Timeline for Wanted: 5.25" floppy to USB adapter
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
22 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Oct 9, 2020 at 19:28 | comment | added | supercat | ...but when reading back data they output an arbitrary-duration high pulse (about 1 microsecond on the Apple's drives) whenever the written data changes state. If all you want to do is read data, moving the head to the outside of the disk and then capturing the patterns of wiggles from the drive heads while periodically advancing the head to the next track should be an easy way to do it. | |
| Oct 9, 2020 at 19:26 | comment | added | supercat | Otherwise, if a drive is selected and write enable isn't active, the data output will reproduce, more or less, the pattern of wiggles used when writing the disk, subject to four deviations: (1) Wiggles that are too short may disappear; (2) If too much time elapses without the drive encountering any wiggles, the drive may report wiggles where none exist; (3) variations in motor speed and other factors may cause a certain amount of timing uncertainty in wiggles occur; (4) some drives like the Apple expect the computer to supply a signal that changes level for each wiggle... | |
| Oct 9, 2020 at 19:23 | comment | added | supercat | @jwzumwalt: I've also been playing with raw floppy I/O, though in my case it's for interfacing with an Apple //c. A floppy drive will at minimum have inputs to select it, move the drive head, enable writing, and supply data to be written; and outputs for the write-protect sensor and data read off the disk. PC floppy drives will also have outputs that detect the index hole and the insertion/removal of a disk. If a drive is selected and write enable is active, whatever pattern of wiggles is present on the data line will overwrite whatever at the current spot on the current track. | |
| Oct 9, 2020 at 9:35 | answer | added | ssokolow | timeline score: 1 | |
| Oct 8, 2020 at 14:42 | answer | added | tofro | timeline score: 1 | |
| Oct 8, 2020 at 13:46 | answer | added | lapo | timeline score: 2 | |
| S Jul 9, 2019 at 22:01 | history | suggested | chicks | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
caps in title and USB tag
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| Jul 9, 2019 at 21:41 | review | Suggested edits | |||
| S Jul 9, 2019 at 22:01 | |||||
| Apr 17, 2019 at 14:25 | comment | added | user | @Brythan 5.25" FDDs predated IDE by at least several years, even just on the IBM. | |
| Apr 16, 2019 at 15:00 | comment | added | Brian H | I know it's not cheap, but Kryoflux already solved this for most vintage disk formats. | |
| Mar 4, 2019 at 21:19 | comment | added | jwzumwalt | @Criggie - Due to the lack of r/w floppy interface, I am now considering making one... perhaps using a PIC micro-controler (many PICS have chip USB) to interface to a host computer. The research I have done apparently shows the floppy drive only responds to sector (block) r/w requests and does not know or interpret filo io. This makes it more of a software problem than hardware issue. Todays computers have plenty of memory space so I am thinking of copying the entire drive to a mem buffer, have software do its thing then save the entire disk when the software ops are done. | |
| Mar 4, 2019 at 21:10 | comment | added | jwzumwalt | @Brythan - The 3.5 and 5.25 were usually on the same cable with different connectors. When I wrote the question, I forgot I had a dual floppy cable in my parts box. | |
| Mar 4, 2019 at 18:45 | comment | added | Criggie | Whatever happens, please do come back and give an update on what worked for you. I still have both my 5.25" and 3.5" HDD floppy drives from 1989. | |
| Mar 4, 2019 at 15:54 | comment | added | Brythan | Wouldn't the 5.25 floppy use a standard IDE cable like a 5.25 DVD-ROM? Can you take a picture of the 5.25 drive's plugs? | |
| Mar 4, 2019 at 11:33 | vote | accept | jwzumwalt | ||
| Mar 4, 2019 at 11:33 | history | edited | jwzumwalt | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
deleted 1 character in body
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| Mar 4, 2019 at 9:01 | answer | added | user12037 | timeline score: 5 | |
| Mar 3, 2019 at 18:49 | comment | added | dirkt | Note that the USB-floppy standard officially only supports 3.5" drives, so while the cable pinout is the same, it might still nor work (timing differences etc.). If you get it to work, please add an answer of your own (which you can also accept), because that would be interesting to other people as well. | |
| Mar 3, 2019 at 18:38 | history | became hot network question | |||
| Mar 3, 2019 at 14:59 | answer | added | alephzero | timeline score: 8 | |
| Mar 3, 2019 at 14:41 | answer | added | Euro Micelli | timeline score: 16 | |
| Mar 3, 2019 at 13:59 | history | asked | jwzumwalt | CC BY-SA 4.0 |