Date   : Thu, 11 Mar 1999 23:29:27 -0600
From   : "Rick Galbraith" <rick_galbraith@...>
Subject: floppy drive of north am. beeb

I have one the BBC computers that was originally supplied to schools and other 
public sites in 1986 under an Ontario (Canada) government promotion.

I originally bought some used floppy drives of a similar type as the one
originally
supplied, thinking I would double the disc drive capacity, but never proceeded. 
Besides the colour of the faceplate, they looked identical.

Taking the cover off my original drive, I noticed that there was some difference
in 
the electronics. I figured that one was just a newer version.

The original drive, labeled on the metal case as an Acorn as-80, made in Canada,
started as a Chinon F-506L. The others I bought were Chinon F-502L II's.

I finally did some research on the net. The 506 is a High Density drive,
but on the 
BBC it cannot read or format High Density Disks. The 502's are just Double
Density.

I have no idea if putting the 506 on my '486 will let a program such as Anadisk
read
my BBC diskettes. The 502 drives certainly cannot read these discs, even though
they are double density discs. I realize that the BBC only writes single-density
files.

Will let you know the results of my continuing odyssey, when I have further
time to
pursue it.

Cheers,
Rick

Rick Galbraith, Winnipeg, Manitoba
rick_galbraith@...
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