There is someone looking to make 8" disks from images that he has. He recently acquired a fully functional IBM 5110-3 (or 5120) with dual 8-inch disk drives. He found the image files to make 6 disks with various applications for this computer.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_5110 I had to look up "5510 model 3". It predates MS-DOS and ISA-class PC's. I had forgotten that one such model had 8-inch floppy drives. There's a good chance, that what-became-ordinary floppy disk controllers on IBM (ISA) MS-DOS PC's and CP/M-80 class computers, will not be able to process such 5110/5120 disks or their images. (I don't know for sure.) I'm saying, Jeff, that most old computers won't likely be able to work with these *even older IBM* disks. There's a modern class of bit-sampling floppy disk emulators and reader/writers, usually operated as USB devices. (I don't pretend to know them well.) Because they operate at the "bit" (flux change) level, in principle they can handle almost anything a floppy controller every written - IF, if, someone trained up on that particular format to decode the floppy bits. Problem is, the owners and developers of those USB devices, probably never had their hands on an IBM 5510/5520! So, if I read 40 words of description correctly (unlikely), I suggest this person outta get on the Web NOW, and contact these developers of these USB floppy reader/writers NOW, to identify if their models can handle disks from their particular IBM model. They might also contact whomever created those image-files. See how they created those images. It may be, there's a "downloader and format" 5110 program as well. The owner should also clarify/confirm exactly what hardware they have, where these image files came from, and so on. . Oh - and if the computer works *to their knowledge*. I get requests from people all the time, for stuff for their computers, before their seller delivers it to them. If the owners already did this work, they should make that info readily available as they ask for help. The zeroth help I can give someone, is to noodge them to identify their problems. Problems solve themselves faster, if details are resolved first. Details identify the tools and knowledge needed, weed out those who don't have either. Regards Herb Johnson -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey USA https://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net preserve, recover, restore 1970's computing email: hjohnson AT retrotechnology DOT com or try later herbjohnson AT comcast DOT net
[Jeffery Brace] There is someone looking to make 8" disks from images that he has. He recently acquired a fully functional IBM 5110-3 (or 5120) with dual 8-inch disk drives. He found the image files to make 6 disks with various applications for this computer.
On 9/17/2024 10:52 AM, Herbert Johnson wrote: The zeroth help I can give someone, is to noodge them to identify their problems. Problems solve themselves faster, if details are resolved first. Details identify the tools and knowledge needed, weed out those who don't have either.
https://forum.vcfed.org/index.php?threads/does-anyone-have-a-working-8-inch-... It really helped, to point to a current discussion thread. Thanks to David Gesswein on that. Those interested, seems to me, should follow up *in that vdfed.org discussion thread*. I just did. Still looking for details about the IBM 5110 owner's situation. Regards Herb Johnson workin the turf -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey USA https://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net preserve, recover, restore 1970's computing email: hjohnson AT retrotechnology DOT com or try later herbjohnson AT comcast DOT net
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Herbert Johnson