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IBM PS/1 - floppy drive power connection

D

deansongs

New Member
Joined
Aug 23, 2004
Messages
6
I need to hook up a floppy drive for a gentleman with an IBM PS/1 that did come with a floppy drive originally. He has removed it some time back when it quit working and it is gone now.

When I took the cover off, the data cable was right there, but I did not see a power cable. Only power wires I saw were from the motheboard to a small fan in back. I did see a 4 pin male connector on a board sitting on top of the motherboard, directly behind the floppy drive slot. It was not being used. Would that be it?

Also, assuming that any drive will work, no need for a board or program to control drive. Am I assuming too much?

Thanks for any help!!

Dean

dsechrest@humana.com
 
I don't remember if the PS/1 uses the same kind of drive as the PS/2, but if you need it, I have a PS/2 drive for ya. The PS/2 drives have the power integrated into the data cable, so there is no separate power cable for it.

--T
 
I feel not so stupid...

I feel not so stupid...

I asked several people if it was possible that the power went through the data cable and they all said "no".

I think it would be worth a try!

Dean


dsechrest@humana.com
502-580-8533
 
Might depend on what ps/1 it is... on my 2155 (486 sx), the insides look just like any other computer, and I have two drives, a 3.5 and a 5.25 hooked up... sounds like you might be working on one of the earlier ps/1's with the power supply in the monitor? It might be as Terry said, set up like the ps/2 (I think that's the 2121... the 386, or even the earlier 2011 286?)... if so, all parts are proprietary, like the ps/2's

The people you asked about the drive might have been thinking about the newer ps/1, like mine, which *does* use standard floppy drives
 
You all make me wish that I was into PCs and hardware, you make it sound fun!

The PC he has is a little bitty, small flat one in a steel case box. I saw some pictures in some PC museum websites, and his does not look like those. It is only like 3 inches tall. The 3.5" floppy drive was on the left (when viewed from front) and the hard drive was on the right front. There really wasnt a ton of space in between cause it isn't very die, either. The power supply is in the monitor. It's quite the cute little thing.
 
PS: the people I asked didn't seem to know anything about older machines, they acted like they never heard of power coming through the data ribbon. When you say proprietary, are you thinking proprietary and design changed between ps/2 and ps/1, or are you thinking that the ps/1 I looked at probably just carried forward that aspect of the ps/2 hardware. I am wanting to think that is the case.
 
Actually, IIRC, the PS/1s came out after the PS/2s had had thier day in the sun. They probably used up the spare parts in the early PS/1s and then switched to something more standard in later models.

--T
 
I'd like to get that drive from you, let me know what you need me to do. It would be great to get that guy set up. We had looked at his house and talking to his wife found out he loves his PC but has been without floppy for some time and has a book and sermons and other documents on the PC, not backed up or anything. Thanks for any help!

Dean

"... no, no, no, he's outside.... looking in"
-- Ray Thomas
 
there are actually several ps/2 drives... early ps/2 drives had a card edge connector, later ones had a pin style connector... and even among the pin styles, there are variations which sometimes are not interchangable (voltage differences mainly). So, it's usually not as simple as just swapping drives.

You'll probably need to find the exact replacement drive for the computer, although, I think the most common ps/2 floppy drive is p/n 72X6068, which *might* work. I really can't be more specific because I just don't know if the ps/2 drive will work in a ps/1

Since you can get a drive so cheaply from Terry, I'd go ahead and try it, you're not out much if it doesn't work, and there's a chance it will work.
 
deansongs said:
PS: the people I asked didn't seem to know anything about older machines, they acted like they never heard of power coming through the data ribbon.
Click to expand...
Although off-topic, you may want to know that 2.5" IDE drives have a special cabling which incorporates power in the ribbon, so it is not quite as estoteric as your friends (?) may have thought. I wonder if not Macintosh disk drives did likewise.

Good luck with the PS/1. For those of us who didn't see the vintage value of the IBM monsters, spare parts for the various PS/2 machines and the occassional PS/1 (not as common) turned to be worthless junk many years ago - almost nothing would fit on a "standard" PC. I'm not even sure how much of the technology would move on to the RS/6000 work station series. Both had MCA bus, but I think the similarities ended there.
 
Butch

Butch

Deansongs

I puller the cover off my PS/2 model 56 it has the same drive. The power is provided thru the ribbon cable. No other connections are required.
 
carlsson said:
...For those of us who didn't see the vintage value of the IBM monsters, spare parts for the various PS/2 machines and the occassional PS/1 (not as common) turned to be worthless junk many years ago - almost nothing would fit on a "standard" PC...
Click to expand...

Depends on the hardware: PS/2 Keyboards? PS/2 Mice? VGA displays? A few early models had MFM drives, a few late models had IDE, and many in between had SCSI. 30-pin (most incompatible) and 72-pin SIMMs. CPUs/NPUs were exactly identical. ;-)

And I could answer that many times PS/2s are durable enough that there are some still in commercial service! Say that about any other system approaching 20 years old in some cases. But I'll be much more reasonable than brand you as a heretic like could happen with the same statement on comp.sys.ibm.ps2.hardware. ;-)

carlsson said:
...I'm not even sure how much of the technology would move on to the RS/6000 work station series. Both had MCA bus, but I think the similarities ended there.
Click to expand...

Again, depends on what is brought over. RS/6000 (the MCA versions) could run many of the adapters. There are some that aren't easily back-ported to PS/2s (which require ADF and sometimes other files).
 
I thought about a time period where first generation Pentiums were hot. Those used AT-style keyboards and serial mice. Indeed the VGA monitor from a PS/2 might be useful to keep. Those PS/2 computers I came across did have ESDI (??) hard disks, custom floppies and 30-pin SIMMs. The 386 CPUs were soldered on the board and would not have been useful in a Socket 7 motherboard anyway. ;-)
 
carlsson said:
I thought about a time period where first generation Pentiums were hot. Those used AT-style keyboards and serial mice. Indeed the VGA monitor from a PS/2 might be useful to keep. Those PS/2 computers I came across did have ESDI (??) hard disks, custom floppies and 30-pin SIMMs. The 386 CPUs were soldered on the board and would not have been useful in a Socket 7 motherboard anyway. ;-)
Click to expand...

Hmmm, all of the 386SX (or above) PS/2s should have had 72-pin SIMMs. Socket 7 certainly wasn't first-generation Pentiums (you are missing two socket types), but it shows that some PS/2 386SX-based (other than the later 386SLC, 486SLC2, and 486SLC3 it would have been the only cases of a CPU "soldered" in) systems were just coming offline at a time of 100+ MHz "Classic" Pentiums going into service (that is still a good run in the computer industry). The PS/2 55SX (the most heavily produced) only had a 386SX at 16MHz.

A case I was using as an example is an electric co-op in the United States that contacted me a few months ago. They had a PS/2 Model 50 (286 at 10MHz, produced starting in 1987) with a bad floppy drive. Even after the part was replaced they passed on my offers to upgrade the system to something more modern (it was running a specific microchannel controller, so I would have recommended something like a Model 77 to at least bridge the 20 year span by about half).
 
a few years late haha but i do have an IBM PS/1 with monitor powered option up for grabs!
 
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