Due to massive amounts of caffeine & sleep deprivation, Doug Spence said:
>Does the PS/2 not have any 5.25" drive bays? Weird. :) I'm not an IBMer
>so I don't know these things, though I *think* one of the machines I used
>to do CAD work on was a PS/2 of some flavour.
Every PS/2 that I've ever seen (note: this does not mean All PS/2's... just
the ones I've seen) didn't have a 5.25" port at all... not even their tower
"servers". I suspect it was IBM (trying to) setting a new standard... again.
>OK, that makes it useful. Would you happen to know what the pinout is of
>the 37-pin connector, so that I can try to make use of the drive without
>modification? Is it even possible to buy a matching female 37-pin
>connector?
IIRC, it's just straight thru with the last/first 3 pins unused... but I'd
have to look at the cable or ring some pins to be sure (and yes, I'm a
packrat...).
I also believe that you can still get 37-pin D-sub connectors thru the
Mouser Electronics catalog. Good people to work with... I had 3 distinct
problems with my first order (totalling $40USD) and they took care of all
of them at their expense (shipped some closeout SMD resistors *overnight*
because they forgot them in the package... their expense... that's their
policy, despite my not being in a rush for them!) Try
http://www.mouser.com .
>Interesting. How are the drives interfaced to the CoCos? I've got a
>CoCo1, CoCo2, and CoCo3, but I've never found a disk drive for these
>machines.
All CoCo controllers take Shugart standard drives (now called IBM standard
drives... IBM's taking over again!) altho RSDOS limits you to 35 tracks,
SSDD, 156K disks (the original Shugart drives) without patches... which (of
course) I have. RSDOS can handle a max of 2 DSDD 80 track drives with
patches (more accurately... they look like 4 SSDD 80 track drives, with :2
the backside of :0 and :3 the backside of :1) but 1.44Meg storage thru
RSDOS is really good! OS-9 can handle 3 DSDD 80trk drives!
>> If you (or anyone) needs more info on this drive, lemme know. But I can
>> tell you, that just taking it apart is *fun*, if you have 3-4 hours to get
>> it apart and back together. I've had mine disassembled 3-4 times now, to
>> figure where to cut holes & stuff for my cable mods.
>
>Heh. I couldn't even get mine apart, because of the two six-pointed
>screws on the bottom. The screws have a lump in the middle so I can't use
>a flat-blade screwdriver as I did when I had a similar problem opening my
>Mac 512K.
There are three ways to get into the case, only one of which I recommend.
The first method involves a chainsaw and a 12lb (5.5kg) sledgehammer... If
you have to ask, you don't want to know. ;^>
The second method would require an appropriately sized Torx screwdriver and
a Dremel tool with drill press attachment. You would need to drill a small
hole in the end of the Torx driver to accommodate the post in the screw.
While this method is the safest to the drive, it's also the most work.
Method 3 (which is the one I used) requires a pointed instrument (like a
leather awl) and a regular (flat-head or slotted) screwdriver that just
fit's into 2 of the points of the Torx screw (the screwdriver tip of my
tiny Swiss Army knife worked perfectly). Use the awl to bend the post over
as much as you can, and this *should* (no guarantees, YMMV, yadda, yadda,
yadda...) get you enough room to get enough of the slotted screwdriver into
2 of the star points and extract the screw.
As the case is built like a Sherman Tank, once the screws are removed, deep
six them. I've been running mine for 3 years without the special screws
with no ill effects.
Anyway, I hope this helps, and enjoy the drive!
Roger "Merch" Merchberger
--
Roger Merchberger | If at first you don't succeed,
Programmer, NorthernWay | nuclear warhead disarmament should
zmerch_at_northernway.net | *not* be your first career choice.
Received on Fri May 30 1997 - 08:05:44 BST