🚀 go-pugleaf

map@hal.maths.monash.edu.au (Michael Page) writes:
>I'd like to try and get hold of a cheap 3.5" floppy drive for an
>old XT computer (to fit in a standard 5.25" slot).  Doesn't have 
>to be at all fancy, but I'd like to know it works as I'll be carrying
>it across to Perth before I can try it out.

You can use a standard 3.5" drive with a cheap mounting bracket. As other
posters have pointed out, your problem will be getting the XT to recognise
it. 

Is your XT a genuine IBM XT or a clone? If it's the former, I think you 
may be out of luck. If the latter - some of the later models could use at 
least 720K 3.5" floppies.

There were adapter cards which would let you use 3.5" floppies, but I
can't remember if they would let you use 1.44M ones. I seem to recall that
slow XTs (4.77Mhz) were physically incapable of reading 1.44M disks
because the data speed was too high. 

Finally, there is no good reason for using an XT nowadays, let alone 
carrying it interstate. The luggage costs alone are likely to be more 
than the thing is worth. 

jds
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