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

[Joerg]

Hello Folks,

Got a new desktop from Dell (Vostro). Looking at the BIOS is only lists
one drive letter (A) and just has the 3-1/2" option. Does this mean it
can only run one floppy drive and it must be 3-1/2"?

I wanted to put two in there, one being the lone 5-1/2" I've got so I
can retire the old machine. Once in a blue moon a client wants me to
redesign something from the ice age and often there is stuff on those
old floppies. Which of course I then dutifully carry over onto a CD.

Also, does anyone know the Foxconn G33M02 motherboard that's in those
machines? Foxconn only has the specs for the G33M which is grossly
different. Beats me why. Anyhow, I wanted to run LPT and RS232 off of
there (guess I can forget that one...) and figure out whether it can
drive two VGA monitors. The "documentation" that Dell furnished online
this time was, to say it politely, mighty disappointing. Writing to OEM
suppliers has never yielded much.

 

[Jim Thompson]

Hello Folks,

Got a new desktop from Dell (Vostro). Looking at the BIOS is only lists
one drive letter (A) and just has the 3-1/2" option. Does this mean it
can only run one floppy drive and it must be 3-1/2"?

I wanted to put two in there, one being the lone 5-1/2" I've got so I
can retire the old machine. Once in a blue moon a client wants me to
redesign something from the ice age and often there is stuff on those
old floppies. Which of course I then dutifully carry over onto a CD.

[snip]

About two years ago I finally took a week off and copied all my 5-1/4"
archived design stuff onto CD's.

My fear was not lack of a drive... but of a driver that would run
under new OS's.

Takes up a lot less space.

Caution, make sure you make an index where you can look up which
design is on what CD. I had literally thousands of schematics (which
I converted to PDF to make sure of readability in the future).

...Jim Thompson

 

[Martin Griffith]

Hello Folks,

Got a new desktop from Dell (Vostro). Looking at the BIOS is only lists
one drive letter (A) and just has the 3-1/2" option. Does this mean it
can only run one floppy drive and it must be 3-1/2"?

I wanted to put two in there, one being the lone 5-1/2" I've got so I
can retire the old machine. Once in a blue moon a client wants me to
redesign something from the ice age and often there is stuff on those
old floppies. Which of course I then dutifully carry over onto a CD.

Also, does anyone know the Foxconn G33M02 motherboard that's in those
machines? Foxconn only has the specs for the G33M which is grossly
different. Beats me why. Anyhow, I wanted to run LPT and RS232 off of
there (guess I can forget that one...) and figure out whether it can
drive two VGA monitors. The "documentation" that Dell furnished online
this time was, to say it politely, mighty disappointing. Writing to OEM
suppliers has never yielded much.

google USB floppy, save a lot of problems


Martin

 

[Joerg]

Hello Folks,

Got a new desktop from Dell (Vostro). Looking at the BIOS is only lists
one drive letter (A) and just has the 3-1/2" option. Does this mean it
can only run one floppy drive and it must be 3-1/2"?

I wanted to put two in there, one being the lone 5-1/2" I've got so I
can retire the old machine. Once in a blue moon a client wants me to
redesign something from the ice age and often there is stuff on those
old floppies. Which of course I then dutifully carry over onto a CD.

[snip]

About two years ago I finally took a week off and copied all my 5-1/4"
archived design stuff onto CD's.

For my own stuff I'm in the clear, did that long ago. But once in a
while I have to salvage something where the original designer had been
gone since more than a decade. Usually some kind of engineering test
rig. Where's the code? Oh, wait there is that stack of stuff there in
the back of the closet ... Luckily no eight-inchers so far. Those would
have been a problem.

My fear was not lack of a drive... but of a driver that would run
under new OS's.

Actually I could even get it into this new machine if I rip out that
stupid flapper on the front bezel. Or heck, get rid of the front bezel.
But the BIOS says there is no B-drive, only A and you can select "none"
or "3.5" :-(

I am afraid it's the BIOS and maybe the chip set on the motherboard
itself that is going to suffocate 5-1/4.

Takes up a lot less space.

Caution, make sure you make an index where you can look up which
design is on what CD. I had literally thousands of schematics (which
I converted to PDF to make sure of readability in the future).

I still got my old DOS-OrCad here. Feels like hopping into grampa's old
Plymouth Fury.

 

[Joerg]

google USB floppy, save a lot of problems

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.

 

[ChairmanOfTheBored]

Hello Folks,

Got a new desktop from Dell (Vostro). Looking at the BIOS is only lists
one drive letter (A) and just has the 3-1/2" option. Does this mean it
can only run one floppy drive and it must be 3-1/2"?

I wanted to put two in there, one being the lone 5-1/2" I've got so I
can retire the old machine. Once in a blue moon a client wants me to
redesign something from the ice age and often there is stuff on those
old floppies. Which of course I then dutifully carry over onto a CD.

Also, does anyone know the Foxconn G33M02 motherboard that's in those
machines? Foxconn only has the specs for the G33M which is grossly
different. Beats me why. Anyhow, I wanted to run LPT and RS232 off of
there (guess I can forget that one...) and figure out whether it can
drive two VGA monitors. The "documentation" that Dell furnished online
this time was, to say it politely, mighty disappointing. Writing to OEM
suppliers has never yielded much.

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.

 

[ChairmanOfTheBored]

I am afraid it's the BIOS and maybe the chip set on the motherboard
itself that is going to suffocate 5-1/4.

With a non-compliant MOBO, your only choice would be to get an add-on
card like the old MFM/serial/parallel cards. Good luck finding one in
PCI format. OR, buy a better brand of MOBO next time.

No wonder you guys have shit slow experiences with Vista. You always
buy bottom of the barrel crap.

 

[ChairmanOfTheBored]

I still got my old DOS-OrCad here. Feels like hopping into grampa's old
Plymouth Fury.

It runs fine on my VISTA box under DOSBox emu. and the Emu even kick it
up a notch by converting the old 640x480 or 800x600 vga output to
1280x768 no problem.

I can post a screen shot of it and Tango PCB FILLING my 32" LCD
display.

No jaggies, just my apps working in whatever enviro I want!

DOSBox rules. Wine is lame, and other emus too. VMWare is the only
other thing that even comes close, but it nor Wine will work on my PS3
PPC64, but DOSBox does!

 

[ChairmanOfTheBored]

Now I don't even know
whether this mobo does dual-monitor.

Your MOBO does NOT do dual monitor. It is your VIDEO card that is
responsible for that, and support of the OS.

 

[Tam/WB2TT]

Hello Folks,

Got a new desktop from Dell (Vostro). Looking at the BIOS is only lists
one drive letter (A) and just has the 3-1/2" option. Does this mean it can
only run one floppy drive and it must be 3-1/2"?

-- .............................................................
Regards, Joerg

I would call Dell and ask.

Tam

 

[AZ Nomad]

I would call Dell and ask.

At the hardware level, there is no difference between 3.5" floppies and 5.25"
floppies. You can format one as the other. You can read either format no
matter what the BIOS thinks. The only thing you need to do at the BIOS level
is enable the controller. For formating floppies, you have to format the
correct # of sectors/track. XP still has the capability; I don't know about
that POS vista.

 

[ChairmanOfTheBored]

At the hardware level, there is no difference between 3.5" floppies and 5.25"
floppies. You can format one as the other. You can read either format no
matter what the BIOS thinks. The only thing you need to do at the BIOS level
is enable the controller. For formating floppies, you have to format the
correct # of sectors/track. XP still has the capability; I don't know about
that POS vista.

It takes a true POS like you not to know.

 

[[email protected]]

Hello Folks,

Got a new desktop from Dell (Vostro). Looking at the BIOS is only lists
one drive letter (A) and just has the 3-1/2" option. Does this mean it
can only run one floppy drive and it must be 3-1/2"?

I wanted to put two in there, one being the lone 5-1/2" I've got so I
can retire the old machine. Once in a blue moon a client wants me to
redesign something from the ice age and often there is stuff on those
old floppies. Which of course I then dutifully carry over onto a CD.

Also, does anyone know the Foxconn G33M02 motherboard that's in those
machines? Foxconn only has the specs for the G33M which is grossly
different. Beats me why. Anyhow, I wanted to run LPT and RS232 off of
there (guess I can forget that one...) and figure out whether it can
drive two VGA monitors. The "documentation" that Dell furnished online
this time was, to say it politely, mighty disappointing. Writing to OEM
suppliers has never yielded much.

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

 

[Joerg]

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.

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 ;-)

 

[Joerg]

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.

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

 

[Joerg]

End in India, usually, and then they say what's in the manual for BIOS
settings (which say "nope").

At the hardware level, there is no difference between 3.5" floppies and 5.25"
floppies. You can format one as the other. You can read either format no
matter what the BIOS thinks. The only thing you need to do at the BIOS level
is enable the controller. For formating floppies, you have to format the
correct # of sectors/track. XP still has the capability; I don't know about
that POS vista.

Ah, so I could possibly rig up a bunch of relays or bus switches and
have a HW toggle up front? The BIOS will only recognize one floppy
drive. So XP won't even get to see them I guess.

 

[[email protected]]

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

 

[AZ Nomad]

AZ Nomad wrote:

End in India, usually, and then they say what's in the manual for BIOS
settings (which say "nope").

Not dell. They'll tell you to 're-initialize' (reformat and blow
everything away).

Ah, so I could possibly rig up a bunch of relays or bus switches and
have a HW toggle up front? The BIOS will only recognize one floppy
drive. So XP won't even get to see them I guess.

You silly goose. All you need is the right cable. The standard floppy
interface can handle two drives, either 3.5" or 5.25".

The BIOS is just there to initialize the controller and load the OS. Once the
OS is running, it is out of the picture. Any OS more modern than about DOS 2.x
will re-initialize the floppy controller, scan for available drives, etc.

Just get the cable and try it. You've nothing to lose.

 

[AZ Nomad]

On Fri, 05 Oct 2007 02:24:41 GMT, AZ Nomad

It takes a true POS like you not to know.

you're pathetic.

 

[Eeyore]

Hello Folks,

Got a new desktop from Dell (Vostro). Looking at the BIOS is only lists
one drive letter (A) and just has the 3-1/2" option. Does this mean it
can only run one floppy drive and it must be 3-1/2"?

I wanted to put two in there, one being the lone 5-1/2" I've got so I
can retire the old machine. Once in a blue moon a client wants me to
redesign something from the ice age and often there is stuff on those
old floppies. Which of course I then dutifully carry over onto a CD.

Also, does anyone know the Foxconn G33M02 motherboard that's in those
machines? Foxconn only has the specs for the G33M which is grossly
different. Beats me why. Anyhow, I wanted to run LPT and RS232 off of
there (guess I can forget that one...) and figure out whether it can
drive two VGA monitors. The "documentation" that Dell furnished online
this time was, to say it politely, mighty disappointing. Writing to OEM
suppliers has never yielded much.

I'm thinking the only possible way amy be to add another contoller card. At one
time Adaptec made SCSI controllers with floppy support too IIRC.

Graham