#ibm 5.25 disk drive
12 messages in this thread
>-> Does anyone know […] the hack to add an IBM 5.25 disk drive > It can
be plugged into any Amiga floppy drive connector
Don, do you know if this applies to the 2000? I tried to set up an
internal drive in the obvious place, and nothing happened. The dealer told
me that the Amiga doesn't have a floppy controller that works with the
5.25" drives (that they only work with the Bridgeboard). Are you referring
to the 5.25" drive created by Commodore, or do you know something about
interfacing real IBM drives? My dealer's talking almost $200 for the
Commodore-Amiga 5.25" drive, which is ridiculous.
=Tom=
Tom,
Any 5.25" drive, as long as the latching interface is build for the
drive. Also, since most 5.25" drives don't support the diskchange
signal…you have to use the DiskChange program with them…this is even
true of the Commodore drive.
In the case of the A2000…you'd have to not only build the small
latching circuit, you'll also have to adapt the cable and change a jumper
on the motherboard.
Don
Thanks! Do you know of any source for the latching circuit and cable?
I'd think this'd be pretty popular, even for non-bridgeboard owners like
me. (I've got Transformer.) Are there any third parties yet that're messing
with that kind of stuff that you know of?
Methinks the subject of IBM emulation is an area that's still relatively
unaddressed in the Amiga realm. I know it can be done (properly) way
cheaper than the bridgeboard. There's hardware for the Atari ST that's in
the $300-400 range, if I remember right.
=Tom=
Tom,
The file you want is IBMDR.ARC in LIB 12 of this forum.
The cable more than likely could be obtained from an electronics
supply store. It's simply and adapter, not a whole new cable.
You'll have to treat the drive the same way you'd treat an A1020
(Commodore's 5.25" drive) once hooked up.
I believe there's now an emulator (hardware) for the A500 series
that fits in the RAM expansion slot (where the A501 currently goes), but
I've not heard from anyone who has one…nor do I know the price.
Transformer is an old, slow software only emulator. For whatever
reason, Commodore and Similie (the authors of Transformer…also the
authors of PCDitto on the ST) parted ways before Transformer was completely
done.
No one except Commodore seems interested in doing a BridgeBoard
type project for the A2000/3000 series. Thus, they've got the field to
themselves and can set the price where ever they want. I would guess their
current boards could be priced lower if Commodore felt they wished that.
I'm not familiar with ST emulators; however, memory tells me that
there is an option to PCDitto that is hardware…perhaps that's what you're
thinking of (or perhaps my memory is wrong)?
Don
p.s. If you thinking of hooking up an Amiga 5.25" drive internal to an
A2000 as DF1:, you'll have to make a jumper change on the motherboard.
Don –
FYI, there are three ST IBM emulators. The favorite one currently seems
to be SuperCharger, which hooks _externally_ to the DMA port, runs like an
AT, lets ST memory be used for ramdisk while emulating, and has space for
expansion cards (I understand they're working on VGA – I don't know if
it'll accept standard cards or not).
PC Ditto II is a hardware/software package, and there have been some
problems reported (mainly, it seems like every ST needs a slightly
different installation procedure). I can't say from experience – I own a
clone, no emulators needed 8^).
Harry
Harry,
Thanks…I dumped my ST as soon as my "project" on it was done,
that was over 3 years ago so I'm not up on the ST world any more.
Don
Thanks for the lead on the file, Don. I'll check it out!
> Transformer is an old, slow software only emulator. For whatever
Don't I know it! At least "slow" is better than nothing at all — and
until somebody outdoes it, I can afford it a lot better than the
bridgeboard. Since Xformer was designed to work on a stock A1000 (with 256k
RAM?!), I know anyone that knows what they're doing can blow Xformer away.
> p.s. If you thinking of hooking up an Amiga 5.25" drive internal to an
> A2000 as DF1:, you'll have to make a jumper change on the motherboard.
I'll probably call it "B:" — and not use it for AmigaDOS. D'you know if
I still need to hunt down that jumper? (Or if it's documented in
IBMDR.ARC?)
=Tom=
Tom, a standard Bridgeboard is not much more than $400 average retail these
days (if not less) and of course there is the A500 Pulsar. I might also
point out that the Amiga is generally less needy for programs than the
Atari and therefore the Amiga market assigns less priority to turning the
Amiga into a clone. It's more common to use an Amiga application and
transfer data over a network or disk with PCs (if that's needed).
A good potential source for the cable/curcuit combo would be an old,
defunct 1010 external drive. Alot of them went bad on people and can be had
from someone who owns one or perhaps a dealer if you advertise on boards,
etc. Also, check with Amazing Computing Magazine or in the hardware file
library for a schematic.
> Tom, a standard Bridgeboard is not much more than $400 average retail
> days (if not less) and of course there is the A500 Pulsar.
True, I'm hearing a LOT about the Pulsar — but I don't think it'll work
on a 2000, even though it's a better-sounding deal than the bridgeboards. I
wish it would! Maybe some wizard will figure out a way?
> […] therefore the Amiga market assigns less priority to turning the
> Amiga into a clone.
You may be right, but I think it's more likely that the developers see
the bridgeboard as filling the current need, even though it's overpriced.
=Tom=
Tom,
Well…maybe I was a little generous with "Any"…make that any
drive that can be used with an IBM.
Don
Tom, the Amiga 'controller' can handle 5.25" drives quite well on it's own.
This is how the 1020 5.25" drive worked. There was no 'special' hardware in
the 1020 to run the drive, just like the 1010. However, you need a proper
interface cable for the Amiga to recognize it.
> Tom, the Amiga 'controller' can handle 5.25" drives quite well […]
Wow! Thanks for the info — that dealer is usually pretty sharp when it
comes to technical questions. Maybe they just wanted to get that drive out
the door at their $200 pricetag — sheesh.
=Tom=