Easiest Way To Transfer Files To 5.25" Disks?

[Tempest]

I have an IBM PCjr that I'd love to transfer some games to, but the problem is that I need to get the games onto 5.25" disks that the jr can read first. What's the easiest way to do this? I've seen a few ways described:

 

1. NULL Modem transfer - Basically a serial cable transfer. Not the easiest way to do it, but it should work. There are two issues with this though. One, I don't have any terminal software on a 5.25" disk for the PCjr. Two, once I transfer the file I don't know how to write it to a disk (I think it transfers the file to a RAM disk IIRC).

 

2. Use a PC with a 5.25 drive - Probably the easiest way to do it, but I'd need a PC that had both a compatible 5.25 drive and either a 3.5 drive or a USB port. Computers with 5.25" drives are getting hard to find and the shipping on them is outrageous.

 

3. Zip Drive - They make ZIP drive drivers for the PCjr where the jr sees the ZIP drive as a large hard drive. The problem is I'd need the driver on a 5.25 disk to use it!

 

Any other suggestions?

 

Tempest

[+remowilliams]

One, I don't have any terminal software on a 5.25" disk for the PCjr.

Maybe you could serial transfer over a small term program to the PCjr and receive it using a com1: redirect or something?

[Bruce Tomlin]

If you had a Catweasel you could record a disk image into it. Other than that, you need a PC with a 360K drive. I recall that the PCjr uses a 180K (single-sided) drive, but it won't care if you format both sides.

[Tempest]

If you had a Catweasel you could record a disk image into it. Other than that, you need a PC with a 360K drive. I recall that the PCjr uses a 180K (single-sided) drive, but it won't care if you format both sides.

A PC with a 360K drive isn't a problem, there's an old IBM AT right here in my lab at work (that's sort of scary actually), but a PC with a 360K drive AND a 3.5" drive or USB port (or internet capabilities I suppose) is hard.

 

Tempest

[Cebus Capucinis]

Do you have the Eugene PCjr Club CD with all the software on it? Louie sent it to me a while back. If I can find it and you don't have it do you want a copy? For the record it may take me an incredibly long time to find it. I put my Jr back in the closet as I haven't been using it and I needed the desk for my A8 setup, but I'm sure it's in there somewhere with my newsletters.

[Seob]

Add a 5.25" drive to your pc. Think the current pc's still have a bios that supports the 5.25" drives.

[Tempest]

Do you have the Eugene PCjr Club CD with all the software on it? Louie sent it to me a while back. If I can find it and you don't have it do you want a copy? For the record it may take me an incredibly long time to find it. I put my Jr back in the closet as I haven't been using it and I needed the desk for my A8 setup, but I'm sure it's in there somewhere with my newsletters.

No I've never heard of that. Tell me more.

 

Tempest

[Cebus Capucinis]

I'll PM you about it, I don't know if they want a lot of publicity right now.

[Ze_ro]

Do none of your modern computers feature a regular floppy drive controller? Any Windows PC with a 3.5" drive should be capable of handling a 5.25" drive as well. If you're having trouble finding such a drive, check out thrift stores for old PC's that you can strip them from... they show up all the time around here.

 

You might have to boot into DOS in order to format such a low density disk though... I know I've had problems doing it in the past, even with 720k 3.5" disks.

 

--Zero

[Herbarius]

As far as I know every PC that supports 3.5" floppy drives will also support 5.25" drives, you just replace the cable with one that has the plugs for the 5.25" drive (inside the PC).

 

You could propably use both the cable and the drive from the PCjr.

 

Windows up to XP still supports the 5.25" drive, then Vista dropped the support.

Edited January 12, 2010 by Herbarius

[CGQuarterly]

 

3. Zip Drive - They make ZIP drive drivers for the PCjr where the jr sees the ZIP drive as a large hard drive. The problem is I'd need the driver on a 5.25 disk to use it!

 

Any other suggestions?

 

Tempest

 

If you send me the driver, I can put it onto a 5.25" disk and send it back to you. I have a DOS machine with a 5.25" drive in it so it's no problem.

 

PM me if you are interested.

 

Chris

[Tempest]

 

3. Zip Drive - They make ZIP drive drivers for the PCjr where the jr sees the ZIP drive as a large hard drive. The problem is I'd need the driver on a 5.25 disk to use it!

 

Any other suggestions?

 

Tempest

 

If you send me the driver, I can put it onto a 5.25" disk and send it back to you. I have a DOS machine with a 5.25" drive in it so it's no problem.

 

PM me if you are interested.

 

Chris

I'm starting to wonder if that's not the way to go. Maybe I should go look for an old PC with a 5.25" drive in it?

 

Turns out you have to pay for the driver (seriously?) so I'll have to try something else.

 

Tempest

[CGQuarterly]

 

3. Zip Drive - They make ZIP drive drivers for the PCjr where the jr sees the ZIP drive as a large hard drive. The problem is I'd need the driver on a 5.25 disk to use it!

 

Any other suggestions?

 

Tempest

 

If you send me the driver, I can put it onto a 5.25" disk and send it back to you. I have a DOS machine with a 5.25" drive in it so it's no problem.

 

PM me if you are interested.

 

Chris

I'm starting to wonder if that's not the way to go. Maybe I should go look for an old PC with a 5.25" drive in it?

 

Turns out you have to pay for the driver (seriously?) so I'll have to try something else.

 

Tempest

 

Well, that would let you play DOS games as well, so it isn't the worst idea in the world.

 

Chris

[Tempest]

Yeah but I have a fairly new motherboard with modern connectors. I don't think I can hook a 5.25 drive up to it anymore. What I really need is an old computer that can get on the net and that I can stick a 5.25" drive in. I might be able to find one somewhere around here locally.

 

Tempest

[Herbarius]

Yeah but I have a fairly new motherboard with modern connectors. I don't think I can hook a 5.25 drive up to it anymore.

 

Does it have a 34 pin connector labeled "FDD" like this one? It's often located near the IDE connectors and looks similar, although it's shorter (IDE has 40/39 pins)...

 

If it has this, then you can indeed hook up both 3.5" and 5.25" drives, if you have the appropiate cables, regardless of how "modern" the mainboard is.

 

Note that you can only connect up to two drives ("A" and "B"), even if the cable has 4 connectors (for 3.5" and 5.25" drives). Also there are other cables in existence, but usually you can look at the "Cable" twist to determine, which connectors are for the "A" and which are for the "B" drive (e.g. I've seen cables that only had a 3.5" connector for the "A" drive but both connectors for the "B" drive, so I guess there's all kinds of combinations in existence).

 

Of course, you could be right anyway, as many modern mainboards don't have any floppy drive support anymore - because with USB sticks, SD cards, etc. nobody uses diskettes anymore.

Edited January 15, 2010 by Herbarius