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Last modified on 20 December 2022, at 05:17

DIY:Floppy Drives

Revision as of 05:17, 20 December 2022 by Smanux (Talk | contribs) (Table formatting for the pin translation tables)

Preface

This document shows pinning list, wiring diagrams and signal descriptions found on a CPC6128.


Multi-Adaptor Cable for External Floppies / HxC emulator

Floppy Cable.png


Adaptor Cable for Internal Floppies / HxC emulator

This cable assumes that the drive has been set to DS0 / ID0 and provides a ready signal. For the HxC not a problem, just a simple jumper setting, for floppies this may involve making some mods to the drive.


Internal HxC Cable.png


I've shown the cable from several views to highlight the fact that the connectors don't face the same way on the cable.

First crimp the 26way connector as shown in the diagram. Then split the first 6 wires starting from the side of the red wire. These 6 wires need to be shifted 2 cavities further over before being crimped into the 36way connector. Wire 26 goes directly to pin 34 of the floppy connector. Make sure the keyways / orientation slots of both connectors are as shown in the diagram. The cable needs no bridges, switches or anything else. When you are finished, you should have a cable looking something like this:


HxC Adaptor.jpg


Signal assignment on connectors

Standard floppy connector 34pin

Floppy
connector 		Signal description
1..33 GND Ground
2 /DCD Disk Change Detect
4 /DS4 Drive selct 4 (Not always supported)
6 /INUSE Open collector LED driver
8 /IND Index
10 /DS0 Drive select 0
12 /DS1 Drive select 1
14 /DS2 Drive select 2
16 /MTRON Motor enable
18 /DIR Direction select
20 /STEP Head step
22 /WDAT Write data
24 /WGAT Write gate
26 /TRK0 Track 0
28 /WPT Write protect
30 /RDAT Read data
32 /S1 Side select
34 /RDY Ready/Disk change depending on drive configuration


CPC-CD201 (internal floppy 26pin connector)

CPC-CD201 Signal description
(numbering from Amstrads repair manual)
1..25 GND Ground
2 /IND Index
4 /DRV1 Drive select 1
6 NC
8 /MED1 Motor enable drive 1
10 /DIR Direction select
12 /STEP Head step
14 /WDAT Write data
16 /WGAT Write gate
18 /TRK0 Track 0
20 /WPT Write protect
22 /RDAT Read data
24 /S1 Side 1 select
26 /RDY Ready (or /DSKCHG) depending on model or drive configuration


CPC-PL-9 (external floppy 34pin centronics connector)

CPC-PL-9 Signal description external
(numbering from Amstrads repair manual)
2..34 GND Ground
33 +5V
31 +5V
29 +5V
27 /IND Index
25 NC
23 /DRV1 Drive select 1
21 +5V
19 /MED1 Motor enable drive 1
17 /DIR Direction select
15 /STEP Head step
13 /WDAT Write data
11 /WGAT Write gate
9 /TRK0 Track 0
7 /WPT Write protect
5 /RDAT Read data
3 /S1 Side 1 select
1 /RDY Ready (or /DSKCHG) depending on model or drive configuration


Pinning translation between different connectors (CPC-PL-9, Centronics 36pin, Floppy connector 34pin)

Translation from CPC-PL-9 via Centronics 36 pin connector to floppy connector 34pin
===================================================================================
(flat cable / crimp variant view)

                          +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---- GND
                          |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
Floppy connector 34pin   33  31  29  27  25  23  21  19  17  15  13  11  09  07  05  03  01  NC
Centronics 36pin         18  17  16  15  14  13  12  11  10  09  08  07  06  05  04  03  02  01 
Amstard CPC-PL-9         02  04  06  08  10  12  14  16  18  20  22  24  26  28  30  32  34  NC
                       **++**++**++**++**++**++**++**++**++**++**++**++**++**++**++**++**++**++
Amstard CPC-PL-9       01  03  05  07  09  11  13  15  17  19  21  23  25  27  29  31  33  NC 
Centronics 36pin       36  35  34  33  32  31  30  29  28  27  26  25  24  23  22  21  20  19 
Floppy connector 34pin 34  32  30  28  26  24  22  20  18  16  14  12  10  08  06  04  02  NC
                        |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
                        |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   +-- NC
                        |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   +------ +5V
                        |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   +---------- +5V
                        |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   +-------------- +5V
                        |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   +------------------ /IND
                        |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   +---------------------- NC
                        |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   +-------------------------- /DRV1
                        |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   +------------------------------ +5V
                        |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   +---------------------------------- /MED1
                        |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   +-------------------------------------- /DIR
                        |   |   |   |   |   |   |   +------------------------------------------ /STEP
                        |   |   |   |   |   |   +---------------------------------------------- /WDAT
                        |   |   |   |   |   +-------------------------------------------------- /WGAT
                        |   |   |   |   +------------------------------------------------------ /TRK0
                        |   |   |   +---------------------------------------------------------- /WPT
                        |   |   +-------------------------------------------------------------- /RDAT
                        |   +------------------------------------------------------------------ /S1
                        +---------------------------------------------------------------------- /RDY

**/++ Flatcable signal


Wiring diagrams

External floppy connector CPC-PL-9 to standard floppy connector 34pin

(flat cable / crimp variant view)

Note: Disconnect wire 03-35-32 /S1 if you use a side selector switch which is connected to the floppy drive.

PL-9 CEN PCF SIGNAL
01 36 34 /RDY
02 18 33 GND
03 35 32 /S1
04 17 31 GND
05 34 30 /RDAT
06 16 29 GND
07 33 28 /WPT
08 15 27 GND
09 32 26 /TRK0
10 14 25 GND
11 31 24 /WGAT
12 13 23 GND
13 30 22 /WDAT
14 12 21 GND
15 29 20 /STEP
16 10 19 GND
17 28 18 /DIR
18 10 17 GND
19 27 16 /MED1
20 09 15 GND
21 26 14 NC
22 08 13 GND
23 25 12 /DRV1
24 07 11 GND
25 24 10 NC
26 06 09 GND
27 23 08 /IND
28 05 07 GND
29 22 06 NC
30 04 05 GND
31 21 04 NC
32 03 03 GND
33 20 02 NC
34 02 01 GND
19 NC
01 NC


Internal floppy connector CD201 to standard floppy connector 34pin

(flat cable / crimp variant view)

Note: Disconnect wire 24-32 /S1 if you use a side selector switch which is connected to the floppy drive.

CD201 PCF SIGNAL
26 34 /RDY
25 33 GND
24 32 /S1
23 31 GND
22 30 /RDAT
21 29 GND
20 28 /WPT
19 27 GND
18 26 /TRK0
17 25 GND
16 24 /WGAT
15 23 GND
14 22 /WDAT
13 21 GND
12 20 /STEP
11 19 GND
10 18 /DIR
09 17 GND
08 16 /MED1
07 15 GND
06 14 NC
05 13 GND
04 12 /DRV1
11 GND
10 NC
03 09 GND
02 08 /IND
01 07 GND
06 NC
05 NC
04 NC
03 NC
02 NC
01 NC

Issues

Floppy drive

  • This cables work for drive which are jumpered as drive 1/DS1. This is normally the default selection on drive delivery.
  • Make sure you find a drive which has the possibility to generate a ready signal instead of a disc change signal.

Disk issues

If you think about to use a HD drive, make sure to close the HD detection hole on your disk. </pre>