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Conference 7.286::atarist

Title:Atari ST, TT, & Falcon
Notice:Please read note 1.0 and its replies before posting!
Moderator:FUNYET::ANDERSON
Created:Mon Apr 04 1988
Last Modified:Tue May 06 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:1433
Total number of notes:10312

519.0. "External 3.5" DSDD drive ?" by TYFOON::GABOR (What me worry?) Tue Jun 27 1989 12:41

        I am looking for a good external 3.5" DSDD for may 1040ST.
Has anyone any good or bad experience with any of the ones available ?
Such as the MFD720 from DDP, the GTS-100X (GTS-100 without the track
indicator), the Datel 3.5" 1meg, or the PCM Professional FD-1.

Thankyou in advance
Bill
T.RTitleUserPersonal
Name
DateLines
519.1HPSTEK::TBOWENWed Jun 28 1989 11:435
    I've had a GTS-100 for a little over a year now and other than a broken
    wire at one of the connectors have had no problems at all. The color
    dosen't match the rest of the system (it's black) but it's quiet, I
    read somewhere in a review that the mechanism is an NEC.
    
519.2External 3.5" driveMUDIS3::SELBACHTue Jul 25 1989 10:225
    I've made good experience with NEC FD1037 and 1036.
    The connection between Atari 13 conn. port and Shugart bus
    of those drives is very simple
    
    Elmar
519.3Thumbs up for Datal 3.5" driveNRMACU::BAILEYWed Oct 18 1989 12:197
    I have had an external 3.5" drive from Datel Electronics for about
    a year attached to my 520. No problems at all - it is quiet (very
    much quieter than the built-in drive) and was as cheap as anything
    else advertised in the UK magazines.
    
    Chris.
    
519.41st STOP?LEVERS::LANDRYWed Oct 18 1989 16:3213
	Anybody have any experience with the drives from 1st STOP? 
	They're apparently sold as a kit, but thye say you can put it
	together in 5 minutes.  $150 seems like a good price - at least
	compared to the $260 I was quoted for a SM314 at White Mountain.
	
	Actually, I'm looking for the cheapest way to get a decent
	external drive that isn't too much of a hack.  Another thought
	is to buy a used SM354 - which seem to be occasionally available
	at about $40 or so and replace the drive with a new DS unit.

	chris

519.5To B: or not to B: :-)WARNUT::KAYDWORM-mode noterMon May 14 1990 08:0714
This note has been dead for a while, but I think my question fits here.

I have a 520STFM with a single-sided drive, and I would like to add an external
double-sided drive to give me a two-drive system. The question is, can I make
the external drive the A: drive and the internal one the B: drive, and if so
how do I do this ?? I know next to nothing about things electronic, so I don't
want to do any soldering, welding or molecular reconstruction :-)

Any pointers to solutions in this notesfile would be gratefully appreciated,
or you could reply here or mail me via WOTVAX::KAYD or Derek Kay @ OLO.

Thanks in advance,

    Derek.
519.6Doable if you want to get your solder iron hotOLDTMR::WALLACEMon May 14 1990 15:406
The only way I know of to do this is involves soldering. You need to pull a
coulple of pins on the sound chip and swap there connections to the circuit
board.  If your are interested led me know and I'll see if I can find the
detailed instructions on how to perform th eoperation.

	Ray
519.7swap the drive mechanismsNORGE::CHADMon May 14 1990 20:353
You could swap drive mechanisms too...

Chad
519.8Which to switch ??WARNUT::KAYDWORM-mode noterTue May 15 1990 08:0317
re .6 & .7 (Ray & Chad),

    Thanks for the advice so far. I must admit that of the two options, 
swapping the drive mechanisms sounds like the favourite, but I assumed that
the mechanism for an external drive would not be compatible (in terms of 
physical size, mounting lug positions etc) with the mechanism for an internal
drive. 

    I suppose my follow up question is - which external drives could I do this
swap with ? I am in the UK, but we seem to get a lot of the same peripherals
over here, so all references are appreciated.

    I'm perilously close to sorting this out I think :-)

Cheers,

    Derek.
519.9swap a "generic" mechanism inNORGE::CHADTue May 15 1990 13:2916
The drive mechanisms themselves are usually the same size andthe mounting holes
in the same place.  The only problems are usually with where the manufacturer
has put the eject button.  For example, my 520STfm used to have the stock SSDD
drive in it.  I bought a Toshiba DSDD machanism and swapped it in.  I had to
carve a bit of the case out because the eject button was in the "wrong" place
for the Atari case.  Big deal.  What you probably want to do is just buy a new
mechanism and swap it for the SSDD mechanism.  (Avoid the Sony MFP11 of whatever
the number is - i similar too MFP11 -- people have had problems with them).  If
you realy want to drives then just buy a ready made DSDD for the second drive 
and you won't have to fool with it.  There are notes in here already about 
swapping mechanisms and about building your own DSDD drive.  It isn;t difficult 
to do the swap.  Just make sure that the data ribbon cable doesn't go on
backwards -- some drives have the connector upside down with respect to the 
built-in Atari mechanisms.

Chad
519.10WARNUT::KAYDWORM-mode noterWed May 16 1990 07:529
re. -.1

Thanks for the help Chad. I should be proceeding with this in the next
couple of weeks (money permitting), so I'll post a reply here to let you know
how I got on.

Cheers,

   Derek.
519.11Simple, elegant solution :-)WARNUT::KAYDWORM-mode noterMon Jun 04 1990 11:069
Well, my solution was a bit of a cop-out. A friend of mine now has my old
520STFM (with single-sided disc), and I've bought a brand new one (with
double-sided disc). This has actually caused as many problems as it has solved
though, but I'll detail that in a seperate note.

Cheers,

    Derek.
519.12Need help on a NEC FD1036AALLVAX::PETERSDon Peters, CTC2-1/C14, 287-3153Thu Nov 01 1990 12:0422
I just bought a model FD1036A floppy disk drive mechanism to replace the
SS mechanism in my Atari SF354. Before doing the mechanical retrofit, I
disassembled the SF354 drive and connected its cables to the new mechanism.
I had to turn the plugs upside down to get the pin numbering to agree.

Upon trying to boot up, the drive access LED turned on, the drive motor
spun, but the ST wouldn't boot from the disk. After the ST gave up and
just gave me the desktop, I still couldn't get it to read the disk. I kept
getting an error message saying the disk might not be connected, in spite
of the fact that I wiggled the connectors, making sure they were fully
engaged.

Examining the drive mechanism, I noticed two jumper areas, with one
jumper in each. One of these areas has three pins, and the plastic-coated
jumper apparently simulates a SPDT switch. The other area has six pins,
and looks as if it could function as a DPDT switch, although only one
jumper exists.  My guess is that one (or both) of these jumpers needs to
be changed. Does anyone have any suggestions as to which jumper(s) should
be changed?

    Don

519.13not very helpfull:MGOI01::FALKENSTEINso many girls, so little time...Mon Nov 05 1990 06:5411
    
    The only two hints I can give you are related to the NEC FD1035:
    
    - the well-known diode from Pin 2 to Pin 28 to enable the computer
      to sense a disk-change
    - remove the Head-Load jumper, it causes problems with some programs
      like disk-monitors or copy-programs
    
    Bernd
    
    
519.14Drive Select correctly set?MGOI01::FALKENSTEINso many girls, so little time...Mon Nov 05 1990 07:116
    
    Oh, I forgot. Your problem could be the DS (Drive Select) jumper which
    must be jumpered to drive "0" in your case...
    
    Bernd
    
519.15Watch out for bent eject buttons!ALLVAX::PETERSDon Peters, CTC2-1/C14, 287-3153Mon Nov 05 1990 12:2850
Thanks for the advice - FD1036A problem solved!

I had a friend (who has worked with floppy drive hardware before) come
over and look at the drive. After some poking around, his conclusion was
that the drive was bad. But later, after close inspection, it seemed that the
eject button was not moving freely enough. When I put a disk in and
physically pulled out the eject button, the computer was able to access
the disk!

Apparently the drive mechanism's eject button had been hit sufficiently
hard to bend it up by about 20 degrees, which caused it to bind. The
binding was such that even though you pushed a disk in, the disk did not
fully seat properly, and of course couldn't be read. I removed the front
plastic cover, bent the eject button in the opposite direction, and now
it points straight out and works properly. I tested it by trying to read
lots of disks, and it works fine.

However, after all this, I didn't use it for my first upgrade. The reason
was that the 34 pin connector to the mechanism had to be reversed. Try as
I might, I couldn't fold the short ribbon connector to make the
connection. So I finally gave up and substituted a Toshiba mechanism.
Both are about the same size, and both have a drive motor that is almost
totally silent. The seek noise on the Toshiba is about 1 or 2 db louder -
barely a difference. The cable connectors are in the ideal location.

To mount the Toshiba, I used the two existing mounting posts on the one
side, and drilled two matching holes on the other side, where I used
mounting posts (since the Atari drive only had one mounting post on that
side, and it was not in the right position). I then put about 5 washers
on top of each mounting post to make the disk entry port match the
opening on the disk case. Because of this raised height, I had to get
longer mounting screws (they are metric size threads). Finally, in order
to provide access to the eject button and activity LED, I used a sabre
and file saw to cut out part of the front cabinet face, squaring it off.

Even though the mechanism's front is black, and the drive enclosure is
grey, the final result looks much better than I thought it would look.
The drive is much quieter than the old drive and is now double sided
rather than single sided. All in all, I'm very pleased with the upgrade.

Oh, I didn't change anything electrically on the Toshiba upgrade - just
plugged it in. I have TOS 1.4, so don't know if that helps regarding the
disk change problem.

I'm saving the NEC mechanism for my next upgrade. Hopefully I can find an
extender cable. Are these available?

Re: .13 on the NEC drive, where is the head-load jumper? And, do I need
the diode if I am using TOS 1.4?
519.16Location on a 1035A:MGOI02::FALKENSTEINso many girls, so little time...Mon Nov 05 1990 12:3911
    
    If you look at the drive from the ribbon-connector side, the jumper
    should be on the left-hand half of the PCB in the first third of the
    lenght and should be labeled "HL". I use TOS 1.4 also but needed to 
    put the diode in. Just try it out with opening a directory on the
    floppy, get a new one in and then press ESCAPE. If the screen flickers
    shortly and then the same directory is displayed you need the diode.
    
    Bernd