Tandy 1000 SL floppy question

[Mac collector]

Hello all, I was wondering if there was a jumper or something to set the drive letter/ number on a Tandy floppy drive (the one that came with the Machine). I know there was a jumper to set the drive on the 2nd floppy drive that was in it (a 1.44 Mb drive which didn't work.) But I replaced it with the 5.25 drive that was supposed to be in there. The reason I ask is because it only reads if you type in D: not B: as I think it should. The HDD is on a ISA controller card and it is drive C: and the 5.25 drive is drive A: like it should be. Shouldn't the 2nd drive be drive B:? In the Tandy deskmate it scans drive A: and B: but not D: so I have to use DOS to use the drive.(which is no big deal) Sorry for the long post!

 

[Agent Orange]

IIRC the SL came with high density drives. However, I believe that since it is a Tandy part, there is a jumper on the drive that will let you select "A" or "B" or "0/1". If the standard drive cable does not have the familiar 'twist' and appears to be straight through, then you may be able to simply chage the jumper on the drive. An alternative way would be to set "Swap Floppy" in the BIOS or to invoke "ASSIGN" in your "AUTOEXEC.BAT"

 

[Mac collector]

IIRC the SL came with high density drives. However, I believe that since it is a Tandy part, there is a jumper on the drive that will let you select "A" or "B" or "0/1". If the standard drive cable does not have the familiar 'twist' and appears to be straight through, then you may be able to simply chage the jumper on the drive. An alternative way would be to set "Swap Floppy" in the BIOS or to invoke "ASSIGN" in your "AUTOEXEC.BAT"

I doesn't have the twist, so it should definitely have a jumper. The other drive did have a jumper it said drive 1/2 and the jumper selected the number but this one doesn't seem to have it. I dunno if it is a high density drive, I thought it was the 720kb ( I think the TL came with a 1.44 HD tho don't quote me on that as the SL and the TL was released before I was even born) I will try the assign in the autoexec.bat if there is no jumpers. Thanks for the help!

 

[Agent Orange]

I doesn't have the twist, so it should definitely have a jumper. The other drive did have a jumper it said drive 1/2 and the jumper selected the number but this one doesn't seem to have it. I dunno if it is a high density drive, I thought it was the 720kb ( I think the TL came with a 1.44 HD tho don't quote me on that as the SL and the TL was released before I was even born) I will try the assign in the autoexec.bat if there is no jumpers. Thanks for the help!

You may want to look into DRIVPARM and DRIVER.SYS which would reside in your CONFIG.SYS file. DRIVPARM is an internal DOS command, like COPY, and you wouldn't take a hit on your memory. You can Google all of this. Also, there is plenty of help on this forum as well as the NET.

 

[Chuck(G)]

Did you run the setup program SETUPSL?

Usually, DOS will only assign a second floppy as D: when the BIOS indicates that there is no B: drive.

 

[vwestlife]

Attached is some information from the "Tandy 1000 Tech Notes & Jumper Manual", available on this web page.

Two important things to remember is that the 1000SL (and all of the 1000 series, for that matter) selects the floppy drive letters by using the Drive Select jumpers/switches on the drives themselves, not by using a twist in the cable. Also, +5V and +12V DC power is supplied through the floppy connector on the motherboard, using pins that are normally assigned to ground, so if you plug in a standard cable and floppy drive and turn it on, you will short out the motherboard, and potentially cause damage beyond repair if the power supply doesn't shut down quickly enough!

However, as noted in the documentation, the 1000SL (but NOT the 1000SL/2) has holes punched in its factory-supplied floppy cable to prevent these power supply lines from reaching the 5¼" floppy drive, because the drive gets its power through a separate connector, not through the controller cable. It is not specified, however, if the connector for the B: drive also has the power lines removed. So before replacing the 3½" drive, test the floppy connector with a multimeter to make sure you're not getting voltage on the ground pins!

 

[Chuck(G)]

I think the OP is using the original cable, so there shouldn't be a problem there. And the connector has only DS0 and DS1 conductors and the OP is clearly getting access to the 5.25" drive.

I tend to think it's a setup problem, myself.

 

[Agent Orange]

Attached is some information from the "Tandy 1000 Tech Notes & Jumper Manual", available on this web page.

Two important things to remember is that the 1000SL (and all of the 1000 series, for that matter) selects the floppy drive letters by using the Drive Select jumpers/switches on the drives themselves, not by using a twist in the cable. Also, +5V and +12V DC power is supplied through the floppy connector on the motherboard, using pins that are normally assigned to ground, so if you plug in a standard cable and floppy drive and turn it on, you will short out the motherboard, and potentially cause damage beyond repair if the power supply doesn't shut down quickly enough!

However, as noted in the documentation, the 1000SL (but NOT the 1000SL/2) has holes punched in its factory-supplied floppy cable to prevent these power supply lines from reaching the 5¼" floppy drive, because the drive gets its power through a separate connector, not through the controller cable. It is not specified, however, if the connector for the B: drive also has the power lines removed. So before replacing the 3½" drive, test the floppy connector with a multimeter to make sure you're not getting voltage on the ground pins!

The +5VDC & +12VDC are supplied via the PS, in the standard manner. AFAIK, only the ealy 1000's had power supplied though the data cable.

 

[kb2syd]

only the ealy 1000's had power supplied though the data cable.

The 1000, 1000a and 1000sx were all early 1000s and did NOT have power supplied through the data cable. I think the HX was the first (the all in one with the built in 3.5" drives).

 

[vwestlife]

The 1000, 1000a and 1000sx were all early 1000s and did NOT have power supplied through the data cable. I think the HX was the first (the all in one with the built in 3.5" drives).

The Tandy 1000, 1000A, 1000HD, 1000EX, and 1000SX do not have power supplied through the floppy drive connector. All other Tandy 1000 series models do. Models which can accomodate both 3½" and 5¼" floppy drives came with a specially modified floppy cable which only supplied power to the 3½" drive(s), not to the 5¼" drive (which gets its power through a separate regular 4-pin Molex connector).

 

[Mac collector]

Ok I got it! There are no jumpers, but there is a 4 position switch that controls the drive letter, And it was set to the same thing as the 5.25 drive, And for some reason it made it go to drive D. I moved the switch over one and it now reads as Drive B! As for the floppy drive power it is supplied to the drive via A 4 pin connector (just like the HDDs use) Here is a Pic of the switch in case anyone else can't find it.

 

[Mac collector]

The Tandy 1000, 1000A, 1000HD, 1000EX, and 1000SX do not have power supplied through the floppy drive connector. All other Tandy 1000 series models do. Models which can accomodate both 3½" and 5¼" floppy drives came with a specially modified floppy cable which only supplied power to the 3½" drive(s), not to the 5¼" drive (which gets its power through a separate regular 4-pin Molex connector).

According to this site it says "The HX, TX, SL/2, TL's, RL's, RLX's, and RSX's use a special floppy drive that draws power through the data cable." I dunno if this is accurate or not though as I don't have any of these machines to check. Also Thanks for all the help everyone!!!!!!

Attached is some information from the "Tandy 1000 Tech Notes & Jumper Manual", available on this web page.

Two important things to remember is that the 1000SL (and all of the 1000 series, for that matter) selects the floppy drive letters by using the Drive Select jumpers/switches on the drives themselves, not by using a twist in the cable. Also, +5V and +12V DC power is supplied through the floppy connector on the motherboard, using pins that are normally assigned to ground, so if you plug in a standard cable and floppy drive and turn it on, you will short out the motherboard, and potentially cause damage beyond repair if the power supply doesn't shut down quickly enough!

However, as noted in the documentation, the 1000SL (but NOT the 1000SL/2) has holes punched in its factory-supplied floppy cable to prevent these power supply lines from reaching the 5¼" floppy drive, because the drive gets its power through a separate connector, not through the controller cable. It is not specified, however, if the connector for the B: drive also has the power lines removed. So before replacing the 3½" drive, test the floppy connector with a multimeter to make sure you're not getting voltage on the ground pins!

Thanks for the links! I was looking for that for a while now. I could never find it!

 

[Agent Orange]

The Tandy 1000, 1000A, 1000HD, 1000EX, and 1000SX do not have power supplied through the floppy drive connector. All other Tandy 1000 series models do. Models which can accomodate both 3½" and 5¼" floppy drives came with a specially modified floppy cable which only supplied power to the 3½" drive(s), not to the 5¼" drive (which gets its power through a separate regular 4-pin Molex connector).

You are correct. Check this link out:
ftp://ftp.oldskool.org/pub/tvdog/tandy1000/documents/cables.txt