Janice wrote:
> The 1.44 MB 3.5" floppy drive on my PS/2 Model 30 286 machine failed
> recently.  I assume it most likely died of old age.  From what I've
read
> here, it can only be replaced by an identical drive of the same
vintage,
> which would also be prone to kicking off at any time due to capacitor

> failure.

Yes, and it is the high probability of capacitor failure that makes
buying "New, Old Stock, Untested" drives on eBay and from some parts
vendors a tricky proposition.

> The machine does have a working external DSDD 5.25" floppy drive.
This
> has a huge connecting cable unlike anything seen today.  Is there any
way
> to adapt this to connect to a modern PC?

Yes, but the situation is somewhat problematic on truly "modern" PCs.
The PS/2 "BattleFloppy" external drives (4869-001 and -002) use IBM
PC/AT-vintage 5.25-inch floppy drives, meaning they operate on TTL
signal levels.  Virtually all 3.5-inch floppy drives operate on CMOS
signal levels, which is why the 4865 external 3.5-inch drives for the
PC/XT, XT/286 and PC/AT included a CMOS/TTL converter card inside the
drive case.  The 72X6757 PS/2 5.25-inch External Diskette Drive Adapter
card in your 8530 takes care of the CMOS/TTL conversion for the 4869
external drive.  The 72X6758 PS/2 5.25-inch External Diskette Drive
Adapter/A card does the CMOS/TTL conversion for the 8550, 8560 or 8580
system units.  Your "modern" PC will only provide CMOS level diskette
signals, so you would need a CMOS/TTL converter as part of the
attachment hardware needed to connect the 4869 to a "modern" PC.  If
you wanted to connect the 4869 to a PC/XT or PC/AT, whose diskette
adapter is already operating at TTL signal levels, an appropriate
wiring harness would be the only hardware requirement.

In practical terms, if you plan to transfer data from the 8530 to a
"modern" PC using the 4869-001, you'll probably need 3 PCs in all:  The
8530, a PC/XT or PC/AT, and the "modern" PC.  Given that your 8530 is a
286 model, you could bypass the intermediate PC/XT or PC/AT by
installing a 16-bit ISA NIC in the 8530, and communicate with the
"modern" PC over your Ethernet LAN (or Token-Ring if you still operate
a T-R segment).

Rick Ekblaw