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Wanted: 8-bit Floppy controller that supports 4 FDDs and 1.2/1.44 meg

M

marcoguy

Experienced Member
Joined
Feb 12, 2012
Messages
485
Location
Boston
I have an IBM PC/XT 5160 which I am currently in the process of upgrading to my dream vintage PC. Right now, I use a Microsoft MACH 20 286 Upgrade Card with a Disk Plus add-on as my floppy controller. It supports up to 2 high density 5.25" floppy drives and with my modded cable 3.5" floppy drives too. This configuration works well for me, however it is a huge waste of good resources because I do not use the MACH 20's 286 CPU or full 3.5 Mb of EMS/XMS RAM (I prefer to keep the original 8088 and the RAM add-on requires the 286 CPU to be running). Also, I am now in possession of a 5161 expansion unit and I would like to use the extra space to move my hard drive and CD-ROM drive to the 5161 and install the original HH 360K FDDs that shipped with my 5160 in the main unit along with my 1.2 and 1.44 meg drives. Unfortunately, the Disk Plus only supports 2 floppy drives, not 4, so I cannot install my good ol' 360K drives unless I upgrade my FDD controller to one that supports 4 floppy drives and has an on-board BIOS that enables HD floppy drives. As you can see, I am in need of a floppy controller such as this one, however it would need to support 4 internal drives and I would prefer to spend under $30 for it. If anybody has one, please send me a PM and I would be glad to trade you my MACH 20 for it or simply purchase it from you. Thank you for your time.

-Marcus
 
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I'd love to get in on that project, and the XT-IDE too for that matter, but I couldn't even begin to build my own ISA card.
 
marcoguy said:
I have an IBM PC/XT 5160 which I am currently in the process of upgrading to my dream vintage PC. Right now, I use a Microsoft MACH 20 286 Upgrade Card with a Disk Plus add-on as my floppy controller. It supports up to 2 high density 5.25" floppy drives and with my modded cable 3.5" floppy drives too. This configuration works well for me, however it is a huge waste of good resources because I do not use the MACH 20's 286 CPU or full 3.5 Mb of EMS/XMS RAM (I prefer to keep the original 8088 and the RAM add-on requires the 286 CPU to be running). Also, I am now in possession of a 5161 expansion unit and I would like to use the extra space to move my hard drive and CD-ROM drive to the 5161 and install the original HH 360K FDDs that shipped with my 5160 in the main unit along with my 1.2 and 1.44 meg drives. Unfortunately, the Disk Plus only supports 2 floppy drives, not 4, so I cannot install my good ol' 360K drives unless I upgrade my FDD controller to one that supports 4 floppy drives and has an on-board BIOS that enables HD floppy drives. As you can see, I am in need of a floppy controller such as this one, however it would need to support 4 internal drives and I would prefer to spend under $30 for it. If anybody has one, please send me a PM and I would be glad to trade you my MACH 20 for it or simply purchase it from you. Thank you for your time.

-Marcus
Click to expand...

I have a GSI Model 11 8-bit, four drive floppy controller that I could part with.

The user manual states it supports 4 HD floppies, 2.88MB "Super Floppies", and QIC-80 tape.

It used to work fine, but I haven't installed it in years.

What's the market for these today?
 
I used several GSI products in the past. They do support booting, the bios is the 32 pin plcc eeprom. GSI made some very good
hardware.
Bruce
 
Ah, thanks. I was looking for the usual BIOS EPROM and when I didn't see one, I was a little worried that it didn't have a BIOS and I would have to use a driver to access HD floppies.
 
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