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Floppy + serial card - feedback?

1

1200XL M.U.L.E.

Experienced Member
Joined
May 9, 2021
Messages
84
I'd like to add a serial port to my 5150 so I can connect a mouse to it. Google showed me two new options available. Both include a floppy controller! My current floppy controller is made by JCC and looks like a generic clone/copy of something else.

The first option is the Sergey Kiselev card from eBay (where I bought my XT-CF-Lite) but it is out of stock.

The second option is the DeluxeFloppy card from Monotech. No mention is made on the page of it being out of stock.

Has anyone used either of these?

P.S. My 5150 has 5 slots and only is free.

1. CGA + parallel port card
2. JCC/Generic floppy controller card
3. Lo-Tech 1MB card
4. XT-CF-Lite card
5. <empty>

If I can replace my current floppy controller card with a floppy controller + serial port card then I would still have one free slot! Maybe I could install a sound card or something there.
 
Both of my XT's that I use have the Sergey Kiselev card. My only complaint with the card is that it only has one serial port. You have to choose if you're going to use a mouse, or serial communication, but you can't do both. It works great though and it's nice to have the HD drive support for easy transfer of files form a USB Floppy drive on a modern PC.
 
So, your XT, which does not natively support HD media, plus the Kiselev card plus a version of DOS that support HD media all together lets you read 1.44MB and 1.2MB floppy disks?

For some reason I thought the PC and XT machines had some limitation that prevented them from interacting with anything other than DSDD media.
 
Easy way to tell if controller won't support HD floppy drives in HD mode is to check xtal (crystal/quartz) - if it's 8mhz, it's DS/DD max.

If the controller does support HD drives in HD mode, you still need a BIOS for it. If controller board has it, great, otherwise you have to organize it yourself.
 
dhau said:
Easy way to tell if controller won't support HD floppy drives in HD mode is to check xtal (crystal/quartz) - if it's 8mhz, it's DS/DD max.

If the controller does support HD drives in HD mode, you still need a BIOS for it. If controller board has it, great, otherwise you have to organize it yourself.
Click to expand...

(Emphasis added)

And, these snazzy controllers just happen to have the necessary BIOS code, yes?

:eek:ha:
 
bolex said:
Both of my XT's that I use have the Sergey Kiselev card. My only complaint with the card is that it only has one serial port. You have to choose if you're going to use a mouse, or serial communication, but you can't do both. It works great though and it's nice to have the HD drive support for easy transfer of files form a USB Floppy drive on a modern PC.
Click to expand...

You can always switch between the two with an A-B serial port switch.
 
1200XL M.U.L.E. said:
So, your XT, which does not natively support HD media, plus the Kiselev card plus a version of DOS that support HD media all together lets you read 1.44MB and 1.2MB floppy disks?

For some reason I thought the PC and XT machines had some limitation that prevented them from interacting with anything other than DSDD media.
Click to expand...

Natively, you are correct, an XT cannot use a HD floppy drive. However, either one of those cards you mentioned above gives the XT the extended BIOS and hardware necessary to support HD floppy drives. It will even support 2.88MB ED drives.
 
Chuck(G) said:
You can always switch between the two with an A-B serial port switch.
Click to expand...

That's true. I think I'm going to just install network cards in them. Right now, they both have CF cards with front facing slots and so it's not too big of deal to sneakernet files around when needed.
 
I paid for the card with PayPal and the charge to my credit card was posted today. It turns out Monotech is in New Zealand. If it was mentioned somewhere on the website then I totally missed it. I was charged an additional $1.83 for a foreign transaction fee. It's not a big deal or anything but I didn't expect it.

That means the card isn't coming tomorrow. :rolleyes: Time to pivot to adding 2MB of EMS.;)
 
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