27 Feb
2002
27 Feb
'02
11:08 p.m.
At 03:56 PM 2/27/02 -0800, Dave wrote:
Wow, thanks for all the good ideas, and there's
probably more to come!
I like the idea of getting a controller that will handle four drives.
One of my 486 boards requires an ISA controller card, and the other,
I think, lets you disable the onboard floppy controller, if necessary.
As Russ pointed out, there still is one available at JDR. (I'll also
check the bins at RE-PC.) Is the Compaticard IV available anywhere?
Yes, they turn up on e-bay occasionallly. I frequently find them in
surplus stores. I go to one store in particular that rips apart PCs and
puts all the cards out on the shelves without sorting through them. I've
found several Compaticards there. The other thing that I do is to ALLWAYS
look at the backs of all the PCs that show up in the scrap places that I
visit and look for unusual connectors. I've found lots of intersting cards
that way including a $30,000+ GPS reciever card.
It looks like the neatest solution, especially if I can
hook 8" external
drives to it, too.
I think it's the best way especially if you want to play with unusual
formats. You can get the optional Uniform software that the manufacturer of
Compaticard sold (sells?) and it will let you read all kinds of odd formats.
Speaking of odd cards, a few days ago I spotted a strange one. It's a
full length PC card with a long cable coming out of the back. The other end
of the cable splits out into three pigtails, two have RCA plugs and the
other had a BNC connector. The card was made by Video Logic in the UK and I
think it was a model DVA 4000. Is anyone familar with it?
Joe