OT: Can modern PCs run 5-1/4" floppy drives?

google USB floppy, save a lot of problems

Martin

I had done that. They seem to be all 3-1/2". Kludging a 5-1/4" in there can be a challenge as those things can cause some impressive current surges on the +12V rail.

There is so little documentation with PCs these days. With my first IBM I got a huge stack of cloth binders in rigid pouches. Had everything in there down to the schematics. Nowadays you have to pry what little there is off a web site. Then you end up with 200 pages or so where someone drones on about how to connect to the Internet. Duh! Then comes the page with what you think is the VGA monitor info you are desparately looking for. Says "Plug'em in here", that's it. Great. Now I don't even know whether this mobo does dual-monitor.

It is the EXACT same interface as the 3.5" form factor drives, so if the form factor shows up in your MOBO BIOS, a drive connected to said MOBO, and properly designated in the BIOS settings will most certainly show up on ANY of today's modern OSes. No drivers required.

Oh, gee, times like this, just put a system together from old parts. A 166 MHz Socket 7 chip and board, Windows 98, a PCI network card to transfer files to your main system, and you're set.

Michael

Problem is the BIOS shows only one drive A, no 2nd drive B like usual. And only 1.44MB, no choice of 1.2MB, else I could roach in a relay or something. I am pretty brazen when it comes to kludges ;-)

I've got that but it occupies to much space. Sez the missus ;-)

Mine resided in parts in the garage, until I assembled it to program AVR chips from the parallel port. It can go back to the garage if and when my wife complains about it occupying space in the living room (under the kids' desk). Either way, the case occupies the same volume whether or not it has useful parts inside.

Michael

Which model Dell Vostro? Dell uses that name for several laptops and desktops each with multiple package mutations. My guess(tm) is that you muttering something about the mini-tower (model 200) version. Slim or fat version?

Dunno, but I suspect if the BIOS doesn't offer the choice, you're stuck with 3.5" internal only.

Don't bother. You probably don't have that many 5.25" floppies that need to be read. Just find a suitable machine that can read these, copy everything on the floppies to the hard disk with xcopy, burn a CDROM (and a backup CDROM), and toss the 5.25" junk.

Looking at the photo of the back of the model 200, it's all USB. No serial and no parallel. So, you get either USB to serial and USB to parallel adapters, or you get PCI cards for serial and parallel. Figure on about $30/ea for these.

Hey, look!

If the BIOS is limited that way, you are stuck unless you can find a compatible BIOS that does support 5-1/4 floppies *IF* they left the firmware ("hardware") for that support on their ASIC. Back in the "good old days", from CP/M to 486's at minimum, the FDC chip(s) supported "deleted records", which were used in databases prior to the use of indexes. That firmware option disappeared with one of the Pentium BIOSes (do not remember which one). The other option is to find a compatible daughterboard that does support 5-1/4 floppies. If you do,completely check it out the same day you get it, to make sure (a) it works with your computer,and (b) absolutely nothing else was altered (always for the worse). If you do not get all you need,send it back for full refund.

The M02 is obviously a low cost version made for Dell. The downloadable manual for the G33M from Foxconn is pathetic in its content. The information about the lack of I/O ports is available in the downloadable Vostro 200 Owner's Manual from Dell. The only thing you couldn't do with the parts that I posted was run two floppy drives. For that you need a motherboard that was made in 2003 or earlier.

The obvious thing is to keep an old machine with the 5.25 floppy installed, and network it to the new one when you want anything.

Or go grab an already together system from the eight I have in storage.

I want to grab my old PPC mac too, and see if I can't get one of these new Linux PPC distros up on it..

Shame there are no more Alpha builds as I have one of those too..

I am working on getting an old obsolete SparkStation from work to play with as well.

I have a few old MFM drives too (like an original Tandon 10MB). Oh boy! A whole TEN MB!

Where are those hardware hungry museums at when you need them?

AZ Nomad isn't good for much, but he did say that the BIOS selection merely enables the interface, and that regardless of the drive choice it gives, your 5,25" should get enabled by using the 1.44 selection.

Ok, I am not really a PC expert. Would that mean that since the BIOS only allows one floppy I could just rig some toggle switch that picks which drive can be used? I remember there being some kind of twist in those cable with hopefully only two address lines in there that tells the mobo via the floppy connector which drive has been activated.

If you do robot stuff with those AVRs you would be able to lobby your kids onto your side ;-)

Yes, mini-tower 200, fat version. Tons of space in there. It's upgraded to 2GB and Intel dual-core (with a Goliath of a heat sink).

It looks like Foxconn may have made a special G33M for Dell, one where every penny was pinched out of it and that must have brought LPT and serial ports to grief. It's not found on their web site. The usual G33M does have those ports but the layout is quite different in some areas.

Sure, but sometimes I get the odd job of revising a production tester that has been in continuous use since the days of Ronald Reagan. If I am lucky the data is on 5-1/4" and not 8" floppies ;-)

That would be fine but anything USB-serial I've seen so far won't go above +/-5V or so. Won't run my trusty old trackball and the new ones give me a cramp.

Wow! Even has a capacitor for the main motor.

Hmm, now I've got 100% contradictory opinions. Two say it'll work, the OS will take over and recognizes both. Two others saying there ain't no chance. Guess I'll just try ;-)