Q. re. External floppy on Dimension 8300

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

My best guess is that the Dell Latitude can boot from the floppy, then its BIOS
has been modified to work with a parallel port-connected floppy. This is
definitely not your usual floppy connection. The BackPack series of devices
(floppies, CD-ROM, etc.) used the parallel port way back when, and provided
special drivers for the task. You might search around the web for XP (you are
running XP, right?) drivers for a generic parallel port floppy and give them a
try.

You can look for a USB floppy drive which would work on both... Ben Myers

On Thu, 22 Jul 2004 22:49:02 GMT, "John Fryatt" <jrf1@ntlworld.com> wrote:

>Hi,
>
>I have a Dimension 8300, with no floppy drive. This is ok - I can't remember
>the last time I used a floppy on my old machine.
>
>However, a thought struck me. I also have a Latitude portable, which has a
>floppy drive which can be connected to the parallel port. So, if I set my
>Dimension's parallel port to be EPP would the Latitude's external floppy
>drive work through it? Is this sort of thing a standard feature of EPP or
>does the Latitude have a special BIOS to make it happen? I don't have any
>special drivers loaded on the Latitude to make it recognise the floppy on
>the parallel port - it just does.
>
>Just a strange idea. I don't really need a floppy drive, but the thought
>that it might (once in a blue moon) be useful crossed my mind, and plugging
>the one I have into the parallel port might be a way of doing it.
>
>John
>
>

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

....or spend $10 and buy a used ATAPI floppy.

Dave

<ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers)> wrote in message
news:41005502.43307404@news.charter.net...
> My best guess is that the Dell Latitude can boot from the floppy, then its
BIOS
> has been modified to work with a parallel port-connected floppy. This is
> definitely not your usual floppy connection. The BackPack series of
devices
> (floppies, CD-ROM, etc.) used the parallel port way back when, and
provided
> special drivers for the task. You might search around the web for XP (you
are
> running XP, right?) drivers for a generic parallel port floppy and give
them a
> try.
>
> You can look for a USB floppy drive which would work on both... Ben Myers
>
> On Thu, 22 Jul 2004 22:49:02 GMT, "John Fryatt" <jrf1@ntlworld.com> wrote:
>
> >Hi,
> >
> >I have a Dimension 8300, with no floppy drive. This is ok - I can't
remember
> >the last time I used a floppy on my old machine.
> >
> >However, a thought struck me. I also have a Latitude portable, which has
a
> >floppy drive which can be connected to the parallel port. So, if I set my
> >Dimension's parallel port to be EPP would the Latitude's external floppy
> >drive work through it? Is this sort of thing a standard feature of EPP or
> >does the Latitude have a special BIOS to make it happen? I don't have any
> >special drivers loaded on the Latitude to make it recognise the floppy on
> >the parallel port - it just does.
> >
> >Just a strange idea. I don't really need a floppy drive, but the thought
> >that it might (once in a blue moon) be useful crossed my mind, and
plugging
> >the one I have into the parallel port might be a way of doing it.
> >
> >John
> >
> >
>