Date   : Tue, 18 Sep 1990 11:06:11 GMT
From   : usc!samsung!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!ira.uka.de!smurf!gopnbg!altger!doitcr!jungkunz@ucsd.edu (Helmut Jungkunz)
Subject: 80 Track drives as B-drive on AMSTRAD CP/M computers

Hello people,

I keep reading all sorts of very costfull advices on additional drives on 
AMSTRAD CP/M computers. We, the Schneider/Amstrad CPC User Group (SCUG) of 
Munich, offer help to everyone, who wants to add a second drive to his AMSTRAD.
 
Our advice is to always try and get a DSQD (i.e. 80 Track) drive, even if you 
can use only one side for the time beeing. We have a universal driver program
to support a single-sided 80 track format with 360K capacitiy for all AMSTRAD
CP/M computers that can also be use by the CPCs in BASIC! By using a hardware 
switcfor head select, one might also use the other side of the disk, by 
simply switching to the second head. Be careful not to modify the drive itself,
use jumper points, wherever possible. There are also some drives enabling 
double-stepping via jumper select, so that exchanging information with 40 track
drives is also possible, as long as you are the receiving side. If you initiate
such a disk, make sure to use a virgin disk, or, even better, a disk formatted
by the destination drive. 

The format is called B360K and available as public domain. A BASIC formatter,
a CP/M 2.2 formatter and a multipurpose CP/M Plus formatter are included in 
the package. Although copyrights are held by the author, Andreas Kisslinger,
you are free to copy and distribute these programs, provided no commercial 
pricing is charged. If you must charge copyiing, then please be moderate. 
 
Information anprograms can be obtained through me. Send a preformatted disk
of your format, labelled wtih your format name and your address plus a short
handwritten note what it is that you want to this address:
 
Schneider/Amstrad CPC User Group Munich, c/o Helmut Jungkunz, Zacherlstr. 14,
8045 Ismaning, Germany  Tel. 089/969374
 
Use any brand of dri, it'll work on almost all known drives. There are some
drives, though, that can only access 77 tracks correctly, those were used in 
older computers. Modern drives should all be capable of accessing at least 80 
to 82 tracks. 

Note: avoid strange formats, try to stick to the original formats
as soon as you want anybody else to ever read your disks. 

With best regards,

Helmut