Internal 3.5" Floppy Drives
Apricot use two different types of 3.5" floppy drives in the
current range of machines.
The majority of machines, i.e. XEN-S, XEN-LS, Qi & FTs, use the same
drive and are therefore fully interchangeable.
The LS, LS Pro & FTe use a different drive and therefore cannot be
used in any of the machines listed previously.
The major difference between the two drives is that on the drive fitted
to the LS, LS Pro & FTe, the power signal is carried in the 34-way Interface cable,
whereas the other model uses a separate power cable.
It is important to note that the interface cable used between the
motherboard and the floppy drive have Connector Pin 1 pointing to Cable Conductor 1 at the
motherboard and Connector Pin 1 pointing to Cable Conductor 34 at the floppy drive.
VERY IMPORTANT - Moving Panther motherboard from FTe to Qi 486
One other very important fact to remember is that when moving a
motherboard from an FTe to a Qi 486 (as the boards are common) the ferrite FE1 needs to be
removed from the FTe board. The reason for this is essentially covered above. The FTe
floppy drive interface cable will, with the ferrite FE1 fitted, supply +5V to the floppy
drive. As this is not required in the Qi 486, if the ferrite is not removed, the drive
would sustain considerable damage. |
