A series of 3.5" and 5.25" floppy disc drives from Vortex providing up to 720K capacity (704K available).
S- and D-Drives (720K/disk)
These are the first generation of floppy disc drives from Vortex. They came in variants having either a single ("S" variant) or two ("D" variant) 80-track drives (BASF 6138). Additionally, a 3" FD-1 can be connected as third drive, ie. unlike most other CPC disk interfaces it supports more than 2 drives. With VDOS only two drives are accessible at one time. The drives interfacing with their own FDC can be used with the CPC 6128 to use different I/O ports (see below).
Variants
- F1 - S Single 5.25" drive with power supply connected via ribbon cable to interface with NEC765 and VDOS 1.0 or 2.11
- F1 - D Double 5.25" drive with power supply connected via ribbon cable to interface with NEC765 and VDOS 1.0 or 2.11
- M1 - S Single 3.5" drive with power supply connected via ribbon cable to interface with NEC765 and VDOS 1.0 or 2.11
- M1 - D Double 3.5" drive with power supply connected via ribbon cable to interface with NEC765 and VDOS 1.0 or 2.11
Vortex F1-D with CPC 6128 Interface
An anonymous box housing the controller board
Look inside the controller, a NEC 765 chip and VDOS upgraded to v2.0
Controller with mounted VDOS chip
F1-D Interface (CPC 664)
F1-D Interface Board (CPC 664)
F1-D Interface Board (CPC 664)
F1-D Interface Board (CPC 6128)
Second drive upgrade
An upgrade was available which allowed to upgrade a single -S drive to a dual -D drive.
FD-1 drive adapter
The Vortex S- and D-drives were originally intended as upgrades to CPC 464 setups already having a DDI-1/FD-1. This adapter allowed to continue using the 3" drive. Since only two drives can be used simultaneously, the drive had to be selected manually using a RSX command.
Adapter to connect an additional 3" disc drive in between a CPC 464 and a F1-D
Inside the adapter box
Inside the adapter box (closeup)
Z-Drives (180K/side)
These are basic and less expensive low-capacity drives and were meant to be directly connected to a CPC 664/6128 or CPC 464 with DDI-1 (ie. on computers that already provide a floppy controller). Since these drives do not ship with a special controller, they do rely fully on AMSDOS and thus only 40 tracks can be accessed.
Variants
- F1 - Z Single 5.25" drive with power supply with ribbon cable (does not come with interface containing FDC or VDOS)
- M1 - Z Single 3.5" drive with power supply with ribbon cable (does not come with interface containing FDC or VDOS)
X-Drives (720K/disk)
These are the latest drives from Vortex for use on CPC 664/6128 or CPC 464 with DDI-1 (ie. on computers that already have a FDC). Only single-drive variants were available. The |S command (for accessing a third drive) is no longer used, the new |X command allows to swap drive A and B (same as X-DDOS from Dobbertin). These drives are well designed and strong. They are housed in a metal case with power supply (which has good protection with fuses) and have good quality drive mechanisms. The drive has jumpers on it that can be configured as needed.
Variants
- F1 - X Single 80 track, Double Sided, 5.25" drive with power supply and ribbon cable which connects to interface containing VDOS 2.0
- M1 - X Single 80 Track, Double Sided, 3.5" drive with power supply and ribbon cable which connects to interface containing VDOS 2.0
- F1 - XRS same as F1-X, upgraded with RS232 interface
- M1 - XRS same as M1-X, upgraded with RS232 interface
Vortex F1-X with Manual and Driver Disk
Vortex F1-X Backside
Front of Vortex M1-X
Underneath the Vortex M1-X
Inside the Vortex M1-X showing the drive and power
Back of Vortex M1-X showing connectors and power.
Back of Vortex M1-X showing IDC connection
Inside Vortex M1-X with a close up of the drive from above
Inside Vortex M1-X with a close up of the back of the drive
X-Modul (RS-232C Interface)
The "X-Modul" adds a RS-232C interface to -X drives. It is suspected to be at least partially compatible with Amstrad/Pace interfaces.
I/O Ports
| Address | Read | Write |
|---|---|---|
| FADC | Channel A data | Channel A data |
| FADD | Channel A control | Channel A control |
| FADE | Channel B data | Channel B data |
| FADF | Channel B control | Channel B control |
| FBDC | 8253 Load counter 0 | 8253 Read counter 0 |
| FBDD | 8253 Load counter 1 | 8253 Read counter 1 |
| FBDE | 8253 Load counter 2 | 8253 Read counter 2 |
| FBDF | Write mode word | - |
Vortex Disk Format
See VDOS
Drive Interface I/O Ports
Standard addresses (same as used by AMSDOS)
FB7Eh 765 FDC (internal) Status Register (R) FB7Fh 765 FDC (internal) Data Register (R/W) FA7Eh Floppy Motor On/Off Flipflop
Special addresses (secondary FDC)
The special addresses are mentioned in the manual for the Vortex -X drives, but apparently they are referring to other/older Vortex drives, not the -X drives. The special addresses are used only on CPC 664/6128 and only if the Vortex drive includes an FDC chip.
FBF6h 765 FDC (Vortex,ext) Status Register (Read) FBF7h 765 FDC (Vortex,ext) Data Register (R/W) FA7Eh Floppy Motor On/Off Flipflop (nearly same as normal, bit precise)
The X drive has a different PCB than the PCB for the S, the manual describes connecting the DDI-1 interface to the X drive interface and a 'decoder-ROM' which defines the I/O decoding?
- Note1: The -Z and -X drives do not include FDC chips.
So, not sure if/when the Special addresses are used at all?
Manuals
- Vortex Floppy Disk Station F1 für den Schneider CPC 464 - Benutzerhandbuch
(Manual for old drives with VDOS 1.0) - 3-Zoll-Adapter zur VORTEX-Diskettenstation (Manual for Vortex adapter for connecting a 3 inch floppy drive to the Vortex Disk Station F1 controller)
- Vortex X-Laufwerke (Manual for new X-drives with VDOS 2.0)
- Vortex VDOS 2.0 (Manual for upgrading from VDOS 1.0 to VDOS 2.0)
- Manual de las Unidades Vortex
(pdf) - Vortex RS232-C Manual (pdf)
- NEC drive inside Vortex M1-X NEC drive inside Vortex M1-X
