Amstrad / ZX Spectrum +3 Floppy Drive Hack.

you can write the disks on a pc,i think the software is called cpcdiskxp or something similar.
i also think you will also need another piece of software to use this,cant remember what at the mo though.
 
you can write the disks on a pc,i think the software is called cpcdiskxp or something similar.
i also think you will also need another piece of software to use this,cant remember what at the mo though.

A piece of software on the Amstrad you mean?
CPCdiskXP looks exactly as what I want. I have a USB floppy drive. Thanks!
 
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you can write the disks on a pc,i think the software is called cpcdiskxp or something similar.
i also think you will also need another piece of software to use this,cant remember what at the mo though.

A piece of software on the Amstrad you mean?
CPCdiskXP looks exactly as what I want. I have a USB floppy drive. Thanks!


no mate,another piece of software for the pc to control the drive i think.
it will more than likely be discribed in the docs or on the site you download the software from.
i think it was www.cpcmania.com
 
Yeah I see that now, a low level floppy driver.
It comes with it :)) Thanks!

[edit] FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
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Yeah I see that now, a low level floppy driver.
It comes with it :)) Thanks!

[edit] FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
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I use an old and dirt cheap laptop that can run XP for writing floppies with CPCDiskXP.
 
Yeah I know what you mean but it goes well beyond the money I want to spend on this machine.
I have a Toshiba Libretto but I don't have its floppy drive :/
 
Yeah I know what you mean but it goes well beyond the money I want to spend on this machine.
I have a Toshiba Libretto but I don't have its floppy drive :/

Oh laptops can be cheaper than you think. As we cannot discuss prices here I just say that it would've been more expensive to buy a pint of good import lager than what I paid for my Compaq Armada.
 
Yeah I know what you mean but it goes well beyond the money I want to spend on this machine.
I have a Toshiba Libretto but I don't have its floppy drive :/

Oh laptops can be cheaper than you think. As we cannot discuss prices here I just say that it would've been more expensive to buy a pint of good import lager than what I paid for my Compaq Armada.
I thought you couldn't discuss prices on sale threads. This is a rather silly "rule".

Anyway, I have enough junk as it is, I'm very mindful of space at home and I don't want another laptop PC just to transfer disks to a CPC once and never use it again. I Already have the Libretto quite forgotten :/ But it's so small I tuck it away in a drawer and it doesn't bother me.
 
Download a DSK image, load it into ManageDSK (you'll find this online too) and write it to a 3.5in disk on your PC (won't work with USB connected floppy drives).

Bryce.
 
There is an utility for Amstrad that enables you to read DSK image from DOS formatted floppy in Amstrad and write the image on 3" floppy. I've been using that successfully. It's called WriteDSK: http://www.julien-nevo.com/arkos/

That way you can use your USB floppy in PC as you simply copy the .dsk file on it. Only limitation is that the floppy must be formatted to 720 kB.
 
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But I'll need that "first disk" with this app on it. Also I will remove the 3" drive and won't have a second one.

It's OK, Roy bates has offered to copy me the Batman demo!
 
But I'll need that "first disk" with this app on it. Also I will remove the 3" drive and won't have a second one.

It's OK, Roy bates has offered to copy me the Batman demo!

Can't remember from heart but you may suffice with a single 3,5" drive with WriteDSK. You just need to do some disk swapping.

That demo is definitely worth a bit of trouble. (y)
 
ManageDSK that I mentioned is a windows program, you don't need any CPC or CPC disks to create a CPC 3.5in disk with it. Just a PC with a parallel floppy drive (ie: connected to a real floppy controller not USB) and a DSK image file from the net. In fact it will create new disks from a collection of files on you HDD too.

Bryce.
 
Hi All...

Can i help me?

i have a floppy Nec FD1231H, i read this:
Join PIN1 on the flat cable connector with test point 15 (TP15), located under the black sticker.

Break the connection between PIN1 and the small chip nearby.

If you see the photo can confirm me for PIN1 to small chip?

Thanks
 

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Mega impressive, Chinners.
I'm looking to add a 3.5" floppy as a slave to my Oric 3" master disk unit (they resemble the Amstrad CPC external DD1 drive units - you know, those Hitachi jobs).
Have had a wee tinker with an old PC floppy drive cable connected to an unmodified Mitsumi ex PC FDD, so far, but got nothing at all from the Oric... methinks I need to study your instructions in more detail and then... who knows?!
Are you at all familiar with the Oric Microdisc? I just wondered if you or your fellow 'magicians' on here might be able to assist a similar project then on the old Speccy's rival?
Cheers guys for reading - a great place for old retro hacks to meet.
Baz
 
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