[Coco] So, does anyone know where to get disk drives?

Thu Aug 29 00:38:05 EDT 2013

Take care of PC pulls of 5.25. They just don't work as the head selection
pin is different. 3.5 works like a charm.

On Thu, Aug 29, 2013 at 12:32 AM, Mark J. Blair <nf6x at nf6x.net> wrote:

> Interesting. I was thinking of trying out an 80 track 5.25" DSDD drive,
> but I hadn't considered trying 3.5" one.
>
> --
> Mark J. Blair, NF6X <nf6x at nf6x.net>
> Web page: http://www.nf6x.net/
>
> On Aug 28, 2013, at 21:28, "Mike Pepe" <lamune at doki-doki.net> wrote:
>
> > Mark - if you don't care about being able to read and write 5.25" disks,
> any
> > old 1.44MB floppy will work just fine on a CoCo as long as you use 720k
> (low
> > density) disks.
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: coco-bounces at maltedmedia.com [mailto:coco-bounces at maltedmedia.com]
> On
> > Behalf Of Mark J. Blair
> > Sent: Wednesday, August 28, 2013 7:18 PM
> > To: CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts
> > Subject: Re: [Coco] So, does anyone know where to get disk drives?
> >
> >
> > On Aug 28, 2013, at 11:11 , Christopher Smith <csmith at wolfram.com>
> wrote:
> >> I'm trying to find drives for my CoCo systems, and I'm having tons of
> > trouble doing so.  I'm at the point where I may just try to cannibalize
> > other systems to get working double-density floppies and build my own
> case,
> > but I'd prefer not to do this unless I absolutely have to.  My ebay
> > experience trying to buy drives for this seems to have ended with UPS
> losing
> > my shipment after my waiting a month to receive it, so not much luck
> there.
> >>
> >> Anyway, I thought I'd ask here.  Any idea where I might find a couple of
> > floppy drives in an external case? :)
> >
> >
> > I've bought a couple of complete single-drive Radio Shack floppy systems
> for
> > the CoCo off eBay in the last few weeks since I started playing with
> vintage
> > computers. IIRC, one was an FD-500 and the other was an FD-501. Both
> worked
> > fine. I also picked up a pair of Tandon SSDD half height drives there;
> one
> > worked fine and is now installed in one of those systems, while the other
> > one appears to only step the head in one direction. I'll look at it later
> > and see if I can fix it. Hopefully it's just a blown transistor or
> something
> > in the stepper motor drive circuit.
> >
> > I also got a pair of DSDD full height floppies in external cases. Both
> > drives work. One case+power supply worked, and the other one made fire as
> > the power switch consumed itself in an electric arc when I turned it on.
> > Cool stuff. I use one of the drives naked on the tabletop with my
> KryoFlux
> > and the little switching supply it came with.
> >
> > Then, I just pounced on a pair of Teac FD-55B drives in the last day or
> two
> > shortly after they were listed. I'll set them aside (when they arrive)
> while
> > I continue to look for a J&M controller to go with them.
> >
> > I've seen several other CoCo floppy drives and/or controllers on eBay
> during
> > that period, too, some of them in original boxes. Single-drive systems
> seem
> > to be pretty common at the moment, but I haven't seen any double-drive
> > systems. So, I'd say that you may need to pick up a single-drive system
> and
> > another bare drive to add to it.
> >
> > Let's see, right now I see a naked controller (missing its case), an
> FD-502
> > interface, an FD-502 drive cable, and a complete full-height CoCo drive
> > system in its original box. The latter was found by visual search, not
> by my
> > saved search for CoCo items; check out item 281157216709. Some sellers
> don't
> > know what they're selling, so it's often necessary to cast a wide net and
> > wade through the pictures looking for something interesting.
> >
> > P.S.: If anybody has a spare J&M controller, particularly a JFD-CP, I'm
> > interested!
> >
> > --
> > Mark J. Blair, NF6X <nf6x at nf6x.net>
> > http://www.nf6x.net/
> >
> >
> > --
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> > Coco at maltedmedia.com
> > http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
> >
> >
> > --
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> > Coco at maltedmedia.com
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>
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>

-- 
Long live the CoCo