RE: Transfer 8050 disks - Catweasel (was: PET 2001 Fix)

Hello:

If I understand you correctly, you want to know the model number of
a 96TPI Micropolis drive whose PCB might be compatible with the 
1006-2 in your 8050?

Sorry, I don't know whether Micropolis made a 96TPI drive, but I'll
try to find out; all the drives I've seen have been 100TPI.

However, even if they did I think you will have just as much trouble 
finding a 96TPI Micropolis drive as you would the 100TPI version, 
and then you can't be sure that the PCB would in fact be compatible.

AFAIK Commodore used three makes of drive in the 8050, Micropolis,
Tandon and MPI; I have the Micropolis and the MPI versions.

I also have several Vector Graphic systems which use 100TPI SS
Micropolis drives (with a more or less standard interface); the model
numbers of those drives are 1015-IIB and 1016-II and they do look as
though they are the same mechanical assembly as those in the 8050
and might be able to read the 8050 disks.

Alternately, Tandon also made 'normal' 100TPI drives, the TM100-3M
(single-sided) and TM100-4M (double-sided), both of which should also
be able to read 8050 disks. Note the 'M'; that denotes 100TPI, while
TM100-3 and TM100-4 are 96TPI drives.

So, I'd look for a Tandon TM100-3M, a TM100-4M, a Micropolis 1015-II
or a Micropolis 1016-II (or just the PCBs from the Micropolis drives).

If/when I find my Micropolis documentation I may have some more
suitable model numbers for you.

Good luck!
*************************************************************************************


----------
From: 	hwarin@neuf.fr[SMTP:hwarin@neuf.fr]
Sent: 	Thursday, January 07, 2010 7:36 PM
To: 	cbm-hackers@musoftware.de
Subject: 	Re: Transfer 8050 disks - Catweasel (was: PET 2001 Fix)
Hi, all

After my "small" fire problem of last november, I took as a priority to take images of all my floppy disks. The disk formats that I have to backup are 1541 (1 or both sides), 1571, 1581, 8050, Amiga 3.5 and 5.25, few atari, apple ][ and also PC. As I haven't got any more my Commodore material operationnal until I'll make a global clean, I had no other solution than acquire a catweasel board.

It appears that, once setup with the right floppy drive installed, this board works pretty well (even if software imaging programm lack of functionalities). In my case, I've tryed 4 or 5 different drives that I had under the hand and choosed the oldest, a Toshiba that came probably from my first PC-XT; it supports 80 tracks, it's direct driven, and accepts flippy disks without any modification.

My only issue [with exception of dirt disks] regards 8050 format. I had previoussely to the fire no 8050 working correctly (none was able to format known to be good floppy disks [DD/96TPI certified, working perfectly on 1541/1571/PCs but old]). I thought that catweasel was able to read 8050 disks, but, reading deeply the manual, I've seen that I had to find a "very hard to find" 100TPI drive to connect in the PC ! 

As googleing, I've found that 100TPI drives were only built during a small period of time by no more than 3 or 4 builders. Drives with 96 TPI and 100 TPI seems to use nearly ldentical mechanics (except for WORM or DRUM that converts rotative movement from stepper to linear movement for head). They were driven by the same electronic board (that we don't have in our 8050). The idea would be to find a drive in 96TPI that would be a "familly cousin" to what's inside the 8050.

==> Does anyone knows what were Micropolis's drives references and caracteristics when 8050 where produced ? I've read somewhere that the mecanics natively installed in 8050 are mostly Micropolis 1006 (all what I dispose).

Regards
Hervé WARIN




Yes, CBMLINK supports 8x50 disk images, and CBMXfer can be used as the interface to it. I have created many D80 images this way using PC, B128 and serial cable.

Steve



----- Original Message ----
> From: Anders Carlsson 
> To: cbm-hackers@musoftware.de
> Sent: Thu, December 10, 2009 8:34:46 AM
> Subject: Re: Transfer 8050 disks (was: PET 2001 Fix)
> 
> Hello again,
> 
> On November 27, I wrote:
> 
> > best or easiest way to archive 8050 formatted floppy disks?
> 
> > PET 3032 / 4032 / 8032-SK / CBM 610 / CBM 710
> > Drives: 2031 / 8050 / 8250 / 8250LP / 1541-II
> > Interfaces 2: C2N232I, uIEC/SD (with CBM 610 patch), XM1541
> 
> I just realized the cbmlink software (used with C2N232I etc) has a feature to 
> transfer whole disks, option -dr. However I haven't checked or lookup up if 
> cbmlink will support 8x50 drives or only knows about 1541, 1571 and 1581 drives. 
> Perhaps Marko or Olaf remembers, without digging deep into the source code?
> 
> If this option would work, it seems to be my best solution for the moment being. 
> It would require me to wire up either a PET, CBM-II or theoretically a VIC-20 
> with the IEEE interface, a 8050 drive in one end and the C2N232I with standard 
> serial cable in the other end.
> 
> Steve Gray's suggestion using CBMXfer probably also is a working path, but I 
> don't have a DB25-to-9 pin converter or serial cable readily available.
> 
> Best regards
> 
> -- Anders Carlsson
> 
> 
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