mikerm
Experienced Member
I thought I would start a thread to put together all of the information about Microsolutions backpack floppy drives and also make it part of my external 5 1/4" floppy drive project. There are a bunch of threads filled with useful information strewn everywhere on the forum. Here is my attempt at combining all of the information into one thread.
First, the auction on eBay that is currently providing these things for $1 each in their original shrinkwrapped box.
I copied the driver CD that comes with them to ISO for anyone needing it. It has files for the hard drive, cd-rom drive, and floppy drive versions of their products.
BackpackCD200.iso
Here is a flyer for their products (also here: backpack flyer):
A TSR for them:
Some more great information thanks to Chuck(G):
Here is a tip on how to take apart the 3 1/2" floppy enclosure:
1. 4 tabs located on the sides on the top part, push them in to release cover.
2. Slide floppy forwards to lift out
3. Gently bend back a tab on one side of the controller, hold with finger, then bend back the next tab back on the same side to release the controller board.
Power:
The backpack 3 1/2" floppy power supply puts out 5v 1amp, center positive.
Circuit board:
P4 seems to be for a standard molex connector, +5,GND,GND,+12
The post that started it all, and the person who deserves all the credit for this!
An example of what not to do with these:
Alternatives:
MicroSolutions did in fact make an external parallel 5 1/4" enclosure. If you find that you are golden.
This company is now making 5 1/4" USB controllers: (insert site here if I can find it again)
Don't forget the Parallel (25 pin) to USB adapter!
First, the auction on eBay that is currently providing these things for $1 each in their original shrinkwrapped box.
Maverick1978 said:
I copied the driver CD that comes with them to ISO for anyone needing it. It has files for the hard drive, cd-rom drive, and floppy drive versions of their products.
BackpackCD200.iso
Here is a flyer for their products (also here: backpack flyer):
modem7 said:
A TSR for them:
(attached as NECPACK..ZIP and available here: NECPACK..ZIP)Chuck(G) said:Here you go--this is a real-mode TSR for the backpack that supports all INT 13H BIOS functions. Somewhere I have the Win9x VxD code if you're interested. Sorry, no XP or NT code--the product timing was wrong for it. But there's enough here to write an NT-style driver if you're interested--have at it! [...]. It's all MASM 6.11 code and should be pretty much self-explanatory.
Some more great information thanks to Chuck(G):
Chuck(G) said:These things are pretty neat in that they have a standard 1.44MB floppy combined with a NSC 8477 controller, a small (8051) microcontroller and some (16K, I think) RAM and a bit of NVRAM for storing configuration data. Commands are sent via the parallel port as if you were talking directly to the controller. There's nothing an ISA floppy controller can do that these babies can't--including single-density support.
The other tidbit is that the controller in each one of these will support up to two 360K/720K/1.2MB or 1.44MB drives (and probably 2.88M). Just pull the PCB out and set your unit up with whatever.
Here is a tip on how to take apart the 3 1/2" floppy enclosure:
1. 4 tabs located on the sides on the top part, push them in to release cover.
2. Slide floppy forwards to lift out
3. Gently bend back a tab on one side of the controller, hold with finger, then bend back the next tab back on the same side to release the controller board.
Power:
The backpack 3 1/2" floppy power supply puts out 5v 1amp, center positive.
Circuit board:
P4 seems to be for a standard molex connector, +5,GND,GND,+12
The post that started it all, and the person who deserves all the credit for this!
Chuck(G) said:If you need a parallel 5.25" backpack (for use, not just to have something pretty on the shelf), you can take a standard 5.25" drive (or better yet, a dual 3.5"/5.25" drive)), supply your own power supply to the drive and connect it to the board from a 3.5" Backpack and use it that way. Every Backpack floppy drive has a NVRAM/EEPROM on it to hold configuration information for up to 4 drives. Simply use the SETID utility that comes with the drive and add the command-line switch "/DRIVETYPE".
Bingo--you're in business. Supply your own 5.25" enclosure.
An example of what not to do with these:
raven said:I hooked a Trantor MiniSCSI adapter chained to a backpack 1.44MB floppy chained to a ZIP250 up to my Sr. Partner on DOS2.11, and trying to run the backpack driver caused the external HDD I had on the Trantor to fry itself and smoke went everywhere.
DO NOT DO THIS! :O
Alternatives:
MicroSolutions did in fact make an external parallel 5 1/4" enclosure. If you find that you are golden.
This company is now making 5 1/4" USB controllers: (insert site here if I can find it again)
Don't forget the Parallel (25 pin) to USB adapter!
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