[Coco] 3.5" Drive Variable in the NitrOS-9 Module Header

[Gene Heskett]

On Sunday 27 January 2013 14:53:51 David Ladd did opine:
Message additions Copyright Sunday 27 January 2013 by Gene Heskett

> On Sun, Jan 27, 2013 at 10:29 AM, Bill Pierce <ooogalapasooo at aol.com> 
wrote:
> > >The only thing you really needed to do for 80 track drives was to
> > >make
> > 
> > sure
> > 
> > >you had typ=21 and cyl=50
> > >On the high density 5.25" drives you needed to change some jumpers is
> > >all
> > 
> > I
> > 
> > >can remember at this point.  As far as 1.44MB 3.5" floppy drives if
> > >you used a real 720K floppy disk in it the detector switch
> > >automatically would set the correct data rate of the floppy drive to
> > >double density.
> > 
> > Also, to use a 3.5" 1.44m disk as 720k, you could cover the "HD" id
> > hole on the disk and the drive would recognize the disk as 720k. The
> > hole was opposite of the write protect slider. I used the old write
> > protect stickers from 5.25" disks for this. If the disk had been
> > "factory formatted" for IBM, most times you needed to use a bulk
> > eraser to clear the disk because the drive eraser wasn't strong
> > enough to erase those "factory formatted" disks.
> 
> Bill, good thing you brought that up.  I forgot to say anything about
> using 1.44MB disks as 720K disks.
> 
Bear in mind, all of you, that covering the HD hole also turns down the 
write/erase current.  The 'HD' disk has a somewhat harder to magnetize 
coating, and the reduced write current is then insufficient to make a good 
'loud' recording that tends to have a fast fade to oblivion rate.  I have 
had such disks finally format on the 3rd or 4th try, then be incapable of 
being read well enough to locate the track 10 minutes later. So I gave up 
buying HD disks long ago, and have been hoarding the DD's I have, leftovers 
from my amiga days very carefully.

But with drivewire & HDB-DOS, I now have alternate means of 'floppy' 
storage, so its not nearly so important to me.

Cheers, Gene
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