Omega-TI Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 That's about right for a flat-rate box, Omega. That thing is going to be too heavy to ship it any other way for a reasonable price. You're probably right. I wish I could justify it, but the main reason is to just to copy a couple of files from a 40 track image to an 80 track image. Ti99Dir chokes on some larger files, so I may have to look into another program that was mentioned to me. Right now though, I have my hands full just picking up the pieces from a couple of things that recently happened. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 Actually, I just looked at it again--$11 is about dead-on to ship that Wang case from Michigan to the East coast. $11.00 I could live with, $39.78 ... not so much. I have faith that someday I'll find an even smaller and perfect 3.5" case that might even match the P-Box. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 I know this issue from experience--shipping to the West coast from here is almost always cheaper with a flat-rate box. . .especially for compact, heavy objects! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
budz2355 Posted March 22, 2015 Author Share Posted March 22, 2015 http://www.connectworld.net/cgi-bin/cabled/L1160? http://www.ebay.com/itm/External-Power-Supply-12V-DC-4-Pin-Molex-Adapter-Cable-/360170366699?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item53dbd3a6eb Get these two things and you're good to go. You have to take the resistor pack out of the second drive and change the drive number setting from 0 to 1. If you're not sure about that, take a pic of the circuit board on the drive, post it here, and we'll tell you what to do. Gazoo Okay I bought the pin cable from the first link. Here's a nice enclosure normally used for SCSI drives (just remove one of the connectors from the back and thread your drive cable through). Not a bad price--and you can use it for a full-height or a pair of half-height drives. And the disk enclosure from this link. It looks like the disk enclosure might have power (?) so hopefully I just need the enclosure and the pin connector cable from Gazoo's first link? I think I paid $20 for the cable shipped and $35ish for the enclosure shipped which is WAY cheaper than the $160 link I thought I might have to buy so that is awesome! Hopefully when the stuff arrives I'll watch Owen's videos on how to hook up the drive. Possibly(?) in the future I can paint the enclosure to match the PEB box and at least slap some sort of TI graphic on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazoo Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 Okay I bought the pin cable from the first link. And the disk enclosure from this link. It looks like the disk enclosure might have power (?) so hopefully I just need the enclosure and the pin connector cable from Gazoo's first link? I think I paid $20 for the cable shipped and $35ish for the enclosure shipped which is WAY cheaper than the $160 link I thought I might have to buy so that is awesome! Hopefully when the stuff arrives I'll watch Owen's videos on how to hook up the drive. Possibly(?) in the future I can paint the enclosure to match the PEB box and at least slap some sort of TI graphic on it. You should also ask Ksarul about one of the 8-select dip switches. You'll need to change the drive select. Gazoo 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 Now << THIS >> looks promising... It comes with power supply and all the hardware to mount the drive of ones choice. I may look into this one in a month or two depending on how other things turn out. It would be just awesome though if I could find one as small as a 3.5" drive with the added length for the power supply. This one though could be used by quite a few different classic computer hobbyists on different platforms with different drive configurations quite easily. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ti99iuc Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 this is mine external floppy drive... i used the connector power cable out from the back of the PEB... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Schmitzi Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 (edited) OK, so one for the road /EDIT/ changed the pic against a smaller one Edited March 22, 2015 by schmitzi 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atrax27407 Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 I have two 3.5" half-height drives mounted in my PEB (I use a cable designed for two drives). Such cables are readily availabe for decent prices. I found an adapter (or three) that adapts the pin interfact on the drive to a ribbon cable-compatible flat connector. It also has a drive select switch right on the adapter. Those are connected to the internal connector on my BWG card (it will also work on other disk controllers). I have a standalone disk enclosure with two drives in it - 3.5" half-height and a 5.25" half-height. Since each of the drives has its own cable, I can switch between the two of them simply by plugging the appropriate cable into the external connector that sticks out the back of the PEB. That gives me compatibility with 5.25" disks ( I still have a bunch of them) or 3.5" disks as DSK3. You can probably get the adapters and cables for a few $$ on eBay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 SIDBLASTER card=BadAss Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
budz2355 Posted March 30, 2015 Author Share Posted March 30, 2015 (edited) Disk drives can be strange when it comes to numbering. Sometimes the drives can be numbered starting at zero instead of one--even though the disk identified as zero is actually drive one as far as the system is concerned. Other companies started with one and went up to four (as opposed to three for the ones that started with zero). The TI controller can only use the first three in any event--and each has to have the correct drive shorting blocks set to be the correct drive, with the last drive having the shunt pack left in--and removing it from the others. IIRC, the shunt pack was a set of 330 Ohm resistors in the form of a 14-pin IC. The shorting blocks on an original TI drive were also in the form of an IC, but there were little metal strips that either crossed to short two pins (or the wire was broken) to leave a pair of pins open. One or two additional lines were shorted IIRC (I'll have to take a look at one of my original spares). They are needed. All you should have to change is the ones that select the specific drive you want it to be (0-2 or 1-3 depending on brand). The correct pins are identified on the board. I usually just removed the IC thingie and replaced the wires I needed with some jumper wire, that way I could switch it around easily if I wanted to change it later. Can I say that I know about electronics? So I followed Owens video and pulled out this pack thing and cut all but the first two connections off with a wire cutter.... that's when I noticed the little notches in the middle so the third (shunt?) connection wasn't even on in the first place (doh!). That was on the first drive. So basically the first two connection are made on that drive. The second drive I pulled out the pack thing again (the thing in my hand in the picture, I'm sure it has a name sorry) and replaced it with 3 jumper wires (they are actually staples sorry). I am still getting both drives lighting up when I try to run DSK1. I hopefully just have the wires in the wrong spots? Maybe someone could help please? Thought I would EDIT to try to clarify: Drive 1: Original configuration was 1,2. After messing around still 1,2 (unless I accidentally broke the connections Drive 2: Original configuration was 1,2. After messing around 1,2,3. Both drives still light up. Edited March 30, 2015 by budz2355 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Schmitzi Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 (edited) Hi, what floppy-cable do you use ? Maybe it is twisted on some lines (like "new-style") ? Ralf /EDIT/ What happens if you connect each drive alone ? Does it normally run ? If your cable IS twisted, try this also to use the first connector (coming from controller, means the "untwisted") Another option of both LEDs=ON is that the (or one) connector is plugged in wrong way, upsidedown. (what normally is not possible because of the plug) Edited March 30, 2015 by schmitzi 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
budz2355 Posted March 30, 2015 Author Share Posted March 30, 2015 You should also ask Ksarul about one of the 8-select dip switches. You'll need to change the drive select. Gazoo Argh! I forgot to do this. Will my staples work for the time being? Any clue which "switches" I want turned on to get my first and second drives working indepently? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
budz2355 Posted March 30, 2015 Author Share Posted March 30, 2015 I have several THOUSAND dip switches from 4 to 10 position that I bought really cheap a few months ago. I paid less than 20 cents each for them. . .so anyone needing some should probably talk to me. Could I buy a couple of these from you sir? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 I'll go and dig a few of the six-position switches out for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Schmitzi Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 (edited) Hi, in my opinion, this 1-2 and 1-2-3 should work. Did you check the cables and drives alone as mentioned ? Can you run the 2nd drive with 1-2 (as 1st drive) configured to see that it runs ? /EDIT/ Did you check the config of the Termination Resistor Packs ? If I understand that right, only the drive at the end of the cable should have this pack (like SCSI-drives). Edited March 30, 2015 by schmitzi 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
budz2355 Posted March 30, 2015 Author Share Posted March 30, 2015 (edited) I'll go and dig a few of the six-position switches out for you. Awesome. Should I send you the money via paypal? Hi, in my opinion, this 1-2 and 1-2-3 should work. Did you check the cables and drives alone as mentioned ? Can you run the 2nd drive with 1-2 (as 1st drive) configured to see that it runs ? /EDIT/ Did you check the config of the Termination Resistor Packs ? If I understand that right, only the drive at the end of the cable should have this pack (like SCSI-drives). I have run the first drive alone and it works fine. I will test the second drive shortly as I just got home from work. I will also try to flip the cable around like you said. Right now I have red line cable on the bottom of the exposed pins of the controller card and the left or bottom of the second disk drive. I will test by flipping both ends and then flipping just one end and then flipping the other. I will do this test first. I am not sure what a termination resistor pack is? (sorry I know nothing about this stuff arg!) or how to check the configuration of it? Does that mean the little black rectangle in my hand? If so they were both set to 1,2 and 1,2, but now drive two is set to 1,2,3(shunt?) in. Also the cable I bought was the one gazoo linked to up above in this thread. It doesn't have the little separator in the middle of the plastic like my original cable, but it fits both exposed sets of pins (on both boards) like a glove. EDIT -- So... success! I tried moving the cable as I said above with no results (except when I but red on top one end and bottom the other end the TI did NOT like that So I figured I would just fiddle around with the jumper wires. I tried 1,2 and 2,3 with no success, but then tried 1,2 and 1,3 and BINGO! Both drives light up independently. Now I just need to test them both by running some disk programs. Once I get those awesome switch packs from Ksarul I can clean up those ugly staples. Also I plan on painting the enclosure a silver color and I already ordered a black TI logo vinyl decal from the internet so I will post a picture of it once it is looking good. For now I will just put the 'hood' back and do some further testing. Assuming that both drives work now (cross fingers) what commands can I do to copy a disk? Does anyone have a good source for 5.25" floppy disks? Both my drives are original full height (2.5"?) so I am assuming SD/SS disks are what I need? Thanks again everyone for their help. I could not have done any of this without the help. Edited March 30, 2015 by budz2355 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 OK, so one for the road /EDIT/ changed the pic against a smaller one I cannot believe I missed this post! I love it, where do I get me one of those? I like basic black. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Schmitzi Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 (edited) uih, hard to say. I got that one here years ago, with a complete collection. I think it originally was called "014350 Series 5 Drive with Mitsumi D359M3D" /EDIT for english / Edited March 30, 2015 by schmitzi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 uih, hard to say. I got that one here years ago, with a complete collection. I think it originally was called "014350 Series 5 Drive with Mitsumi D359M3D" /EDIT for english / Sorry, I meant to be more clear, "To hell with the drive... I want that case!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Schmitzi Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 So... success! I tried moving the cable as I said above with no results (except when I but red on top one end and bottom the other end the TI did NOT like that So I figured I would just fiddle around with the jumper wires. I tried 1,2 and 2,3 with no success, but then tried 1,2 and 1,3 and BINGO! Both drives light up independently. Now I just need to test them both by running some disk programs. uh yes sorry, I missed that 1 is something other, I saw it, but forget on my way back to screen, maybe Alzheimer 2 is DS1 3 is DS2 .... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Schmitzi Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 (edited) Sorry, I meant to be more clear, "To hell with the drive... I want that case!" oh sorry, in that case, I have no case but maybe he has: http://www.ebay.com/itm/200844234967 /EDIT/ for more colors and tries on repairing the link. oh AA makes me crazy Edited March 30, 2015 by schmitzi 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 Thanks Schmitzi, but $75.00 seems a little steep as all I want is a small case with power supply. I don't need the disk drive or that unit's unique connectivity, which is probably part of the price. I can wait if need be, besides I'm hoping to purchase something else for the TI shortly. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazoo Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 (edited) Thanks Schmitzi, but $75.00 seems a little steep as all I want is a small case with power supply. I don't need the disk drive or that unit's unique connectivity, which is probably part of the price. I can wait if need be, besides I'm hoping to purchase something else for the TI shortly. Look for an EZ135 drive on EBAY. Here's one for $35. Here's one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/SyQuest-EZ135-135-MB-External-SCSI-Tape-Drive-8982136-001-NO-ADAPTER-/251868794024?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3aa48ccca8 I bought one of these about a year ago and was able to dual-purpose it. My EZ135 drive in my Geneve tower case went bad so I used the drive in the one I purchased to replace that, and the case to hold a 3.5" drive in my 'stock' TI system. I double-sided-foam-taped it to the side of my pbox. Does the job. Gazoo Edited March 31, 2015 by Gazoo 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
budz2355 Posted March 31, 2015 Author Share Posted March 31, 2015 So I tested the drive and ran Tunnels of Doom. It took a little experimentation for me to type DSK2.QUEST but when I did it loaded! I did notice that when the firehose cable and the second drives power cable were close together there was some audible and even visual feedback on screen. When I moved things around a bit it seemed to go away, not that I can hear anything over TWO fans now anyway Also maybe the visual feedback was caused by my less than professional 'staple' job of wiring? At any rate the drive seems to work. Here is a picture of me using disk manager 2.0 to view the contents of my ToD disk (thanks to Chris Schneider again... you have created a monster..) So now that I have two drives what cool things can I do? Also of note... I was not able to run again disks requiring the 32K expansion in my PEB from DSK2. Is there a special command? I was able to load the game, but when I tried to run it DSK1 would engage and it would error out. here is what I was doing: OLD DSK2.LOAD RUN Thanks again for any/all help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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