#Hi-Density Floppy
17 messages in this thread
Anyone hear anything more about getting those High Density Floppies
for the 3000. Mine doesn't have one, my friends does and still no one
seems to be saying anything about this issue (No ads for these drives,
articles, etc.)
2nd question, does anyone know if Quarterback 5.0 will support
backing up to these drives (Especially if you are using 1 HD and 1 880K)
3rd Question (Last One). How about a new version of Quarterback
Tools that will not trash the file system if you use Links (Yes I actually
use links).
Andy
Andy:
I can't seem to get any information on the HD floppy drives either. My
dealer says the part # can be ordered, but CBM just backorders them.
I'm guessing here… this doesn't even qualify as rumor… but I have a
feeling that CBM is trying to work with CHINON to develop a HD floppy that
will work at full speed on the Amiga and still work with CROSS-DOS,
FLIPPER, and the regular Amiga format disks. That's the only excuse I can
think of for CBM not giving the go ahead to CHINON to produce the drives
in quantity right now. I do know that it _is_ (currently) a CHINON drive,
that has been modified to CBM specs, and that CBM controls the production
and distribution of it… so you can't just order a CHINON part # and plop
it in to the Amiga.
Michael
…..on AutoPilot
Michael,
Hopefully we will be notified if anything happens (either way).
Andy
Andy… I hope they get it straight soon… I realy want one of those
drives!
Also, could you do us all a favor? AmigaForums has a full name policy…
would you go to OPTIONS and change your name tfrom ac to ANDY xxxx so that
we know to whom we have the pleasure of speaking? <g>
// Michael
\X/ …on AutoPilot
Andy,
The high-density drives exist and have a part number, but the operating
system cannot handle them properly. v2.04 requires that a high-density
drive be in DF0: and will not work (as reported by my dealer — and he
actually showed me this) in other places. Some of the new machines that
have come in have had 2.05 ROMs, which are supposed to have a correction
for this.
I suspect that Commodore won't let the high density drives out (en masse)
until all (or most) machines shipping can work with them. From what I've
been told (and actually *seen*), Workbench 2.1 is all but complete and
waiting to go into silicon. It also incorporates a fix for the highdensity
drives.
-Chas
Charles,
I have an old machine w/2.04 on Disk so maybe it's good that I wait
for the 2.1 ROMS. Anyway, I remember seeing an OS patch to get the drive to
work (I was going to replace my DF0: anyway) I Guess I will just wait to
hear anything aboot 2.1 and the Drives. Thanx
Andy
ac
To answer your questions. The High Density drives have been pulled from
the Dealers catalogues. There were a lot of problems with them and also
according to C=, they got a bad batch from Chinnon. Personaly, I have the
following ideas. C= was going to release them and did announce a few.
Everyone bought them and then had problems. Most of the problems we are
finding out is that the High Density drive is only supported in DF0:. If
you put it in DF1:, you'll have big time problems as 2.04 doesn't support
it there. Anyway, I think they had so many returns that they temp pulled
them from the market. I know they still have them because I know some
developers who have gotten them very recently. I called C= and they said
that 2.10 will be out in 3 to 6 weeks and it will support it in all the
avaible spots. My guess is you will see it released again after that. As
for now, there are none avaible.
The second question is two part. Yes, QB will support the High Density
drive. You must put a disk in before you tell it to start so it can sense
the HD part, but it works great and will even give you the correct number
of disk you will need. The second part of your question is NO. You must
have all High Density or all 880's that you are using to do the backup. I
have two HD and 2 880's. I can use them as 4 880's or 2 HD. You can't mix
them up. Since 2.04 doesn't support a HD in DF1: as a normal
configuration, I have modified mine a bit, but it still ask for a disk at
each change spot. It doesn't sense the 2nd drive beeing a different drive
since to get it to work, you must leave the Motherboard jumper set to DF0:
and only set the jumper on the drive to DF1:. It's tricky, but works to
make copys etc.
Your third question about QBTools, I can't answer. Maybe Mark from CCS can
handle that.
JOHN – The Lost Southerner!!
John,
At least here in the United States the high-density drive is not nor has it
ever been a product from Commodore US. Commodore parts however does have
the part listed but is back ordering all requests for the drive.
The rest of your post is correct.
-mark=
– whappity whap whap… whap whap!!
Mark:
My dealer received an A3000T with one of the HD floppy drives in it…
he's in Cleveland, and I presume that it came from CBM/US.
// Michael
\X/ …on AutoPilot
Michael,
I said that the drive was not a product in the United States. The
technical specification of both the A3000 and the A3000T has not been
changed to include the high-density drive. *Some* machines are shipping
with the high-density drives, and that is it.
I can't order from sales the high-density drive, therefore it is not a
product. At least that is my view.
-mark=
– whappity whap whap… whap whap!!
Mark:
Isn't CBM accepting your orders for the HD floppy and just backordering
it? That's the case here, with my dealer. At first, CBM wouldn't accept
the order, but now they do, and just put the part on b/o.
// Michael
\X/ …on AutoPilot
Michael,
Every couple of months or we get an official price list from Commodore.
This price list includes all products that are available from Commodore-US.
We can't deviate from that list.
We can order the drive through the service department, and like you said,
it gets back ordered.
-mark=
– whappity whap whap… whap whap!!
Mark:
Then if I understand you correctly, the HD floppy can't be ordered by a
dealer like other available products (such as 2360 or an A3000), but you
CAN place the order through service as a 'part'?
Ok, that makes sense. That's probably what my dealer has been doing.
Thanks for the explanation.
// Michael
\X/ …on AutoPilot
Yep,
Michael that is it… order the drive through parts. 🙂
Part is parts!
-mark=
– whappity whap whap… whap whap!!
Mark,
As a person who was lucky enough to get one when C= USA 1st announced them
and I still have it, it was announced from C= USA and was listed for a
while. I had 2 on order and the back order for the second was canciled by
C= when they pulled the drives from the listings.
JOHN – The Lost Southerner!!
John,
I have *never* seen the high density drive offered from Comodore US as a
product. It has never appeared in the paperwork Commodore sends us every
month or so.
It is orderable by the service depoartment, but so far no order has been
recieved.
-mark=
– whappity whap whap… whap whap!!
Mark, You are correct. Mine were ordered from the service department
catalog with the replacement number. The dealer here did get a couple in
before C= put the stops to them.
JOHN – The Lost Southerner!!