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replacing 2.88mb floppy with gotek in IBM PC server?

hush

hush

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Joined
Feb 7, 2022
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495
Location
lansing, MI, USA
hey all, i'm back to working on my p/390 system and i've decided that it's a bit of a headache dealing with the 2.88mb floppy, so i'd like to replace it with a gotek. if i'm not mistaken this system is a ps/2 at heart and uses the same floppy connector, meaning i'll need an adapter to get it working properly? can anyone confirm this? :)

thank you!
 
Do you know what the PS/2 is? Different systems require different adapters (some may not require an adapter?)
 
There's two interfaces for the PS/2 the early 40pin card-edge connector, and the later 34pin pin-header interface. Both combine the power on the same cable. As you are in 2.88 world you have the 34pin. There is a thread somewhere on here or vogons about a conversion to standard floppy on a ps/2 model 55sx. May be a starting point. Unfortunately the search is not very helpful:
ps2.jpg

Pinout:
Code: 
Pin   I/O    Signal              Pin   I/O   Signal
---   ---    ------              ---   ---   ------
1     n/a    Ground              2      o    Data rate select 1*
3     n/a    +5V DC              4     n/a   Drive Type ID 1
5     n/a    Ground              6     n/a   +12V DC
7     n/a    Ground              8      i    -index
9     n/a    Drive Type ID 0*    10     o    reserved
11    n/a    Ground              12     o    -drive select
13    n/a    Ground              14     o    -Security Command*
15    n/a    Ground              16     o    -motor enable
17    n/a    Media Type ID 1*    18     o    -direction in
19    n/a    Ground              20     o    -step
21    n/a    Ground              22     o    -write data
23    n/a    Ground              24     o    -write enable
25    n/a    Ground              26     i    -track 0
27    n/a    Media Type ID 0*    28     i    -write protect
29    n/a    Ground              30     i    -read data
31    n/a    Ground              32     o    -head 1 select
33    n/a    Data Rate Select 0  34     i    -diskette change

>* The -Security Command is not supported by all drives or all systems.
If aserted then the following pins have a different meaning:
Drive Type ID 0 becomes Drive status 0
Drive Type ID 1 becomes Drive status 1
Drive Type ID 2 becomes Drive status 2
Drive Type ID 3 becomes Drive status 3

Drive type ID 0-1  & Media Type ID 0-1 see  "Additional notes from the
Tech ref".
 
Last edited:
You are correct:
PS/2 40-pin Card Edge Interface (Model 50/60/70/Early 80)
PS/2 34-pin Header Interface (Model 55sx/65sx/Late 80/etc)
PS/2 34-pin Header Enhanced Interface (Model 56/57/76/77/85/90/95)
The last one is the only one that supports 2.88, and that's what I posted above. However it is backwards compatible with the 2nd one.
 
hush said:
if i'm not mistaken this system is a ps/2 at heart
Click to expand...
P/390 is a mainframe compatible processor card. I think it was typically for PCI. Do you have an MCA version? Would you mind taking a picture of the front, back, and inside of the computer you have?
 
thisisamigaspeaking said:
P/390 is a mainframe compatible processor card. I think it was typically for PCI. Do you have an MCA version? Would you mind taking a picture of the front, back, and inside of the computer you have?
Click to expand...
right, when i say "p/390 system" i'm referring to the whole product as it was originally sold, so it's the 9595 MCA planar with a type 4 90mhz pentium and the coprocessor. was lucky enough to score the complete kit from a retired sysprog :) it even has the original plastic base piece!
 
I got one of these adapters for my model 76i:
1749080935596.png

Unfortunately it seems their Tindie store is empty and the website is down. You can get the PCBs from PCBway:
www.pcbway.com

IBM PS/2 Floppy adapter v.1 for Media Sense cables - Share Project - PCBWay

IBM PS/2 Floppy adapter for Media Sense cables. Tested on 9590, 35sx, 56sx, 57sx machines but should work with other models with media sense equally. Machines in the "Tested" list, come from successfu...
www.pcbway.com

mike
 
hush said:
right, when i say "p/390 system" i'm referring to the whole product as it was originally sold, so it's the 9595 MCA planar with a type 4 90mhz pentium and the coprocessor. was lucky enough to score the complete kit from a retired sysprog :) it even has the original plastic base piece!
Click to expand...
Very nice.
 
legodude said:
I got one of these adapters for my model 76i:
View attachment 1302085

Unfortunately it seems their Tindie store is empty and the website is down. You can get the PCBs from PCBway:
www.pcbway.com

IBM PS/2 Floppy adapter v.1 for Media Sense cables - Share Project - PCBWay

IBM PS/2 Floppy adapter for Media Sense cables. Tested on 9590, 35sx, 56sx, 57sx machines but should work with other models with media sense equally. Machines in the "Tested" list, come from successfu...
www.pcbway.com

mike
Click to expand...
Question - did you just get the PCB and solder all the SMD components yourself?
 
Works perfectly for me. I can't say that I've tried every possible use, but for ref disks, installing dos, etc, the adapter has worked in my three media sense machines
 
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