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External floppy drives on the Spectrum +3: Difference between revisions
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External floppy drives on the Spectrum +3 (view source)
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====Connecting the Amstrad FD-1==== | |||
The Amstrad FD-1 external FDD is an external drive manufactured for the Amstrad CPC range of computers. The unit is mains powered and contains a single sided 3" drive like the one in the +3. | |||
The main thing to be aware of when using these units with the +3 is that they place a 5v supply on four of the pins (needed to power the DDI-1 disk interface for the CPC464). This could cause issues if the connector is reversed when connecting to the +3. The 5v can be disconnected inside the FD-1 by unplugging the 0.1" latched connector from the small 34-26 pin ribbon adapter board at the rear of the unit. | |||
====Cable==== | ====Connecting a modern 3.5" FDD==== | ||
=====Cable===== | |||
[[File:Spectrum_plus3_external_floppy_drive_cable.jpg|thumb|An example of a suitable cable]] | [[File:Spectrum_plus3_external_floppy_drive_cable.jpg|thumb|An example of a suitable cable]] | ||
[[File:Spectrum_plus3_external_floppy_drive_cable_detail.jpg|thumb|Using a toggle switch to apply the Ready signal]] | [[File:Spectrum_plus3_external_floppy_drive_cable_detail.jpg|thumb|Using a toggle switch to apply the Ready signal]] | ||
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Modern floppy drives don't provide the old "Ready" signal, so the ready line needs shorting to ground to signal to the spectrum that the drive is ready (adding a switch here is a good idea otherwise the spectrum won't start up unless there's a disk in the drive). | Modern floppy drives don't provide the old "Ready" signal, so the ready line needs shorting to ground to signal to the spectrum that the drive is ready (adding a switch here is a good idea otherwise the spectrum won't start up unless there's a disk in the drive). | ||
====Drive==== | =====Drive===== | ||
Any modern floppy drive will work as drive B: with the above proviso, you must create a ready signal for the spectrum otherwise it won't work. | Any modern 3.5" floppy drive will work as drive B: with the above proviso, you must create a ready signal for the spectrum otherwise it won't work. | ||
All modern drives are hard wired to appear as drive B: (hence the "twist" cable in a PC to make it appear as drive A:) so the cable is just a straight through wiring of all the signals. | All modern drives are hard wired to appear as drive B: (hence the "twist" cable in a PC to make it appear as drive A:) so the cable is just a straight through wiring of all the signals. | ||
====Media==== | =====Media===== | ||
The +3 doesn't know about High Density (1.44MB) diskettes so you need to use Double Density (720K) ones, aka "blue floppies". These can be bought online, I don't know if they're still being manufactured anywhere or just new old stock. You can also cheat and tape over the hole on a HD diskette to make it appear as a DD one. This may or may not work, and the data may not stay forever (or it might be fine! but better safe than sorry if you save anything vaguely important on them). If you're just going to use a single diskette to "ferry" files from a PC to 3" disks then this is a perfectly adequate solution. | The +3 doesn't know about High Density (1.44MB) diskettes so you need to use Double Density (720K) ones, aka "blue floppies". These can be bought online, I don't know if they're still being manufactured anywhere or just new old stock. You can also cheat and tape over the hole on a HD diskette to make it appear as a DD one. This may or may not work, and the data may not stay forever (or it might be fine! but better safe than sorry if you save anything vaguely important on them). If you're just going to use a single diskette to "ferry" files from a PC to 3" disks then this is a perfectly adequate solution. | ||
