Replacing 8" drive with 3.5" drive on CP/M systems

From: Fred Cisin <cisin_at_xenosoft.com>
Date: Mon Feb 7 15:18:16 2005

On Sun, 6 Feb 2005, Herb Johnson wrote:
> Another post said the Epson PX-8 had an external 3.5" drive. I checked
> the Web, that drive is apparently using DSDD media. But it may be one of
> a small number of 3.5" formats for CP/M that are worth considering as
> "standard" I suppose. Better a known standard than a new, unknown one.

NO. NO. NO.
A very good idea IN PRINCIPLE, except,...
The Epson Geneva PX-8 disks that I have seen used a
67.5 tpi 3.5" drive (40 tracks per side).
THOSE drives are VERY hard to find.
I have ONE of them. I doubt that there is ANYBODY on this list, other
than those who have a PX-8 who own a compatible drive.

"Normal" 3.5" drives, whether "720K" or "1.4M", are 135 tpi.
YES, you could "double-track" it, and introduce track width problems.

But, to use that otherwise good idea, consider other 3.5" CP/M formats
that use a "NORMAL" drive.
Received on Mon Feb 07 2005 - 15:18:16 GMT

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