Mindless Mayhem releases it's eigth file: EL CHEEPO 5.25" DRIVE FOR PS/2'S brought to you by The Beastmaster DISCLAIMER: YOU MAY ATTEMPT THIS MODIFICATION AT YOUR OWN RISK. THE AUTHOR IS IN NO WAY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE INCURRED AS A RESULT OF ANY SUCH MODIFICATION. Interface specifications: IBM PS/2 to external 5.25" drive The following is a description of how to hook up an external 5.25" diskette drive to an IBM Personal System/2 with a minimum of cost and components. The diskette interface in a PS/2 is essentially the same as in the older PC. The 34 pin signal and 4 pin power connectors have been replaced by a single 40 pin connector. In addition, output signals from the drive have been changed from open collector to tri-state. To perform the interface, connect pins 1 through 34 from the PS/2 straight through to pins 1 through 34 of the external drive. Pins 8, 26, 28, and 30 also need a 10K ohm pullup resistor to +5 volts. Connect the power supply pins as follows: IBM PS/2 5.25" external diskette drive 40 pin diskette drive connector 4 pin power connector 37 ------------------------------- 2 (ground) 38 ------------------------------- 4 (+5 volts) 39 ------------------------------- 3 (ground) 40 ------------------------------- 1 (+12 volts) A 40 pin card edge is needed to mate with the 40 pin connector at the B: drive slot. An IBM (old bus) prototype card or other suitable card with 0.1" edge contact spacing can be used if cut to size. Mount the pullup resistors on this board, then run the data and power cables from the board to your external drive. Try to keep cable lengths as short as possible. Don't forget to boot your Reference Diskette and configure drive B: as 5.25" external. If you're having problems configuring it as 5.25" disk, set it up as 1.44mb drive and see if that works. If all else fails, keep reading and see end of file. Also, be sure to remove the termination resistor(s) from your external drive if it is so equipped. Maybe I'll write an .ADF file. Maybe not. We'll see. For most of the wiring, i would stronly suggest you use ribbon cable; just buy a floppy drive wire cable with connectors, and cut off one of the two connectors, and affix it appropiatly to the card or whatever you use. The optimal interface would include additional buffering and shielded cable, but if you are that serious I suggest you buy a real computer that can handle an internal 5.25" drive. Note: The interface described herein has been neither approved nor disapproved by IBM. -The Beastmaster note: If you have any serious problems, go after this guy who originally came up with the idea. David Jaque-ass Brunell CIS ID: 74630,64 Brunell, Webber, Smif, Jackson, Jabarr, and Associates P.O. Box 2751 Palm Beach, FL 33480 LALALALA. Hope you enjoyed another Mindless Mayhem release. Be on the lookout for more and be sure to call Destiny Knights, home board for all Mindless Mayhem releases, at 708-307-3768 NUP: Fourth Dimension. NO STILLWATERS WELCOME If you haven't read any of our other releases, you're missing out. Lates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EOF