Date   : Sat, 20 Nov 2004 19:39:06 +0000
From   : Mike Tomlinson <mike@...>
Subject: Re: bag of spanners Opus drive

In article <1099071539.13610.55.camel@...>, Jules
Richardson <julesrichardsonuk@...> writes
>
>Anyone delved inside a twin Opus drive before and know why the one I
>just picked up sounds like a bag of spanners?

Many of the earlier drives had head load solenoids.  These make a
distinctive "clunk" as the head is lowered onto the disk surface.  In
addition, the default slow step rate of 8271 DFS (originally intended
for 8" drives) will give a "purr" as the heads seek to the selected
track.

If you fit a DIP switch to the space on the keyboard and turn switches 3
and 4 on (you'll need to double check this in the AUG, it's been a while
and I don't have easy access to my BBC stuff), this will speed up the
step rate and disable the head load, so you will find the drives work
much faster.  Warning: 8271 DFS only.  Not for 1770/1772.

-- 
.sigmonster on vacation