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5.25 floppy without ISA?

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First post, by Cursed Derp

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Heyyyyyyyo,
I have a Dell Dimension L1000R. No ISA slots. Only PCI, USB, and 3.5 floppy connector and IDE. I would frigging LOVE to get a 5.25 floppy drive connected to my pc. I would like to know if there's any possibility of this or a workaround. That would be AWESOME. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

I am as smooth as a gravy train with flaming biscuit wheels.

Reply 1 of 9, by Grzyb

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KryoFlux, or something similar.

Kiełbasa smakuje najlepiej, gdy przysmażysz ją laserem!

Reply 2 of 9, by Cursed Derp

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So you plug the floppy controller in via USB then you can connect a drive to it?

I am as smooth as a gravy train with flaming biscuit wheels.

Reply 3 of 9, by Ryccardo

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You've got 2 problems:

The connector just needs a mechanical adapter (in fact it's easier to use a "vintage", fully featured PC-style 5 plug floppy cable, or making your own)…

But even then you almost certainly won't be able to set the BIOS to a 5.25 drive and/or for a second one, meaning that to get "the best experience" you'd need a floppy option ROM to implement them if you care for bootability (and doing option roms on a PCI bus comes with a few small extra caveats), and that's assuming the superIO supports them in hardware! (pretty likely for a 2001 design but the first exceptions were on their way)

The "alternatives" are the FC5025 and the Greaseweazle, neither of which is really comparable with a real FDC (which pretty much doesn't exist in PCI) 😀 🙁

Reply 4 of 9, by Cursed Derp

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Could I use a fc2025 if I was just going to use it for games? What are the limitations?

I am as smooth as a gravy train with flaming biscuit wheels.

Reply 5 of 9, by Grzyb

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Yes, modern floppy controllers are for USB.
There were also Catweasel controllers for PCI, but I'm afraid hard to find.

But wait...
That Dell is from Pentium III era, right?
It may still support two floppy drives... look into the BIOS Setup - is there an option for second FDD? Can you select 1.2MB or 360KB?

Kiełbasa smakuje najlepiej, gdy przysmażysz ją laserem!

Reply 6 of 9, by wbahnassi

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Exactly, I would expect the BIOS to offer the options for two drives. If so, just grab a 5.25" drive and plug it in with the same cable you're using for the 3.5" drive (assuming the cable has the proper plugs).. enjoy 🙂

Turbo XT 12MHz, 8-bit VGA, Dual 360K drives
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Intel 486 DX2-66, CL5428 VLB, SBPro 2, 2x CD
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HP Z400, Xeon 3.46GHz, YMF-744, Voodoo3, RTX2080Ti

Reply 7 of 9, by Cursed Derp

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Ahh damn I only got one floppy drive option. Pretty sure. Could I attach a 5.25 floppy drive where the 3.5 one is now and use a USB floppy in place of my 3.5 one? Would that work in dos?

I am as smooth as a gravy train with flaming biscuit wheels.

Reply 8 of 9, by wbahnassi

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DOS won't recognize a USB floppy, unless your BIOS supports it as a boot device I guess (some BIOSes do). But you should be able to replace the 3.5" with a 5.25" and use it fine. My HP Z400 workstation is also limited to one floppy drive, and I got used to live with it. Most of the time I'm on the 5.25" drive, but sometimes I need to use the 3.5" so I replace the cable. It's ok because the HP Z400 has a tool-less case design so it's very easy to open the side and move the cable in a few seconds.

Turbo XT 12MHz, 8-bit VGA, Dual 360K drives
Intel 386 DX-33, TSeng ET3000, SB 1.5, 1x CD
Intel 486 DX2-66, CL5428 VLB, SBPro 2, 2x CD
Intel Pentium 90, Matrox Millenium 2, SB16, 4x CD
HP Z400, Xeon 3.46GHz, YMF-744, Voodoo3, RTX2080Ti

Reply 9 of 9, by Cursed Derp

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Sounds great! Thanks for all the help. I'll just have to figure out where I'll stick the drive while it's attached before I actually get one

I am as smooth as a gravy train with flaming biscuit wheels.