8 Oct
2005
8 Oct
'05
7:41 p.m.
On Sat, 8 Oct 2005, Jim Leonard wrote:
What are my options? Is the floppy drive in a PCjr as
goofy/proprietary as the
rest of the machine?
The drive is NOT proprietary.
One of the drives that IBM used a lot in them was the Qumetrak 142.
That is the third worst drive I've dealt with.
If so, should I even attempt to repair it?
If it is anything other than the Qumetrak 142.
Another related question: When I was first getting
started with personal
computers 25 years ago, I seem to recall that track alignment was a common
problem and could be fixed by using a calibration diskette and special software
that you could monitor as you turned the alignment screw. Without one of those
factory calibration diskettes, is it even possible to align/calibrate a floppy
drive for track alignment?
Nowhere near as well as you can with a scope and an analog alignment
diskette.
With the digital alignement disk (scopeless), you can do a marginally
adequate job.
With a scope and a diskette that is known to be in alignment (KNOWN TO BE
IN ALIGNMENT, NOT just "from a working machine), you can get the alignment
close enough to work.