Experience with Dysan drive tester?

[Tony Duell]

> > There are a number of types of drives used in vintage computers that ar=
> e
> > no longer available, so it makes sense to be able to repair and align
> > them. I just wioh I'd bought a 3" alignment disk (and for that matter a=
> n
> > 8" one) when they were available.
> 
> You imply here that they're not.  I don't know,  not having looked.  I kn=

8" alignment disks _may_ still be available (I've not checked recently 
either), but I doubt that 3" (Amstrad, etc) ones are. They were hard to 
find when the drives were in common use.

> ow=20
> that with the 3.5" drives,  I can buy new ones way cheaper than my time t=
> o=20
> repair them is worth,  if you can even get enough repair info on them to =

My point is that the new, replacement, drives may not be properly 
aligned.

Trying to get servicve manuals for such drives is normally a waste of 
effort (althogh I did get the Teac manual for the drive in this PC). But 
in general you can fidnd the read amplifier testpoints without a 
schematic, and figuring out what to move to do the alignment isn't hard 
either. 

As regards whether or not it's worth buying the alignment disk, I have 
some 3.5" drives that are non-standard (in particular the full-height 
Sony 600rpm units) and which can't be replaced by ex-PC-drives. I have to 
be able to repair and align those.


> do=20
> anything useful.  Working on the older stuff is another matter entirely=20
> though.

I thought this was classiccmp :-). In other words, my first thoughts on 
this list are for the 'odler stuff'.

-tony