25 Nov
2006
25 Nov
'06
7:59 p.m.
A couple of questions pop up on this Northstar diskette discussion. First, was
the oersted rating the same for all of the N* Horizon (and Advantage?)
diskettes? And to expand it a bit, what about other hard sectored diskettes ...
Heathkit, Vector Graphic, etc. And what about the 8" floppies? My knowledge in
this area is nil and I don't recall ever having read anything.
Second, it seems to me that someone has already made a punch for modifying
soft-sectored floppies to hard sectors. As Tony says, it shouldn't be hard to
do. As such, would there be much of a demand for such punches?
On 25 Nov 2006 at 13:34, woodelf wrote:
Can't one make a punch template and punch out
the holes needed?
Ok you have to kill a few disks in the process for the sleave and
floppy part.
The envelope wouldn't matter--you can usually reuse those.
I suppose you could punch some diskettes, but soft-sectored diskettes
are still pretty easy to get.
Cheers,
Chuck 
25 Nov
25 Nov
8:44 p.m.
Marvin Johnston wrote:
A couple of questions pop up on this Northstar
diskette discussion. First, was
the oersted rating the same for all of the N* Horizon (and Advantage?)
diskettes? And to expand it a bit, what about other hard sectored diskettes ...
Heathkit, Vector Graphic, etc. And what about the 8" floppies? My knowledge in
this area is nil and I don't recall ever having read anything.
Second, it seems to me that someone has already made a punch for modifying
soft-sectored floppies to hard sectors. As Tony says, it shouldn't be hard to
do. As such, would there be much of a demand for such punches?
Here is a page showing a jig to make 10 sector 5.25" disks, by Heiko
Heinz, for his Wang 2200 PCS-II, although it would work for any computer
needing such disks:
http://www.homecomputermuseum-xanten.de/Homecomputer%20neu/Computers/Wang/W…
Here is the link to the rest of Heiko's pages:
http://www.homecomputermuseum-xanten.de/index.htm
26 Nov
26 Nov
7:01 p.m.
From: Jim Battle <frustum at pacbell.net>
---snip---
http://www.homecomputermuseum-xanten.de/Homecomputer%20neu/Computers/Wang/W…
Here is the link to the rest of Heiko's pages:
http://www.homecomputermuseum-xanten.de/index.htm
Hi
There is a problem with Heiko's and that is that you have to remove
the disk from the envelope. I created a jig that I use to punch holes
that I made from an old SA400 disk frame. It has the advantage that
one can punch the holes while still in the envelope.
I put some small aluminum blocks where the optical sensor and
LED used to be. I have detents on the flywheel that correspond
to the locations where the holes should be. I use the shank of
a #93 ( I think that is the right size ) bit as the punch. This
I sharpened such that it has two flukes, similar to what a paper
punch has.
To punch disk, I rotate the floppy to expose the index. I slide
the drill shank through one of the holes in the punch block
and the disk index hole. I rotate the flywheel to the detent
that corresponds to the index and close the disk door.
This clamps the disk on the spindle, and aligns the index.
I then rotate the flywheel and punch each hole as indicated
by the detents on the flywheel.
It is slow but on can create about one a minute this way.
I've checked the alignement of my detents by observing
on an oscilloscope. I've used these disk on both my H89 and
my Poly 8813. They work fine. I have a N* but haven't had time
to play with it.
I do have a machine that uses 32 hard sectored 8 inch disk.
I've not had the need to create more disk for it yet. I suspect
I could make a similar punch from an old disk drive frame.
Dwight
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7:19 p.m.
On 26 Nov 2006 at 16:01, dwight elvey wrote:
I put some small aluminum blocks where the optical
sensor and
LED used to be. I have detents on the flywheel that correspond
to the locations where the holes should be. I use the shank of
a #93 ( I think that is the right size ) bit as the punch. This
I sharpened such that it has two flukes, similar to what a paper
punch has.
Assuming one had a sharp enough bit, why wouldn't it be possible to
simply punch all the holes straight through the jacket without having
to do anything more than align the index hole in the cookie with the
index hole in the jacket? It might not look pretty, but what would
prevent it from working? Would there be still too much of a burr
left on the jacket that would interfere with the works?
Cheers,
Chuck
11:29 p.m.
Hi Chuck
I think it would work but many of the diskettes I have also have a
lining of a cloth like stuff. I have a hard time cutting just a single layer
with scissors.
One can get a piece of drill rod stock quite sharp. I use the shank of a
drill,
only because it was easy to get. The shanks are not as hard as the
drill part.
I do have one problem, even when just cutting the floppy disk against
the die, I still get a few hanging on by a little. Cutting through the
envelope might not provide enough support at the edges to get
a clean cut.
It is worth trying anyway. One might also try a high speed drill
instead of a punch or even a cutting LASER!
Ok, I'm getting a little carried away. Having all the holes cut at
once would improve the through put.
Dwight
From: "Chuck Guzis" <cclist at
sydex.com>
Reply-To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic
Posts"<cctalk at classiccmp.org>
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
<cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Subject: Re: Hard Sector Diskettes, was Re: Northstar Horizon
Date: Sun, 26 Nov 2006 16:19:38 -0800
On 26 Nov 2006 at 16:01, dwight elvey wrote:
_________________________________________________________________
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I put some small aluminum blocks where the
optical sensor and
LED used to be. I have detents on the flywheel that correspond
to the locations where the holes should be. I use the shank of
a #93 ( I think that is the right size ) bit as the punch. This
I sharpened such that it has two flukes, similar to what a paper
punch has.
Assuming one had a sharp enough bit, why wouldn't it be possible to
simply punch all the holes straight through the jacket without having
to do anything more than align the index hole in the cookie with the
index hole in the jacket? It might not look pretty, but what would
prevent it from working? Would there be still too much of a burr
left on the jacket that would interfere with the works?
Cheers,
Chuck
25 Nov
25 Nov
8:55 p.m.
Marvin Johnston wrote:
A couple of questions pop up on this Northstar diskette
discussion. First, was
the oersted rating the same for all of the N* Horizon (and Advantage?)
diskettes? A
I never had but a single type of floppy media for the single and double
density Northstar controllers.
I was lucky to have almost all Verbatim 10 sector disks and they worked
fine.
Unfortunately a lot of my 10 sector disks have apple stuff on them, as
at one time there
was a time you could get the hard sector diskettes a log cheaper than
the better soft
sector ones, and they worked fine. I don't have a working apple 2 with
a cpm card
to try to copy over to soft sector disks. Only thing I'd really keep is
the bios source
anyway.
As to using 10 sector 8" diskettes, why? I put both a northstar and a
tarbell in the
same box, which was a northstar. I could boot from either controller
depending on
which format I wanted to be the "A" drive, and modified the bios to have the
read / write code for both diskettes.
No need for any unusual work on the diskettes. 5 1/4" diskettes were all
northstar
cpm, and the 8" ones were standard IBM ones read and written by the tarbell
controller.
Jim
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5 comments
5 participants
participants (5)
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cclist＠sydex.com -
dkelvey＠hotmail.com -
frustum＠pacbell.net -
jwstephens＠msm.umr.edu -
marvin＠rain.org