Gerry's stuff
  • Gerry's web page
  • My 'Stimpy' project
    • Hardware elements
    • Cables and sleeving >
      • Final sleeving
    • Modding the power supply
    • Adding vinyl foil
    • Case lighting (new!)
    • System upgrades >
      • GA-880GA-UD3H systemboard
      • Corsair H50 water cooler installation
      • Floppy support is lacking!
      • Changing heatsinks
      • Stimpy gets a face change
      • Power supply upgrade
      • Liitle things
    • YASBU - Yet Another System Board Upgrade!
    • A Nerds life before Stimpy
  • Bike
    • Adding a front derailleur
    • Bike wheels
    • Bicycle Apps
  • Oasis/Odyssey Minivan
    • Odyssey Minivan
    • Sliding Door roller repair
    • Sliding Door replacement
  • Blog
  • testing new standard Blog
  • testing new Disqus Blog

Hardware elements

3-1/2 Floppy with built in memory card reader

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I had plenty of floppy drives.  But when I saw this unit with built in flash memory card reader, I had to upgrade!

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My computer must have a 5-1/4" floppy diskette drive!
Why?  It's the oldest PC storage device hearkening back to the original IBM PC!

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And I had the perfect one from an IBM PS/2 Mod 90 desktop system.  A 'third height' 1.2MB drive (not half height or full height) with a unique motorized inject/eject mechanism.  Just like a trayless slot loading CD drive, it will pull in the diskette.  When you press the button, it will release the diskette so you can remove it.  The drive was manufactured by Canon, model MD5501A.  Removed the faceplate and sprayed it black. (Turned out a bit too glossy, I'll have to respray it when I find the right paint)

When I placed a laptop CD drive on top, I discovered that this combo now fits perfectly in a half height 5-1/4 bay!  So I bought this DVD burner with lightscribe along with an IDE adapter.  The fun part was fabricating brackets to hold the DVD on top of the diskette drive.  And later, a plastic piece to fill the gap on the right.

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Here you can see the different cables to connect to the drives. Left to right: 34 pin floppy cable, analog audio, berg power connector, molex power, 40 pin IDE cable- which plugs in above the audio and berg connectors.

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Now here you see my two floppy drives and DVD.  I also replaced the original power switch with an illuminated 'vandal' switch.
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The 5-1/4 eject button is above the floppy, between the two screws.  The white square under the 5-1/4¼" floppy is the manual eject, works just like the pin hole on a CD/DVD drive to manually release the diskette.
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Cables and sleeving
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  • Gerry's web page
  • My 'Stimpy' project
    • Hardware elements
    • Cables and sleeving >
      • Final sleeving
    • Modding the power supply
    • Adding vinyl foil
    • Case lighting (new!)
    • System upgrades >
      • GA-880GA-UD3H systemboard
      • Corsair H50 water cooler installation
      • Floppy support is lacking!
      • Changing heatsinks
      • Stimpy gets a face change
      • Power supply upgrade
      • Liitle things
    • YASBU - Yet Another System Board Upgrade!
    • A Nerds life before Stimpy
  • Bike
    • Adding a front derailleur
    • Bike wheels
    • Bicycle Apps
  • Oasis/Odyssey Minivan
    • Odyssey Minivan
    • Sliding Door roller repair
    • Sliding Door replacement
  • Blog
  • testing new standard Blog
  • testing new Disqus Blog