Minimal hw configuration features?

skiselev / monster-fdc

ISA floppy disk controller card that supports up to 8 floppy drives

61 stars 4 forks source link

Minimal hw configuration features? #3

Closed AndersBNielsen closed 1 year ago

AndersBNielsen commented 1 year ago

The readme describes the board would work with just a single FDC + address decoding. Looks like an amazingly cheap alternative to buying a vintage FDC card.

Does that mean it would work with any drive the stock BIOS normally supports? (Without the bios extension)

Specifically I’m curious if I can get a 1.44Mb HD drive with an IBM XT 5160 (with 82 or ‘86 BIOS) - maybe just as a DD 720K drive? (Not sure what I can expect from the XT)

Basically, what can I expect from the minimal configuration with one FDC?

skiselev commented 1 year ago

The Monster FDC board will work with the system BIOS. In this case it would only support the first FDC
System BIOS of IBM PC/XT and compatibles only supports disk up to 720 KB. You can use 3.5"/1.44MB drives, but only with 720 KB diskettes (tape the "density detect" hole, if you like to format a 1.44 MB diskette as 720 KB). These systems typically support up to 4 drives
System BIOS of IBM AT and compatibles normally only supports 2 drives

If you're looking for a simpler FDC board, you could build or buy a board with only one FDC. For example my ISA Floppy Disk and Serial Controller, or derivatives, such as Monotech DeluxeFloppy or TexElec Quad-Flop.

AndersBNielsen commented 1 year ago

Thank you so much for getting back to me!

I have a Monster FDC PCB on my desk and components ready to solder - I might try it both with and without your BIOS. SST39SF010's are cheap! I already used bits and pieces of your Floppy BIOS for my "BIOS extension pong" project.

I see no issue partially populating the PCB with just a single FDC + decoding + passives so that's what I'm going for - that'll certainly be in the price range I'm going for. Thanks for the tip with the tape density detect hole - I would've forgotten about that and the 3.5" drives are easier to work with for testing than the 360k's

Thanks again!