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Model II,12,16,16B,6000 8" to 5.25 Inch floppy adapter cable 50 pin to 34 pin

A note about the sides jumper. I discovered that with the jumper open TRSDOS II 4.2 will not boot all the way. So you need to install the jumper and push the reset button then it will all the way till you get the Logo and date prompt. So jumper should be on when any double sided disks are being used.
 
In case anybody is interested, I just pushed out a new version (v2) of my drive adapter board to GitHub and OSH Park:

https://github.com/NF6X/fd50to34
https://oshpark.com/shared_projects/rcBdYGZm

Naturally, the board is "use at your own risk" since I haven't even received bare boards from OSH Park yet, having just ordered the first batch minutes ago. But it's a pretty minimal change form the previous version, which seems to work with my Model 12 and Lotharek emulator.

Good luck, and enjoy!
 
Would like to raise my hand and say I want one when they get in. I know my prototype based on your diagram does work. Well done Mark.

I wasn't planning to sell the boards myself at this time, but you can order bare boards right now at the OSH Park link:

https://oshpark.com/shared_projects/rcBdYGZm

Quantity has to be a multiple of 3; that's just how OSH Park works. At the moment, cost is a bit over $20 for 3 bare boards. For instructions, head over to the Github link and scroll down:

https://github.com/NF6X/fd50to34

At some point I might start selling finished, assembled things like this board, but I'm not ready quite yet. The darned day job gets in the way of my fun. I was thinking about using Tindie as a storefront if and when they start supporting some way other than PayPal to pay sellers. I'd love to spend all my time making and selling things like this adapter board, but that would barely pay my Starbucks tab, let alone my mortgage! :)
 
I got a question about how to order boards from OSH Park, and I'll answer it here. I keep forgetting that this stuff isn't second nature for folks who don't do it for a living. :)

Ok, OSH Park is a printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturer which caters to folks building prototypes and very small runs. They're quite excellent for making boards for our hobby stuff. They have a feature called "Shared Projects" which is especially nice for the kinds of stuff that we do here: Once somebody like me designs a board and uploads the design files to OSH Park, we have the option to share the project so that anybody can order it without needing to know about the tricky details of creating or uploading PCB artwork. If you order one of my shared projects, you get the exact same cost as I do for the bare boards, and I don't get a cent. I won't even know that you ordered boards unless you feel like telling me. You'll still need to order the parts yourself and solder them on. This board is pretty simple, with two through-hole connectors and a few jumpers.

If you haven't used OSH Park before, you'll need to register there first:

register.jpg

Once you've signed up, go to the project link that I shared and click "Order now":

order.jpg

You need to order a multiple of 3 boards at a time. There's actually a technical reason for this constraint, which is all tied up in how printed circuit boards are manufactured, and how OSH Park batches up production runs in order to offer such low prices.

checkout.jpg


This is still a do-it-yourself project, and you'll need to order the components yourself from someplace like Digi-Key. If you go to the Github page for this board and scroll down to the bottom, you'll find part numbers for the components:

parts.jpg
 
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Some more details that I forgot to mention:

For each assembled board, you will need one 34-pin connector and one 50-pin connector. The pins for jumpers JP1-JP4 come in strips of 36 pins, and you snap or cut off what you need in 2-pin or 3-pin lengths. So if you order quantity 1 of part number PBC36SBAN, you'll get one 36-pin strip which you can cut into enough pieces to assemble two boards (14 pins per board), with some left over.
 
Ok here is a really odd question. Can this be used in reverse? hook 34 pin to PC and 50 pin to 8" drive. My guess is most likely not.

At least one problem with that would be missing TG43. The FDADAP solves that.
 
I received my version 2 fd50to34 boards today. They're purple, as I expected. I'm not sure if I'll have a chance to assemble and test one this weekend, but I think they're quite likely to work out just fine since they're a pretty minor modification of the version 1 boards, which seem to work with a Lotharek emulator on my Model 12 based on limited testing. I wonder if there would be enough interest in them to have a batch of them made and then sell assembled boards on Tindie or something? They don't really do anything that folks haven't been doing for decades with hand-wired cables, but they're another option.

https://github.com/NF6X/fd50to34
https://oshpark.com/shared_projects/rcBdYGZm
 
Well, after running the numbers, I think my little adapter board only makes economic sense for me to build if I make at least 100 of them. But I'm skeptical that I'd ever sell 100 of them. Waaaah! :(
 
I finally put together a NF6X floppy adapter board and successfully have it working on my Model II with my HxC!

IMG_0912.jpgIMG_0911.jpgIMG_0909.jpgIMG_0908.jpgIMG_0907.jpg

I can read Model II IMD disks fine. I have not been able to write to them yet. Any ideas? I'm getting TRSDOS Error 15 which is Write Protect Enabled. The write lock switch on the SD card is off.

Mark, one suggestion on the next design would be to provide a little more space between the jumpers and the floppy connectors. With a standard header box they are too close so I had to mount the jumpers on the other side. See the picture. Not a big deal.
 
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