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Setting up 3.5" floppy drive in Amstrad 1512

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First post, by amstradus

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Hi folks,

I have an Amstrad 1512 with 640k ram and a Monotech X-TIDE deluxe compact flash reader. I have dos 6.22, which boots from the flash.

I'm trying to set up an Epson SMD-1300 3.5" floppy drive for my Amstrad 1512. I believe I have all the necessary adapters. From reading I did before it seemed like this should work, and though it is a newer drive, I should be able to configure it to read and write at 720k.

My idea was to put it in as my A: drive, but now after receiving the drive I'm wondering if I might risk a complicated disassembly and possibly there not even being a physical jumper on the drive. My understanding is that the drive is configured to be at DS1, but if I wanted it in the A: slot, I would need to set it to DSO.

Is this the case? Or is it possible the drive would auto-configure with the Amstrad, or I could set configuration on the Amstrad? I'm thinking it might be simpler for me to put it in as the B: drive. Is the main advantage of having the 3.5 installed as A: the ability to boot system disks? As I mentioned before, my system is booting from dos 6.22. I guess the main advantage of this would be that I could easily boot from a system disk in case of other failure...

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Reply 1 of 2, by mkarcher

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Don't worry about pin 34. I have the service manuals of the Amstrad 1512/1640 at hand, and they contain schematics that clearly show that pin 34 is not used on the mainboard. On the other hand, I'm afraid that likely the zero-ohm resistor and the unpopulated pad right next to it are the mechanism to choose DS0 vs. DS1. You can test that with a continuity checker (for example a multimeter). DS0 is at pin 10 of the 34-pin connector, and DS1 at pin 12. I guess pin 10 is connected to one of the open pads next to the 0-ohm resistor (the green thing with 000 printed on it). If this is the case, to change this drive from DS1 to DS0 you would need to desolder that 0-ohm resistor from where it is and instead solder it to the pads on the right, directly next to the floppy cable connector.

Reply 2 of 2, by amstradus

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mkarcher wrote on 2025-10-15, 19:49:

Don't worry about pin 34. I have the service manuals of the Amstrad 1512/1640 at hand, and they contain schematics that clearly show that pin 34 is not used on the mainboard. On the other hand, I'm afraid that likely the zero-ohm resistor and the unpopulated pad right next to it are the mechanism to choose DS0 vs. DS1. You can test that with a continuity checker (for example a multimeter). DS0 is at pin 10 of the 34-pin connector, and DS1 at pin 12. I guess pin 10 is connected to one of the open pads next to the 0-ohm resistor (the green thing with 000 printed on it). If this is the case, to change this drive from DS1 to DS0 you would need to desolder that 0-ohm resistor from where it is and instead solder it to the pads on the right, directly next to the floppy cable connector.

Thank you. I didn't find there was continuity between that 0-Ohm resistor and pin 10. Posting what I tested to verify I am in the right place.

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