23 Jul
2010
23 Jul
'10
7:29 p.m.
Last night I finally had time to assemble my Deviceside USB->5.25"
floppy interface. I decided to do it all slick-like and put the drive
in the shell of an old Sony USB CDRW. I have two examples of the TEAC
FD-55GFR drive laying around, which is the drive recommended on the
developer's site. I attached one to the ext drive carrier and
powered on. The drive head started seeking back and forth, not the
full travel of the disk, maybe 1/4 of it. It made a loud, steady
click and flashed the panel light of the bay, as if it was drawing too
much power from the little PSU. However, I went ahead and hooked it
up and read disks (DOS 1.2mb, AppleDOS and C64 1541) to images. I
haven't fully tested the images yet but they didn't error out during
the read. The DOS one was mountable in WinImage, the C64 one in CCS64
(don't have an Apple II em handy.)
Still bothered by the noise, I attached a Panasonic JU-475-4 drive
instead. It was quiet, no blinking light. I imaged the same disks
with that drive and that appeared to work fine, too.
Does anyone know the FD-55GFR well? It seems to have an auto-sense
mech of some kind, and one of the two I have has a spring-eject (the
other may have had it too but the spring is missing?) It seems likely
that it would click continuously, searching for a disk. Maybe this is
normal behavior for this drive and it seems loud because it's open?
It does the head-seek continuously whether there is a disk inserted or
not, lever-down or not. This seems bad to have happening on top of
the exposed disk surface. Or, again, maybe it's normal for this
drive?
The easy solution is go with the Panasonic and not worry about it.
But I'd like to stick to the developer's recommended drive unless I
can be sure the Panasonic is 100% compatible too.
-j
--
silent700.blogspot.com
Retrocomputing and collecting in the Chicago area:
http://chiclassiccomp.org
23 Jul
23 Jul
7:59 p.m.
On 7/23/10, Jason T <silent700 at gmail.com> wrote:
Last night I finally had time to assemble my
Deviceside USB->5.25"
floppy interface.... Does anyone know the FD-55GFR well?
Well enough to know it needs jumpers relocated when it's moved from a
PC controller to an RQDX3, but beyond that, my experience with
configuring it is limited.
You might find the following helpful:
Vendor datasheet:
http://www.teac.com/DSPD/pdf/5fd0050a.pdf
(http://www.classiccmp.org/pipermail/cctech/2003-October/020863.html
points to that)
Strapping for use with different products:
http://www.oldskool.org/disk2fdi/525HDMOD.htm
http://www.alphamicro.com/dss10/40200A03.pdf
-ethan
9:03 p.m.
Well, casually I was searching for one FD-55F (or FD55F, as you like) to use
in my old 286 to try to grab 5.25 diskettes at 720kb of capacity.
Actually are a couple in ebay, but the seller don't send them items out of
the US. He's very clear in this aspect in the text of the bid announce. And
I live in Europe :-(
I should like to purchase one but it's clear that should need one
intermediary.
Could someone help ? Contact off list, please.
Thanks
Sergio
2010/7/23 Jason T <silent700 at gmail.com>
Last night I finally had time to assemble my
Deviceside USB->5.25"
floppy interface. I decided to do it all slick-like and put the drive
in the shell of an old Sony USB CDRW. I have two examples of the TEAC
FD-55GFR drive laying around, which is the drive recommended on the
developer's site. I attached one to the ext drive carrier and
powered on. The drive head started seeking back and forth, not the
full travel of the disk, maybe 1/4 of it. It made a loud, steady
click and flashed the panel light of the bay, as if it was drawing too
much power from the little PSU. However, I went ahead and hooked it
up and read disks (DOS 1.2mb, AppleDOS and C64 1541) to images. I
haven't fully tested the images yet but they didn't error out during
the read. The DOS one was mountable in WinImage, the C64 one in CCS64
(don't have an Apple II em handy.)
Still bothered by the noise, I attached a Panasonic JU-475-4 drive
instead. It was quiet, no blinking light. I imaged the same disks
with that drive and that appeared to work fine, too.
Does anyone know the FD-55GFR well? It seems to have an auto-sense
mech of some kind, and one of the two I have has a spring-eject (the
other may have had it too but the spring is missing?) It seems likely
that it would click continuously, searching for a disk. Maybe this is
normal behavior for this drive and it seems loud because it's open?
It does the head-seek continuously whether there is a disk inserted or
not, lever-down or not. This seems bad to have happening on top of
the exposed disk surface. Or, again, maybe it's normal for this
drive?
The easy solution is go with the Panasonic and not worry about it.
But I'd like to stick to the developer's recommended drive unless I
can be sure the Panasonic is 100% compatible too.
-j
--
silent700.blogspot.com
Retrocomputing and collecting in the Chicago area:
http://chiclassiccomp.org
9:24 p.m.
On 23 Jul 2010 at 23:03, SPC wrote:
Well, casually I was searching for one FD-55F (or
FD55F, as you like)
to use in my old 286 to try to grab 5.25 diskettes at 720kb of
capacity.
One can simply rejumper an FD55GFR (at least the 7xxx series) to run
at 360RPM, then declare it to be a 720K drive in the BIOS setup.
Works just fine.
Alternatively, one can install the drive as a 1.2M and use a driver
to handle the 720K issue.
--Chuck
9:27 p.m.
On 23 Jul 2010 at 14:29, Jason T wrote:
Does anyone know the FD-55GFR well? It seems to have
an auto-sense
mech of some kind, and one of the two I have has a spring-eject (the
other may have had it too but the spring is missing?) It seems likely
that it would click continuously, searching for a disk. Maybe this is
normal behavior for this drive and it seems loud because it's open?
I've used them since they were first introduced--a good drive, by and
large. How is the +12 on your power supply? Does it sag or develop
ripple when the drive is attached?
--Chuck
9:45 p.m.
On Fri, Jul 23, 2010 at 4:27 PM, Chuck Guzis <cclist at sydex.com> wrote:
I've used them since they were first introduced--a
good drive, by and
large. ?How is the +12 on your power supply? ?Does it sag or develop
ripple when the drive is attached?
That was my suspicion when I saw the case's power light flashing on
and off in time with the drive click. That was confirmed just a
moment ago by hooking the drive to an old desktop PSU. No sag, no
click. Disk imaged fine. So I can leave everything hang out, go find
a beefier USB caddy somewhere, or go with the less power-hungry
Panasonic drive.
The Deviceside's creator, Adam Goldman, advices that if I can create
an image successfully with the Panasonic, it should be fine (ie if the
drive were incompatible it would croak during the process.) I'll do a
few more test images later and see for myself.
What was odd was that despite the clicking/fluctuations of the TEAC
drive, it imaged a disk just fine in that state. I can only guess
that it draws a lot of power on start-up, fails to get it from this
PSU, tries again and gets stuck in that loop. Addressing the drive
from the interface breaks it out temporarily. Either
way, probably a
good way to kill a drive in short order.
Given its features and the attentiveness of its developer, I can
tentatively endorse the Deviceside. It can't write disks, but for
that we await the Kryoflux...
-j
9:59 p.m.
On 23 Jul 2010 at 16:45, Jason T wrote:
Given its features and the attentiveness of its
developer, I can
tentatively endorse the Deviceside. It can't write disks, but for
that we await the Kryoflux...
Do you mean to say that it's *impossible* to write disks using the
Deviceside? Or just that code doesn't exist? Folks write disks
using the Catweasel all the time--I just finished writing some 8"
hard -sector copies.
--Chuck
11:05 p.m.
On Fri, Jul 23, 2010 at 4:59 PM, Chuck Guzis <cclist at sydex.com> wrote:
Do you mean to say that it's *impossible* to write
disks using the
Deviceside? ?Or just that code doesn't exist? ?Folks write disks
using the Catweasel all the time--I just finished writing some 8"
hard -sector copies.
According to the developer, the ability just isn't there. Now of
course the drive can still do it, being a plain old 5.25" drive. So
maybe it can be done at some point - but he said he has no plans to do
so.
The Kryoflux is also being planned as read-only, but their page says
the hardware has write capabilities and they plan to develop them
later.
j
24 Jul
24 Jul
midnight
Quoting Jason T <silent700 at gmail.com>:
On Fri, Jul 23, 2010 at 4:59 PM, Chuck Guzis
<cclist at sydex.com> wrote:
Actually, the Kryoflux is/was planned as read/write, it is just being released
as read-only :)
Do you mean to say that it's *impossible* to
write disks using the
Deviceside? ?Or just that code doesn't exist? ?Folks write disks
using the Catweasel all the time--I just finished writing some 8"
hard -sector copies.
According to the developer, the ability just isn't there. Now of
course the drive can still do it, being a plain old 5.25" drive. So
maybe it can be done at some point - but he said he has no plans to do
so.
The Kryoflux is also being planned as read-only, but their page says
the hardware has write capabilities and they plan to develop them
later.
j
6:11 p.m.
Last night I finally had time to assemble my Deviceside USB->5.25"
floppy interface. I decided to do it all slick-like and put the drive
in the shell of an old Sony USB CDRW. I have two examples of the TEAC
DO I take it that there is a PSU in this caee? It doens't try to draw all
the power form the USB port, does it?
FD-55GFR drive laying around, which is the drive
recommended on the
developer's site. I attached one to the ext drive carrier and
powered on. The drive head started seeking back and forth, not the
full travel of the disk, maybe 1/4 of it. It made a loud, steady
click and flashed the panel light of the bay, as if it was drawing too
much power from the little PSU. However, I went ahead and hooked it
up and read disks (DOS 1.2mb, AppleDOS and C64 1541) to images. I
haven't fully tested the images yet but they didn't error out during
the read. The DOS one was mountable in WinImage, the C64 one in CCS64
(don't have an Apple II em handy.)
Still bothered by the noise, I attached a Panasonic JU-475-4 drive
instead. It was quiet, no blinking light. I imaged the same disks
with that drive and that appeared to work fine, too.
Does anyone know the FD-55GFR well? It seems to have an auto-sense
Well enough tohave used them and repaired them. And I have the service
manual for at least one version...
mech of some kind, and one of the two I have has a
spring-eject (the
other may have had it too but the spring is missing?) It seems likely
that it would click continuously, searching for a disk. Maybe this is
normal behavior for this drive and it seems loud because it's open?
No, it shouldn't do that. If the heads are moving around then either the
controller is telling them to do that, or you have power problems.
This really does sound like a power problem (possibly the drive is drawing
more current than the PSU can supply). Have you tried conencting a
voltmeter bertween the 5V rail and ground? And between the 12V rail and
ground? You can find these power rains on the floppy drive power connecotr
of course (grounds on the middle 2 pins -- black wires most of the time,
one outside one (normally a read wire) is +5V, the other outside one
(normally yellow) is +12V
-tony
25 Jul
25 Jul
5:11 a.m.
On Sat, Jul 24, 2010 at 1:11 PM, Tony Duell <ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk> wrote:
DO I take it that there is a PSU in this caee? It
doens't try to draw all
the power form the USB port, does it?
Yes, a real 120v PSU, but a wimpy one, as I later proved. I went with
the less power-hungry Panasonic and so far all is well.
5:16 a.m.
Doesn't the TEAC have a fairly beefy head load solenoid?
On 7/24/10 10:11 PM, "Jason T" <silent700 at gmail.com> wrote:
On Sat, Jul 24, 2010 at 1:11 PM, Tony Duell <ard at
p850ug1.demon.co.uk> wrote:
DO I take it that there is a PSU in this caee? It
doens't try to draw all
the power form the USB port, does it?
Yes, a real 120v PSU, but a wimpy one, as I later proved. I went with
the less power-hungry Panasonic and so far all is well.
7:21 a.m.
On Sun, Jul 25, 2010 at 12:47 AM, Chuck Guzis <cclist at sydex.com> wrote:
On 24 Jul 2010 at 22:16, Geoffrey Reed wrote:
It was available as an option, as was a door lock. ?The ones marketed
for PeeCee use do not have either.
Yeah, I have no idea the source of the two examples I have, but they
live on in my stash for another day.
12:15 p.m.
On Sat, 24 Jul 2010, Chuck Guzis wrote:
On 24 Jul 2010 at 22:16, Geoffrey Reed wrote:
The Matsushita YD series drives do have a head-load solenoid and were very
common in ATs. I grab these whenever I find them.
BTW, does anyone have the jumpering specs for a YD-580?
Steve
--
Doesn't the TEAC have a fairly beefy head
load solenoid?
It was available as an option, as was a door lock. The ones marketed
for PeeCee use do not have either. 
4:56 p.m.
> Doesn't the TEAC have a fairly beefy head
load solenoid?
On Sat, 24 Jul 2010, Chuck Guzis wrote:
It was available as an option, as was a door lock.
The ones marketed
for PeeCee use do not have either.
I wondered why the 55F's mostly had them, but most of the 55B's didn't.
"on the 96tpi drives, not on the 48tpi ones"
It didn't seem like loading and unloading the head was likely to improve
the radial alignment!
THESE DAYS, we're looking at used, or maye NOS, so we're shopping by model
number, and the original intended market is meaningless.
If I find a 55GFR, I have no idea what market it was marketed for.
I never bothered to measure, but the 465's did seem to use less power.
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin at xenosoft.com
7:25 p.m.
On 25 Jul 2010 at 9:56, Fred Cisin wrote:
THESE DAYS, we're looking at used, or maye NOS, so
we're shopping by
model number, and the original intended market is meaningless. If I
find a 55GFR, I have no idea what market it was marketed for.
...and Teac drives can vary wildly with respect to jumpers and
circuitry. Most of the 55GFRs that I see nowadays are -7xxx models.
--Chuck
7:40 p.m.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Chuck Guzis" <cclist at sydex.com>
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
<cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Sent: Sunday, July 25, 2010 3:25 PM
Subject: Re: TEAC FD-55GFR and Deviceside
On 25 Jul 2010 at 9:56, Fred Cisin wrote:
Are you guys looking for a specific submodel? I am pretty sure I have a
bunch of 55GFRs on the shelf.
THESE DAYS, we're looking at used, or maye
NOS, so we're shopping by
model number, and the original intended market is meaningless. If I
find a 55GFR, I have no idea what market it was marketed for.
...and Teac drives can vary wildly with respect to jumpers and
circuitry. Most of the 55GFRs that I see nowadays are -7xxx models.
--Chuck
7:54 p.m.
On 25 Jul 2010 at 9:56, Fred Cisin wrote:
THESE DAYS, we're looking at used, or maye NOS, so
we're shopping by
model number, and the original intended market is meaningless. If I
find a 55GFR, I have no idea what market it was marketed for.
Really? The last pair of FD55GFRs that I picked up a couple of
months ago at the local recycling store were still in retail
packaging, where it says "High density 1.2MB internal floppy drive
for IBM PC/AT and compatible computers." Set me back $5 the each.
Seems pretty clear what the intended market was to me! BTW, the box
identifies it only as an "FD-55"; no "GFR", but it's a 7000-series
GFR all jumpered to drop right into a 5170 or clone.
--Chuck
5:37 p.m.
If memory serves, the FD-55GFR is required if you're going to be imaging
"flippy" disks with the Deviceside.
g.
--
Proud owner of F-15C 80-0007
http://www.f15sim.com - The only one of its kind.
http://www.simpits.org/geneb - The Me-109F/X Project
ScarletDME - The red hot Data Management Environment
A Multi-Value database for the masses, not the classes.
http://www.scarletdme.org - Get it _today_!
10:49 p.m.
On Sun, Jul 25, 2010 at 12:37 PM, Gene Buckle <geneb at deltasoft.com> wrote:
If memory serves, the FD-55GFR is required if
you're going to be imaging
"flippy" disks with the Deviceside.
Hmm, I would like to be able to do that (most C64 disks I had/come
across were notched and written on both sides.) I thought his site
said the DS didn't support the non-index-holed side at all, regardless
of drive. Could be wrong.
11:17 p.m.
On Sun, Jul 25, 2010 at 12:37 PM, Gene Buckle
<geneb at deltasoft.com> wrote:
> If memory serves, the FD-55GFR is required if you're going to be imaging
> "flippy" disks with the Deviceside.
On Sun, 25 Jul 2010, Jason T wrote:
Hmm, I would like to be able to do that (most C64
disks I had/come
across were notched and written on both sides.) I thought his site
said the DS didn't support the non-index-holed side at all, regardless
of drive. Could be wrong.
In addition to the controller wanting an index pulse, some Teac 55 drives
will insist that the drive is not ready, if they don't see an index pulse.
5270
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22 comments
10 participants
participants (10)
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ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk -
cclist＠sydex.com -
cisin＠xenosoft.com -
ethan.dicks＠gmail.com -
geneb＠deltasoft.com -
geoffr＠zipcon.net -
silent700＠gmail.com -
snhirsch＠gmail.com -
spedraja＠ono.com -
teoz＠neo.rr.com