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Kodak/Verbatim 6.6 MB floppy drive

Well, I can't say that I've tried this with my 6.6MB Kodak drive, but I do recall that the 3 MB one worked acceptably when hooked to a standard PC disk controller . The drive spins at 600 RPM, so DD disks are read at 500Kbps--and there were 192 tpi. I don't have an original Drivetec (who originated the technology then went bankrupt) controller, however.
 
Well, I can't say that I've tried this with my 6.6MB Kodak drive, but I do recall that the 3 MB one worked acceptably when hooked to a standard PC disk controller . The drive spins at 600 RPM, so DD disks are read at 500Kbps--and there were 192 tpi. I don't have an original Drivetec (who originated the technology then went bankrupt) controller, however.

With standard pc floppy controller my Kodak is read-only… all disks are write protected! I think the custom interface board (and software) is needed for enable the write. Or not?
 
I don't recall--it's been too long ago. I suppose that a look at the Kaypro Robie schematics could answer the question. I've got the same OEM manual from Drivetec that's found on bitsavers and I don't recall anyting about write protecting 48 tpi floppies, but it might be the case.
 
I don't recall--it's been too long ago. I suppose that a look at the Kaypro Robie schematics could answer the question. I've got the same OEM manual from Drivetec that's found on bitsavers and I don't recall anyting about write protecting 48 tpi floppies, but it might be the case.

Where is the OEM manual on bitsavers? I searched it but I only found a magazine article...
 
Well, I was certain that I saw it on the web in bitsavers, but can't find it now. However, the OEM manual for the 320 does state that 48 tpi diskette compatibility is read-only.

I've got the OEM manual; guess I'll have to scan it and pass it to Al K. to put on Bitsavers. It's only about 32 pages long.
 
Well, I was certain that I saw it on the web in bitsavers, but can't find it now. However, the OEM manual for the 320 does state that 48 tpi diskette compatibility is read-only.

I've got the OEM manual; guess I'll have to scan it and pass it to Al K. to put on Bitsavers. It's only about 32 pages long.

Ok thanks, the manual is very useful ;)
But remain I need the software... :(
 
What controller do you have? The DTC 500 series one?
The only difference between the controller is that it handled pin 16 (600/360) and pin 2 (head load) and pin 4 (seek complete). What use is it if you don't have the preformatted disks and can only read normal ones? I suspect that you could write the software yourself.
 
What controller do you have? The DTC 500 series one?
The only difference between the controller is that it handled pin 16 (600/360) and pin 2 (head load) and pin 4 (seek complete). What use is it if you don't have the preformatted disks and can only read normal ones? I suspect that you could write the software yourself.

I have the original controller Kodak. The controller (with software) not enable the write on standard floppy? 🤔
 
No--the OEM manual explicitly states that writing to standard 48 tpi disks is not possible. I believe that the same situation applied in the case of the Kaypro Robie, though I haven't checked the user's manual. (Docs are on bitsavers).
 
No--the OEM manual explicitly states that writing to standard 48 tpi disks is not possible. I believe that the same situation applied in the case of the Kaypro Robie, though I haven't checked the user's manual. (Docs are on bitsavers).

With this info the drive came useless… how I find the manual? You have uploaded it?
 
The manual makes reference by name to the various jumpers in the pinout description--it's a little difficult to suss out, but at least for the 3.3MB unit, they are mentioned (sometimes under the word "option").

You can readily see why the Kaypro Robie was not a success. One can only write the special preformatted disks; 48 tpi double-density are read-only, which means that a Robie owner could not write a disk that an owner of, say, a Kaypro 2 could read.

I keep the oddball disk drive collection around here because one never knows when a client will show up with the media asking for retrieval of the data. For example, I've never been asked to read Caleb UHD 144 floppies, but should that occasion arise, I've got the drive.
 
these just popped up
are they for Kodak? I've never seen any of their media
 
To tell the truth, I don't know. Kodak used DTC to manufacture its 12MB drive, but DTC had also purchased Qume, who owned Hyperflex who sold a 24MB drive. In addition, DTC offered (I have one) an embedded-servo 5.25" drive called the TakeTen at about the same time. All were 5.25" format. If you want to mix things up even more, at about the same time, NEC offered a 10 MB 3.5" floppy drive called the 2TD with their PC88 VA3 (I don't believe it was ever offered as an OEM part).

Lots of dead bodies in the latter half of the 1980s.
 
That 12 MB floppy is cool! It looks like they adopted the hard shell and spring-loaded shutter from 3.5" disks, which is a good idea, given how sensitive a disk with that kind of TPI would be to dust and fingerprints.

The sticker information is particularly interesting. It reports itself as 333 TPI, which is less than the 384 TPI of a 6.6 MB disk. That forced me to figure out how a 12 MB capacity was achieved.

The 5.25" floppy disk's 6:5 ratio of TPI to cylinders results in 277.5 cylinders. With 277 cylinders and a 1000 kbps transfer rate, you'd get an unformatted capacity of 13,850,000 B / 13,525 KiB / 13.21 MiB at 300 RPM, or 11,541,667 B / 11,271 KiB / 11.01 MiB at 360 RPM. Neither of those seem like capacities you would market as "12 MB". Split the difference, and 330 RPM (5.5 RPS) yields 12,590,909 B / 12,296 KiB / 12.01 MiB. Could it be?

The next hint is the 78 sectors. 78 256-byte sectors with 277 cylinders would give a formatted capacity of 11,062,272 B / 10,803 KiB / 10.55 MiB). With the 360 RPM unformatted capacity, there would only be 4.2% overhead, which is unrealistic. IBM standardized on 26.3% overhead when they chose 9 sectors for their 5.25" and 3.5" DD disks, and 15 and 18 sectors for their 5.25" and 3.5" HD disks, respectively. Kaypro and DEC went with 10 sectors, translating to 18.1% overhead. Overhead is 20.1% if we go with the 300 RPM option and 12.1% at 330 RPM. 12.1% is lower than Microsoft's 21-sector 3.5" DMF disks, which had 14% overhead, but it wouldn't be unprecedented for Drivetec. Their #3218R floppy for the 320 Super minifloppy was formatted with 18 512-byte sectors and an overhead of only 11.5%.

Most likely, these disks had 277 or 278 cylinders, and spun at 300 RPM with a 1000 kbps transfer rate, and a formatted capacity of 10.55 or 10.59 MiB; roughly 11 MB. There's also the tantalizing possibility that Kodak dared to reduce the gaps and synchronization bits enough to cram 10.55 MiB of data onto a disk with an unformatted capacity of 12.01 MB by spinning at 330 RPM @ 1000 kbps -- making it also notable for having a non-integer RPS -- or 660 RPM (11 RPS) @ 2000 kbps -- making it also notable for having double the data rate of a 2.88 MB DSED 3.5" floppy disk.

Everything about this is weird. Even with perpendicular recording, this is probably pushing the limits of what's achievable using servo tracking. It's starting to push into floptical territory.
 
I suspect that my DTC TakeTen drive might work with these 12MB disks. They're 5.25" in form factor, but somewhat (maybe twice) thicker than a standard 5.25" floppy.
 
That 12 MB floppy is cool![…]

The sticker information is particularly interesting. It reports itself as 333 TPI, which is less than the 384 TPI of a 6.6 MB disk. That forced me to figure out how a 12 MB capacity was achieved.
[…]

Most likely, these disks had 277 or 278 cylinders, and spun at 300 RPM with a 1000 kbps transfer rate, and a formatted capacity of 10.55 or 10.59 MiB; roughly 11 MB. There's also the tantalizing possibility that Kodak dared to reduce the gaps and synchronization bits enough to cram 10.55 MiB of data onto a disk with an unformatted capacity of 12.01 MB by spinning at 330 RPM @ 1000 kbps -- making it also notable for having a non-integer RPS -- or 660 RPM (11 RPS) @ 2000 kbps -- making it also notable for having double the data rate of a 2.88 MB DSED 3.5" floppy disk.
To my knowledge and reading in PCworld from 1988, the Kodak drives for 10/12 MB "MD/HD" rigid case flexible floppy disks spun with 600 RPM. Still on the hunt for a drive …
 
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