All you never wanted to know about 8 inch floppy drives
CuriousMarc・25 minutes read
Antoine and his team are exploring and working on old floppy drives obtained from a haul in LA, facing challenges with BIOS settings and cable compatibility. They are making modifications and creating adapters to ensure compatibility with modern PCs and successfully accessing data from the drives.
Insights
- The team, led by Antoine, is delving into the intricacies of old floppy drives like the HP 9895, showcasing their versatility and connection capabilities through interfaces like HP-IB, shedding light on the evolution of storage technology.
- The adaptation and modification efforts, including the creation of adapter cables and schematic adjustments by Antoine, reveal the detailed process of integrating older, advanced floppy drives with modern PCs, overcoming challenges like BIOS settings, cable compatibility, and disk wear limitations, highlighting the dedication and innovation required in retro-computing endeavors.
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Recent questions
What is the history of floppy drives?
Floppy drives have evolved from the original eight-inch floppy designed for adults by IBM to more versatile and connectable drives like the HP 9895 with an HP-IB interface. Different types of floppies include single-sided single density, double-sided, double density, and single-sided double density. The Shugart 50 pin interface, developed by Al Shugart, is a standard interface used in modern floppies. Floppy drives have faced challenges in configuration with PCs due to BIOS settings and cable compatibility issues, but advancements like adapter cables have allowed for testing and use with modern computers.
How do you connect an 8-inch floppy drive to a PC?
Connecting an 8-inch floppy drive to a PC can be done using an adapter cable created by Antoine, a paleontologist and retro-computing enthusiast. The adapter allows for testing and use of the drive with modern computers by accommodating differences between 8-inch and 5-1/4 inch drives. The schematic of the adapter includes connections for head select, read data, write protect, step, direction, and index lines. By addressing differences in drive selection lines, write protection, and motor control, the adapter ensures compatibility with modern PCs.
What are the specifications of high-density floppy disks?
High-density floppy disks have a density of 1.2M, which is higher than the standard 360k disks. These disks have a rate of 500 kHz, preventing Floppy Fail at boot. FM modulation support is crucial for encoding bits on the drive, with some PC floppy controllers not supporting this format, hindering the recreation of old FM disk images. The number of tracks, or cylinders, on 8" disks is 77, requiring specific settings in programs like IMD or Omnidisk to create disk images accurately. Utilities like NFORMAT or DOS can be used to format 1.2MB diskettes with 77 tracks, allowing for various purposes, including playing games like Champ Kong.
What challenges did the team face with the 8-inch floppy drive?
The team exploring old floppy drives faced challenges in configuring the 8-inch floppy drive with the PC due to BIOS settings and cable compatibility issues. The disk did not experience wear due to a unique implementation to limit wear on the disc by loading the head. The team had to address additional quirks like pull-up resistors and bit rate settings to ensure compatibility with modern PCs. Despite these challenges, modifications and adapter cables allowed for successful loading of the head and access to data on the 8-inch floppy drive.
What are the different types of floppy drives?
Different types of floppy drives include single-sided single density, double-sided, double density, and single-sided double density. The HP 9885 floppy drive was created to support the HP 9825 machine, evolving into the 9895 for mini-computers with an HP-IB interface. The IBM 31 SD floppy drive was one of the early models, featuring a single head and single-sided disc. The CDC drive, being older, required loading the heads via the 'Motor On' signal instead of the default 'Head Load'. Each type of floppy drive has its own specifications and compatibility with various devices, showcasing the evolution of floppy drive technology over time.
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Summary
00:00
Exploring Vintage Floppy Drives: A Retro Journey
- The original floppy format from IBM was the eight-inch floppy, designed for adults.
- Antoine, a paleontologist and retro-computing enthusiast, is part of the team exploring old floppy drives.
- The HP 9885 floppy drive was created to support the HP 9825 machine, evolving into the 9895 for mini-computers.
- The 9895 floppy drive has an HP-IB interface, making it versatile and connectable to various devices.
- The 9895 floppy drives were obtained from a haul in LA and are now being worked on by the team.
- The IBM 31 SD floppy drive was one of the early models, featuring a single head and single-sided disc.
- Different types of floppies include single-sided single density, double-sided, double density, and single-sided double density.
- The Shugart 50 pin interface, developed by Al Shugart, is a standard interface used in modern floppies.
- An adapter cable created by Antoine allows connecting an 8-inch floppy drive to a PC for testing and use.
- The team faced challenges in configuring the 8-inch floppy drive with the PC due to BIOS settings and cable compatibility issues.
16:05
Innovative Adapter Enhances Compatibility for Vintage Drives
- The disk did not experience wear due to a unique implementation to limit wear on the disc by loading the head.
- The 8-inch drive tested was more advanced and PC compatible, with heads dropped on the disk after insertion.
- The CDC drive, being older, required loading the heads via the 'Motor On' signal instead of the default 'Head Load'.
- The drive was identified as a Control Data Corporation model 9406 with various configurable options.
- A manual switch was added to connect the 'In Use' signal on pin 16 for head loading.
- After modifications, the drive successfully loaded the head and accessed data.
- An adapter was developed by Antoine with jumpering options to accommodate differences between 8-inch and 5-1/4 inch drives.
- The adapter schematic included connections for head select, read data, write protect, step, direction, and index lines.
- Differences in drive selection lines, write protection, and motor control were addressed through the adapter.
- Additional quirks like pull-up resistors and bit rate settings were adjusted to ensure compatibility with modern PCs.
29:59
High-Density Floppy Disks: Crucial FM Modulation
- High-density floppy disks have a density of 1.2M, not 360k, with a rate of 500 kHz, preventing Floppy Fail at boot.
- FM modulation support is crucial for encoding bits on the drive, with some PC floppy controllers not supporting this format, hindering the recreation of old FM disk images.
- The number of tracks, or cylinders, on 8" disks is 77, requiring specific settings in programs like IMD or Omnidisk to create disk images accurately.
- Utilities like NFORMAT or DOS can be used to format 1.2MB diskettes with 77 tracks, allowing for the disk to be used for various purposes, including playing games like Champ Kong.
