"Curt Vendel" <curt_at_atari-history.com> wrote:
(Re: Corvus floppy disk controllers)
> If you run across the schematic I would be willing to pay for any copying
> and postage, thanks again Frank.
Take a look at:
http://www.reanimators.org/tmp/corvus-fdc.d300.tiff
http://www.reanimators.org/tmp/corvus-fdc.d600.tiff
Both are TIFF class F group 4 scans, one is at 300 DPI, one is at 600
DPI. The "original" that I have is a crappy photocopy so, well, good
luck reading them. I'll talk to Al and see if he wants to adopt these
or point me to a better scan.
The 8" floppy controller also has a space on the board for a
34-pin connector, but it's not stuffed.
I got this controller and schematic from an advertisement in Computer
Shopper in the mid-to-late 1980s, offering an 8" floppy controller for
the Apple ][. Sadly, at the time I didn't have a WDC 1793 data sheet
so my efforts at programming the thing were frustrated and I got
distracted by other things.
Then there's the 5.25" floppy drive. I got that out too and had
a look at it.
The drive is a Corvus model FLP-5, Rev C, s/n 404-G1018-. It's a
metal upright case screwed together and to a half-height 5.25" floppy
drive, in this case a TEC FB504 (which is a double-sided "quad
density" 720KB drive, so I'm guessing 96 tracks per inch) strapped for
DS0 and with terminating resistor pack installed.
The 5.25" drive is connected to a different controller. The
silkscreen on the board calls it a "BUFFERED FLOPPY CONTROLLER", and
there's a handwritten part number, "8010-10149 REV A". It's laid out
differently and is clearly a different design: it's got a NEC D765AC
FDC, and also has a power connector through which the controller card
supplies power to the drive; the power cable and a 34-pin flat cable are
bundled together in a sort of plastic zip-lock wrapper.
I've no idea what this 5.25" drive was used with. Along about 1996
there were some cleanouts of cupboards and storage rooms at The
Wollongong Group (where I worked at the time), and there was this
drive and controller (which I got) and a Corvus hard disk (which I
didn't get). I didn't see a Concept there. I do know that several
folks came from Corvus to Wollongong in the mid-1980s (before I got
there) and guess that they brought this stuff with them.
-Frank McConnell
Received on Sun Nov 18 2001 - 21:55:33 GMT