VOGONS


First post, by maxtherabbit

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I'm 0/2 with sony interface drives, pretty sour on them. I'm currently 1/1 with creative/panasonic and have never handled a mitsumi.

Which interface had the most reliable drives in vogons' opinions? Bonus points for drives that read CD-R reliably

Reply 1 of 18, by Disruptor

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Mitsumi FX-001D should read CD-R
The Mitsumi adapters also can use DMA transfers. The interfaces on the soundcards most likely just support PIO transfer.

Reply 2 of 18, by Horun

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The fourth early 90's CDROM interface: scsi 😀

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Reply 3 of 18, by chinny22

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It would be hard to recommend any of those 3 which were already losing to IDE by the mid 90's making any drives well over 20 years old by now.
scsi would be my pick if wanting something a bit more interesting then IDE

Reply 4 of 18, by PD2JK

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I'll introduce a fifth, LMSI. 😁

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Reply 5 of 18, by BitWrangler

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If you just want age, and not trying to populate one of those "threefer" interface soundcards that just have the oddballs, then there's a Creative branded 2x IDE I've got that reads everything and is sort of my "old failthful" for the take a licking and keep on ticking thing. So sample of one, but seems good. Think it's the CD220E.

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Reply 6 of 18, by Anonymous Coward

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I'm going to say that the MKE Panasonic interface is probably the easiest to find a working drive for, just because it seems they sold more or them than Sony, LMSI and Mitsumi. It might also be a regional thing. Where I lived, most people with proprietary CD-ROM kits had the MKE drives. Next most popular was Sony, then everything else. My encounters with Mitsumi were rare, and I don't think I ever saw an LMSI drive in action.

The most popular drives that used the Sony interface were the cost reduced spring loaded models, such as CDU-31A and CDU-33A. The eject mechanisms were pretty unreliable. My friend's drive had to have the eject mechanism repaired within the first six months of ownership. The most common MKE drive was the CR-563B, which used the more conventional electronic assisted motor/gear mechanism. I still have one of these, but last I checked it was non-functional. Probably bad caps.

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Reply 8 of 18, by darry

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Those Panasonic CR-562-B and CR-563-B drives used to be everywhere around where I live until the early 2000s. Then, they were gone from the usual spots. I think that I have seen maybe one in the last 10ish years. These models have a plastic gear or cog that's prone to failure (aged brittle plastic). 3D-printed replacements are available, AFAIK.

As everyone one knows (or will soon find out), these use polled I/O , are 2x, can do cd audio extraction under DOS using the readcda utility, are hit or miss with CD-R media (forget CD-RW), can be chained on a single controller and cable (up to 4 drives, I can confirm from personal experience), were supported under Linux (I am not going to bother checking when support was phased out).

Oh, and Teac also made drives compatible with this interface, as did a company named NSA.

EDIT: Does anyone know :

How the 2 Panasonic two models differ ?
Was there ever an A variant of either ?
What was the story behind Teac and NSA using the same interface ?

Reply 10 of 18, by megatron-uk

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I had the FX001-D at the time... but I would agree, in hindsight that the Panasonic interface was way more common... especially after Creative (and others) started adding it to their soundcards.

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Reply 11 of 18, by darry

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Babasha wrote on 2024-12-19, 08:43:

Not only Teac but Funai and other copmanies made CDROMs with MKE Panasonic interface.

After a bit of correlated Google research, the NSA branded NSCD-2X-P1 ( or possibly NSCD-2X-P) 2x CDROM drive appears to have been a Funai product. I believe that is the MKE compatible I remember having seen in a computer shop in 1994ish. AFAICR, they were cheaper than the Panasonics drives, were also manufactured in Japan and had, IMO, horridly ugly faceplates (having trouble remembering why I found them ugly). They seem to have fallen off the face of the Earth, unfortunately.

Last edited by darry on 2024-12-19, 15:31. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 12 of 18, by Nunoalex

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I still have my Mitsumi double speed drive that I bought 20+ years ago and it worked well for many years
I have no idea if it still works because I dont try it for years

I also have a creative (panasonic?) cd-rom that I found in the trash a few years but I have not tested it ... maybe I need to go check on those

Other brands/formats I never saw and at least to me they are the most rare / exotic ones

cheers

Reply 13 of 18, by darry

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On the subject of the Mitsumi FX-001D, I will probably never forget the unique seek sound it makes. When I first heard it, I thought it sounded like Robocop adjusting or flexing one of his joints.

I will also likely never forget this service notice. https://www.os2world.com/wiki/index.php/Probl … mi_CDROM_drives

Reply 14 of 18, by BitWrangler

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Wasn't there also that Aztech/Mitsumi thing where aztech had a drive that used mitsumi pinout with different protocol? I believe I actually used that one time with a random aztech drive that turned up to put it on a non-aztech card mitsumi interface and was relieved it actually worked... with aztech's driver.

Unicorn herding operations are proceeding, but all the totes of hens teeth and barrels of rocking horse poop give them plenty of hiding spots.

Reply 15 of 18, by TheMobRules

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I have one of each of these 3 non-IDE interface 2x drives, all are working fine and read CD-Rs somewhat reliably. This is my experience with each of them:

Sony CDU-31A
I got this one along with a CT1690 SBPro 2, they were probably bundled as part of an early multimedia kit since the card has a sticker on the back that says "CDU-31A" and they both have december 1992 datecodes. The drive was not working when I got it, by opening it I immediately noticed the problem: leaking SMD electrolytics, every single one of them had failed and replacing them brought the drive back to life. I also had to reflow the power connector since it had broken joints.

As far as I understand, the cap problem is quite common with this model and the CDU-33A as well, so if you want one of these working you will probably have to do a recap. Personally I haven't had a problem with the unusual eject mechanism.

Panasonic CR-563-B
This one was also non-functional when I got it, and this model also seems to have a frequent problem: a small plastic gear that is plugged into one of the metal rods breaks down and becomes loose in the shaft, which prevents the laser from moving properly. Luckily, this is the same drive used by the Panasonic 3DO so you can find good quality 3D printed gear replacements on eBay and the fix is quite simple.

Of all three, this drive seems like the flimsiest one due to how the laser assembly was constructed.

Mitsumi FX-001D
This one was the only of the three drives that I got in working condition and it still works fine to this day so I say get one of these if you don't want to have repairs to do. Not many negative things about it, although I seem to recall it has some foam around the case to prevent vibrations and it can disintegrate with time, so you may want to look into this as well.

Reply 16 of 18, by BitWrangler

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If you already own some caddies, there's a caddy drive on eBay for cheapish at the moment, NEC Multispin 2x. At least there's less worries about tray mechanisms, even if caddies are a PITA.

Unicorn herding operations are proceeding, but all the totes of hens teeth and barrels of rocking horse poop give them plenty of hiding spots.

Reply 17 of 18, by Nunoalex

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darry wrote on 2024-12-19, 15:29:

On the subject of the Mitsumi FX-001D, I will probably never forget the unique seek sound it makes. When I first heard it, I thought it sounded like Robocop adjusting or flexing one of his joints.

I will also likely never forget this service notice. https://www.os2world.com/wiki/index.php/Probl … mi_CDROM_drives

You are right
Beautiful and unique sound
I love my Mitsumi

Reply 18 of 18, by MikeSG

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Had success with a Lite-on LTR-48246S. (48 x 24 x 48) on a 386/486.

Using MS-Dos 6.22 drivers in DOS, and windows drivers. IDE interface.

Have to limit the speed to 4x in win95, though, and it looks slightly too modern.