DSQD Drives (Was: RE: Diags/Boot image for Altos 580)

From: Fred Cisin <cisin_at_xenosoft.com>
Date: Sun Mar 17 13:33:42 2002

On Sun, 17 Mar 2002, Douglas Quebbeman wrote:
> > IIRC the Floppy on an Altos 580 is DSQD.
> Am I correct that while different from standard
> DSDD, they are *not* GCR drives?

Correct. (although being or not being GCR is irrelevant to the DRIVE) The
Altos diskettes that I'm familiar with are MFM "double density" (similar
to a "360K"), but with a narrower track providing 80 tracks at 96 tpi.


> What other machines might carry these drives, [?]
try:
http://www.xenosoft.com/fmts.html#720K
that is NOT an exhaustive list, merely the ones that I implemented in
XenoCopy.

> can I
> hook one up to a standard PC controller in a box
> running DOS, [?]
YES.
You can do them with most 1.2M drives, with a few software complications.
But it IS easier if you hook up the right kind of drive, such as Teac 55F,
Tandon TM100-4, Mitsubishi 4853, Shugart/Matsushita/Panasonic/National
465. In which case, life is a little simpler if you lie to the CMOS and
say that they are 3.5" 720K.


> and then duplicate the disks?
Maybe,
but NOT by using DISKCOPY, nor anything else that comes from MICROS~1!
With some calls to INT13h in a loop,...
or there were numerous commercial packages. (MY favorite is obvious)

--
Fred Cisin                      cisin_at_xenosoft.com
XenoSoft                        http://www.xenosoft.com
PO Box 1236                     (510) 558-9366
Berkeley, CA 94701-1236
NOTE: My ISP is having difficulties.  If you have problems reaching me at
this e-mail address, you can leave a message at:
fcisin_at_merritt.edu
Received on Sun Mar 17 2002 - 13:33:42 GMT

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