Replace A1200 Floppy

jabsy · 04 May 2007, 02:21

Hello boys and girls,

I recently paid way too much loot for this A1200, and it doesn't have a floppy. The guy told me it carked it and he removed it ages ago.

Now while it would appear to be a nice place to fit a 3.5" IDE drive, what if I ever want to fit a dive in that spot?? Will any old amiga drive do?? I have a few A2000 drives and moggins of external drives, can I just shoehorn one of them into there???

I'll probably never need a floppy drive anyway, but need to know just in case...

Zetr0 · 04 May 2007, 13:35

I found that booting an A1200 without a FDD has two issues,

1. It takes longer to get to the boot / post screen

2. if your booting to WB from hdd you have a DF0:??????? error icon!

------------------

I think that there is a way to fool the amiga that there is a FDD attached to the computer by using a small dongle... (i will have to check aminet for that)

this would also solve the Workbench issue too,...

--------------------

Ideas to use instead of the FDD

1. LS120 device.... (internal ide)
gives you 1.4mb / 720k floppy support
gives you 120MB LS120 disk support

2. IOMEGA drive (internal ide)
this can give you upto 4GB of storage on a cart/disk

3. Jazz Drive (internal ide)
again similar to but slightly faster (not that it mattes much on a amiga) the IOMEGA

4. Syquest Optical drive (internal ide)
similar to the above but optical instead of magneto these little things can have a large cpacity too, about 1.5GB

that should keep you busy

Fingerlickin_B · 04 May 2007, 14:00

Question time from me too Zetro...

LS120 are the normal PC FDD right? The one that's usually "A" in Windoze?

If so, are you saying that the 1200 can use them? If so, that's a big wow from me, and will make life heaps easier!

I know that earlier Amigas can't, so I'm confused.

PZ.

Coagulus · 04 May 2007, 14:10

No, LS120 is a special drive not normally used as standard in PCs. Like a Zip drive but with the added bonus of reading ordinary floppies too!

Fingerlickin_B · 04 May 2007, 14:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coagulus

No, LS120 is a special drive not normally used as standard in PCs. Like a Zip drive but with the added bonus of reading ordinary floppies too!

Are they still made/easy to buy?

*edit* - Checked and they are cheap, but didn't think about the fact that they would be on the IDE port, so can't be designated as DF0: (damn

).

PZ.

Zetr0 · 05 May 2007, 03:31

technically you can designate any device any name through mounting and mount lists...

why would you want to replace df0 ?

Jope · 05 May 2007, 08:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fingerlickin_B

Are they still made/easy to buy?

*edit* - Checked and they are cheap, but didn't think about the fact that they would be on the IDE port, so can't be designated as DF0: (damn

).

PZ.

You can designate it as DF0:, but it can't be a replacement for the functions of the internal drive.

It won't be visible under trackdisk.device, you can't use amiga formatted disks in it or boot amiga games from it. Thus better not name it DF0 but LS0 or something.

On a PC the BIOS and later the Windows drivers make it act as drive A. This of course needs an LS-120 aware BIOS on your machine.

jabsy · 05 May 2007, 09:45

So can I use an internal drive from a 500 or hack up one from a 2000???

Coagulus · 05 May 2007, 10:00

I'm sure I used my old a500 drive in my 1200 when it's floppy died. Also I had an external floppy drive which I gutted and put in there too eventually. I did have to leave the lid off then though.

jabsy · 05 May 2007, 13:42

Ace. I've got a pile of 500's. I'll cut one up.

Zetr0 · 05 May 2007, 15:09

I have been trying to find if there is any form of MicroDVD drive (ie ones that ONLY use the 8cm disks... personally i think this combined with the external df1 to df0 hack would be really REALLY cool for a mod!!!! )

i have tried looking for UMD and MDD units and none can i find... trying to find a micro or miniture dvdrw or just rom would be awsome... just cannot find it!

pmc · 06 May 2007, 13:00

I've been loving using WinUAE and my old A500+ again so much recently that I've just purchased an A1200. It's an Escom one so I want to modify the floppy drive so that it's got the RDY signal and is fully Amiga compatible.

I found this: http://ftp.wustl.edu/pub/aminet/hard/hack/A1200FDfix.lha

I've knocked the circuit together - now just need to wire it into the A1200 when it arrives... Has anyone ever made the floppy mod using this circuit? Did it work OK?

musashi5150 · 06 May 2007, 14:04

There are also a couple of articles about it on the SoftPres (CAPS) website: http://www.softpres.org/knowledge_base might be worth a look to see if they are the same ?

pmc · 06 May 2007, 14:12

Nice one mate - that looks to be a different and probably less complex way to acheive the same thing as the hardware hack I'd found. One or other should work!

04 May 2007, 02:21	#1
jabsy Yeah Hup! Join Date: May 2006 Location: Australia Age: 43 Posts: 327	Replace A1200 Floppy Hello boys and girls, I recently paid way too much loot for this A1200, and it doesn't have a floppy. The guy told me it carked it and he removed it ages ago. Now while it would appear to be a nice place to fit a 3.5" IDE drive, what if I ever want to fit a dive in that spot?? Will any old amiga drive do?? I have a few A2000 drives and moggins of external drives, can I just shoehorn one of them into there??? I'll probably never need a floppy drive anyway, but need to know just in case...

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04 May 2007, 13:35	#2
Zetr0 Ya' like it Retr0? Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: United Kingdom Age: 38 Posts: 9,185	I found that booting an A1200 without a FDD has two issues, 1. It takes longer to get to the boot / post screen 2. if your booting to WB from hdd you have a DF0:??????? error icon! ------------------ I think that there is a way to fool the amiga that there is a FDD attached to the computer by using a small dongle... (i will have to check aminet for that) this would also solve the Workbench issue too,... -------------------- Ideas to use instead of the FDD 1. LS120 device.... (internal ide) gives you 1.4mb / 720k floppy support gives you 120MB LS120 disk support 2. IOMEGA drive (internal ide) this can give you upto 4GB of storage on a cart/disk 3. Jazz Drive (internal ide) again similar to but slightly faster (not that it mattes much on a amiga) the IOMEGA 4. Syquest Optical drive (internal ide) similar to the above but optical instead of magneto these little things can have a large cpacity too, about 1.5GB that should keep you busy

04 May 2007, 14:00	#3
Fingerlickin_B Amiga Nut Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Belco, Australia Posts: 2,116	Question time from me too Zetro... LS120 are the normal PC FDD right? The one that's usually "A" in Windoze? If so, are you saying that the 1200 can use them? If so, that's a big wow from me, and will make life heaps easier! I know that earlier Amigas can't, so I'm confused. PZ.

04 May 2007, 14:10	#4
Coagulus Zone Friend Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Wales Posts: 468	No, LS120 is a special drive not normally used as standard in PCs. Like a Zip drive but with the added bonus of reading ordinary floppies too!

05 May 2007, 03:31	#6
Zetr0 Ya' like it Retr0? Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: United Kingdom Age: 38 Posts: 9,185	technically you can designate any device any name through mounting and mount lists... why would you want to replace df0 ?

05 May 2007, 09:45	#8
jabsy Yeah Hup! Join Date: May 2006 Location: Australia Age: 43 Posts: 327	So can I use an internal drive from a 500 or hack up one from a 2000???

05 May 2007, 10:00	#9
Coagulus Zone Friend Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Wales Posts: 468	I'm sure I used my old a500 drive in my 1200 when it's floppy died. Also I had an external floppy drive which I gutted and put in there too eventually. I did have to leave the lid off then though.

05 May 2007, 13:42	#10
jabsy Yeah Hup! Join Date: May 2006 Location: Australia Age: 43 Posts: 327	Ace. I've got a pile of 500's. I'll cut one up.

05 May 2007, 15:09	#11
Zetr0 Ya' like it Retr0? Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: United Kingdom Age: 38 Posts: 9,185	I have been trying to find if there is any form of MicroDVD drive (ie ones that ONLY use the 8cm disks... personally i think this combined with the external df1 to df0 hack would be really REALLY cool for a mod!!!! ) i have tried looking for UMD and MDD units and none can i find... trying to find a micro or miniture dvdrw or just rom would be awsome... just cannot find it!

06 May 2007, 13:00	#12
pmc is long gone Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: London Posts: 1,590	I've been loving using WinUAE and my old A500+ again so much recently that I've just purchased an A1200. It's an Escom one so I want to modify the floppy drive so that it's got the RDY signal and is fully Amiga compatible. I found this: http://ftp.wustl.edu/pub/aminet/hard/hack/A1200FDfix.lha I've knocked the circuit together - now just need to wire it into the A1200 when it arrives... Has anyone ever made the floppy mod using this circuit? Did it work OK?

06 May 2007, 14:04	#13
musashi5150 move.w #$4489,$dff07e Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Norfolk, UK Age: 31 Posts: 2,245	There are also a couple of articles about it on the SoftPres (CAPS) website: http://www.softpres.org/knowledge_base might be worth a look to see if they are the same ?

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06 May 2007, 14:12	#14
pmc is long gone Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: London Posts: 1,590	Nice one mate - that looks to be a different and probably less complex way to acheive the same thing as the hardware hack I'd found. One or other should work!