31 Dec
2010
31 Dec
'10
5:46 a.m.
CC-d to the DiscFerret mailing list from cctalk to keep this in the
archives...
On 31/12/10 11:12, David Griffith wrote:
This led me to some more questions:
1) Can the Discferret handle flippies?
Shouldn't be a problem. Just read the disc on one side, flip it and read
the other side.
2) Can I daisychain two drives to a single Discferret?
You can go as far as 16 drives with a buffer board and a decoder. Well,
at least you can *in theory*.
Without the decoder board, using a straight-wired cable, you can chain
two partially-decoded (DS0/DS1 jumperable) drives. With enough
connectors on the cable and fully-decoded drives (DS0/1/2/3), you can go
as far as four drives, though this hasn't been tested. Obviously because
some of the lines are shared between drives, only one drive may be
active (reading or writing data) at a time, though you can have all the
motors spinning if your power supply can handle it.
3) How much more work would it be to make a Discferret
talk to an 8-inch
drive?
Minimal. Get a 34-way to 50-way cable (standard 8in disc drive cable)
and crimp on a 40-way IDC connector using a bench vice. The first 34
pins of the DiscFerret I/O connector are a standard Shugart interface;
the other six add a 5V output and a 5VTTL four-wire High Speed I/O port
for expansion.
--
Phil.
classiccmp at philpem.me.uk
http://www.philpem.me.uk/