FDCs -- was Re: TELEDISK Problem

From: Don Maslin <donm_at_cts.com>
Date: Sat May 12 23:07:20 2001

On Sun, 13 May 2001, Pete Turnbull wrote:

> On May 12, 14:14, ajp166 wrote:
>
> > What your havent tried is differnt controllers and different drives.
> >
> > I found an old 486 or 386 machine to be less troublesome and also
> > has fewer preconceived notions of the world. Also I ran dos not
> > windows(any version)!
> >
> > I was able to make Venix disks for my Pro many years ago and also
> > OS278 (also rx50). What I had to do however was to play with the
> > jumpers on a TEAC FD55GFV (the verseion with many jumpers)
> > to lock out the 1.2mb mode.
>
> Which leads me to think about a tangentially-related problem -- I recall
> that some FDCs insist upon the index mark at the start of the track, and
> some don't, but I can't remember which FDCs do/don't (I think WD 37C65 etc
> need it but NatSemi DP8473 and WD 1770/1772 don't care).
>
> Also, I recall that some FDCs are more likely to work with 8" drives than
> others, and some are more likely to work at single density than others (at
> least, some PC ISA controllers are unlikely to work at SD because the
> relevant components are not there). I want to set up a PC to use with 8"
> drives, including single density, mostly with 22DISK. I have a choice of
> 386/486/Pentium motherboards, and a selection of ISA controllers, with an
> assortment of 765, 8272, 37C65, and 8473 FDCs (I haven't checked, but I'm
> pretty sure I have at least one of each). What is most likely to work?

The 37C65 and 8473 chips are to be preferred, Pete.

                                                 - don



> --
> Pete Peter Turnbull
> Network Manager
> University of York
>
Received on Sat May 12 2001 - 23:07:20 BST