The next question is, do the older drives have a
filter on
them such that they would not output the index along with
the sector pulse?
The normal way to separate index form secotr pulses was to have a
non-retriggerable monostable that was triggered from the index sensor and
which had a period a little less than the time between sector holes. It
was triggered at the end of each hole. Normally it timed out after each
sector hole, but was still set when the index hole came after the last
sectore hole. The output of said monostabel sent the output of the index
hole sesnor to either the 'sector' line or the 'index' line.
What do you mean by 'older drives'? AFAIK no half-height 5.25" drive has
such a feature.
The drive I'm planning on using is an old Qume
drive with
a IBM lable on the front. It is a QUMETRAK 142. It is
IIRC that's the drive used in the PortablePC and PCjr. In which case I'll
have the schematics for it. Hang on...
The index sensor on that drive goes into a schmitt trigger circuit using
U16 f and U16c ('LS14). The output of that goes to U10c ('38) and thence
tiooe the interface connector. TP7 is the index testpoint.
There's no monostable, or filtering, or anytthing like that on this drive.
Some drives, particularly 3.5" ones, have an adjustable monostable in the
index circuit which lets you delay the index pulse. It's adjusted when
the drive is aloighed to give the correct timing between the index pulse
and the data ffrom the ehad -- twiddlign the pot is easier than moving
the index sensor. Such a circuit could msess up what you're trying to do,
but this IBM drive doesn't have anything like that.
good to work on because it is all descrete parts and
TTL ( some analog IC's as well ). Still, if they have a
filter on the index, I should be able to modify it.
I only see one pot in that area of the board and I suspect
that it is for the pulse witdh of the index.
I can find 2 pots on the schrmatic. R56 (connected ot U1, an LM2917),
sets the spidnle motor speed. R63, connectrd to U2 (MC3740) is the common
read-data balance adjustment.
-tony