Physical Drives

Discuss construction, troubleshooting, and operation of the Altair 8800c computer

Physical Drives

Postby KenF » July 15th, 2022, 7:57 am

My new AltairC is pretty well up and running now, so a question...

Who has put a physical floppy on their Altair Clone/AltairC/Homebuilt?

I have an original IMSAII with two 8" IBM drives, but the controller adapter is so specific (OK, hacked!) it won't work in a normal S-100 bus. I would rather spend my time in adapting a 3.5 (or even a 5.25) floppy - those you can still find as throw-aways and they won't take up a huge space on the desk.

So far my problem is the seeming lack of FD controllers. I have a few saved 1771's from years ago, but they are only good for FM drives and those are long gone except for questionable offers on EBAY. Possibly a mostly software solution like the original Apple would be fun.

Anyway, does anybody bother with physicals or do you just run with ram disks?

Ken
KenF
 
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Re: Physical Drives

Postby Wayne Parham » July 15th, 2022, 10:46 am

I'm running Mike's FDC+ and I love it. So many options.

I use Teac FD-55GFR drives on my system, but there are several other drive options.
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Re: Physical Drives

Postby Sirius Arcturus » July 15th, 2022, 11:44 am

Wayne Parham wrote:I'm running Mike's FDC+ and I love it. So many options.

I use Teac FD-55GFR drives on my system, but there are several other drive options.


This is what I bought and plan to use. The FD-55GFRs are easy to find like Mike says, and his FDC+ is loaded with useful features I will definitely be taking advantage of, especially at the outset.

The printed manual that comes with the FDC+ is top notch. I had to show my kids, “look, this is how it used to be!” The manual is so good and explanatory, I learned a lot about the Altair just by reading the FDC+ manual.

Congrats on having your C up and running!

Sirius
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Re: Physical Drives

Postby KenF » July 17th, 2022, 8:10 am

Well, rackafratz! I missed that whole section in the last few weeks, despite crawling the site for info. And in fact, had to look a while to find the Altairc link way at the bottom of the page.

Thanks guys. About to order.
KenF
 
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Joined: April 25th, 2022, 11:13 am


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