On Thu, 8 Nov 2001, Chris wrote:
> >As far as I know, there is no procedure in the Disk ][ manual for aligning
> >a drive, and as far as I know, there is no reason for needing one.
>
> I don't know if it was alignment (I think it was speed), but I had a
> program that you would run, and you would adjust the drive via a small
> pot IIRC until the program said it was correct (again, I think it was
> speed).
That was a speed adjustment, and usually one used Copy ][+. There was
also a procedure documented in the Disk ][ manual for using a strobe light
(I think) against the striped pattern sticker affixed to the drive belt
disc inside the drive. When the bars look as if they're standing still
then the drive is at optimal speed.
> I DO know that as my Drive ][ drives got older, I found I had to do
> this operation more and more to keep them functioning (when it needed
> adjustment, it would just fail to read a disk).
I've only had one or two drives out of literally dozens that wouldn't hold
their rotation speed. In this case, there was something else wrong with
the drive that was beyond my troubleshooting skills so I'd mark the drive
as bad and not use it.
> I also used the Drive ][ primairly stacked next to my Apple ][+, with
> the monitor on top, or on a shelf just above (when I moved to a color
> TV with line in as a monitor, as it was just too heavy to safely place
> on top of the Apple). I never had problems (other than speed issues,
> or once a game wrote high scores to the disk despite being write
> protected).
You're write protect sensor broke off somehow. This happened to me once,
and occasionally I'll get a drive that has this problem. Relatively easy
to fix.
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
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International Man of Intrigue and Danger
http://www.vintage.org
Received on Sat Nov 10 2001 - 19:17:46 GMT