Lubing Shugart 800,801's?

From: John Wilson <wilson_at_dbit.dbit.com>
Date: Fri Apr 14 16:57:59 2000

On Fri, Apr 14, 2000 at 07:09:27PM +0100, Tony Duell wrote:
> OK, maybe they are still made for special applications, but you sure
> can't get them in the local PC shop. And they're not exactly cheap.

It's a shame too, who *wouldn't* like faster floppies? And I really don't
understand why 2.88 MB floppies fizzled, they didn't even last long enough
for the prices to come down. Anyway, even the current models of Sony Mavica
digital cameras use double-speed 1.44 MB drives, but of course they'd never fit
a normal case (even if they had the 34-pin connectors inside, which I'm sure
they don't), and the cost to buy one as a replacement part is probably huge.

The folks who made my floppy duplicator machine claim they roll their own
double-head drives (i.e. can read/write/format both heads at the same time)
by just stealing the analog board off a second FD235 and sticking it onto
another drive. It would be a blast to give that a try, you'd need two FDCs
(or one of the expensive ones designed for duplication) and a fancy driver but
that would be fun to write, and it would be a neat way to double the speed.
It's so satisfying when you can find a way to beat excellent performance
out of lame hardware.

John Wilson
D Bit
Received on Fri Apr 14 2000 - 16:57:59 BST