Floppy Drive inside Microdrive Slot

[genetika]

Hi.
Is it possible to mod the QL case in order to use a FD 3.25 instead of the MDs... ?
SGC + QBIde inside the case ...

[Cristian]

Well, let's say that nothing is impossible, but... I think it would be very complicate.

The flat cable connector is in the opposite side of QL;
you should get rid of the big heatsink, and replace the regulator;
I don't know if the 5V from PSU will be sufficient to feed the floppy drive;
some floppy drives need also a 12V input;
the floppy drives are big, probably you will have to disassemble the drive case;
the modern external floppy drives are thinner, but they use a USB interface.

[Andrew]

It just happens that I have an disassembled QL on the desk and a disassembled PC under the desk So I checked the floppy size - and there is not enough room in the QL case

[Cristian]

there is not enough room in the QL case

For a normal floppy drive. Have you tried also a smaller external drive? Just for information

[Andrew]

No, I do not have an external floppy
(actually I do, but they are normal floppies in an external case)

[Nasta]

In theory, you could do that if you manage to find a laptop floppy drive, those are half as thick as the regular type, and barely bigger than the diskette. However, even then, it's NOT easy. At best you can get a floppy inside the case so that the diskette sticks out the righthand side, and that's with a LOT of modification to the case and other internals.

[Derek_Stewart]

Hi,

Back in the bad old days when the fastest expansion was a Trump Card, a friend did this. He added a 3.5" floppy drive to his QL.

The drive was fitted at the end of the QL above the reset switch. Which meant cutting the QL case to accomodate the 3.5" flopply drive.

The drive needed an external power supply, as we thought the QL PSU was not powerful to power the 3.5" floppy drive.

The QL heat sink was lowered to allow the drive to be fitted in the QL case. I think that a capacitor was modified to allow the drive installation.

Microdrives removed, not required, access to microdrives over the network.

Connection to the Trump Card by a standard 34 way cable.

Of course a laptop drive could been used with a converter board to 34 way IDC.

The end result worked well, but only a single drive, no real expansion for multiple floppy drives.

25 years later when we should be using SD Cards or similiar, fitting a floppy disk drive seems too much work.

You might worth getting a vDriveQL fitted into the QL case.

[Andrew]

I wanted to buy a vdrive for Christmas but I could not find any - they are no longer listed on sellmyretro.

[wayne weedon]

If my memory serves me correctly I think Keith Mitchell might of achieved this back n the 90's.

I have a QL motherboard here somewhere which I modified by cutting the end of the PCB off flush with the edge of the 8049, so it has no microdrive circuitry etc. I had to replicate some of the video circuit on veroboard and it was functional again. This was done to fit it into a small desktop case. One day I'll venture into the attic to find it and take a picture.

Wayne..

[RWAP]

I wanted to buy a vdrive for Christmas but I could not find any - they are no longer listed on sellmyretro.

They are sold in small batches - if you register on sellmyretro and go to the listing (https://www.sellmyretro.com/offer/details/29035) you can click on "Notify when back in stock" and will get an email as soon as they are relisted.