|*||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||*|¢|*| XF551 8-BIT HARDWARE MOD |*|¢|*| A Project by Mike Stevens |*|¢|*||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||*|¢¢ (Reprinted from the Puget Sound Atari News, April 1990)¢¢ Well, I think I've found the ultimate disk drive for the 8-bit computer. I'm the AUGIE 8-bit Librarian and that means I handle a lot of disks which takes a lot of time and disk space. Since time is money, as the saying goes, I am always on the look out for anything that will save me some of either. Well, when I heard about the XF35 kit from Innovative Concepts, I was a little skeptical. But I thought, "If it works, boy, oh boy, will I have it made!" The IC ad said, "Now XF551 owners can convert their drive to the newer 3.5" format and have a massive 720K of storage! Works with MYDOS, SpartaDOS, and the SpartaDOS X cartridge. Excellent for BBS use, hard drive backup, or use as a mini-hard drive!" The kit includes an upgrade ROM chip, adapting cables and complete instructions. The 3.5" drive was not part of the kit nor did I need it to be. Here in Southern California we have a lot of electronic swap meets and the one I went to for my 3.5 drive is the "General Dynamics HAM Radio swap meet". At this swap meet you can find almost anything in the area of electronics, computers and accessories. I found a seller who had three Cannon 3.5" DD-DS disk drives that he was willing to just about give away. So I gave him $10.00 for all three. One worked perfectly, another one wouldn't format every time but otherwise worked fine, the last one will be good for parts. Anyway, after a phone call to IC, and a week's wait, I had my kit and all the rest of the parts I needed to install the new 3.5" drive in my XF551. Everything went in just like it was supposed to. I'm sure glad that IBM parts are all pretty much standardized. One change I would recommend, however, is not desoldering the cable connector from the printed circuit board. You're just asking for problems if you aren't really good at that sort of thing. Instead, just pry the top clip off of the connector and firmly press the new cable (the one in the kit) into place. Then put the clip back on the connector. It is really that simple. The kit instructions gives you the option of either leaving your 5.25" drive mechanism in the case and installing the 3.5" drive externally, or replacing the 5.25" drive mechanism with the 3.5" drive by use of an adapter. I chose the internal option because I already own an AMDEC with four IBM type 5.25" DD-DS disk drives attached to it. In fact the XF551's drive mechanism is now number one on the AMDEC. The instructions were clear and easy to follow. I really appreciate someone who takes the time to write good directions, since it makes all the difference in the world between a project like this being a pleasure or a nightmare. In this case I'll brag about these instructions and say that they make this Mod 'a piece of cake'. Now to the good stuff: Using the modified XF551 or XF35 as it's called. I can't say enough about the practical aspects of this drive setup. After some experimentation I decided to use SpartaDOS and DiskCom together for my software. What I wanted to do was have the club's library available anytime without having to carry three or four hundred disks around with me all the time. As it worked out I've been able to put four to five double-sided 5.25" disks on each 3.5" disk. The combination of SpartaDOS and Disk Com means that I can read and duplicate in virtually any density or DOS situation I come across. I love it! I now only need to keep sixty or so 3.5" disks handy and they are little disks at that. I ask you, can it get any better? It's easier than carrying around a hard drive. Let's see.... 737K times 60 plus disks, ummm, well I'm sure it's more than 30 megs. Another really great application for the XF35 is in telecommunications. SpartaDOS plus the Express 212 program handles the XF35 drive like a dream. I can up- or down-load huge files (compressed ARCed or text) with the greatest of ease. By the way, Text Pro 3.2r also loves the XF35. I haven't begun to scratch the surface of the potential applications for this wondrous modification. "XF35" where have you been all my 8-bit life? I just love it!¢¢¢Taken from the newsnet system, and transferred by Mike Blenkiron. Tidied by Dean Garraghty.¢
