Most liked posts in thread: ORIC (drive) OPTIONS

Wow that's a good find Richie, lets just hope that they are a reasonable price, as I'm sure that's preferable over anything we can achieve.
Wonder if they would be prepared to have a look at Andy's drive to repair ?

 

Very true Richie, that hasn't obviously stopped me going ahead with a 3.5" disc. I've some older PC's along with my Amstrad now. I'm waiting on some system disc's to try out the drive, all recon'd at the moment. This one uses optics for the write protect as well, no pin to fall out and lose.
I've also bagged a spare drive for free it may work, equally it may not ..
One thing I was hoping for was to be able to compare Andy's interface behaviour with the other two boards.
First thing I'll ask, is the ROM on the new boards being activated so requesting a disc ? If so that eliminates some of the circuitry ..
Anyhow off to my Mum's now so back to AOC on my Phone for a bit.

 

You guys are amazing... I would be in dreamland with a working 3" microdisc drive - if it is possible via the Tatung Einstein repair station user group!

If not, we will proceed with seeing just what retro wizardry you can in fact fit in the bowels of the microdisc case then, Graham...

You might have seen illustrations like this online:

Which I believe were uploaded to go with the early Cumulus project...



and failing everything, yeah, why not, Graham - stick an old Tandon 5.25" in there and dual it up with an 8" too if you can source me one!!??

Cheers, fellas - once more, I salute thee.

 

Hi Andy, yes I've seen that when I originally found the Cumulas project, I think Tim then added it on some place, a Resource maybe.
It's obviously designed to look like your Microdrive but a little smaller. Liking the Colours .. in Fact I thing defo an Atmos rather than an Oric 1. Just nicer looking with a real keyboard.
I really hope I can find the issues with Richie's interface boards, as I may end up with a working drive system before the computer (Maybe I'm just bragging and they will never work )
I think I would go down the route of the Micro I/F from Fred if that was the case alongside a Gotek, hey I may even have a 3" drive, not sure if the electrical interface will allow an Amstrad / Spectrum Drive (connection shouldn't be an issue, just silly things as there are on the 'PC' needing to know when the drive door has been opened, so can't use BBC floppy drives as a for instance)

I hope the company sorts out a reasonable price for the drive so that it can remain original, you are still able to plug in 'Fred's unit' or the Erebus Direct, or a Gotek into the back of the Microdrive.

You can have your Oric 1 & Atmos both with disc systems at the same time (Richie or I would likly need to update the Oric 1 for a single EPROM and sort out the /ROMDIS signal (This basically turns off access to the original O.S ROM in favour of the one in the Microdrive)

Hope your 2nd day in work wasn't as tiring or as stressful as needing a few pints of Guiness to sort you out.

 

No 8" drives Andy but I did have Tape drives in my old Data General Eclipse s9000, and a 14" platter Hard disc .. the servo motor to drive the platters was about the size of a car starter motor.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_General_Eclipse
http://www.chookfest.net/nova3/pickup.html
the Nova about similar in size
Unfortunatly I eventually had to get rid of it, It was living round round my Mum & Dad's when I got married and Alex (my Ex) wasn't to impressed with a baby mainframe about the size of a fridge comeing to our new home.
I broke it down and a Data recovery company in Wiltshire ended up with it in payment for changing the EIDE hard drives I had to SCSI, they put the drive on display in their reception area in a glass case with power and controller fitted.
The Hard drive cover was plexiglass so you could see all the heads moving about on the disc surfaces etc.
Long while ago now.

 

Ruddy hell, Graham.

You've had some right retro mini, mainframe and micro adventures and still here to tell the tale - incredible, buddy!

Some great recollections there.

Thanks for sorting so much out in terms of digging around and seeing what's what as regards trying to salvage parts to perhaps get another working 3" mechanism inside the microdisc case.

Even if it doesn't work out, I'm fascinated to hear of the alternatives.

Here's another pic showing an alternative microdisc case that another Orician has knocked together and it doesn't look too bad and shows how the Gotek could infact be placed underneath the main case with a 3.5" drive sat in the 3" bay instead:



All good stuff and just goes to show that where's there's a will... etc!

Cheers, Graham - 2nd day back not too bad, ta, and hope all's well round at your mam's.

Will catch up with you fellas tomorrow and of course any expenses you guys incur due to tinkering with the Oric Microdisc project - send the invoices Bev's way, I mean let me know & I'll see yer reet!!

 

Message for Richie
Would this work in Andy's Microdrive, I don't know if it works at the moment but I'll be allowed to test it before I buy, It's at a retro collector's local to me so I can go round and test it, although I think he can test as well.

Guy wants £75 for it. Not sure that’s even reasonable or not . Any news from the Tatung Guy ?

P.S. This person whom I won’t name can be a difficult so and so, The type that will sell you that 8 Bit Atari 800XL for £500 type hence price is suspiciously low from him, so he either wants me to do some repairs (not mentioned yet) or it's broken ...

P.S.S sorry keep editing

 

Digi Key Parcel arrived with connectors etc. for building up leads for Gotek, floppy's etc etc. already had a reel of 34way Ribbon. Still amazing just how quickly I can order from the states and have it delivered 2 days later without being fined by customes etc etc.

 

Yeah, so update is the chap who is the Tatung Einstein dealer has new old stock Hitachi drives and would be asking £50 for one, failing that he also has some secondhand ones stored offsite for less. I said I would chip in toward a new drive as payment toward the excellent condition Dragon Andy sold me, so it will be less that that for you mate as we discussed on the phone.
These are the direct drive models like the original Microdisc Hitachi drive. When I was chatting to him it was very interesting, he is an 83 year old guy ( you kind of forget people running businesses in ‘84 are getting on a bit now ). He asked which drive I was after and was relieved it was a direct drive model, the Einstein 256 had the belt driven 3” drive ( a la CPC 6128 ) and which in his words are rubbish.
So I am waiting on him calling back as to which he has as he was busy trying to recover his files after a power cut. So should have an answer in a day or two.
He has a few Einstein 256’s ( new ) left but people all over the world are offering silly money for them right now.

 

Hi Richie
I think I would buy one for myself if he is selling, that way I could have the proper setup for an Atmos
The other two I'd love to own are a Next Step not the 8Bit Model tho. last one I've seen sold for approx $25,000 so that would be an impossiable raid on my piggy bank Jar.
And a Memotech MTX500, alway thought they looked great and are known to be very well made.
I wonder what people have offered him for the Einstien 256 did he say? They are a very capable computer especially in the graphics department.
Lets hope he gets him self sorted out .
P.S spare amstrad drive arrived today, It's the more common type with the write protect pin. All working o.k he sent a load of connection cables and other bits and pieces, a power spliter for adding a gotek etc. I was told it didn't work, I'm guessing there was no 12V supply looking at the cables supplied. Not bad for the cost of postage, he wouldn't take anything at all for it even when I phoned back and told him, Bit different from the guy with the Hitachi drive.

 

Always great to read your news, guys - I was saying to Richie, every day - a new adventure. I mean the 83yr old chap still selling 80s micro (N.O.S.) parts and equipment really is quite amazing and like you point out, Rich, these guys are now senior citizens but still showing their own passion and dedication for this stimulating hobby that we're all still drawn to... incredible and really. Tatung Einsteins, eh? Now there's a name to conjure with!



They always reminded me of the Sharp MZ80K range etc with the PET-like low-profile quality keyboard but unlike the PET didn't have the integrated monitor - you had to add one. The Einstein also had an option to run BBC Basic IIRC. In this pic, we see "junior" playing ELITE...and why not?!

Quality posts, fellas - glad you got some good gubbins in the post, Graham. There are some real generous gents out there in retro micro land so always heartening to hear this side of the story too as we all get a bit fed up of the gold diggers/rip off merchants.

 

Fellas, it's 23:51 and the 1st chance I've had to log on today and it's now... time for bed!
Many, many thanks for all your investigations, suggestions and research into sizes, prices of drives, faceplates, mounts and connectors etc etc.
I will have a good think and get back to you chaps in the next 24-48 hrs but yes, I am happy in theory to proceed with both Graham's and Richie's suggestions in terms of trying to get something perhaps unique/novel conjured up out of the microdisc case as otherwise it just becomes nothing more than a paperweight with a dead 3" drive in it.
I'm just trying to get my head around how you could possibly fit two drives in there though - surely there aint the room to have two drives (3.5" and Gotek out the front fascia?) I'm possibly missing something (it is late/1st day back at work and I've had a few Guinness' so I'm ready for me pit).
Yes, if you could send me the Oric-1, Rich, that would be great (your electronics parcel left Hull earlier today bound for you - hopefully you've received some tracking). That's very kind you offering Graham your Oric-1 to play with - else he can have a dabble with mine for a wee while - whatever.
Once more, cheers again, chaps, for all your prep work - much appreciated as ever.

 

He He I was going to bed earlier however we have a new Purdy Cat, curtsey of a good friend of Pam's; circumstances not so good as she's in hospital.. Said Purdy Cat now called 'Eeow' is doing just that and keeping us awake...

To help Andy when his more with it

The interface within the Microdrive supports two drives, currently one internal and a connector on the rear for an additional one or a Gotek whatever you want to use. So let’s look at space..
Well I’ll start off with the broken 3" drive , this has a front face area measuring 95mm wide (I hope) and 41mm high.
I've just found 3.5" drives at 95mm wide & 13mm in height. In theory this should fit across the width just fine..
that leaves the height , 41mm - 13mm for the new miniature drive leaves 28mm , actually more than needed for a Gotek type drive, although narrower, however the electronics of the Gotek are narrow and should fit fine, worst case if we wanted, all the connections could be made remote from the board.

Somehow we need to mount the drive and the Gotek electronics, there are several ways to achieve this including the use of a 3D printed panel and mounts, all printed as one. it picks up the original floppy drive mounting points, those of the Gotek and the new mini drive.
Other solutions or combinations exist such as using thin blank PCB material and solder bits together..
Can even solder brass nuts on so great for some mounting jobs.

I think the main thing is to try it all out first

Re you're repaired Oric1 Andy, Richie reports that the /ROMDIS signal is not available on this model, so the external ROM within the Microdrive will not run. It could be modified however ( the Oric that is)

And thats why Richie has so kindly offered me the loan of his Oric, I'll also be looking at two Microdrive interface boards, with a hope of getting these working.

If the Gotek + 3.5" works for you then you have two items to sell if you chose..

 

Graham,
Thank you very much but £75 at the over the limit end of what I will pay/can afford.
Richie has been on today to text me and mentions another guy who might well have a working 3" model for £50 so that's a go-er and we'll see what develops over the next few days.
Am mighty grateful to you both and glad to hear you didn't get stung by any additional custom charges/import duties on that parcel from the states - RESULT!
Cheers, chaps.