nigel99 606 #1 April 19, 2011 Is anyone familiar with a hardware floppy drive/disk emulator? I have an expensive piece of equipment that has a 3.5" drive and it is getting harder to find disks and it is terribly unreliable. I have only found 1 so far and as I have never heard of the company before I am a little wary. http://www.plrelectronics.com/floppy_to_usb.phpExperienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
theonlyski 8 #2 April 19, 2011 If nobody out there answers you by the time I get home, I'll figure out what program I have on my computer for it. It was cheap enough and never had problems with it. Are you trying to make it read the floppy drive? Does it HAVE to be a floppy drive? There are ways around that, even sometimes you can get away with using a modified (software/firmware) USB drive."I may be a dirty pirate hooker...but I'm not about to go stand on the corner." iluvtofly DPH -7, TDS 578, Muff 5153, SCR 14890 I'm an asshole, and I approve this message Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nigel99 606 #3 April 19, 2011 QuoteIf nobody out there answers you by the time I get home, I'll figure out what program I have on my computer for it. It was cheap enough and never had problems with it. Are you trying to make it read the floppy drive? Does it HAVE to be a floppy drive? There are ways around that, even sometimes you can get away with using a modified (software/firmware) USB drive. It is a fairly high end piece of electronic test equipment with a built in 3.5" FDD. I have two options replace the internal FDD with an emulator, or use GPIB to grab the data - but this ties up a PC and a Labview license although it has other benefits. So in short it must be able to plug into a standard FDD interface and be mechanically the same dimensions.Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
theonlyski 8 #4 April 19, 2011 Interesting These don't look too cheap, but it says the lower one starts around $275"I may be a dirty pirate hooker...but I'm not about to go stand on the corner." iluvtofly DPH -7, TDS 578, Muff 5153, SCR 14890 I'm an asshole, and I approve this message Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
normiss 886 #5 April 19, 2011 Why wouldn't a USB floppy work? Like this? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
theonlyski 8 #6 April 19, 2011 Quote Why wouldn't a USB floppy work? Like this? The firmware on the machine might not enable it to search for the software on the USB bus, it might not have a USB controller/connections, or maybe he doesn't want to lug around another piece of equiptment. When programming software for a piece of equiptment, its not always in the back of the engineers head to make the system updateable or work in ways other than designed."I may be a dirty pirate hooker...but I'm not about to go stand on the corner." iluvtofly DPH -7, TDS 578, Muff 5153, SCR 14890 I'm an asshole, and I approve this message Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
normiss 886 #7 April 19, 2011 While it's been a VERY long time since I had to worry about hardware enabled licensing, I would expect most software to simply look for a drive letter. "There are two great auras in a man's life. One is to see Halley's Comet and two is to have a software engineer tell you it's a hardware issue.....and be right." - Joe Ricci, RCA Test Engineer, 1982 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nigel99 606 #8 April 19, 2011 Quote Quote Why wouldn't a USB floppy work? Like this? The firmware on the machine might not enable it to search for the software on the USB bus, it might not have a USB controller/connections, or maybe he doesn't want to lug around another piece of equiptment. When programming software for a piece of equiptment, its not always in the back of the engineers head to make the system updateable or work in ways other than designed. There is no USB bus... The $275 one appears to be the same as the one I found. I suppose I will just have to give it a try. I was holding out hope on someone having a personal recommendation from experience.Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
theonlyski 8 #9 April 19, 2011 Quote While it's been a VERY long time since I had to worry about hardware enabled licensing, I would expect most software to simply look for a drive letter. "There are two great auras in a man's life. One is to see Halley's Comet and two is to have a software engineer tell you it's a hardware issue.....and be right." - Joe Ricci, RCA Test Engineer, 1982 I know when I write software, I generally like to hard code the letters, cause its directed at the client machine specifically. Sometimes I'll make it in an .ini that the user can change, but I generally don't like to do that much. Gotta remember though, plugging in another device, probably gets it a new drive letter. Especially if the old one is still in/active. To the OP: Wish I could help you out with this one, we only have 2 testing devices that use floppies, and we never touch them. "I may be a dirty pirate hooker...but I'm not about to go stand on the corner." iluvtofly DPH -7, TDS 578, Muff 5153, SCR 14890 I'm an asshole, and I approve this message Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JohnMitchell 16 #10 April 19, 2011 Vskydiver has a $15K commercial embroidery machine that uses floppies. There is no upgrade available from the manufacturer. If the drive quits working, we'll be scrambling for options. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
normiss 886 #11 April 19, 2011 You can still buy 3 1/2 drives. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shropshire 0 #12 April 19, 2011 I remember Single Sided - Single Densityand even Hard Sectoring (.)Y(.) Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JohnMitchell 16 #13 April 19, 2011 Quote You can still buy 3 1/2 drives. Cool, good to know. It sure would be nice if we could convert it to flash drive, though. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
theonlyski 8 #14 April 19, 2011 Quote Quote You can still buy 3 1/2 drives. Cool, good to know. It sure would be nice if we could convert it to flash drive, though. Send it to me, with a few hundred bucks, and I'll see what I can do. Might need to make a couple tests though... ya know, to make sure it works. "I may be a dirty pirate hooker...but I'm not about to go stand on the corner." iluvtofly DPH -7, TDS 578, Muff 5153, SCR 14890 I'm an asshole, and I approve this message Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JohnMitchell 16 #15 April 19, 2011 Need some bitchin' custom embroidery? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
theonlyski 8 #16 April 19, 2011 Quote Need some bitchin' custom embroidery? I probably wouldn't even know where to start. "I may be a dirty pirate hooker...but I'm not about to go stand on the corner." iluvtofly DPH -7, TDS 578, Muff 5153, SCR 14890 I'm an asshole, and I approve this message Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
