Hi, I just got back from the 80's and brought a BBC Micro model B with me as a souvenir. It works fine, only problem is the 5.25" dual floppy drive is broken. I found a 3.5" floppy drive in an old computer and just wondered if anyone had any idea how I could get it working?
In theory it should just be a matter of using the correct cable since the only difference that I know of between the 3.5 and 5.25 FDD was the connector. Though I could be wrong... Great find though, I love seeing what are largely useless old computers still being put to use, even if it's just as a proof of concept.
Thanks, I think it might be a DIY job, buy some ribbon cable and some power connectors. I'll see if I can find a suitable forum to ask. The only reason I got the BBC was because I was talking to my Granddad about the Raspberry Pi and the BBC and this whole computing education revolution and he asked me if I wanted his old BBC. So of course I snapped it off his hands. I've got it set up and running. I just want to get a disk drive working for it.
I have successfully used the 3.5" "stiffy" drives on the BBC model B, but I have upgraded to the 1770 chip and its associated DFS. I also have a 5.25" floppy drive that can be formatted to 80 tracks on each side of the disk and also it can be made double density. So it would be wise if you could get this 1770 upgrade. Having said this, there is a much better way of storing your files and that is ny using a MMC floppy emulator. Your programs are stored on a Micro SD card. See http://www.classic-computers.org.nz/blog/2012-10-07-BBC-MMC-solid-state-disk-drive.htm. Seems a very good system, and one would need nothing else. cheers Trevcharl
