thewasp Posted February 22, 2014 Share Posted February 22, 2014 Hash! Listen to that hum! Do you recognize it? Well. for sure - it's an old 8bit Atari, driving the floppy drive... The sound is so familiar! Spirit of the beautiful floppy drive head's sound, stepping over the tracks.... Yes! it lives again! But... wait a minute! Something is different, something is new... Is that "yet another", microcontroller based SIO-2-spiritkiller device? Absolutely not! It's the new, hardware floppy drive for A8, with a small difference: It was designed for "modern" ( ) 3.5" drives. For your consideration: www.artofscience.pl My homage to the old Atari days. Based totaly on my own IP-cores. What say you? 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Larry Posted February 22, 2014 Share Posted February 22, 2014 Very nice! Still lots of interest in floppy and micro-floppy drives. -Larry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
w1k Posted February 22, 2014 Share Posted February 22, 2014 very nice.. modern-look photos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marius Posted February 22, 2014 Share Posted February 22, 2014 I like it a lot, although I have decided to stick with flash media. The only non-flash media I use on atari 8bit are my 1050 and xf551 disk drives. I completely agree that the sound of a drive mechanism adds some extra to the experience. I have been using Syquest removables for a long time on my Blackbox (SCSI) and that was very cool too. But now with all the flash-based solutions, I finally have something that is really reliable and very easy to backup (in terms of atari 8bit). I would like to know: 1) What is that SD slot for 2) What is that fabulous nice tube-television you have there? Greetz P. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewasp Posted February 22, 2014 Author Share Posted February 22, 2014 (edited) Hi! 1) The SD slot was put "just in case" on the PCB design stage. I thought, that it would be nice to combine two interesting features (SD+floppy combo - yumm! BTW. there is a 512KB serial flash also...). Right now it is useless, but it is possible, that final controller will give full support. 2) :D - I found it on our e-bay-like pages ("allegro") . Once I saw it, i wanted to have it, and.. well. Here it is. regards Peter Edited February 22, 2014 by thewasp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
venom4728a Posted February 22, 2014 Share Posted February 22, 2014 I would like to purchase a couple, please tel me how? Robert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Allan Posted February 22, 2014 Share Posted February 22, 2014 Are you going to make some more? Is the board designed to fit into a particular case? Maybe an ST drive case or an XE modem case. Possibly a 1050 case. Allan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewasp Posted February 22, 2014 Author Share Posted February 22, 2014 (edited) First I was trying to give it a form of "FDD" daughterboard, but it wasn't a good idea (different floppies have the IDC header in different place). It is not designed for particular case, but ... I'll be working on the final "mark II" design. I'll purchase more PCBs (that one on the foto is a homemade prototype). The case of the housing is open. Any suggestions? Also, I think that website for that project is a good idea. Will try to start it ASAP p. Edited February 22, 2014 by thewasp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+David_P Posted February 22, 2014 Share Posted February 22, 2014 Is this an SIO device as well, or is it hooked in via PBI/ECI? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Allan Posted February 22, 2014 Share Posted February 22, 2014 If you would use just a housing I would go with an XE modem case. It's small, not to had to find, usually cheap, matches the 130XE, has the means to wire an SIO cable to the board while providing support for the cable. Downside is that it might not fit in the case, if the cable goes bad you have to desolder it, plus if you want to have a pass thru SIO plug you would have to add one to your board and cut a hole in the back of the case. Another case you could use is the 1030 XL modem case. It's bigger, matches the XLs, has two SIO ports (so you could reuse the connectors from the modem boards as well as have the holes already in the case) plus a hole for the power, is nice and flat. Downside is that they are a little harder to find them the XE modems and might have issues with height for the cables connectors on the board. Other cases you could use is a ST modem case. Only one SIO port, more expensive, possible height issue. There are more as well with pluses and minuses. 850 case for one example. Here's some pics of the XE modem case. Allan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+CharlieChaplin Posted February 22, 2014 Share Posted February 22, 2014 Well, if one only requires a housing for the pcb, then I would suggest a 1010 data-recorder or a XC-11 data-recorder. The 1010 comes with two SIO ports that could be used for this pcb, while the XC-11 comes with one SIO port and a SIO plug. However if one wants a case for the pcb and the floppy-drive, I would suggest a 1050 or a XF551 case from a "dead" drive. Some clever Atarian may also find a way to built-in the pcb and the 3,5" floppy-drive into a 1010 data-recorder case... On the other hand, I still have a DOS based PC that I use quite often with 3,5" HD disks and err, well, the HD disks do not last too long. While 5,25" DD-Disks still work alright after 30-35 years (some A8 disks from 1979 still do!), you can be almost sure that 3,5" HD-disks will not survive that long, maybe up to 5 years or if you are lucky up to 10 years... -Andreas Koch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewasp Posted February 22, 2014 Author Share Posted February 22, 2014 David_p: It is a SIO device, and works like a typical, native (serial) device. Signals needed for transmission (RX, TX, COMMAND) are routed out to the goldpin header. CharlieChaplin: It is possible to connect a 5.25 drive. The main aim was to keep the controller compatible to IBM standard, so there is absolutely no problem to write down the image from the PC with FDC drive connected (I use a cheap USB floppy drive. Works fine). As a matter of fact, this is the best way to shift a prepared ATR image (at least for me). Long time ago it was a pity to be unable to use a single floppy for data transfer between two different system (i mean MSDOS and Atari DOS) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacobus Posted February 22, 2014 Share Posted February 22, 2014 Very nice - I'd certainly line up to buy one! What power supply does it require? Typical PC 5/12 volt or did you work some magic to allow a 400/800 ps to work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dropcheck Posted February 22, 2014 Share Posted February 22, 2014 Interesting..... Could find a use for it. Any idea on the final pricing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewasp Posted February 23, 2014 Author Share Posted February 23, 2014 Since the power circuit is based on DC/DC converters, it uses a single DC source (6-24VDC) and guarantees a power for onboard logic and a 3.5" FDD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 ST Floppy casing seems an obvious choice. Would call to mind the unreleased 3.5" XE Atari floppy drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewasp Posted February 23, 2014 Author Share Posted February 23, 2014 Excellent idea, but how to get one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillC Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 This looks to be an interesting device, like a HD FDD and SDrive combined in one. Any chance that it will also be capable of dual drive operation with the ability to use both 5.25" and 3.5" drives Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewasp Posted February 23, 2014 Author Share Posted February 23, 2014 FDC should support dual drive operation very well, only abilities of onboard switching regulator are limited. With external power supply - no problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
576XE Posted February 25, 2014 Share Posted February 25, 2014 Is there a chance for mobo production? I dreamed about such device more then 30 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewasp Posted February 25, 2014 Author Share Posted February 25, 2014 Just wait until the mark-ii design is done. I'll prepare more than one "mobo", for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
576XE Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 Hello thewasp. Is there some pictures of mark ii mobos? Best wishes from Moscow, RU. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewasp Posted March 6, 2014 Author Share Posted March 6, 2014 Very good news: According to the suggestion of one atarian, I decided to use the 5.25 USB case for PCs, combined with 3.5"->5.25 frame. Thus, the case of relative cheap and elegant housing is solved (there is another, important benefit - the Power Supply for 5/12VDC is included). I'll put some photos this week. Look forward for further information. Regards! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pixelmischief Posted March 8, 2014 Share Posted March 8, 2014 I have been sitting on a pair of 3.5" external floppy drives for the ST for 10 years, waiting for your device. Let's go man! =) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewasp Posted March 10, 2014 Author Share Posted March 10, 2014 Hi! New pictures of an example, cased version are available under artofscience.pl. Now it is looks like typical FDD for A8 :]. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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