floppy drive emulator
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Posts: 46,084
I am trying to find a way to emulate (in software or hardware, using
BS2 or PC or both) an old 8 inch floppy drive.
My reason is this, I have an old machine tool with an old
control ,that is not a PC, that has a floppy disk controller (I can
get more details) and this 8 inch drive attached to it, but the drive
is failing and I don't want to replace the drive unit.
What I want to do is remove the drive, keeping the controller card in
the machine) and connect "something" to the card that fakes out the
controller card into thinking it is reading and writing from the
dirve when it is really "interfacing" with a BS2 and/or PC.
I need to be able to read in the data that the old control is
writing, once I get the file, I don't have to be able to "give it
back" via the controller card, I can actually give it back via a
paper tape reader that is also on it (although writing back to teh
controller would be a plus).
I havn't yet been sucessful in finding any way to emulate this drive,
no one that I have spoken or typed to has given me any hope, they all
say it can't be done, but I think it is possible.
Any suggestions?
BS2 or PC or both) an old 8 inch floppy drive.
My reason is this, I have an old machine tool with an old
control ,that is not a PC, that has a floppy disk controller (I can
get more details) and this 8 inch drive attached to it, but the drive
is failing and I don't want to replace the drive unit.
What I want to do is remove the drive, keeping the controller card in
the machine) and connect "something" to the card that fakes out the
controller card into thinking it is reading and writing from the
dirve when it is really "interfacing" with a BS2 and/or PC.
I need to be able to read in the data that the old control is
writing, once I get the file, I don't have to be able to "give it
back" via the controller card, I can actually give it back via a
paper tape reader that is also on it (although writing back to teh
controller would be a plus).
I havn't yet been sucessful in finding any way to emulate this drive,
no one that I have spoken or typed to has given me any hope, they all
say it can't be done, but I think it is possible.
Any suggestions?
Comments
A very long time ago I actually built an interface board for an 8" floppy
drive (for an Ohio Scientific Computer), so I remember some of the internal
workings of the beast...
You not only need to emulate the data stream for the operating system and
driver, but the mechanicals of the drive as well. For instance, on
initialization, the floppy drive seeks back its stepper motor until the zero
track switch is made good. This tell the driver its ready to go. Then it
seeks forward one pulse at a time, reading each track once the little hole
in the media goes past another optical sensor. Then the floppy drive streams
out one block/track worth of information to the interface. The controller
steps forward one track, the drive waits for the hole to go past the sensor,
and the next track streams out. Besides the initialization/track-0 feedback,
you should be able to increment blocks of memory and feed them out to the
controller. As I remember, this was basically TTL level logic. Figuring out
your block sizes and such is the trick though, since in the early days every
manufacturer did his own thing.
What sort of Operating System is this thing using????
Mike Sokol
www.modernrecording.com
mikes@m...
" One should not increase, beyond what is necessary,
the number of entities required to explain anything"...
-William of Occam-
Original Message
From: "xutsim" <xutsim@y...>
To: <basicstamps@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, December 03, 2003 11:21 AM
Subject: [noparse][[/noparse]basicstamps] floppy drive emulator
> I am trying to find a way to emulate (in software or hardware, using
> BS2 or PC or both) an old 8 inch floppy drive.
>
> My reason is this, I have an old machine tool with an old
> control ,that is not a PC, that has a floppy disk controller (I can
> get more details) and this 8 inch drive attached to it, but the drive
> is failing and I don't want to replace the drive unit.
>
> What I want to do is remove the drive, keeping the controller card in
> the machine) and connect "something" to the card that fakes out the
> controller card into thinking it is reading and writing from the
> dirve when it is really "interfacing" with a BS2 and/or PC.
>
> I need to be able to read in the data that the old control is
> writing, once I get the file, I don't have to be able to "give it
> back" via the controller card, I can actually give it back via a
> paper tape reader that is also on it (although writing back to teh
> controller would be a plus).
>
> I havn't yet been sucessful in finding any way to emulate this drive,
> no one that I have spoken or typed to has given me any hope, they all
> say it can't be done, but I think it is possible.
>
> Any suggestions?
>
>
>
> To UNSUBSCRIBE, just send mail to:
> basicstamps-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
> from the same email address that you subscribed. Text in the Subject and
Body of the message will be ignored.
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>
http://pluto.njcc.com/~hjohnson/s_drives.html
He may even have an 8" floppy drive to sell
you -- certainly, he has LOTS of manuals.
Also check: http://www.classiccmp.org/pipermail/cctech/2003-
August/017711.html
(reassemble link in notepad)
--- In basicstamps@yahoogroups.com, "Mike Sokol" <mike.sokol@m...>
wrote:
> Hmmmmm.....
>
> A very long time ago I actually built an interface board for an 8"
floppy
> drive (for an Ohio Scientific Computer), so I remember some of the
internal
> workings of the beast...
>
> You not only need to emulate the data stream for the operating
system and
> driver, but the mechanicals of the drive as well. For instance, on
> initialization, the floppy drive seeks back its stepper motor until
the zero
> track switch is made good. This tell the driver its ready to go.
Then it
> seeks forward one pulse at a time, reading each track once the
little hole
> in the media goes past another optical sensor. Then the floppy
drive streams
> out one block/track worth of information to the interface. The
controller
> steps forward one track, the drive waits for the hole to go past
the sensor,
> and the next track streams out. Besides the initialization/track-0
feedback,
> you should be able to increment blocks of memory and feed them out
to the
> controller. As I remember, this was basically TTL level logic.
Figuring out
> your block sizes and such is the trick though, since in the early
days every
> manufacturer did his own thing.
>
> What sort of Operating System is this thing using????
>
> Mike Sokol
> www.modernrecording.com
> mikes@m...
>
>
> " One should not increase, beyond what is necessary,
> the number of entities required to explain anything"...
> -William of Occam-
>
>
>
Original Message
> From: "xutsim" <xutsim@y...>
> To: <basicstamps@yahoogroups.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, December 03, 2003 11:21 AM
> Subject: [noparse][[/noparse]basicstamps] floppy drive emulator
>
>
> > I am trying to find a way to emulate (in software or hardware,
using
> > BS2 or PC or both) an old 8 inch floppy drive.
> >
> > My reason is this, I have an old machine tool with an old
> > control ,that is not a PC, that has a floppy disk controller (I
can
> > get more details) and this 8 inch drive attached to it, but the
drive
> > is failing and I don't want to replace the drive unit.
> >
> > What I want to do is remove the drive, keeping the controller
card in
> > the machine) and connect "something" to the card that fakes out
the
> > controller card into thinking it is reading and writing from the
> > dirve when it is really "interfacing" with a BS2 and/or PC.
> >
> > I need to be able to read in the data that the old control is
> > writing, once I get the file, I don't have to be able to "give it
> > back" via the controller card, I can actually give it back via a
> > paper tape reader that is also on it (although writing back to teh
> > controller would be a plus).
> >
> > I havn't yet been sucessful in finding any way to emulate this
drive,
> > no one that I have spoken or typed to has given me any hope, they
all
> > say it can't be done, but I think it is possible.
> >
> > Any suggestions?
> >
> >
> >
> > To UNSUBSCRIBE, just send mail to:
> > basicstamps-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
> > from the same email address that you subscribed. Text in the
Subject and
> Body of the message will be ignored.
> >
> >
> > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
> >
> >