30 Nov
2002
30 Nov
'02
10:51 a.m.
Background: HP was one of th early adapters of the Sony 3.5" floppy disk drive.
They were using it when nearly everyone else was still using 8 and 5 1/4" drives.
(for example: on the HP 110, 150, 120 and 125; their first two MS-DOS machines and their
only two CPM machines.)
Present: I've read in some of older HP manuals that some of the 3.5" floppy
disk did not open the shutter automaticly and the user was supposed to open it manually
before inserting the disk into the drive. IIRC that disk had the double headed arrow
symbol on them the same as on the top RH disk in your picture. I've never run across a
disk of that type so I don't know how the slot was constructed but I'm be willing
to bet that what you have is the same type disk. AFIK they're completely compatible
with the latter style 720k disks. I've used "normal" 720k disks in drives
that the manuals said could use the early disks and had no problems with them.
No idea why the old disk wouldn't work with Teledisk except that I still have not
been able to get Teledisk to work on any of my machines. It says that it worked and it
verifies the disk but then when I try to create a disk from the image file it says that
there is nothing there!?
Joe
At 04:58 PM 11/29/02 -0800, you wrote:
I was trying to teledisk an old Sony Microfloppy with
no success and then
noticed that the disk is different than the other early Sony microfloppies I
have. I have posted some images for illustration at
http://home.earthlink.net/~wmsmith/SonyMicroFloppies.jpg
The disk I couldn't teledisk is shown in the two top scans. Unlike the other
two disks it appears to be springless, has an oval opening, and lacks the angled
guide notch of the two later disks. When inserted into a Sony model OA-D34V-22
3 1/2 inch drive (the one that shipped with the Lisa 2 and original Mac) the
floppy will usually (but not always) insert all the way, but the shutter does
not open. This can be remedied by opening the shutter manually prior to
inserting the disk, in the position shown on the rightmost photo. It "notches"
into place and stays open due to the lack of a spring. The two-sided arrow on
the disk seems to suggest, at least to me, manual operation.
The next two scans down are of the "auto shutter" disk. This disk has a more
rectangular opening, the angled guide, and also a notch that locks the shutter
in place if the door is opened all the way. The shutter is then released by
pinching the edge of the disk, and the word "pinch" is engraved in the plastic.
The last scan is of a microfloppy for some Lisa 2 software, which appears to be
a further evolution in the design that corresponds to current disks. The
opening is rectangular, the guide is angled and the shutter is spring loaded and
will not stay open unless held.
So, my question is, does anyone know anything about this apparent design
evolution, and is there anything about the Sony springless design that would
prevent me from using Teledisk?
Thanks.
-W
