@deramp5113
Can a 720K 5.25 floppy drive + VSG adapter also be used on a Northstar SD controller, such as an MDC-A4?
Can a 720K 5.25 floppy drive + VSG adapter also be used on a Northstar SD controller, such as an MDC-A4?
I just went through my collection of S-100 cards and found that I have two spares of the N* double density board. Both have had all of their IC pins & sockets cleaned and checked and work well in my SOL-20.
These boards must be getting rarer these days as the single density ones appear a lot easier to get, probably because everyone wants the double density ones for SOLs.
I could be persuaded possibly to part with one, for the right price I guess, it would leave me with just the one spare card, which should probably be enough for fault finding. The single density cards on ebay seem to be priced around $200, but I doubt if any of the sellers know for sure that they are working, it takes a working SOL, a good disk drive, Mike's VSG and good soft sector disk media to find out!
In my search I also found that I have in my stocks the Matrox ALT-2480 S-100 board, which I think is probably pretty rare. It was the companion Text card to the ALT-256 graphics card.
Yes, it will work, but it will only use the first 35 tracks (out of 80) and only one side of the disk. The disks will interchange with other 96tpi drives connected to the Sol, but not the 48tpi drives that would have been used in the day.@deramp5113
Can a 720K 5.25 floppy drive + VSG adapter also be used on a Northstar SD controller, such as an MDC-A4?
When I used Mike's great VSG, rather than powering it from batteries, I powered it from a 12V supply inside the disk drive housing:Hi,
What is a VSG adapter?
.
very well done, you‘re a master! I plan to do some external enclosure too, but I think that I will go for a more simple approach: I will use a SCCI CD-ROM enclosure, paint it in matching blue, and maybe ask a friend of mine to make 2 wood side panels.
But first, I have to make the whole thing play together.
Actually, I wanted to go with only one drive. Why do you say that 2 drives are mandatory? It's for convenience, of it's not possible with only one drive at all?
in theory, I totally agree with you, but in practice, there is no manual on the web that explain the modification needed to put the micro complex board In the SOL-20, and therefore no idea what has to be reversed (trace cutting, IC changed....), and in addition, about 36 IC where removed to put this board in place, and I of course don't have them.
In other words, I'm pretty sure that trying to remove this thing is not trivial. But you're right, it can good be that the Micro Complex board is the culprit. I hate this board
But removing all the ICs and cleaning then is a good thing to do, yes. Testing the soon to arrive loaned Northstar controller will tell me more about where the problem sits I think. If the machine continue to behave incorrectly with the Northstar, then there is definitively something wrong in the SOL-20 itself. Lee Felsenstein told me in the S100 Facebook group to check the 5V for constituency, ripple and noise, it's a good start too.
I will report when I have more news.
Thanks