step signal on 8" floppy drive

From: Lawrence LeMay <lemay_at_cs.umn.edu>
Date: Wed Apr 14 19:58:18 1999

Hmm, perhaps wiring an external Terak floppy drive to a PC is a bit
more complicated than i thought.

I forgot that the Terak main unit controls the power switch on the
external drive somehow. Looking inside teh case, it looks like the
signal wires that correspond to "Step" have a special connection
in addition to going to the floppy drive. This must be what is
controlling the on/off switch, but i'm curious now as to how the
"Step" signal is supposed to work. Does anyone see how this might
be used to control the power?

And do you think i'm completely nuts to connect this thing to my
PC, ie, is it likely to burn out the motherboard ;) ... Ah well,
its not like it would be the first time i fried a computer.

-Lawrence LeMay
Received on Wed Apr 14 1999 - 19:58:18 BST