On Wed, Aug 31, 2016 at 2:15 PM, Ian Primus via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote:
I have a 3 1/2" one (non-standalone) that I figured out the protocol for, and got working. I've never been able to find a 5 1/4" one - I kind of wonder how the disk loading would work, given that 5 1/4" disks are less "sturdy" and vary more than 3 1/2" media. With mine, it will jam if the disks already have labels on them, or if they are cheaper disks made of thinner material and more flexible.
Are yours standalone, or do they require an external computer? Mine is basically just an external floppy drive with an RS-232 controlled disk changer attached. I wrote some shell scripts to multipart .tar archives to a stack of floppies.
-Ian
They're both stand-alone. Might be worth having a workshop at my house some time this fall to try these out and others.. I also have a lot of new things here, some of which I need to poss find new homes for or trade. Lately exploring hardware by Sun, SGI, Next, DEC Rainbow. I have a Comptometer to repair. The list is a mile long. I am very close but not yet done with my DEC 11/40, but I have taken two months off, spending more time outside in the summer weather and a lot of music-related projects. I also have a Visual 1050 on my workbench. Need to re-cap the hard drive controller. Bill