[Coco] FD-50X Drive manuals

[Frank Swygert]

You are correct -- there is no specific FD-50x info, other than a 
schematic for a couple of the controller. All the drive info is generic 
to all drives. In fact the only thing unique to the CoCo is the 
controller itself. Tandy used several different drive suppliers. Other 
computers also used single sided drives, even the IBM PCjr IIRC. The 
drives themselves are generic and will work in any computer capable of 
recognizing a 5.25" single sided drive (a lot of the newer PCs won't 
recognize any 5.25" drive automatically). That's one thing that swayed 
me to go with the CoCo long ago. Tandy usually used Tandon drives, at 
least in the older ones, but I have seen other manufacturers in cases 
known to come from Tandy. The last half-high units were from someone 
else, don't recall who now (not that it matters). I had a pair of Ricoh 
360K drives in my second disk system, the first was a dinosaur full 
height Tandon. I removed the Tandon and stuck the two surplus Ricohs in 
the same case. The old full height drives took a lot more power than 
newer half-height models. Had to drill mounting holes for the second 
drive. Used the same ribbon cable, just configured the drives to work 
with the "snaggle toothed" cable. ----------- Date: Sun, 8 Mar 2009 
08:08:14 -0500 From: "Bill" <cwgordon at carolina.rr.com> Subject: Re: 
[Coco] FD-50X Drive manuals To: "'CoCoList for Color Computer 
Enthusiasts'" <coco at maltedmedia.com> Message-ID: 
<002501c99fee$f12f46d0$d38dd470$@rr.com> Content-Type: text/plain; 
charset="us-ascii" Unfortunately there is no information about either 
the FD-500 or FD-502 drives. Thanks..

> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: coco-bounces at maltedmedia.com [mailto:coco-
> > bounces at maltedmedia.com] On Behalf Of Frank Swygert
> > Sent: Sunday, March 08, 2009 8:42 AM
> > To: coco at maltedmedia.com
> > Subject: Re: [Coco] FD-50X Drive manuals
> > 
> > Bill, download "Tandy's Little Wonder". It has basic repair and
> > troubleshooting info in it for the CoCos and most peripherals. It also
> > has the pin-outs for all the connectors and guides on making the most
> > used cables.
> > 
-- 
Frank Swygert
Publisher, "American Motors Cars" 
Magazine (AMC)
For all AMC enthusiasts
http://farna.home.att.net/AMC.html
(free download available!)