Re: Stuff and Things.
Posted: 28 Sep 2025 18:42
Some general repairs to the Dolch LPAC-486 today after the FDD decided to fail on me. Here it is all naked like:
I've been using it with the MQP Programmer I got from @exxos and needed to get the software off for a little experiment, but sadly all the drive did was make a buzzing noise and did nothing.
It turned out that the drive was non-standard too and used a 26 pin FFC to connect to an internal adapter. Bugger I thought as I realised that even if I did bin that adapter, since it was a attached to a normal floppy cable, none of the spare FDDs I had would actually fit as the drive appears to be a laptop/server drive so half the height of a 3.5" drive leaving me with no option but to fit something similar.
Then I remembered some server FDDs I'd raided ages ago and stuffed into a drawer and one of them worked a treat!!!
So, all back together and I was able to copy off the MQP software and move it over to - my Book8088 :)
Here it is all hooked up and just having read a 27C256 as a test:
And the software runs just great especially with the Book8088 in Turbo mode:
The main reason for doing this was simply the size of the Dolch. While it's portable, it does require a lot of space, even more with the MQP 170 hooked up, so using the Book8088 means a very small footprint, plus it can be run off the battery so doesn't need an external PSU.
Very happy with the results.
I've been using it with the MQP Programmer I got from @exxos and needed to get the software off for a little experiment, but sadly all the drive did was make a buzzing noise and did nothing.
It turned out that the drive was non-standard too and used a 26 pin FFC to connect to an internal adapter. Bugger I thought as I realised that even if I did bin that adapter, since it was a attached to a normal floppy cable, none of the spare FDDs I had would actually fit as the drive appears to be a laptop/server drive so half the height of a 3.5" drive leaving me with no option but to fit something similar.
Then I remembered some server FDDs I'd raided ages ago and stuffed into a drawer and one of them worked a treat!!!
So, all back together and I was able to copy off the MQP software and move it over to - my Book8088 :)
Here it is all hooked up and just having read a 27C256 as a test:
And the software runs just great especially with the Book8088 in Turbo mode:
The main reason for doing this was simply the size of the Dolch. While it's portable, it does require a lot of space, even more with the MQP 170 hooked up, so using the Book8088 means a very small footprint, plus it can be run off the battery so doesn't need an external PSU.
Very happy with the results.