[Coco] Re: Disk Basic and 512 byte block floppies.

[Torsten Dittel]

Hi John,
I wonder if you ever tried that one. There are so called "3-mode" FD
drivers around (only in Japan) which could help accessing other formats
(don't know if this really works for a 256 Bytes/sector CoCo-Disk). I
found the following instructions to install one:

[...]

So I went looking for a 3mode floppy driver.  First, I tried the Windows
2000 stock floppy driver.  No go.  I tried the Windows ME floppy driver.
Again, no go.  I tried the Windows 98 floppy driver.  Nada.

It took me a day or two more, but I found one at
http://www.viaarena.com/.
This driver is for Windows XP Embedded, but works just fine in Windows
XP.
I had to force the driver in (Windows XP wouldn't take it using the
normal
driver update process), but I now have no problems with my floppy
drive.  I
suggest you download this before they pull it in violation of the DMCA
or
something ;O)

Here's the link to the driver:
http://downloads.viaarena.com/WinXPE/Oct02/XPe_3mflp132_v10.zip

And here are the steps necessary to install it (make sure there isn't a
floppy disk in the drive!):

1. Download driver.

2. Unzip the driver somewhere (I keep all of my drivers in
C:\Drivers\<Driver>, so I extracted it to C:\Drivers\3mode).

3. Open Windows XP's Device Manager, expand the "Floppy disk
controllers"
heading, and double-click the listing for "Standard floppy disk
controller".

4. Click the "Driver" tab, then click the "Update Driver" button.

5. Select the "Install from a list or specific location" radio button
and
click the "Next" button.

6. Select the "Don't search.  I will choose the driver to install."
radio
button and click the "Next" button.

7. Click the "Have Disk" button; then, click the "Browse" button. 
Browse to
the location that you extracted the files to in step 2 and double click
the
"VIA3MFPY.INF" file.  Then, click the "OK" button.

8. You should now have "VIA 3-mode floppy controller" highlighted in the
drivers list.  Click the "Next" button to begin the driver file copy. 
Once
the file copy is complete, your floppy disk drive will access 3 times
(checking all 3 "modes").  This is normal.  Click the "Finish" button
when
the driver installation is complete.

9a. You may, or may not, have a device labeled "Unknown Device" in the
"Other Devices" heading in Device Manager.  If so, continue with step
9a.
If not, skip to step 9b.  If you have a device labeled "Unknown Device"
in
the "Other Devices" heading in Device Manager, right-click on it and
select
"Update Driver".  Follow steps 5 through 8 to complete the installation
of
"Floppy disk drive" (note that the naming of the driver in the drivers
list
in step 8 may be different during this step - this is normal).  Once
you've
clicked the "Finish" button, continue on to step 10.

9b. If you do not have a device labeled "Unknown Device" in the "Other
Devices" heading in Device Manager, expand the "Floppy disk drives"
heading
in Device Manager and double-click the listing for "Floppy disk drive".
Follow steps 4 through 8 to complete the installation of "Floppy disk
drive"
(note that the naming of the driver in the drivers list in step 8 may be
different during this step - this is normal).  Once you've clicked the
"Finish" button, continue on to step 10.

10. Reboot your PC.  This should let you know if all of your hard work
REALLY paid off.  Check the Device Manager one last time to be sure that
you
now have the "VIA 3-mode floppy controller listed under the "Floppy disk
controllers" heading.