Amiga 4000T 5.25"?

[icbrkr]

Stupid question probably - is it possible to mount an internal (and use ) a 5.25" floppy drive in an Amiga 4000T?  My 4000T is what I have hooked up most often, and it seems like such a pain to hook up a different miggy just to write to a 5.25" disk since the 4000T doesn't have an external floppy hookup.

[VingtTrois]

hummm you don't have the external floppy DB23 female!!!
Try to install an ext. 5.25" floppy drive [AMIGA] on internal floppy 34 pin header as DF1 ou DF2 (I don't know the A4000T sorry).

[Matt_H]

I'm not sure which 5.25" floppy drives are compatible with the standard Amiga floppy controller. You could gut a Commodore one (what's the model number, 1020?) to mount internally, or hook up a standard one via a Catweasel.

[icbrkr]

Yep, I have a 1020 which isn't too common, and I hate to gut it but if it works in the 4000T, I will.

Isn't it the same drive mechanism that is in a 1571?  Maybe I'll gut one of those

[spirantho]

Your best bet is a Catweasel, if you can afford it. That'll give you access to all 5.25" floppy formats using a much more common PC 5.25" drive.

[icbrkr]

For writing PC disks, the Catweasel is a bit overkill  I guess it's an option though since what I am trying to do is write older disk formats in general (you should see the amount of computers I've got lying around here ).

If a standard 5.25 can be hooked up to the onboard FDC, I'd rather go that route for now.

[Matt_H]

For writing PC disks, the Catweasel is a bit overkill  I guess it's an option though since what I am trying to do is write older disk formats in general (you should see the amount of computers I've got lying around here ).

If a standard 5.25 can be hooked up to the onboard FDC, I'd rather go that route for now.

What you're describing is exactly what the Catweasel is designed for. I think that's your solution.

[icbrkr]

Well... right now I was aiming to do just PC disks which the Amiga should be able to do fine with Crossdos.  I guess the other method might be better in the long run.

[spirantho]

If you're writing PC disks you'll have trouble writing 1.2MB ones - they need HD drives which spin at 360rpm instead of the Amiga's 300rpm, as well as using the 28.8MHz clock.

If you want to read/write lots of disk formats, then you need OS4 and a Catweasel really, it's the best solution. I know this because I've spent much of the last year writing the drivers for it. My webpage is http://www.retroreview.com/iang/Catweasel/ if you're interested.

If it helps, I've also got it mostly working under AROS, and soon MorphOS. I've been tempted to do a OS 3.1 build too, but that'd take a bit more time, and is less necessary as the original Catweasel drivers work ok for the most part.