Date: Wed, 17 Sep 1997 09:44:43 +0930 From: Greg Lehey <grog@lemis.com> To: David Kelly <dkelly@fly.HiWAAY.net> Cc: FreeBSD Questions <questions@FreeBSD.org> Subject: Re: 8" Floppy drive? Message-ID: <19970917094443.08127@lemis.com> In-Reply-To: <199709161522.KAA26984@fly.HiWAAY.net>; from David Kelly on Tue, Sep 16, 1997 at 10:22:50AM -0500 References: <199709161522.KAA26984@fly.HiWAAY.net>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On Tue, Sep 16, 1997 at 10:22:50AM -0500, David Kelly wrote: > At the very least this should be good for a laugh, but the boss dug up > about 50 8" floppies and wants the data off of them and onto modern > media. From way back, I recal the 1.2M floppy hardware interface wasn't > terribly different from the 8". Where both 8" and 1.2M disks turn > 360 RPM vs 300 RPM for 360k disks. Maybe there is a chance an 8" drive > can be attached to my FreeBSD system? Yes, indeed, you should be able to connect 8" drives. The biggest problem would be the cable. It's been a while, and half my belongings are still in the shed after my recent move, but IIRC the signal lines on the 8" drives are the same as on the smaller drives, though things like "motor power" are redefined as "head load". The biggest problem you're likely to have is the data rate. If you're running SD, I think the rate is half that of the current 1.2 MB drives. There used to be a bit you could set in the commands to the 1793 to tell it that, but I don't have much experience with the more modern drives. DD drives have the same data rate as 1.2 MB drives (with 512 byte sectors, they also have about the same geometry, modulo 3 tracks less). Of course, you need to find out the sector size and such things. > I actually have a couple of 8" drives. > > Would be interested in any suggestions, FreeBSD related or not. > Meanwhile I've got a lead on a Xerox 820 with CP/M that may be able > to read these disks. Who knows what format they are in! May find > a hard-sectored system but have soft-sectored floppies. If you do it that way, you need a BIOS which is compatible both with the system and with the drives. Could be non-trivial. Greg
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?19970917094443.08127>