[Coco] FD501

[Phill Harvey-Smith]

Chester A Patterson wrote:
> Tricky devils. 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
>> chance to try it out. Is it normal for these units to have DS0 *and* 
>> DS1 jumpered? Can't figure that one out.
> 
> Yes, my FD501 also has both DS0 and DS1 connected. Tandy's method of
> drive selection was to remove the appropriate contacts from the edge
> connectors on the cable.

<RANT>
Why oh why do manufatureres feel the need to do this, there is a 
standard using jumpers/dip switches. This of course has the parctical 
disadvantage that (like the IBM twisted cable), that drive 0 must always 
be in the same position on the cable, which is prolly ok in the standard 
  Tandy drive enclosure, but can be a real pain in the butt, when you 
come to put the drives in a different enclosure and the cable isn't 
quite long enough to reach both the drives and the controler in the 
config that Tandy (or IBM etc) forces upon you.... Ok so it means you 
don't have to change jumpers but it's not *THAT* difficult...
</RANT>

Phill.

-- 
Phill Harvey-Smith, Programmer, Hardware hacker, and general eccentric !

"You can twist perceptions, but reality won't budge" -- Rush.