: (765) 494-1903, FAX 494-0548
Purdue University, \ Office: (765) 494-1955 (voice/phonemail)
W. Lafayette, IN 47907-1395 \ Rm. 450 Math. Sci. Bldng.
rzh
>And several manufacturers made little kits consisting of a Triac, a 555,
>and some opto-isolators which turned off power to AC spindle motors
>after some period of head load inactivity. With most floppy controllers
>the extra delay from spinning up didn't matter, but some required
>hardware and/or software modifications.
Seems to me that there was a great deal of interest in this topic when
everybody was running 8" drives. Do I remember correctly that circuits
for power down of the AC motor after a period of inactivity were published
in a number of the "homebrew" magazines? I have looked for them, but can't
seem to find any. Does anyone have a pointer to such a published article
("Kil baud", or MicroC, or Dr.Dobbs ... or ?)???
roger r...@dgs.dgsys.com alexandria, va
Wolfgang Peters
Clarence Wilkerson schrieb in Nachricht <699der$h...@mozo.cc.purdue.edu>...
>I have several NEC half height 8" drives that don't
>use AC.
I also have same BSAF 6105 half height 8" that use only 5V and 24V.
Wolfgang