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5150/5160 External Floppy Drives

Hawkeye0914

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Feb 17, 2019
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Dallas, TX
Did IBM make an external floppy drive for the 5150 or 5160? I have looked all over the internet and cannot find what one would have looked like. I am working slowly on getting a gotek to work as an external drive, and I would like to 3D print and paint a case for it to make it look like a drive that would have been offered. Any help/pictures would me much appreciated!
 
Yes. There was a 3.5" external drive which can be seen at https://www.recycledgoods.com/ibm-4865-720kb-3-5-external-floppy-drive/ There is a very similar model for the AT. I think the cables differ.

I don't remember an IBM external enclosure for 5.25" floppy drives for the 5150. Percom had a simple metal cube with dual drives inside. The following link might get to an ad in the Feb 1982 PC Magazine so you can see the Percom enclosure. https://books.google.com/books?id=w...nepage&q=external floppy drive percom&f=false
 
Additional floppy drives beyond the first two went in the 5161 expansion unit. The drives would be the same as the ones in the main case since the 5161 was the same size as the PC itself and even had its own power supply.
 
Yes. There was a 3.5" external drive which can be seen at https://www.recycledgoods.com/ibm-4865-720kb-3-5-external-floppy-drive/ There is a very similar model for the AT. I think the cables differ.

I don't remember an IBM external enclosure for 5.25" floppy drives for the 5150. Percom had a simple metal cube with dual drives inside. The following link might get to an ad in the Feb 1982 PC Magazine so you can see the Percom enclosure. https://books.google.com/books?id=w...nepage&q=external floppy drive percom&f=false

Perfect thanks! That looks like something out of a PS/2 so I wasn't sure if that was made for the PCs.

Additional floppy drives beyond the first two went in the 5161 expansion unit. The drives would be the same as the ones in the main case since the 5161 was the same size as the PC itself and even had its own power supply.

I hadn't even thought about that, but it makes perfect sense. Thanks!
 
There were several manufacturers of third-party external drives for the 5150. All you needed was an external power supply (recall the limited 63.5 watt PSU) and a box. The native 5150 floppy controller has an external DC37 socket for drives C: and D: and the planar configuration switches can be set so the BIOS support in enabled.

If you're curious, I can probably make a list.
 
There were several manufacturers of third-party external drives for the 5150. All you needed was an external power supply (recall the limited 63.5 watt PSU) and a box. The native 5150 floppy controller has an external DC37 socket for drives C: and D: and the planar configuration switches can be set so the BIOS support in enabled.

If you're curious, I can probably make a list.

Yeah Im waiting on some DB37 connectors I ordered to arrive, then Im hoping to make a working cable with help of the diagrams on minuszerodegrees. If you can think of any that have photos readily available that would great!

Now I'm thinking I might model a miniature 5161 to put the Gotek in. Maybe not the most realistic/historic way to do it, but would be fun and interesting I think.
 
the IBM 4869 external 360kB FDD works just fine on a 5150

I'm trying to upgrade my 4869-001 to -002 1.2MB capability, so the working 360KB FD is up for grabs.

Also, I don't know if they did a variant for the IBM PCs, but I had a Sysgen Bridge-File, with the Model 80 "adapter board" which fit a PS/2 Model 60/80, in the planar's FD cable socket, IIRC, to then split off a cable to a slot cover for the external drive, becoming Drive B: if needed.

There were different "adapter boards" for other PS/2 models, due to planar layout.
 
I think I still have an XT clone here with a Sysgen Omnibridge card installed--also supports 4 drives and adds high-density support. Surprised that no one has asked for a copy of the BIOS in all the time that I've said that I have one.
 
I'm trying to upgrade my 4869-001 to -002 1.2MB capability, so the working 360KB FD is up for grabs.

Also, I don't know if they did a variant for the IBM PCs, but I had a Sysgen Bridge-File, with the Model 80 "adapter board" which fit a PS/2 Model 60/80, in the planar's FD cable socket, IIRC, to then split off a cable to a slot cover for the external drive, becoming Drive B: if needed.

There were different "adapter boards" for other PS/2 models, due to planar layout.

I rather like those YE data 360kB drives, I'd hang on to it if I were you
 
I think I still have an XT clone here with a Sysgen Omnibridge card installed--also supports 4 drives and adds high-density support. Surprised that no one has asked for a copy of the BIOS in all the time that I've said that I have one.

I’ve got a sysgen card, PSA 1030X, but it seems to be for AT style controllers or maybe clones that didn’t have an external port. No ROMs are anything on this. It came in my 5170 and was connected internally to the stock floppy controller.

520FE766-A58D-41A5-A66B-1AACFCB134A4.jpeg
 
Additional floppy drives beyond the first two went in the 5161 expansion unit. The drives would be the same as the ones in the main case since the 5161 was the same size as the PC itself and even had its own power supply.

so wait a second - was there an additional FDC in the 5161 on a different I/O port, or was there a DC-37 cable going from the main FDC to the expansion chassis in addition to the DC-62 cable from the bus transmitter card?
 
And what do you suppose that would be connected to in the expansion unit? :)

One could do what other external floppy drive enclosures did: place a 37-pin socket pointed to the outside that connects to a 34 pin internal cable. Two big bulky cables would run between the cases. That would be absurdly wasteful of the expansion unit's capability. I have never seen a 5161 with that; the only one I have seen with a floppy drive had a controller in the expansion unit.
 
One could do what other external floppy drive enclosures did: place a 37-pin socket pointed to the outside that connects to a 34 pin internal cable. Two big bulky cables would run between the cases. That would be absurdly wasteful of the expansion unit's capability. I have never seen a 5161 with that; the only one I have seen with a floppy drive had a controller in the expansion unit.

Right so where I'm going with this is - if there was another FDC in the expansion chassis, it would need to be set to a different I/O port to avoid conflicting with the main system's one. But software to drive such a controller in DOS doesn't appear to exist.
 
Yeah Im waiting on some DB37 connectors I ordered to arrive, then Im hoping to make a working cable with help of the diagrams on minuszerodegrees. If you can think of any that have photos readily available that would great!

Now I'm thinking I might model a miniature 5161 to put the Gotek in. Maybe not the most realistic/historic way to do it, but would be fun and interesting I think.

Sometimes, you can use external hard drive enclosures to house a gotek. This is a picture of mine:
2019-07-12-7-small.jpg
 
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