Date   : Wed, 21 Dec 1988 10:37:52 GMT
From   : tikal!nwnexus!pilchuck!del@beaver.cs.washington.edu (Erik Lindberg)
Subject: floppy shut downers

Wow! Mitch talks about some horrendous circuit using a basement full of
components just to turn a drive motor on & off!   :-) :-)

What I did to handle this situation required a single PNP transistor and
a DIP style relay from Rat Shack. Hook one end of the relay to +5, the
other to the emitter of the transistor. It need not be a big transistor,
only a few milliamps are needed by the relay. Hook the collector of the
transistor to ground and the base to your motor control line. If your
drive controller does not offer a motor control line you will have to
add a 555 timer circuit to this kludge, with the trigger hooked to the
drive select (an OR will be required for multiple drive installations).
Anyway, most drive controllers do support a motor control line, even if
the BIOS has not implemented the timeout. It's up to you whether to hack
on the BIOS or the 555 circuit.

-- 
del (Erik Lindberg) 
uw-beaver!tikal!pilchuck!del