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CoCo FD 501

C

chuckcmagee

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The FD 501 I just got came with a very short extra flat cable. It has gold contacts, just like the 501, and a male connector on one end with 2 female connectors. Seems to be designed to plug into the ROM connector on the CoCo giving you 2 places to plug in ROM carts. Can you do that on a CoCo??? Like plug in 2 FD 501 controller carts at the same time? Sortof a 2 position multi-pak?

Anyway, if this is true, let me know. I have read that you need to put a fan into the 501 case if you put 2 drives in it. If that cable deal works, I could leave just one drive in each case.
 
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I also ended up with a FD 500. Those "blankity blank" Tandy guys flipped everything over between the 500 and 501. The data cable connector is on the right back in the 500 and left back on the 501. Otherwise, I already would have 2 single sided drives in one case. The vent holes in the 500 case are much better than the 501. But, I just couldn't get the cable to go from one side to the other in 1 inch of vertical space.
 
Y-cable?

Y-cable?

I think you have one of those fabled Y-cables that allowed you to plug in, say, a floppy controller and something else, such as a Speech/Sound Pak. I'd guess that it's a "poor man's MultiPak".

http://www.coco3.com/ind_faqs.php#ycable

I have doubts that you can use 2 floppy controllers at the same time, but I could be wrong. I'm guessing you'd be better off trying to put 2 drives on one controller.

I, too, have an FD-501, and ran dual drives in it without a fan for a long time. My original Tandy drive finally died (due to heat? age?) and I picked up a second matching IBM-face-plated 1/2 height drive (don't remember the manufacturer) for the same case. I also installed a fan at the same time, just to be safe. The drives are slow, but now at least the face plates match and the drive latches are on the same side. ;)

BTW, sorry to hear you were dissappointed in the audio quality of the Orch 90-CC. Keep in mind that this is early 80s stuff...
 
The Y-cables to use in place of a multipack are VERY short - I'm talking 6-8 inches total, as I have one of those.

what you MAY have, is a later non-XT cable, that had extra card-edge connectors crimped onto it.

T
 
Yep, this one is VERY SHORT. Beautiful gold contacts with white plastic connectors. I'll have to try it out with a disk controller and a "talker" rom, see if that works.
 
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