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From: boykin@custom.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Using 8 inch floppies on an AT compatible
Message-ID: <777@custom.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 2-Sep-87 10:52:20 EDT
Article-I.D.: custom.777
Posted: Wed Sep  2 10:52:20 1987
Date-Received: Fri, 4-Sep-87 01:43:18 EDT
References: <2211@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu>
Organization: Custom Software Systems; Natick, MA
Lines: 39
Summary: It's more effort than you think

In article <2211@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu>, sparks@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu (Steve Gaarder) writes:
> I'm looking for a way to connect a Shugart SA810 half-height single-side
> 8 inch floppy to an HP Vectra (AT compatible) for the purpose of reading
> standard CP/M disks.  Two questions:
> 
> 1) Hardware:  Since the high-density drive uses the same data rate as an
> 8 inch drive, can I hook up the drive to the existing controller?

Data rate has little to do with the problem.  As a simplistic answer,
the two cables are different (8" drives have a 50 pin connector, 5 1/4's
have a 34 pin connector.  Although I haven't ever looked into
this, I doubt very strongly if there is any way to simply reroute
signals so the two would be compatible.  The real answer is that
the two drives are not compatible with each other.

In the early PC days, when people were using 1.2MB 8" drives instead
of the "new and improved" 160/320KB 5 1/4" drives from IBM, there
were a few companies who produced an 8" controller for the PC.  The
only one I remember is Maynard electronics.  I recently looked at
one of their ads for a friend wishing to do the same thing as yourself
and did not see their 8" controller/drive in the ad anymore (no
big surprise).  I called them, they still make a board (2-3 week lead
time) to control 4 floppies, including 8".  They provide no driver
software for it, you can't have another controller in your system
i.e. the combined hard/floppy controller, unless you can disable the
floppy portion.  I asked them for some information, but I have not
yet received it.

> 2) Software:  Does anyone know of software that will read CP/M 8 inch
> disks, using whatever controller is required?

In the early days of MS-DOS (actually, 86-DOS), there was a small
program called RDCPM which allowed you to read CP/M diskettes.
Of course, this doesn't solve the problem of needing drivers to talk
to the board in the first place.

Joe Boykin
Custom Software Systems
...necntc!custom!boykin