ORIC (drive) OPTIONS

To throw a spanner in the works here, I have found out that Tatung Einstein computers use the same Hitachi drive as a Microdisc. Unbelievably, there is a dealer who still sells replacement parts including replacement drives so it may be possible to get a new drive mechanism after all. That way the Microdisc will remain original spec and we could stick a Gotek on top as drive B. That way you can transfer digital files to real 3” disk.

I am waiting for the dealer to get back to me with a price for a replacement drive.

 

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 ?

 

Graham, If it ends up with the Microdisc going back to Andy, you could always try and build a Dual drive setup based on the Cumana board. There is no case so it has no constraints on design or dimensions. It would be a project in of itself aside from getting the Cumana to recognize a floppy drive.

 

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.

 

Seems Whilst out today Postie dropped in a prezzy ...


So it is indeed 95mm wide 130mm deep and 13mm tall ..
Checking this against an Amstrad CPC6128 drive

And they are the same width.
I'll see how I get on with the 3" disc's I have on the way, if so many have failed I may use the 3.5" drive and a Gotek, Plus change to ParaDOS (thing that's correct Richie will know ) on the Amstrad.
Let's hope I can get the Cumana interfaces working, that way I'll have an option of Gotek or 3.5" disk there..

As an aside a full height Harddisk / Floppy disc drive in days past are 3 3/8" or 86mm
The floppy drives I bought are so called 1/6 height at 13mm
In theory thats six drives stacked on top of each other with about a 1/4" 6mm to space them out ... although that would need a few more floppy controllers


I'm looking forward to sorting this old girl out at somepoint, genuine IBM branded drives.. Floppy by Tandon & Hard Drive by Seagate (ST412)

Note the two stacked Teac drives originally for an IBM laptop (may have been desktop) so still in the same family

Hey Andy fancy a genuine IBM 360K doublesided 5 1/4" drive, if so better take a loan out

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.