Amstrad 3.5 external floppy disk

[protek]

I'd give it a go. Also, have you changed the drive from DS1 to DS0? If not you'll still have problems, and as far as my documents are concerned, the Panasonic JU257A606P can also supply the ready signal if you move the bridge, have you done this? Or are you bridging the wires on the connector cable?

Bryce.

The drive ID is DS1 as it is supposed to be the b drive. Isn't the internal DS0? The ready is jumpered in the cable.

[protek]

Cable flip did the trick. Thanks Bryce!

[protek]

When I type |b, the drive spins but I get an error message that disc in drive is not recognized or something thereabouts, which I suppose is to be expected, if the diskette isn't in correct format. Disckit2 in my CP/M disk finds only one drive. Does this mean that I need to format the disk in the PC using some utility?

[protek]

Solved!    I flipped the cable but forgot to change the jumper pin position. Now it works perfectly.
Thanks again for all the help!

[Gryzor]

Well, an evening well spent then, if I judge from your posts' time stamps

[protek]

Well, an evening well spent then, if I judge from your posts' time stamps

Hah! Actually I was already in bed, when I realized that I had forgotten to change the pin. Had to wake up again to try it. Would've not gotten any sleep, if I had not.

[Bryce]

I hate when that happens. But it's even worse when you then get up, make the change and it DOESN'T solve the problem! Then you lie there wondering what else it could be for half the night.

Bryce.

P.s. I solved this problem, by having a child, that keeps me awake all night without having any electronic problems to think about

[Gryzor]

Happens to me every now and then, but since I usually have trouble sleeping at some point I decided I would stop turning on the light and jot my thoughts down (always a pad by the bed, btw). So now every now and then I'll wake up in the morning and go, "damn, I know I had a brilliant idea last night...?".

[Bryce]

Ah, then you'll like my latest project...

http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs21/f/2007/292/0/c/Usb_Head_by_galle80.jpg

Download all those thoughts the next morning

Bryce.

[endangermice]

Hehe I'm glad I'm not the only one whose head spins all ought trying to figure out the answers! Bryce you could be right - getting a child might just be the fix .

[protek]

Just curious. If you short the pin 34 in the cable to provide the RDY and the drive still has DC connected to that pin, does shorting the pin in the cable somehow disable and override DC signal from the drive itself? Does Amstrad use DC? I take not, since you don't have to reroute it to pin 2 as you do in Amiga. If you make the mod into the drive, can you simply just ad a jumper for RDY without removing it from DC or is that going to cause problems?

[Bryce]

If you've modded the drive to give a RDY signal, then you don't need to add the jumper. The Amiga pinout was non-standard, the RDY on the CPC is in the correct position. The CPC didn't use the DC signal at all.

Bryce.

[rpalmer]

If people only have the USB floppy drive then it can be used, but you have to break it free of the USB part and create power/cables to make it work, since most if not all of them have just a USB converter interface to floppy interface to make them work.

however, I have not looked into using one since I had only bought them for the old PC's which had the original floppy interface.

regards
rpalmer

[MugUK]

I met Christian from Kryoflux in Münster yesterday and picked up a Kryoflux to bring back (should be fun trying to explain what it is at Bremen airport on Tuesday!).

So I can start to dump the original disks I have, how reliable are 2nd hand 3" drives? Which model should I buy (eBay UK has a few, inc. PCW machines)? And which drives should I avoid?

[Bryce]

If people only have the USB floppy drive then it can be used, but you have to break it free of the USB part and create power/cables to make it work, since most if not all of them have just a USB converter interface to floppy interface to make them work.

With USB floppy drives you need to be sure of what you are buying. The first devices that came out had a standard floppy inside with a USB to floppy converter PCB that was easy to remove. The new ones however, have no converter PCB, the floppy is directly controlled from the USB and there's no point on the board where you could pick up the signals you need.

Bryce.

[TFM]

@Mug: You should not run PCW 3" 80 track drives on a CPC.

[arnoldemu]

try to find a teac 3" drive, the type the einstein or oric computer uses.
they are really well built.

[MugUK]

Many thanks to you both. I'll start looking on eBay UK now whilst I'm in Starbucks using their free WiFi ;-)