Date   : Sat, 11 Dec 1999 11:13:38 +0000
From   : Mike Tomlinson <mike@...>
Subject: Re: I think I must have a say in all this. It is LONG! So print it.

In article <14417.24700.865000.441659@...>, Angus
Duggan <angus@...> writes

>This subject has been done to death; I suggest we let it drop until the next
>time someone infringes someone else's sensibilities. Then we can have a nice
>little flame war again to let off steam.

agreed <grin>

>Ob BBC: I need to get some disc drives for my second Beeb. I have an 8271
>controller, so I believe I need FM encoding drives rather than MFM. Does
>anyone know if all drives which do MFM will also do FM?

Yes, they will.  The only issue is the speed at which data is written to
the drive by the controller, and this is a controller function.

> Can I just rescue any
>old PC 5 1/4" drive and use that,

Not really.  Most PC drives, if they have come from a 286 class or
higher machine, will be 1.2Mb.  These spin the disc at (IIRC) 360 rpm as
opposed to the 300 rpm of standard drives.  Mark Usher was gathering
information on which drives could be used with a Beeb.  I'm sure he'll
jump in here.

Some 1.2Mb drives can be jumpered to run at 300rpm.

> or will I have to search for a really
>ancient one?

'Really ancient ones' will be 360k - which is 40 track, double sided.
These will be usable, but you won't be able to read 80 track discs.

-- 
Mike Tomlinson