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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: Gulliver on July 07, 2010, 04:52:49 AM

Title: Mac scsi floppy drive usefull on Amigas?
Post by: Gulliver on July 07, 2010, 04:52:49 AM: I found a 2 US$ Mac G3 floppy drive, with a proper adapter, Can I use it on my BlizzardPPC scsi and make something, somehow usefull of it on an Amiga? Could someone please elaborate.

Thanks in advance.
Title: Re: Mac scsi floppy drive usefull on Amigas?
Post by: AltRN8 on July 07, 2010, 07:37:24 AM: I didn't think the floppies were SCSI in any of the G3 models. Which model G3 did you yank it from?
Title: Re: Mac scsi floppy drive usefull on Amigas?
Post by: Gulliver on July 07, 2010, 08:51:52 AM: I found it on a local online auction site. The seller says he retrieved it from a G3.

Here is a picture of it.
Title: Re: Mac scsi floppy drive usefull on Amigas?
Post by: J-Golden on July 07, 2010, 09:08:39 AM: Can you post a pic. from behind so we can see the pinout?
Title: Re: Mac scsi floppy drive usefull on Amigas?
Post by: Gulliver on July 07, 2010, 09:17:34 AM: I am sorry, but that is the only picture posted. :(

Anyway, assuming the drive is scsi, as the sellers says, can it be used under AmigaOS somehow?

I have also seen SUN and SGI scsi floppy drives, so I was wondering if I could make some use of them.
Title: Re: Mac scsi floppy drive usefull on Amigas?
Post by: Jiffy on July 07, 2010, 10:11:43 AM: Quote from: Gulliver;569326
I am sorry, but that is the only picture posted. :(
That flatcable does not look like a 50 pin SCSI-cable, so I assume the drive is not SCSI either. And as a beige G3 only has 50 pins SCSI on board, to which the internal floppy drive is nót connected, chances are about zero that this drive will be SCSI.

Quote
Anyway, assuming the drive is scsi, as the sellers says, can it be used under AmigaOS somehow?
If it is indeed SCSI (which I seriously doubt), it will most likely function on your Amiga.

I have connected all kinds of removable drives to my A1200, ranging from 44 MB to several GB. Zip, Jazz, Syquests, MO-drives. They all work without any problems.
Title: Re: Mac scsi floppy drive usefull on Amigas?
Post by: Chrome on July 07, 2010, 10:17:33 AM: Quote from: Gulliver;569323
I found it on a local online auction site. The seller says he retrieved it from a G3.

Here is a picture of it.

That is a normal Mac-floppy connected to mac-floppy connector, not SCSI. Beige-G3`s had scsi onboard, later turquise-G3`s (The Mickey Mouse-model) didn`t had any internal floppydrivers.
Title: Re: Mac scsi floppy drive usefull on Amigas?
Post by: Gulliver on July 07, 2010, 10:28:17 AM: Thanks for the advice, I know squat about Macs. So I will stay away from that floppy, as it is seems it is not scsi.
Title: Re: Mac scsi floppy drive usefull on Amigas?
Post by: Jope on July 07, 2010, 11:35:56 AM: Just about the only places where you'll find SCSI floppies are in Unix workstations from the 90s. And even then most of those used a shugart bus.. You'd probably have the best luck with old HP/Apollo workstations.

You can read 720 and 1440kB disks with those drives. Perhaps useful if you transfer little files from a PC and have no null modem cable or network connection between the two. :-)
Title: Re: Mac scsi floppy drive usefull on Amigas?
Post by: hardlink on July 07, 2010, 11:31:28 PM: Quote from: Jope;569334
Just about the only places where you'll find SCSI floppies are in Unix workstations from the 90s. And even then most of those used a shugart bus..

I agree with the first sentence, as I have one! It goes to an SGI Indy pizza-box workstation, and it is actually a floptical. It can use either floppies or small optical disks. I have not tried it on an Amiga yet, but with the right Mountlist, I think it would work.