PC floppy adaptor for Amiga

[delshay]

Just a quick note about the two type of mitsumi floppy drive. As above both have flash card support. One model has floppy drive at the bottom with card reader above the floppy drive.

The other model its the other way round ie floppy drive on top with card reader slots below.

One of the above model is difficult to modified internally,but not impossible to do. After modification just plug drive in as normal. I don't thing there is any visible modification when drive is put back together,but will have to check to see what I done,but as I said above its the best performing drive I have ever used & low noise to boot.

Also note model number maybe incorrect from early post.

[Arnie]

Bought the mk2 version and it works flawlessly with a alps floppy drive.

I take it you have to make the cable yourself to use it as an external drive?

[prowler]

Originally Posted by Arnie

I take it you have to make the cable yourself to use it as an external drive?

It requires more than a cable. A PC floppy adaptor can be used inside an existing Amiga external floppy drive enclosure to allow a faulty Amiga floppy drive mechanism to be replaced with a PC floppy drive unit. In this case, it must be fitted between the logic board and the drive mechanism to preserve all the attributes of the external drive. (Note that the PC floppy adaptor will not physically fit inside the enclosure without some internal rearrangement.)

Thus, to get the Alps PC floppy drive working as an Amiuga external drive requires not only the PC floppy drive adaptor, but also an Amiga external floppy drive logic board in addition to the cable.

The logic board performs essential signal latching functions which are not provided by the Amiga's external floppy drive port.

[Stedy]

@Arnie,

Use the diagram shown here (and in the user manual):
http://www.ianstedman.co.uk/Amiga/de...daptor_v2.html

The V2 adaptors have the extra logic onboard to allow use as an external drive, I added it at customer request.

The connection to pin 10 of the 34 way IDC socket sets the drive, in my drawing, it is connected to SEL1, so the drive would work as DF1:

You do not want a floppy drive cable with a twist in it. If you do have one, connect the adaptor before the twist. The other option is to cut off the IDC connector after the twist, un-twist the IDC cable and then fit a new 34 way plug. This is what I have done in the past and then add a 23 way plug to the other end. Have found it cheaper to buy a PC FDD cable and 34 way IDC plug than buy the parts individually.

Mechanical fitting inside the case I can not comment on.

[lesta_smsc]

Excuse my ignorance but is this in addition to the pc floppy pcb modifications or instead of?

[Arnie]

Instead of.

[Arnie]

Can you daisy chain another connector for df2?

[Loedown]

You can put me down for a couple as well Ian, didn't read the whole thread but for anyone who wants to attach it to their floppy they could use double sided tape.

I got a Rigol DS1102E on its way, cheers.

[Stedy]

@Arnie,

The cable diagram shown on the webpage connects SEL1/SEL2 to the cable. If you use two of my adaptors and an untwisted FDD cable, http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/...roducts_id=647 and add a 23 way plug you can have DF1: DF2: external. On the first adaptor you jumper it to DF0:, it response as DF1:, on the second drive you jumper it as DF1: and it response as DF2:.

I did consider auto selection logic and logic to un-twist the cable, it got fiddly and added considerably to the price or I just over engineered the fix based on the V3 design.

@Loedown

The adaptors are on sale now, cables I can make to order.

Hope you enjoy the new scope. Have you built the current measurement circuit?

[ajack]

@stedy:

I just purchased your adapter via your website and got the unit on Friday 13-Jun-2014. However, I have tested the unit on two Amiga A500 machines with three different floppy drives and the kit doesn't seem to work. Appreciate your advise on this.

[Stedy]

Hi,

Rather than create a new thread, thought I could update my old one.

The new smaller V2.5 adaptor for the Amiga and Atari ST/TT is now available.
Details are here http://www.ianstedman.co.uk/Amiga/de...daptor_v2.html
and you can order from here
http://www.ianstedman.co.uk/test/Sales/sales.html

Back to Hermes.....

[appiah4]

Awesome stuff.. Ordering now.

Can I use this to make a pc floppy an external drive using an External Floppy cable I made for Gotek units? The pinout you have for the cable seems to be the same for the gotek?

Also, I have this external USB PC FDD lying about.. I wonder if I can hack it apart, plug this into it and use the drive with the Amiga.. Experimenting would be fun

[Stedy]

Hi,

Catching up with forum posts.

You can make external drives using a PC FDD, see the diagrams here:
http://www.ianstedman.co.uk/Amiga/de...daptor_v2.html

Gotek/HxC has not been tested by myself yet, both should work as external drives without one of my adaptor boards.

[bugsymalone666]

So I was interested in potentially buying one of your devices, I am currently trying to decide if I am going to build an Amiga 500 Tower, with the plan to use a PC drive and also an HXC on 1 cable (although this might not be possible)

I wondered compatibility wise does the unit work on all disk drives?

I was looking at getting one of the PC drives that has an SD card reader in to connect to my HxC Gotek so I took up just one drive space in a neat and tidy way, but wanted to make sure the devices were compatible with all disk drives before I hunt down one of the combo units.

I think I have seen both Teac and Mitsumi units in this combo config.

Also separately as you may know, with a PC 2 drive cable with the twist in it, if you got rid of the twist, how would 2 drives operate on it if one was the device?

[Sinphaltimus]

I don't think that combo drive will work as you think. I purchased one of those combo drives and there are separate USB header cables in the back. Which means, if your Amiga doesn't have USB drive capabilities already, this combo drive will not work as a combo drive altho it may work as a floppy drive with the mentioned adaptor. The SD card stuff doesn't use the floppy cable connection.

EDIT: Also, I don't know about anything besides the A500 - and for that you need DF0 on the internal cable and DF1 or more on the external port (daisy chained). I don't know about the A200, I've seen those with multiple internal drives but do not know if they have a seperate header for each. (of course you can do a switcher to put DF0 external, I'm just referring to default setup.)

[bugsymalone666]

Originally Posted by Sinphaltimus

I don't think that combo drive will work as you think. I purchased one of those combo drives and there are separate USB header cables in the back. Which means, if your Amiga doesn't have USB drive capabilities already, this combo drive will not work as a combo drive altho it may work as a floppy drive with the mentioned adaptor. The SD card stuff doesn't use the floppy cable connection.

EDIT: Also, I don't know about anything besides the A500 - and for that you need DF0 on the internal cable and DF1 or more on the external port (daisy chained). I don't know about the A200, I've seen those with multiple internal drives but do not know if they have a seperate header for each. (of course you can do a switcher to put DF0 external, I'm just referring to default setup.)

So I guess I should clear up about the Combo drive:

I know that the Floppy Drive is separate from the SD/Card reader bit, which connects to a single 4pin USB header and the drive is a usual 34pin connector. What I planned to do is is connect the USB Card Reader bit to my HXC USB port (as it supports any USB storage) so I dont have a USB thumbdrive stuck out the front of the case and instead the HxC hidden inside somewhere with discrete buttons somewhere but so I can just pop SD cards in the front of the drive and make it look a bit more slick.

The floppy drive itself is totally separate, which while I assume is standard PC, I wanted to make sure all PC drives worked with the adapter.


Just going for a slick A500 build if I can

[Sinphaltimus]

Originally Posted by bugsymalone666

So I guess I should clear up about the Combo drive:

I know that the Floppy Drive is separate from the SD/Card reader bit, which connects to a single 4pin USB header and the drive is a usual 34pin connector. What I planned to do is is connect the USB Card Reader bit to my HXC USB port (as it supports any USB storage) so I dont have a USB thumbdrive stuck out the front of the case and instead the HxC hidden inside somewhere with discrete buttons somewhere but so I can just pop SD cards in the front of the drive and make it look a bit more slick.

The floppy drive itself is totally separate, which while I assume is standard PC, I wanted to make sure all PC drives worked with the adapter.


Just going for a slick A500 build if I can

Oh, Now that sounds like an interesting idea. Well, I have one of those combo drives made by Nippon Labs to be exact.

I also ordered one of those adaptors this morning. I don't know how long it will take to arrive (overseas) but when it does, I can test that for you. I wasn't planning on putting it in my Amiga but I can certainly test it if you don't mind waiting.

I'll need to build an adaptor to go from the header connector to standard USB male A bt that should be pretty straight forward I think.

I was planning to add a DF2: drive (daisy chained off my DF1: ) to test out the adaptor itself against my floppy drive collection. I really only wanted the adaptor as a backup in case I can no longer find Amiga floppy drives should mine go bad.

So after it arrives, I'll test your idea first, then continue testing a barrage of other PC floppy drives. I do plan to publish a list of all tests and findings and may even do a video of the process. I would have done this a long time ago had I seen this thread and thought about it sooner. So thanks for resurrecting it.

[indigolemon]

I have an ancient EZ-DF0 in my A1200 tower, and oddly a Teac drive as you described is currently inbound! I also grabbed one of these: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/292054567306

My gotek is currently elsewhere, but I'll let you know if it works as a standard USB drive as soon as I get it all here.

[bugsymalone666]

Ha, funny how others are doing the same

I have ordered the stuff, fingers crossed it'll work and I can start sorting my tower Amiga500.

[indigolemon]

Teac arrived today. Note that it needs power for the drive or reader to work - just usb connected isn't enough. Sadly my plan to hook it onto the spiders internal port is a bust, as Poseidon doesn't like the fact I booted with the card reader attached - hopefully the Gotek is more tolerant Don't want to have to open the case and replug it every time!