Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!emory!mephisto!mcnc!decvax.dec.com!ima!mirror!pallio!dg From: dg@pallio.UUCP (David Goodenough) Newsgroups: comp.sys.cbm Subject: Re: 1581 Hardware Questions Message-ID: Date: 4 Oct 90 01:38:38 GMT Lines: 25 ez001287@deneb (Thomas Lew) asks: > We all know that the reason that Commodore manufactured disk drives are so > expensive is that each drive contains its own controller card. My question > is this: is it possible to disassemble a 1581 drive and plug in an > IBM-compatible low density 3 1/2" drive into the Commodore controller board > and have it work? Are the connectors, power requirements, and data lines > the same, or is this just a fanciful pipe dream? I doubt it will work to well. The 1581 format apparently gets the equivalent of 800K on a DS DD 3.5" disk (80 tracks * 2 sides * 10 SPT * 512 BPS) As many people will tell you, the cheapo drives that are used in PC's and the like are not sufficiently high tolerance for 10 sectors per track, which is why they only put 9 SPT (360K) on them. You _CAN_ get decent tolerance drives (like the ones in a good many CP/M machines: Kaypro, Televideo, Osborne, etc.), but IBM ones won't cut it. All this may be academic, given that another posting hinted that there is only one connector to a 1581 drive, implying that power is shoved up the same cable. Could this be like PS/2 hardware I ask myself??? -- dg@pallio.UUCP - David Goodenough +---+ IHS | +-+-+ ..... !harvard!xait!pallio!dg +-+-+ | AKA: dg%pallio.uucp@xait.xerox.com +---+