budz2355 Posted January 2, 2016 Share Posted January 2, 2016 (edited) So Rasmus made this amazing Mario game ... I get home from holidays at the in-laws and jump on AA and see that ...argh it is 180K. I have two 5.25" original full height floppy disk drives hooked up to a TI disk controller card in my PEB as DSK1 and DSK2. Both have a capacity of 360 or 90K, which has always been fine for me since I like the...errrr... 'challenge' of using original hardware sometimes. However... I did finally upgrade to the F18A when I just couldn't stand not having all the cool new stuff a year or less ago.. This begs the question: I have heard there is a way to modify the disk controller card so that my drives could be DSSD instead of SSSD or maybe it is SSDD(?), either way so they are 720 / 180K ? Second question: I have ZERO soldering skills (thank you Mathew Haggerty for the socketed f18a!), I do not even own a soldering iron. Is there an upstanding citizen who might be possibly willing to do this mod for me? I would pay for all of the shipping, parts, etc. of course. Maybe Fritz or Arcadeshopper? Shift838? Other fine people? I have an extra disk controller card so I could just send that without having to pull apart my current system. I could be totally wrong and this mod might not exist? Or maybe I don't have to solder to do it? Or maybe there is a card already available that I just need to buy somewhere? Thanks in advance for any help/direction! <EDIT -- ARGH how about 5.25"> Edited January 2, 2016 by budz2355 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted January 2, 2016 Share Posted January 2, 2016 First things first on the Disk Controller: the only thing you need to do to switch your 90K drive out (it is a SSDD drive, with either 180K or 90K depending on formatting density). By replacing it with one (or better, two) half-height 5.25 drives that are double sided (the TEAC FD-55B is really good here, stay away from Qume in any form), which would then up your drive capacity to 180K per drive (the drives are 360K each in double density, but since your controller is single density, you only get half that). That is what you can do without making any hardware modifications. There is a modification to allow your TI controller to format 80-track drives (720K in double density, 360K in single density) to 360K, since the controller is single density. This requires a new set of DSR EPROMs (and a couple of minor changes to the card? not sure there, as I've never done that to one of my TI controllers). This also requires that you have some 720K drives (TEAC FD-55F drives work good as 5.25 drives, or you can use 720K 3.5 inch drives). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted January 2, 2016 Share Posted January 2, 2016 I'll pile on here... I have a short blog entry about this modification that also has a link to a great post with photos from sjt. << JUST CLICK HERE >> 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
budz2355 Posted January 2, 2016 Author Share Posted January 2, 2016 First things first on the Disk Controller: the only thing you need to do to switch your 90K drive out (it is a SSDD drive, with either 180K or 90K depending on formatting density). By replacing it with one (or better, two) half-height 5.25 drives that are double sided (the TEAC FD-55B is really good here, stay away from Qume in any form), which would then up your drive capacity to 180K per drive (the drives are 360K each in double density, but since your controller is single density, you only get half that). That is what you can do without making any hardware modifications. There is a modification to allow your TI controller to format 80-track drives (720K in double density, 360K in single density) to 360K, since the controller is single density. This requires a new set of DSR EPROMs (and a couple of minor changes to the card? not sure there, as I've never done that to one of my TI controllers). This also requires that you have some 720K drives (TEAC FD-55F drives work good as 5.25 drives, or you can use 720K 3.5 inch drives). Will this work? http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-TEAC-5-25-Internal-Floppy-Disk-Drive-FD-55f-03-U-/301836836695?hash=item4646e09f57:g:yTcAAOSwSHZWhASq Looks like it has the right edge connector on the back and the 4 pin molex connector? I do see a 55B but it is like 8X as much with shipping :\ I would need to do the DSR mod to use the drive in this link correct? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted January 2, 2016 Share Posted January 2, 2016 You are correct about the drive in this link--you'd need the 80-track mod. But note, that is only changing out the DSR ROMS, something that requires no more than a screwdriver and a steady hand. This drive would only work in 80-track mode (I have several of them connected to my machines, using Myarc DD controllers). If you keep an eye out for 360K drives, almost any brand will work--and even the Qume's will work if you have them in an external case, just don't try to put two Qume's in a PEB, as that will work poorly or not at all. Qume's suck up too much power. I saw a pair of "as is" full height 360K drives pulled out of a Compaq on eBay tonight for $25 plus shipping, but then you are taking a chance that they are good drives. . .drives from a Radio Shack TRS-80 work fine too, although they are generally full height. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fritz442 Posted January 2, 2016 Share Posted January 2, 2016 Hey Budz, once you get your drives straight(upgraded), I'll help on the card upgrade if you want, although you'll have 180k already. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shift838 Posted January 2, 2016 Share Posted January 2, 2016 it's alot cheaper to go with 2 3.5 drives ( i use 1.44 drives - they format fine for DS/SD or DS/DD). Then hook up the internal DSK1 that is already there as DSK3. will have to jumper correctly though. this way you can have your backwards compatibility. The 3.5 diskettes are still easy to come by and cheap. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
budz2355 Posted January 3, 2016 Author Share Posted January 3, 2016 Hey Budz, once you get your drives straight(upgraded), I'll help on the card upgrade if you want, although you'll have 180k already. Awesome thank you sir! I purchased a TEAC FD-55B on Jim's recommendation and so that will be coming in the mail soon! Hopefully I can find another one for a reasonable price or maybe I will get a 3.5" half height drive like Chris recommended. When it comes time to upgrade to 360K I will definitely ask for your assistance Thanks everyone for the help so far. This AA TI-99/4a forums group is just such an invaluable resource to the community. Such awesome people!!! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 This AA TI-99/4a forums group is just such an invaluable resource to the community. Such awesome people!!! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 Awesome thank you sir! ... or maybe I will get a 3.5" half height drive like Chris recommended. I can vouch for the Teac FD 235HF. They work great in either 40 or 80 track format. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atrax27407 Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 Actually, there are 6 different configurations for the 80-trk mod. In addition, I have the code to change the head step time from 20ms to 12ms in any of the configurations. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
budz2355 Posted January 4, 2016 Author Share Posted January 4, 2016 Actually, there are 6 different configurations for the 80-trk mod. In addition, I have the code to change the head step time from 20ms to 12ms in any of the configurations. Awesome! I just ordered the disk drive that omega linked too also so I am sure I will need some help once it all arrives Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shift838 Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 for the floppy cable with the 3.5 since most of them do not have drive selector switches. a straight cable the 3.5 drive will be recognized as DSK2. If you want to customize a cable, it's fairly easy. see HERE 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Schmitzi Posted January 5, 2016 Share Posted January 5, 2016 Yeah, and I have some 3.5"-drives which have jumpers as usual Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shift838 Posted January 6, 2016 Share Posted January 6, 2016 my drives did not have jumpers for my 3.5's. I had a few buddies going to 3.5 drives on their systems as well and finding the 3.5 drives with jumpers was proving very difficult. So I made a circuit that allows me to use straight cables to a PCB with my circuit and allows me to choose the drive line (1 to 4). the PCB controls up to 2 drives each. (hand made pcb). Works good though. If I ever had good interest I would put an order in. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atrax27407 Posted January 6, 2016 Share Posted January 6, 2016 There are adapters ( I use a couple of them) that concert the pin-type header on a 3.5" drive to an edge-type connector that matches the drive cable. Some of them even have a switch that allows the user to change the drive select from DSK0 to DSK1 (i.e., DSK1 or DSK2). You could probably find them on eBay. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
budz2355 Posted January 9, 2016 Author Share Posted January 9, 2016 Okay so my two disk drives came in the mail. Unfortunately I didn't realize that the 3.5" drive does not have as wide of a form factor as the 5.25". They are both half height drives, but there would be a gap if I stacked them on top of each other. For now I think I will just try out the 5.25" drive and see if I can get it to work! .....more to come! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shift838 Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 (edited) Okay so my two disk drives came in the mail. Unfortunately I didn't realize that the 3.5" drive does not have as wide of a form factor as the 5.25". They are both half height drives, but there would be a gap if I stacked them on top of each other. For now I think I will just try out the 5.25" drive and see if I can get it to work! .....more to come! There are 5.25 to 3.5 drive bay converters you can get for cheap. I think i paid around 4 or 5 dollars each for mine. HERE Edited January 9, 2016 by Cschneider 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 ... I didn't realize that the 3.5" drive does not have as wide of a form factor as the 5.25". You might also consider reading this thread started by Wyerd. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
budz2355 Posted January 9, 2016 Author Share Posted January 9, 2016 So I bought this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/361454984660?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT it's a Vintage Teac FD-55B 5.25" Floppy Drive Black I just hooked it up with the cable where my disk 2 was (with separate power supply and everything). Made sure the edge connector cable is in the right direction. Went into disk manager, catalog disk 2, Error 16. Help? Red light comes on like disk is reading. Also strangely when I run DSK1 it seems like I hear DSK2 running, but the red light doesn't come on. Is there a jumper that I am missing? I see a little socket on the bottom side with a TI logo, but the normal jumper packs I got from Jim don't fit (and they fit perfectly in my original drives) Any ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
budz2355 Posted January 9, 2016 Author Share Posted January 9, 2016 So I bought this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/361454984660?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT it's a Vintage Teac FD-55B 5.25" Floppy Drive Black I just hooked it up with the cable where my disk 2 was (with separate power supply and everything). Made sure the edge connector cable is in the right direction. Went into disk manager, catalog disk 2, Error 16. Help? Red light comes on like disk is reading. Also strangely when I run DSK1 it seems like I hear DSK2 running, but the red light doesn't come on. Is there a jumper that I am missing? I see a little socket on the bottom side with a TI logo, but the normal jumper packs I got from Jim don't fit (and they fit perfectly in my original drives) Any ideas? Quick update... I tried a diskette with the notch on the side covered (copy protection?) and it worked? ...It read the catalog of the diskette out on screen. Then I tried another diskette with the notch covered and it said diskette not initialized (but I know there are files on it) ..? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 Any ideas? << CLICK HERE >> then page down to page 15 of the PDF also listed as 112. You'll probably need to unsolder the teeny tiny little jumper and move it, 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
budz2355 Posted January 9, 2016 Author Share Posted January 9, 2016 Quick update... I tried a diskette with the notch on the side covered (copy protection?) and it worked? ...It read the catalog of the diskette out on screen. Then I tried another diskette with the notch covered and it said diskette not initialized (but I know there are files on it) ..? Sorry for all the dumb updates.. So I must need to be using Double sided disks or something? Or maybe double density? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 (edited) Oh yeah. 1.44's don't work all that well. << GET 720K's >> Ignore this post, I had a brain fart. Edited January 9, 2016 by --- Ω --- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
budz2355 Posted January 9, 2016 Author Share Posted January 9, 2016 << CLICK HERE >> then page down to page 15 of the PDF also listed as 112. You'll probably need to unsolder the teeny tiny little jumper and move it, ....I cant figure out what this means. Screw it, I am buying a different drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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