Hi guys.
Just got a 8" Floppy Drive (BASF 6102). Where do i start on connectivity side ??? I don't even know what kind of connector it has? I really would love to make it work with one of my old DOS machines. I also got original BASF single sided 8'' floppy disks.
any ideas
anyone....anyone...bueller ?
640K is more memory than anyone will ever need.
Can DOS talk to 8" drives? I think those were mainly used for CP/M.
Is this too much voodoo?
DOS 1.0 and 2.0 should work with these, since for the OS the drive would be identical to 5.25". On something more modern it should be possible to use /F:180 switch during format.
In general a well-behaved 8" drive will bolt to PC FDC but there are a few important things to note:
- this one looks like AC motor so it will have head loading mechanism, that signal needs to be tied to MOTOR ON
- need to find some datasheets and figure out if TG43 signal is generated internally by the drive, or does it need one from the controller
- there's soft and hard sectored 8" media, I don't think a PC FDC would work with hard sectors
- I'd expect this to be 80-cylinder drive, that needs to be set as 720k in BIOS, but it could be low density one (again datasheet needed)
If the drive needs TG43 then the only way to properly generate that is add a PLD or MCU that counts cylinder steps. Disk Change might have to be permanently pulled low, or maybe this drive does generate something like that. In general the 50-pin connector is well documented but there are some odd signals here and there on some drives.
