Diskette Drive Single Connector, Low Power Interface

Publishing Venue

IBM

Related People

Abstract

This article describes the use of a single edge connector to allow robot insertion of a diskette drive without cabling. The low power interface allows the diskette drive to be used in a battery-powered, portable system. This disclosure relates to diskette drives used in the personal computer (PC) family. The industry standard for the diskette drive requires two connectors: one for interfacing and one for power. The drawing is a perspective view of a diskette drive with a single power/signal edge connector positioned for insertion into its mating connector on a controller card. As the diskette drive is designed to plug directly into the controller card, the need for separate cables to the controller card and to the power supply is eliminated. This approach clears the way for robot installation of the drive.

Diskette Drive Single Connector, Low Power Interface

This article describes the use of a single edge connector to allow robot insertion of a diskette drive without cabling. The low power interface allows the diskette drive to be used in a battery-powered, portable system. This disclosure relates to diskette drives used in the personal computer (PC) family. The industry standard for the diskette drive requires two connectors: one for interfacing and one for power. The drawing is a perspective view of a diskette drive with a single power/signal edge connector positioned for insertion into its mating connector on a controller card. As the diskette drive is designed to plug directly into the controller card, the need for separate cables to the controller card and to the power supply is eliminated. This approach clears the way for robot installation of the drive. This allows a robot to remove the drive from the shipping carton and insert it into the system without human intervention. The elimination of the cables provides the ability now to use a low power interface such as transistor- transistor logic (TTL) compatible complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) driver/receivers. This low power ability permits battery-operated portability of systems using diskette drives. Because the diskette drive plugs directly into the controller card and no cables are required, the results are a marked improvement in electromagnetic compatibility considerations.

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