DIY:Floppy Drives

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Preface

This document shows pinning list, wiring diagrams and signal descriptions found on a CPC6128.


Multi-Adaptor Cable for External Floppies / HxC emulator

Floppy Cable.png


Adaptor Cable for Internal Floppies / HxC emulator

This cable assumes that the drive has been set to DS0 / ID0 and provides a ready signal. For the HxC not a problem, just a simple jumper setting, for floppies this may involve making some mods to the drive.


Internal HxC Cable.png


I've shown the cable from several views to highlight the fact that the connectors don't face the same way on the cable.

First crimp the 26way connector as shown in the diagram. Then split the first 6 wires starting from the side of the red wire. These 6 wires need to be shifted 2 cavities further over before being crimped into the 36way connector. Wire 26 goes directly to pin 34 of the floppy connector. Make sure the keyways / orientation slots of both connectors are as shown in the diagram. The cable needs no bridges, switches or anything else. When you are finished, you should have a cable looking something like this:


HxC Adaptor.jpg


Signal assignment on connectors

Standard floppy connector 34pin

Floppy
connector
Signal description
1..33 GND Ground
2 /DCD Disk Change Detect
4 /DS4 Drive selct 4 (Not always supported)
6 /INUSE Open collector LED driver
8 /IND Index
10 /DS0 Drive select 0
12 /DS1 Drive select 1
14 /DS2 Drive select 2
16 /MTRON Motor enable
18 /DIR Direction select
20 /STEP Head step
22 /WDAT Write data
24 /WGAT Write gate
26 /TRK0 Track 0
28 /WPT Write protect
30 /RDAT Read data
32 /S1 Side select
34 /RDY Ready/Disk change depending on drive configuration


CPC-CD201 (internal floppy 26pin connector)

CPC-CD201 Signal description
(numbering from Amstrads repair manual)
1..25 GND Ground
2 /IND Index
4 /DRV1 Drive select 1
6 NC
8 /MED1 Motor enable drive 1
10 /DIR Direction select
12 /STEP Head step
14 /WDAT Write data
16 /WGAT Write gate
18 /TRK0 Track 0
20 /WPT Write protect
22 /RDAT Read data
24 /S1 Side 1 select
26 /RDY Ready (or /DSKCHG) depending on model or drive configuration


CPC-PL-9 (external floppy 34pin centronics connector)

CPC-PL-9 Signal description external
(numbering from Amstrads repair manual)
2..34 GND Ground
33 +5V
31 +5V
29 +5V
27 /IND Index
25 NC
23 /DRV1 Drive select 1
21 +5V
19 /MED1 Motor enable drive 1
17 /DIR Direction select
15 /STEP Head step
13 /WDAT Write data
11 /WGAT Write gate
9 /TRK0 Track 0
7 /WPT Write protect
5 /RDAT Read data
3 /S1 Side 1 select
1 /RDY Ready (or /DSKCHG) depending on model or drive configuration


Pinning translation between different connectors (CPC-PL-9, Centronics 36pin, Floppy connector 34pin)

Translation from CPC-PL-9 via Centronics 36 pin connector to floppy connector 34pin
===================================================================================
(flat cable / crimp variant view)

                          +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---- GND
                          |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
Floppy connector 34pin   33  31  29  27  25  23  21  19  17  15  13  11  09  07  05  03  01  NC
Centronics 36pin         18  17  16  15  14  13  12  11  10  09  08  07  06  05  04  03  02  01 
Amstard CPC-PL-9         02  04  06  08  10  12  14  16  18  20  22  24  26  28  30  32  34  NC
                       **++**++**++**++**++**++**++**++**++**++**++**++**++**++**++**++**++**++
Amstard CPC-PL-9       01  03  05  07  09  11  13  15  17  19  21  23  25  27  29  31  33  NC 
Centronics 36pin       36  35  34  33  32  31  30  29  28  27  26  25  24  23  22  21  20  19 
Floppy connector 34pin 34  32  30  28  26  24  22  20  18  16  14  12  10  08  06  04  02  NC
                        |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
                        |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   +-- NC
                        |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   +------ +5V
                        |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   +---------- +5V
                        |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   +-------------- +5V
                        |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   +------------------ /IND
                        |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   +---------------------- NC
                        |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   +-------------------------- /DRV1
                        |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   +------------------------------ +5V
                        |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   +---------------------------------- /MED1
                        |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   +-------------------------------------- /DIR
                        |   |   |   |   |   |   |   +------------------------------------------ /STEP
                        |   |   |   |   |   |   +---------------------------------------------- /WDAT
                        |   |   |   |   |   +-------------------------------------------------- /WGAT
                        |   |   |   |   +------------------------------------------------------ /TRK0
                        |   |   |   +---------------------------------------------------------- /WPT
                        |   |   +-------------------------------------------------------------- /RDAT
                        |   +------------------------------------------------------------------ /S1
                        +---------------------------------------------------------------------- /RDY

**/++ Flatcable signal


Wireing diagrams

External floppy connector CPC-PL-9 to standard floppy connector 34pin

External floppy connector PL-9 to standard floppy connector 34pin
=================================================================
(flat cable / crimp variant view)

Note: Disconnect wire 03-35-32 /S1 if you use a side selector switch
      which is connected to the floppy drive.

PL9 CEN PCF SIGNAL
 01  36  34 /RDY
 02  18  33 GND
 03  35  32 /S1
 04  17  31 GND
 05  34  30 /RDAT
 06  16  29 GND
 07  33  28 /WPT
 08  15  27 GND
 09  32  26 /TRK0
 10  14  25 GND
 11  31  24 /WGAT
 12  13  23 GND
 13  30  22 /WDAT
 14  12  21 GND
 15  29  20 /STEP
 16  10  19 GND
 17  28  18 /DIR
 18  10  17 GND
 19  27  16 /MED1
 20  09  15 GND
 21  26  14 NC
 22  08  13 GND
 23  25  12 /DRV1
 24  07  11 GND
 25  24  10 NC
 26  06  09 GND
 27  23  08 /IND
 28  05  07 GND
 29  22  06 NC
 30  04  05 GND
 31  21  04 NC
 32  03  03 GND
 33  20  02 NC
 34  02  01 GND
 --  19  -- NC
 --  01  -- NC


Internal floppy connector CD201 to standard floppy connector 34pin

Internal floppy conntector CD201 to standard floppy connector 34pin
===================================================================
(flat cable / crimp variant view)

Note: Disconnect wire 24-32 /S1 if you use a side selector switch 
      which is connected to the floppy drive.

CD201 PCF SIGNAL
   26  34 /RDY
   25  33 GND
   24  32 /S1
   23  31 GND
   22  30 /RDAT
   21  29 GND
   20  28 /WPT
   19  27 GND
   18  26 /TRK0
   17  25 GND
   16  24 /WGAT
   15  23 GND
   14  22 /WDAT
   13  21 GND
   12  20 /STEP
   11  19 GND
   10  18 /DIR
   09  17 GND
   08  16 /MED1
   07  15 GND
   06  14 NC
   05  13 GND
   04  12 /DRV1
       11 GND
       10 NC
   03  09 GND
   02  08 /IND
   01  07 GND
       06 NC
       05 NC
       04 NC
       03 NC
       02 NC
       01 NC


Issues

Floppy drive

  • This cables work for drive which are jumpered as drive 1/DS1. This is normally the default selection on drive delivery.
  • Make sure you find a drive which has the possibility to generate a ready signal instead of a disc change signal.

Disk issues

If you think about to use a HD drive, make sure to close the HD detection hole on your disk. </pre>