CF-2 Compact Floppy Disk - Revision history

JTN: moar on Gotek

2020-12-22T20:14:43Z

moar on Gotek

JTN: Gotek

2020-12-22T20:04:15Z

Gotek

JTN: close parenthesis

2020-12-22T01:45:40Z

close parenthesis

JTN: oh yes, CF2DD was a scam, wasn't it (previous edit was submitted too early)

2020-12-20T14:31:02Z

oh yes, CF2DD was a scam, wasn't it (previous edit was submitted too early)

JTN: oh yes, there

2020-12-20T14:20:19Z

oh yes, there

JTN: edit failure

2020-12-20T04:36:53Z

edit failure

JTN: typical capacity (these are from Amstrad machines)

2020-12-20T04:36:18Z

typical capacity (these are from Amstrad machines)

JTN: move some stuff from LocoScript, and generally expand

2020-12-20T04:31:50Z

move some stuff from LocoScript, and generally expand

Dan Tobias at 01:42, 15 September 2019

2019-09-15T01:42:39Z

Dan Tobias: Created page with "{{FormatInfo |formattype=physical |subcat=Floppy disk }} The '''CF-2 Compact Floppy Disk''' was one of several odd-sized floppy formats that never caught on. It was 3 inches i..."

2019-09-15T01:41:58Z

Created page with "{{FormatInfo |formattype=physical |subcat=Floppy disk }} The '''CF-2 Compact Floppy Disk''' was one of several odd-sized floppy formats that never caught on. It was 3 inches i..."

New page

{{FormatInfo
|formattype=physical
|subcat=Floppy disk
}}
The '''CF-2 Compact Floppy Disk''' was one of several odd-sized floppy formats that never caught on. It was 3 inches in width, and larger in height (of the casing unit the users saw; the actual disk inside is round as usual). It was released around the same time as the 3 1/2" disk, attempting a "[[VHS]] vs. [[Betamax]]" or "[[BluRay]] vs. [[HD-DVD]]" style format war. It was used in some Amstrad and Sinclair computers, and a few others. Some of the drives were double-sided, reading/writing both sides of the medium, while others used only one side but could be flipped.

== Links ==
* [https://bytecellar.com/2019/02/25/a-look-at-the-short-lived-3-inch-compact-floppy-disk/ A Look at the Short-Lived 3-Inch Compact Floppy Disk]
* [[Wikipedia:Floppy disk variants]]
* [https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1984-01/BYTE-1984-01#page/n327/mode/2up The Winning Move: Hitachi's 3 Inch Floppy (ad in Byte)]

@@ Line 24: / Line 24: @@
 ** Unfortunately, some models of the Amstrad PCW in particular didn't come with any standard interfaces. There were add-ons such as the CPS8256 to give serial and parallel interfaces, or the LocoLink cable to connect to a PC's parallel port (which came with software to convert [[LocoScript]] files).
 * An alternative is to connect a more common drive, such as a 3.5" drive, to your working 3" machine (alongside the 3" one). Frank van Empel has a [http://fvempel.nl/drive.html guide for the Amstrad PCW]. ([https://web.archive.org/web/20161127112655/http://pcwpage.co.uk/making-a-data-cable-for-a-3-to-a-standard-3-5-drive/ another guide]) Obviously you'll need the ability to read 3.5" discs.
-* Or you could fit a [http://www.gotekemulator.com/ Gotek USB floppy emulator]. References: [https://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/nc100-nc200-pcw-pda600/amstrad-pcw-8256-gotek-drive/] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AE-Yjkr8kLU]
+* Or you could fit a [http://www.gotekemulator.com/ Gotek USB floppy emulator]. References for Amstrad PCW: [https://fabriziodivittorio.blogspot.com/2018/04/retro-restoring-amstrad-pcw-8512.html] (Italian, with technical detail) [https://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/nc100-nc200-pcw-pda600/amstrad-pcw-8256-gotek-drive/] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AE-Yjkr8kLU]
 * If you have only a 3" drive, it's usually possible to interface it to a PC (if the PC is old enough to have a floppy controller). [http://fvempel.nl/3pc.html Frank Van Empel] has some details for Amstrad drives. Then you can use disc imaging software on the PC to recover the data (the PC's operating system is unlikely to understand the data structure natively).

@@ Line 23: / Line 23: @@
 * If you have a working machine with a 3" drive, you can use it to read the data and transfer it via some other interface the machine has. For instance, if your machine runs CP/M and has a serial (RS232) interface, you can run [https://www.seasip.info/Unix/LibDsk/#auxd AUXD] on the source machine and the [https://www.seasip.info/Unix/LibDsk/ LibDsk] tools on the destination machine to transfer a disc image.
 ** Unfortunately, some models of the Amstrad PCW in particular didn't come with any standard interfaces. There were add-ons such as the CPS8256 to give serial and parallel interfaces, or the LocoLink cable to connect to a PC's parallel port (which came with software to convert [[LocoScript]] files).
-* An alternative is to connect a more common drive, such as a 3.5" drive, to your working 3" machine. Frank van Empel has a [http://fvempel.nl/drive.html guide for the Amstrad PCW]. ([https://web.archive.org/web/20161127112655/http://pcwpage.co.uk/making-a-data-cable-for-a-3-to-a-standard-3-5-drive/ another guide])
+* An alternative is to connect a more common drive, such as a 3.5" drive, to your working 3" machine (alongside the 3" one). Frank van Empel has a [http://fvempel.nl/drive.html guide for the Amstrad PCW]. ([https://web.archive.org/web/20161127112655/http://pcwpage.co.uk/making-a-data-cable-for-a-3-to-a-standard-3-5-drive/ another guide]) Obviously you'll need the ability to read 3.5" discs.
 * If you have only a 3" drive, it's usually possible to interface it to a PC (if the PC is old enough to have a floppy controller). [http://fvempel.nl/3pc.html Frank Van Empel] has some details for Amstrad drives. Then you can use disc imaging software on the PC to recover the data (the PC's operating system is unlikely to understand the data structure natively).

@@ Line 14: / Line 14: @@
 Drives came in two variants: single-sided, single-density (typical capacity about 180 kilobytes per side, in 40 tracks) -- the drive would only read/write one side of the medium, and to access the other, you'd insert the disc the other way up -- and double-sided, double-density (capacity about 720 kilobytes per disc, in 80 tracks) -- in this case the disc would only ever be inserted one way up. Higher-density drives could read, but not (safely) write, media formatted to the lower density.
-The discs used in these two sorts of drives were identical, and could all be inserted either way up. (Early on, some discs were marked as being for the DSDD drives by being labelled as '''CF2DD''' or '''CF2-D''', but reportedly there was no difference in the underlying physical media [https://archive.org/details/8000-plus-magazine-15/page/n86/mode/1up] and they were mechanically identical.
+The discs used in these two sorts of drives were identical, and could all be inserted either way up. (Early on, some discs were marked as being for the DSDD drives by being labelled as '''CF2DD''' or '''CF2-D''', but reportedly there was no difference in the underlying physical media [https://archive.org/details/8000-plus-magazine-15/page/n86/mode/1up] and they were mechanically identical.)
 Many (most?) 3" discs will contain a [[CP/M file system]].

@@ Line 12: / Line 12: @@
 * Tatung Einstein
-The discs could physically be inserted in a drive either way up, and single-density and double-density discs were mechanically identical. In a single-sided drive, the drive would only read/write one side of the medium; to access the other, you'd insert the disc the other way round. In a double-sided drive, you had to remember to only ever put the disc in one way up, and the drive would access both sides of the medium.
+Drives came in two variants: single-sided, single-density (typical capacity about 180 kilobytes per side, in 40 tracks) -- the drive would only read/write one side of the medium, and to access the other, you'd insert the disc the other way up -- and double-sided, double-density (capacity about 720 kilobytes per disc, in 80 tracks) -- in this case the disc would only ever be inserted one way up. Higher-density drives could read, but not (safely) write, media formatted to the lower density.
-(and its double-density variant '''CF2DD''' aka '''CF2-D'''),
+The discs used in these two sorts of drives were identical, and could all be inserted either way up. (Early on, some discs were marked as being for the DSDD drives by being labelled as '''CF2DD''' or '''CF2-D''', but reportedly there was no difference in the underlying physical media [https://archive.org/details/8000-plus-magazine-15/page/n86/mode/1up] and they were mechanically identical.
-−
-Typical capacity was 180 kilobytes per side for a single-sided, single-density disc (in 40 tracks), or 720 kilobytes for a double-sided, double-density disc (80 tracks per side).
 Many (most?) 3" discs will contain a [[CP/M file system]].

@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 |subcat=Floppy disk
 }}
-The '''CF-2 Compact Floppy Disk''' (and its double-density variant '''CF2DD''' aka '''CF2-D'''), also known as '''three-inch discs''', were one of several odd-sized floppy formats that never caught on. It was 3 inches in width, and larger in height (of the casing unit the users saw; the actual disk inside is round as usual). It was released around the same time as the 3½" disk, attempting a "[[VHS]] vs. [[Betamax]]" or "[[BluRay Disc]] vs. [[HD-DVD]]" style format war.
+The '''CF-2 Compact Floppy Disk''' also known as a '''three-inch disc''', was one of several odd-sized floppy formats that never caught on. It was 3 inches in width, and larger in height (of the casing unit the users saw; the actual disk inside is round as usual). It was released around the same time as the 3½" disk, attempting a "[[VHS]] vs. [[Betamax]]" or "[[BluRay Disc]] vs. [[HD-DVD]]" style format war.
 " discs were mainly used in the 1980s and early 1990s. Machines which used them included:
@@ Line 13: / Line 13: @@
 The discs could physically be inserted in a drive either way up, and single-density and double-density discs were mechanically identical. In a single-sided drive, the drive would only read/write one side of the medium; to access the other, you'd insert the disc the other way round. In a double-sided drive, you had to remember to only ever put the disc in one way up, and the drive would access both sides of the medium.
 Typical capacity was 180 kilobytes per side for a single-sided, single-density disc (in 40 tracks), or 720 kilobytes for a double-sided, double-density disc (80 tracks per side).

← Older revision		Revision as of 04:36, 20 December 2020
Line 13:		Line 13:

	The discs could physically be inserted in a drive either way up, and single-density and double-density discs were mechanically identical. In a single-sided drive, the drive would only read/write one side of the medium; to access the other, you'd insert the disc the other way round. In a double-sided drive, you had to remember to only ever put the disc in one way up, and the drive would access both sides of the medium.		The discs could physically be inserted in a drive either way up, and single-density and double-density discs were mechanically identical. In a single-sided drive, the drive would only read/write one side of the medium; to access the other, you'd insert the disc the other way round. In a double-sided drive, you had to remember to only ever put the disc in one way up, and the drive would access both sides of the medium.
		+
		+	Typical capacity was 180 kilobytes per side for a single-sided, single-density disc (in 40 tracks), or 720 kilobytes for a double-sided, double-density disc (80 tracks per side).

	Many (most?) 3" discs will contain a [[CP/M file system]].		Many (most?) 3" discs will contain a [[CP/M file system]].

@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 |subcat=Floppy disk
 }}
-The '''CF-2 Compact Floppy Disk''' was one of several odd-sized floppy formats that never caught on. It was 3 inches in width, and larger in height (of the casing unit the users saw; the actual disk inside is round as usual). It was released around the same time as the 3 1/2" disk, attempting a "[[VHS]] vs. [[Betamax]]" or "[[BluRay Disc]] vs. [[HD-DVD]]" style format war. It was used in some Amstrad and Sinclair computers, and a few others. Some of the drives were double-sided, reading/writing both sides of the medium, while others used only one side but could be flipped.
+The '''CF-2 Compact Floppy Disk''' (and its double-density variant '''CF2DD''' aka '''CF2-D'''), also known as '''three-inch discs''', were one of several odd-sized floppy formats that never caught on. It was 3 inches in width, and larger in height (of the casing unit the users saw; the actual disk inside is round as usual). It was released around the same time as the 3½" disk, attempting a "[[VHS]] vs. [[Betamax]]" or "[[BluRay Disc]] vs. [[HD-DVD]]" style format war.
 == Links ==
 * [https://bytecellar.com/2019/02/25/a-look-at-the-short-lived-3-inch-compact-floppy-disk/ A Look at the Short-Lived 3-Inch Compact Floppy Disk]
 * [[Wikipedia:Floppy disk variants]]
 * [https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1984-01/BYTE-1984-01#page/n327/mode/2up The Winning Move: Hitachi's 3 Inch Floppy (ad in Byte)]