FC5025 5.25" floppy disk controller

RobertBe · Post by **RobertBe** » Wed Mar 03, 2010 12:33 am

The FC5025 5.25" USB floppy controller is now available. Device Side Data's FC5025 USB 5.25" floppy controller plugs into a USB port and enables you to attach a 5.25" floppy drive. With the FC5025 and its included software, you can read Apple, Atari, Commodore, MS-DOS, North Star, and TI disks.

For more information and to order, see the web site:

http://www.deviceside.com

Before ordering, please note the limitations described on the website. In particular, the FC5025 is read-only; it can read floppies, but it can't write to them.

Truly,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://videocam.net.au/fcug
The Other Group of Amigoids
http://www.calweb.com/~rabel1/
Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network
http://www.sccaners.org

rhurst · Post by **rhurst** » Wed Mar 03, 2010 12:06 pm

Interesting device, thanks for sharing.

I still find my XEM1541 adapter couples nicely with OpenCBM for native R/W use with the CBM peripheral (1541/1571/1581), so as intriguing as it is with the USB adaptor, I cannot find a use-case whereas I would need one in C= 8-bit land.

Bacon · Post by **Bacon** » Thu Mar 04, 2010 2:20 am

rhurst wrote:Interesting device, thanks for sharing.

I still find my XEM1541 adapter couples nicely with OpenCBM for native R/W use with the CBM peripheral (1541/1571/1581), so as intriguing as it is with the USB adaptor, I cannot find a use-case whereas I would need one in C= 8-bit land.

I guess it will be very useful for people with Commodore disks they want to preserve but no C= disk drive.

rhurst · Post by **rhurst** » Thu Mar 04, 2010 11:51 am

I thought this USB adaptor allowed you to connect a REAL CBM drive to it, no? It can work with ANY 5-1/4" drive mechanism?

gklinger · Post by **gklinger** » Thu Mar 04, 2010 1:25 pm

They may be using the word "any" to mean any standard, 'PC' 5.25" drive. The website talks of the TEAC FD-55GFR which supports the 1.2MB HD format. If you want to connect a Commodore (IEC) floppy drive to a PC there's always the XU1541.

Bacon · Post by **Bacon** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 1:25 am

That's how I understand it too. Looking at the device, there seems to be a standard PC drive ribbon cable connector but no way to connect an IEC device as far as I can see.

eslapion · Post by **eslapion** » Mon Mar 08, 2010 5:58 am

Technically speaking, all PC 5.25" drives can read the 1541 format. It all depends on the CONTROLLER that is used.

Since the actual controller is in the USB device and not in the drive itself then they can pretty much claim to be able to read a wide variety of formats.

Considering your comments, it seems pretty clear to me that the advertisements claims the device will allow you to read Atari, Commodore and Apple formatted 5.25" disks on a PC 5.25" drive through the USB port.

As of February 2010, the included software supports the following types of disk:

Apple DOS 3.2 (13-sector)
Apple DOS 3.3 (16-sector)
Apple ProDOS
Atari 810
Commodore 1541
MS-DOS
North Star MDS-A-D
TI-99/4A

link:
http://www.deviceside.com/fc5025.html

rhurst · Post by **rhurst** » Mon Mar 08, 2010 7:12 am

... there's always the XU1541.

Drool ... drool, that looks like the balls for us C= nerds using OpenCBM. But I did not see any screenshots for the custom GUI mentioned ... ? I don't mind opencbm's command-line, though. What I am really looking for is a modernized utility that dumps to the g64 format.

Pedro Lambrini · Post by **Pedro Lambrini** » Mon Mar 08, 2010 7:24 am

Here's a screen shot of the GUI on my netbook.

I ordered a xu1541 a while back and it took quite a time to get here. Now that I have it in my grubby mits I haven't had the time to play with it! However, from all accounts it's meant to be really good.

ral-clan · Post by **ral-clan** » Tue Mar 09, 2010 9:38 am

rhurst wrote:
... there's always the XU1541.
Drool ... drool, that looks like the balls for us C= nerds using OpenCBM. But I did not see any screenshots for the custom GUI mentioned ... ? I don't mind opencbm's command-line, though. What I am really looking for is a modernized utility that dumps to the g64 format.

Looks good, yes, but if it can't write back to the disks then it's not as useful as a real 1541 hooked to a PC with one of the various cable designs floating around on the internet. One of the major uses I find for my 1541 is writing images posted by Denial users to a floppy for use on my real VIC-20.

Interestingly, this device claims to do almost all the same things the advice being discussed in this thread can do:

http://www.softpres.org/glossary:kryoflux

Kweepa · Post by **Kweepa** » Tue Mar 09, 2010 10:26 am

Jason Scott (filmmaker and internet archiver/historian) reviewed the FC2025 recently. He also mentions the Kyroflux and one other disk reading solution.

http://ascii.textfiles.com/archives/2503