Resending
Part 2
BTW, for the parameters for DRIVER.SYS, you can abbreviate the /t:80 /s:9 to
"/F:2" (and later, "/F:720")
/0 was "360K"
/1 was "1.2M"
/2 was "720K"
anybody remember the numbers for 8"?
/d:2 meant you wanted the logical drive to use the third physical drive, /d:3
meant you wanted the logical drive to use the fourth physical drive, /d:1
meant you wanted the logical drive to use the second physical drive, /d:0
meant you wanted the logical drive to use the firs physical drive, which you
could do if you used a "360K" format on the disk in the "720K" drive in A:
during booting.
Machines that had "CMOS Setup" that supported 3.5" disk drives would let you
use a 3.5" drive as A:
And 5.25" "Quad" drives (NON-HD 96tpi, such as Tandon TM100-4, Teac 55F, or
Shugart/matsushits 465) was generally indistinguishable to the PC from a 3.5"
"720K".
TRIVIAL nits on the webpage (URL that you posted):
TRS80 Model II was 8" drives. (model 1 and 3 were 5.25") Although I have
heard of somebody kludging "1.2M" drives on one, I haven't seen it.
The picture identifying locations shows the FDC on the motherboard. It was on
the FDC board, and "power connectors" is pointing at the drive
internal data connectors; the power connectors are not visible in the picture,
because they are underneath.
"Ive heard stories that the 37-pin external adapter can be used to read/write
older 8 disk drives, but I never saw this in person. 8 disk drives were a bit
before my time."
modifications are needed to the FDC board to do so.
Flagstaff Engineering did so, and sold a modified FDC plus 8" drive.
The configuration switches on the motherboard of 5150 and 5160 can be set for
up to four drives, and those should be discussed?
Yes, as mentioned, with extra floppy drives, demented INSTALL programs, such
as MS-DOS 6.00, will insist on trying to install to your third floppy.
SUGGESTION: a cheap vise works adequately for crimping flat IDC cables; I've
even done them with a block of wood and a hammer, and with vise-grips.
NOTE: when I say "720K", "360K", "1.2M", I am using those as NAMES for those
disks, formats, and drives, not as necessarily the capacity. I am well aware
that those names don't acknowledge that the "720K" drive is capable of other
formats, ranging from 640K to 800K, (or even more with short gaps, mixed
sector sizes, and/or other tricks). But, I have yet to see, other than
listing sample model numbers, names for the drive that are simple, and less
ambiguous.
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred [email protected]
