Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!columbia!rutgers!mit-eddie!genrad!decvax!decwrl!sun!imagen!atari!dyer From: dyer@atari.UUcp (Landon Dyer) Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st Subject: Re: NEC Floppy Disk Drive at the Atari Message-ID: <515@atari.UUcp> Date: Wed, 14-Jan-87 14:01:38 EST Article-I.D.: atari.515 Posted: Wed Jan 14 14:01:38 1987 Date-Received: Thu, 15-Jan-87 03:32:36 EST References: <8701131708.AA08318@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> Organization: Atari Corp., Sunnyvale CA Lines: 26 > I just bought a NEC FD 1036 A disk drive and I added it to my > ATARI 1040 STF as a second disk drive. > > How do I have to modify the drive so that the media changes will > be recognized? I'm pretty good in soldering, and I'm definitely not > afraid of soldering on the disk drive's electronic board. The floppy disk driver peeks at the write-protect status of each floppy drive every few vblanks. Atari floppy drives are spec'd to return valid write-protect status all the time, whether the drive is active or not. The write-protect transition information is used as an aid for detecting the removal of non-write-protected media. Some drives (possibly including the one by NEC mentioned above) return valid write-protect only when the drive is spinning. You'll have to call the drive manufacturer, or find a schematic somewhere. -- -Landon Dyer, Atari Corp. {sun,lll-lcc,imagen}!atari!dyer /-----------------------------------------------\ | The views represented here do not necessarily | "If Business is War, then | reflect those of Atari Corp., or even my own. | I'm a Prisoner of Business!" \-----------------------------------------------/