Floppy cables... Would you call those IDE? Anyway, they're too long, but I need a floppy to work on my other boxes. So, can I just cut off the excess past the connector?

floppy cables are not ide, they are completely different things and are used for cdroms and hard drives

theoretically yes you can cut like a ata 66 or 33 cable and it should work, just have to measure out the size

noticed i said ata 66 or 33

Oops, Clown made a little typo.

Quote: floppy cables are not ide, they are completely different things and are used for cdroms and hard drives

I know what he meant though, it goes like this.

floppy cables are not ide, they are completely different then the ones used for cdroms and hard drives



Usually when the bro gets to misspelling things and all, it's much easier to understand what he never meant to say

You know Boddah, I been thinking about this and the truth is, you probably should not cut that cable.

Think of it like this, first off, you would have to go too radio shack and buy another connector to be able to use the part you cut off on the second machine. Almost no difference between buying another connector, and going through that hassle and just buying a second floppy cable.

Another thing is that all you do have to do is run that cable neatly.
There are a number of ways to do it.

You can use zip-ties, fold excess under the Mobo, learn how to fold them to make 90 degree turns, and fold excess between the floppy drive and the cage with a neat fold so just enough sticks out to hook up the drive.

I must have been on something last night not to have said this earlier, sorry.

I'll bet you the twist is past the connector. If you cut it before the twist, it won't recognize the floppy.

That is also part of what I was worried about BA.

I am not so sure it will work, I mean it could be made to work, but it jusy isn't worth all the hassles for a $3 cable.

yes, you can cut off the excess. Just make sure the section you use contains the "twist".

took me a second to realize what the "twist" was. I had to stare at a mental image of a floppy cable before i realized.

Why do Floppy cables have that twist, is in a left over engineering mistake between matching pins on a drive and a motherboard that has been compensated by the manufacturers of cables for years?!

We could make up a funny story about a drunken hardware engineer who hiccup'ed while soldering pins onto a drive and skiped number 23 and had to go back later and add it in. causing the legacy of the "twist"

Hey, thax for slappin me buddy

If I remember correctly, many older 5 1/4" Floppy dinasaurs used a different pinout standard and the new floppy cables that were designed for both those and the newer 3 1/2" Floppy drives allowed you to connect to one of each, or use an adapter if you had two of either.

I like the drunken engineer theory much better. It probably has a name, for the industry insiders. like, the Hang-over twist, or the Martini with a wire-twist, or perhaps just the "oops"

the pinout on both 3.5 and 5.25 are the same, the "twist" designates which will be assigned what priority in the floppy controller (or bios) heierarchy (spelling)...its just a matter of A:'s and B:'s...alot of older floppy cables use a 34 socket female and a less seen 34 pin card edge female connector, so just keep this in mind for future reference if you ever want to get a 5.25 floppy for some reason that escapes me completely

thats the way i heard it anyway....

Here's how it works in detail. Traditionally, floppy drives used a drive select (DS) jumper to configure the drive as either A: or B: in the system. Then, special signals were used on the floppy interface to tell the two drives in the system which one the controller was trying to talk to at any given time. The wires that are cross-connected via the twist are signals 10 to 16 (seven wires). Of these, 11, 13, and 15 are grounds and carry no signal, so there are really four signals that are inverted by the twist. The four signals that are inverted are exactly the ones that control drive selection on the interface.

Since the signals are inverted, the drive after the twist responds to commands backwards from the way it should; if it has its drive select jumpers set so that it is an A: device, it responds to B: commands, and vice-versa.

Basically, this was done as a big time-saver during setup back in the days when it was quite common to find two floppy drives in a machine. Without the twist, if you wanted to use two floppy drives one had to be jumpered as A: and the other as B:. With the twist, you just leave them both jumpered as B:, and whichever one you put after the twist will appear to the system as A: because the control lines are inverted. If you want to change the setup so that the other drive is A: instead, you just switch the cable. If you only want one drive, you only use the connector after the twist. Large manufacturers, therefore, could arrange to have all of their floppy disks configured the same way without having to pull jumpers as the PC was assembled.

Outstanding info BA

I won't forget hat one for sure.

Oh, so that also means that he really doesn't want to cut that cable for sure. It just can not possibly be easier, or more economical then buying an additional cable.

I should clarify what I was saying.

If you are talking about moving connectors on a cable, I would caution against this. I tried and ruined three cables (kept breaking the connectors when I tried to get them back on....too hard to apply even force with pliers or vice grips!).

If however you want to try there is a link URL=http://www.7volts.com/shorten.htm]here[/URL]

Now, I assumed you were talking about one of these:



In which case you can absolutely cut the cable at the dotted lines and make a much shorter neater cable! You can also remove the unnecessary connector in the middle (for neatness).

Another option, and I wish I had found this before I finished the cableing on my last project.........you can get at electronic hobby shops the clamp tool for all the different cable types (the same tool works for all of them - floppy, IDE, UDMA) you can also buy the appropriate connectors and several different types of flat ribbon cable (including all the types you need) sold by the foot.

You can then make all of your ribbon cables, the exact length you need to stealth them, and round them at your leisure!

The clamp tool was about $40 CDN ($25-30 US), and I figured that each cable would cost about $2-3 CDN to make.

I hope this helps!

I'm not sure that "cutting" and "cables" should be used together in your vocabulary if you are talking about your computer...

Floppy cables are so cheap anymore, yer better off just buying a handfull of single drive long floppy cables...how does $.06 each sound?

Go here and get a couple or more...and get me a couple too, HELL, get us ALL some...http://www.compgeeks.com/details.asp?invtid=34PSEFC

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Fu3lman:

If you look at any ribbon cable, at the side of the connector opposite the cable you will see (and I promise you this) completely unfinished cable ends.

You can actually see the wires.....they are just cut close to the connector.

Now, if you look at the picture above, and cut at the dotted lines close to the connector with an exacto knife.......you are left with a mobo connector, a floppy connector (with the twist), and they were both crimped on to the ribbon cable by the factory.

Furthermore they are almost the perfect size for a mid-tower case.

Now, I know cables are cheap.....but I know lots of guys with ten of these in there basements.......why not use them?

2 cents.

Also, if you read the actual post........he is looking to shorten cables not lengthen them (which is considerably harder to do!)

Quote: Originally posted by putwig Fu3lman: If you look at any ribbon cable, at the side of the connector opposite the cable you will see (and I promise you this) completely unfinished cable ends. You can actually see the wires.....they are just cut close to the connector. Now, if you look at the picture above, and cut at the dotted lines close to the connector with an exacto knife.......you are left with a mobo connector, a floppy connector (with the twist), and they were both crimped on to the ribbon cable by the factory. Furthermore they are almost the perfect size for a mid-tower case. Now, I know cables are cheap.....but I know lots of guys with ten of these in there basements.......why not use them? 2 cents. Also, if you read the actual post........he is looking to shorten cables not lengthen them (which is considerably harder to do!)

I know what the diagram shows, i have made more floppy cables from scratch than alot of tenured techs...and yes, i can see the "bare wires" and im well aware of how the connector attaches "every terminal has a "Y" shape that...when pressed into a cable...cuts into it just enough to make contact with the copper wire inside"...and i guess i misunderstood what his problem was...sorry

No problem man.

It just chaps my a$$ a bit when I go sifting through all my links and stuff to find visuals, spend 10 mins typing up a message with info that I have used and know first hand is correct........

and someone posts a five word post that says basically "disregard that"

I know that is not what you meant, but it is kind of how it came across.

Anyhow, all is well!

Peace

ha there are even mac style floppy connetors
but yeah i reccomend that either you buy some ribbon cable and connectors and build them with a vice or buy rounded floppy cables with just two connectors. you can search the net for instructions on how to build your own cables.

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