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Replacement for the floppy drive

Replacement for the floppy drive

2012-05-19 by Christian Brunschen

Hi all,

Floppy drives wear out and even floppies are becoming scarce. Fortunately, there's now an alternative / replacement that's available and not horribly expensive: a floppy drive emulator that emulates a standard IBM-PC or Shugart floppy drive, storing multiple disk images on an SD card, allowing read/write operation, and with verified support for Ensoniq keyboards ... and now that's available in the same physical form factor as a 3.5-inch floppy drive, making it a straight slot-in replacement for a floppy drive:

  http://www.lotharek.pl/product.php?pid=42

Discussion forum:

  http://torlus.com/floppy/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=871

Software, including firmware updates:

  http://hxc2001.free.fr/floppy_drive_emulator/

I just thought this might be useful.

// Christian

Re: [Ensoniq-VFX-SD] Replacement for the floppy drive

2012-05-19 by Bob S.

This sound like an advertisement from someone with vested interest.....

Bob


Sent from my iPad
Show quoted textHide quoted text
On May 19, 2012, at 4:27 AM, Christian Brunschen <cb@...> wrote:

> Hi all,
> 
> Floppy drives wear out and even floppies are becoming scarce. Fortunately, there's now an alternative / replacement that's available and not horribly expensive: a floppy drive emulator that emulates a standard IBM-PC or Shugart floppy drive, storing multiple disk images on an SD card, allowing read/write operation, and with verified support for Ensoniq keyboards ... and now that's available in the same physical form factor as a 3.5-inch floppy drive, making it a straight slot-in replacement for a floppy drive:
> 
>   http://www.lotharek.pl/product.php?pid=42
> 
> Discussion forum:
> 
>   http://torlus.com/floppy/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=871
> 
> Software, including firmware updates:
> 
>   http://hxc2001.free.fr/floppy_drive_emulator/
> 
> I just thought this might be useful.
> 
> // Christian
> 
>

Re: [Ensoniq-VFX-SD] Replacement for the floppy drive

2012-05-19 by Ed Talbot

Even so, it would be a lifesaver in my opinion. I will be following this product.
Show quoted textHide quoted text
----- Original Message -----
From: Bob S.
Sent: Saturday, May 19, 2012 9:47 AM
Subject: Re: [Ensoniq-VFX-SD] Replacement for the floppy drive

This sound like an advertisement from someone with vested interest.....

Bob


Sent from my iPad

On May 19, 2012, at 4:27 AM, Christian Brunschen <cb@...> wrote:

Hi all,

Floppy drives wear out and even floppies are becoming scarce. Fortunately, there's now an alternative / replacement that's available and not horribly expensive: a floppy drive emulator that emulates a standard IBM-PC or Shugart floppy drive, storing multiple disk images on an SD card, allowing read/write operation, and with verified support for Ensoniq keyboards ... and now that's available in the same physical form factor as a 3.5-inch floppy drive, making it a straight slot-in replacement for a floppy drive:


Discussion forum:


Software, including firmware updates:


I just thought this might be useful.

// Christian

No virus found in this message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 2012.0.2176 / Virus Database: 2425/5009 - Release Date: 05/19/12

Re: [Ensoniq-VFX-SD] Replacement for the floppy drive

2012-05-19 by Daniel Forró

Thanks for info, I knew about it and want to buy. Great idea.

Daniel Forro
Show quoted textHide quoted text
On May 19, 2012, at 8:27 PM, Christian Brunschen wrote:

>
>
> Hi all,
>
> Floppy drives wear out and even floppies are becoming scarce.  
> Fortunately, there's now an alternative / replacement that's  
> available and not horribly expensive: a floppy drive emulator that  
> emulates a standard IBM-PC or Shugart floppy drive, storing multiple  
> disk images on an SD card, allowing read/write operation, and with  
> verified support for Ensoniq keyboards ... and now that's available  
> in the same physical form factor as a 3.5-inch floppy drive, making  
> it a straight slot-in replacement for a floppy drive:
>
>   http://www.lotharek.pl/product.php?pid=42
>
> Discussion forum:
>
>   http://torlus.com/floppy/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=871
>
> Software, including firmware updates:
>
>   http://hxc2001.free.fr/floppy_drive_emulator/
>
> I just thought this might be useful.
>
> // Christian
>
>
>
>

RE: [Ensoniq-VFX-SD] Replacement for the floppy drive

2012-05-19 by Gary Brumm

This sounds like a good investment for an obsolete keyboard. I’ve converted Kurzweils from floppy to memory card. It makes good sense

as floppies are slow and undependable.

From: Ensoniq-VFX-SD@yahoogroups.com [mailto:Ensoniq-VFX-SD@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Bob S.
Sent: Saturday, May 19, 2012 6:47 AM
To: Ensoniq-VFX-SD@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [Ensoniq-VFX-SD] Replacement for the floppy drive

This sound like an advertisement from someone with vested interest.....

Bob

Sent from my iPad


On May 19, 2012, at 4:27 AM, Christian Brunschen <cb@df.lth.se> wrote:

Hi all,

Floppy drives wear out and even floppies are becoming scarce. Fortunately, there's now an alternative / replacement that's available and not horribly expensive: a floppy drive emulator that emulates a standard IBM-PC or Shugart floppy drive, storing multiple disk images on an SD card, allowing read/write operation, and with verified support for Ensoniq keyboards ... and now that's available in the same physical form factor as a 3.5-inch floppy drive, making it a straight slot-in replacement for a floppy drive:

Discussion forum:

Software, including firmware updates:

I just thought this might be useful.

// Christian

Re: [Ensoniq-VFX-SD] Replacement for the floppy drive

2012-05-19 by w.james.meagher@gmail.com

Arrrggghhh... I wish I'd known about this 6 months ago when I replaced the drive on my SQ80. I might do it again anyway - this looks great!

James

Sent from my iPhone
Show quoted textHide quoted text
On 2012-05-19, at 10:02 AM, Daniel Forró <dan.for@tiscali.cz> wrote:

> Thanks for info, I knew about it and want to buy. Great idea.
> 
> Daniel Forro
> 
> On May 19, 2012, at 8:27 PM, Christian Brunschen wrote:
> 
>> 
>> 
>> Hi all,
>> 
>> Floppy drives wear out and even floppies are becoming scarce. Fortunately, there's now an alternative / replacement that's available and not horribly expensive: a floppy drive emulator that emulates a standard IBM-PC or Shugart floppy drive, storing multiple disk images on an SD card, allowing read/write operation, and with verified support for Ensoniq keyboards ... and now that's available in the same physical form factor as a 3.5-inch floppy drive, making it a straight slot-in replacement for a floppy drive:
>> 
>>   http://www.lotharek.pl/product.php?pid=42
>> 
>> Discussion forum:
>> 
>>   http://torlus.com/floppy/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=871
>> 
>> Software, including firmware updates:
>> 
>>   http://hxc2001.free.fr/floppy_drive_emulator/
>> 
>> I just thought this might be useful.
>> 
>> // Christian
>> 
>> 
>> 
> 
>

Re: [Ensoniq-VFX-SD] Replacement for the floppy drive

2012-05-20 by Christian Brunschen

On 19 May 2012, at 14:47, Bob S. wrote:

This sound like an advertisement from someone with vested interest.....

But it isn't an ad, nor do I have a vested interest.

My interest in this is simply because, well, floppy drives fail, and so do floppies! - and I've been looking into a less failure-prone, and generally less outdated, replacement. This floppy drive emulator seems to fit the bill - but until recently, it was only available as a separate PCB, possibly with an enclosure, but in a form factor completely different from an actual floppy drive. And they work Ensoniq keyboards - at least in an EPS, as can be seen in this video <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yM2o0W5Y0pI> ... which also shows how the old version has to be fitted significantly differently than the floppy drive it replaces, and may leave cables visible, or even require modifications to the case of the device.

But recently, they've started making them in a floppy drive _shape_ as well as functionality - which means they've now become a viable replacement option even for people like me who want to leave the keyboard (in my case) as unchanged as possible.

Have a look at my posts on the forum for the floppy drive emulator <http://torlus.com/floppy/forum/search.php?author_id=676&sr=posts> – I'm simply a (potential) user interested in a particular feature .. the shape / form factor of the device.

I just thought that having an option for replacing a floppy drive with something that is hopefully less likely to break (among other things because it has no moving parts) and at the same time also offers more storage (so no physical floppy shuffling required any more) might be useful - especially at a not too unreasonable price point: From http://route66studios.com/drives.html the cost of a replacement floppy drive is US$72 (ca €57; this emulator costs €111 (ca US$141). Add in the cost of storage (SD cards are dirt cheap, whereas DS/DD floppies are hard to find as well as expensive) and the ease of backing things up (just copy all the floppy images from the SD card to a computer - SD card readers, too, are easily and inexpensively available) and this emulator is a viable option. Still not a no-brainer by any means, but still.


In my investigation, in fact, I have come across another floppy drive emulator – http://embeddedsw.net/EMUFDD_Floppy_Hardware_Emulator_Home.html ;– where I asked whether it would support emulating Ensoniq -format floppies, and was told that it would ... but that one costs €450 (ca US$575). Still, that one keeps the floppy image in non-volatile FRAM memory, instead of SD cards it uses a USB port, and it seems you can load a floppy image and then disconnect the USB storage device and just keep the floppy image that you have in the device's memory.


So no, I have no vested interest, I'm not advertising, and I'm not in any way connected to the people making these things. I just thought they might be useful and/or interesting to other people on this list.

Best wishes,

Bob

// Christian




Sent from my iPad

On May 19, 2012, at 4:27 AM, Christian Brunschen <cb@...> wrote:


Hi all,

Floppy drives wear out and even floppies are becoming scarce. Fortunately, there's now an alternative / replacement that's available and not horribly expensive: a floppy drive emulator that emulates a standard IBM-PC or Shugart floppy drive, storing multiple disk images on an SD card, allowing read/write operation, and with verified support for Ensoniq keyboards ... and now that's available in the same physical form factor as a 3.5-inch floppy drive, making it a straight slot-in replacement for a floppy drive:


Discussion forum:


Software, including firmware updates:


I just thought this might be useful.

// Christian





Re: [Ensoniq-VFX-SD] Replacement for the floppy drive

2012-05-20 by Christian Brunschen

On 19 May 2012, at 17:33, w.james.meagher@gmail.com wrote:

Arrrggghhh... I wish I'd known about this 6 months ago when I replaced the drive on my SQ80.

Well, 6 months ago the floppy-drive-shaped one didn't exist; that one is only now entering volume production. You'd have had to either fit it externally (leaving cables exposed and visible) or mount it internally (making holes in the case of your SQ-80).

Plus, having a known-working floppy drive is not a bad thing!

Oh, and for people looking for something the other way around - reading floppy disks in potentially strange formats, on a computer that may not currently have floppy drives or a floppy controller - there's the KryoFlux: http://www.kryoflux.com/ which is described as "KryoFlux is a USB-based floppy controller designed specifically for reliability, precision, and getting low-level reads suitable for software preservation."

KryoFlux connects to a physical floppy drive on one side and a computer through USB on the other, and it reads low-level flux transitions - which can be stored for archival purposes or can be interpreted into a number of common-or-not floppy disk formats, including Ensoniq's ones.

This would probably be useful for someone who has a bunch of floppies form which they'd like to rescue some data, but where the original device and/or its floppy drive might not be in usable condition any more. I'm guessing that might include a few people on this list.

It costs €95 (about US$121) and requires a working floppy drive as well – the kryoflux store specifically mentions '3.5" Samsung SFD-321 and 5.25" Newtronics D509 drives and compatibles'. These seem to be fairly readily available on eBay - for instance, a 3.5" Samsung SFD-321B drive is available at http://www.ebay.com/itm/290700799523 with a 'buy it now' price of US$8; a 5.25" Newtronics D509V3 at http://www.ebay.com/itm/150818161992 for US$34.

I might do it again anyway - this looks great!

James

Best wishes,

// Christian


Sent from my iPhone

On 2012-05-19, at 10:02 AM, Daniel Forró <dan.for@...> wrote:


Thanks for info, I knew about it and want to buy. Great idea.

Daniel Forro

On May 19, 2012, at 8:27 PM, Christian Brunschen wrote:



Hi all,

Floppy drives wear out and even floppies are becoming scarce. Fortunately, there's now an alternative / replacement that's available and not horribly expensive: a floppy drive emulator that emulates a standard IBM-PC or Shugart floppy drive, storing multiple disk images on an SD card, allowing read/write operation, and with verified support for Ensoniq keyboards ... and now that's available in the same physical form factor as a 3.5-inch floppy drive, making it a straight slot-in replacement for a floppy drive:


Discussion forum:


Software, including firmware updates:


I just thought this might be useful.

// Christian








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