Amiga.org
Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: on March 25, 2003, 07:39:42 PM
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I now have a 5.25" disk drive for amiga and some blank or used 5.25" DD disks. The drive has a 80-40 switch on the back and I guess this switches between single and double side/density mode, right? I can't use or format any of the disks no matter which amigaos version I try. Are there any important points I need to know about using a 5.25" disk drive with Amigas? The drive is displayed as 880k under AmigaOs but I'm not sure i this is the right size yet I don't know how to modify it.
Any help is required and appreciated. Thanks.
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What model drive? It is a commodore made Amiga floppy drive right? What model number?
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The A1020 is a 460K drive. I'll clip the mount from my mountlist once I get home to my Amiga and post it. Unless someone else posts it first.
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The drive looks quite generic. There's nothing written on any side of the case, which is totally metal, and quite slim. I suspect the disk drive connector is hand soldered as well. I got it second hand today.
Do I have to mount this manually then? I can't simply "mount df1:" can I? :-D
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Hmmmmm
Back than (1991) I had a 5,25 from Robotron on my miggy, which
used 880k-formated DD-disks.
Not much use for that other than getting my Fish-Disk for
DM 1.20 instead of DM 2.50 ;-)
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Are u stupid, there has never been a 5.25" disk made for the Amiga... sorry about calling you stupid.
If it has commodore on it it will be a Commodore 64 diskdrive which is not for the Amiga.
5.25" drives never make 880K so what planet is everyone one!!!!
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http://www.zimmers.net/cbmpics/damigas2.html (http://www.zimmers.net/cbmpics/damigas2.html)
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@erol
Not true on either count. Commodore did make 5.25 drives for the Amiga, (the guy above me has the link).
Also, Commodore also made some 5.25 drives that could store a whole megabyte or more back in the PET days before my time.
Clark
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Also, Commodore also made some 5.25 drives that could store a whole megabyte or more back in the PET days before my time
Indeed - that would be the C= 1001 drive.
I ran a BBS off a Comodore 64 using 2 of these back in the early 80's.
You needed an ieee parallel interface plugged into the cart. port to run it :)
I remember 'upgrading' the bbs to a 5meg Pet HD -- The thing looked like a metal shoe box with a single led blinking on the front of it..
I still remember the oooohs and aaaaaaah's of my buds.
Cheers.
Siggy.
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Erol right? If it's your real name and if you're living in London you must be from Northern Cyprus. I'm from Turkey and the least thing I were expecting to see is some convert ruining this thread.
I'm seriously looking for information on how to read, or even format disks with this device. :-?
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@erol-
There were, indeed 5.25" floppy drives for the Amiga... I don't remember the specifics, but I remember seeing one in a 2000, and there was also an external model planned (and built?) for the Amiga 500/1000, even. What do you think the command
c:diskchange is for??? 3.5" floppies auto-sense a disk swap, you know...
@burseg-
That said, what makes you think its an Amiga device? I've also seen Amigas fitted with 5.25" floppies for emulators only. (The A2000 286 bridgeboard was sold with a 5.25 in most stores, even, IIRC)
If it IS an Amiga device, there should be a sample in your 1.2 or 1.3 workbench disk in devs/mountlist for how to mount a 5.25 floppy. It is as simple as a mount df1, the only thing is, you have to specify what df1 is in your mountlist. ;-)
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I remember 'upgrading' the bbs to a 5meg Pet HD -- The thing looked like a metal shoe box with a single led blinking on the front of it..
I remember when I first saw CMD's 10MB harddisk for the C64. I wanted one of those *SO* bad. But, my mother wasn't willing to shell out the dough and my allowance would never cover it. So, I made do with my 1541-II. It wasn't until I had had my A500 for 3 years that I managed to get finally get a harddrive. I gave all my 8-bit C= stuff away when I graduated high school. I've been kicking myself ever since. :-(
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It is an Amiga device because:
-It connects to the amiga's disk drive port and has an output for more disk drives
-It was bought from someone who did use it with an Amiga
-It is displayed as DF1 under 1.3 and 3.1 and can be ordered to format disks, alas it fails in the end with a "device error"
I'll check the mountlist thingy
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@Ilwrath wrote:
@erol-
There were, indeed 5.25" floppy drives for the Amiga... I don't remember the specifics, but I remember seeing one in a 2000, and there was also an external model planned (and built?) for the Amiga 500/1000, even. What do you think the command
c:diskchange is for??? 3.5" floppies auto-sense a disk swap, you know...
The 5.25" drives for the A2000 were all PC drives. C= in their wisdom actually made an A1020 drive for the A1000 (I have one here) and it's the thing that needs the "C:DiskChange" command. A mountlist isn't needed if the media itself is formatted to the Amiga OFS (or FFS now that I think about it) standard.
There were even a few third-party 5.25" drives manufatured, and every one I've ever seen does exactly as the C= unit did.
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This wont help you much, but I have an unmarked 3rd party 5.25" Amiga floppy drive. It holds 880kB on a double sided disk.
Diskchange cmd is needed, afair, because a 5.25" drive wont be able to tell whether it has a disk or not.
I never had to use a specific mountlist or anything, it just worked =)
Another thing. It won't work as anything but DF2:. Im sure there's a switch somewhere, but I never found it.
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5.25" floppies/drives are/were available in sizes up to 1.2MB.
I believe thats what IBM PC/AT came with as standard.
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God! I am surprised!
Whats the point in having a 5.25 inch drive for the Amiga??
obviously i take back what i say! : )
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@Burseg
Sorry!
And you part correct about where my names from.
Email me if you want details.
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Whats the point in having a 5.25 inch drive for the Amiga??
Waay back when dinasaurs romed the earth in the mid 1980's, hard drives were prohibitively expensive, and 3.5 floppy disk were far more expensive than 5.25 floppy disks. The idea was to enable Amiga users to be able to use cheaper 5.25 floppies, for which they probably already had a ton of if they had upgraded from a 8bit C=(or other 8bit micro).
IMO it didn't catch on that well, although eventually 3rd party(Aminet/FFish)software allowed the reading of other media such as C=64/128 floppies in these 5.25 drives.
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@Desmon
Mine didn't need a diskchange command as someone had wisely
clued a small push-button to the closing-knob of the drive
(on the inside of course). The button was connected to the
diskchange-signal on the floppy-port .... voila !
And that the way I bought "brand new", a nice little left over
from East-Germany's IT-industry.
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I have an external 5.25" (no further markings) for the Amiga at my home. It has on on/off switch, a 40/80 selector and doesn't need the diskchange command. It also does not need a mountlist entry, in contrast to Commodore's 1020 diskdrive.
Never really used the drive, and it is going to be sold tonight with the rest of my Amiga 500 set. I prefer to use my A1200 and A2000...
BTW: the 40/80 switch is not for switching between single & doublesided. It's meant for switching between 40 and 80 tracks, both doublesided. At 80 tracks, it can hold 880 KB per disk, which would enable you to do a diskcopy from a standard 3.5" disk and at 40 tracks it holds 440 KB, which is the same as the A1020 had. The A1020, in Commodore's infite wisdom, wasn't capable of using 880 KB disks, only 440 KB...
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@Burseg
I'm seriously looking for information on how to read, or even format disks with this device.
C:DiskChange will be your friend.
Most 5.25" drives don't recognise the Amiga "diskinsert" message and the OS has to be told to look at the drive again to ascertain the volume name and other data.
Make sure the DiskChange command is in your C: directory and enter it into a shell window.
1.> DiskChange DF1:
should do the trick..
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@Kronos
Mine didn't need a diskchange command as someone had wisely
clued a small push-button to the closing-knob of the drive
(on the inside of course). The button was connected to the
diskchange-signal on the floppy-port .... voila !
And that the way I bought "brand new", a nice little left over
from East-Germany's IT-industry.
That's a nice little addition. I wonder why nobody else came up with this for the third party drives sold out here?
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I have an external 5.25" (no further markings) for the Amiga at my home. It has on on/off switch, a 40/80 selector and doesn't need the diskchange command. It also does not need a mountlist entry, in contrast to Commodore's 1020 diskdrive.
Exactly.
In 80 track mode, the drive functions just like any external disk drive. 40 track mode isn't really of any use. :-)