Floppy drive type for North Star controller?

From: Allison J Parent <allisonp_at_world.std.com>
Date: Thu Jun 26 20:26:08 1997

> Anybody know what type of drive I can connect to the popular North Star
> MDS-AD3 S-100 disk controller board?

Sugart sa400l or similar. The MDS-AD3 was a dual density controller that
aslo did two sided. Any of the 360 PC half height drives will work as will
many of the older full height.

Your limited to 5.25 as the media must be for ten sector hard sectoring.

I have one here but it was given to me dead. I still run a MDS-A2 single
density controller.

FYI the are hard sector 10 sectors per track 256 or 512 bytes a sector.

> dual density (FM vs. MFM) is determined by the controller, and soft vs.

FM single density, MFM double density.

> What bothers me is single vs. double sided and all of those jumpers on 5
> 1/4" drives. Will dual sided drives work on single sided controllers,

Yes.

> with only one side operating? Do those jumpers need to be set
> differently for different controllers, and how would I find
> documentation for the various brands (I'm sure I wouldn't!)

Yes. The controller you identified is two sided capable and double density
capable but the OS can be configured for various combinations.

Allison
Received on Thu Jun 26 1997 - 20:26:08 BST