Getting a Backpack 5 1/4" to work

[Redlev]

I have an original Micro-Solutions Backpack 1231 external 5 1/4" floppy drive with the original power adapter. I have the original DOS driver disk (v. 2.01). It has a parallel cable connection, but I've obtained a parallel-to-USB adapter cable. The problem is that when I attach the unit to either a Fujitsu Windows XP laptop or a Dell Windows 7 laptop, neither can "see" the Backpack unit at the other end of the cable. When I put a 5 1/4" floppy in the drive, I can hear it spin up, so I know it's getting power. Any suggestions?

 

[UniqueName]

Parallel to USB cables work through software. Only select printers are supported. Try a Parallel port card like this one.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815158270

Oddly there are still plenty of 3.5" external floppy drives but no 5.25" floppy drives on newegg.

 

[Redlev]

Parallel to USB cables work through software. Only select printers are supported. Try a Parallel port card like this one.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815158270

Oddly there are still plenty of 3.5" external floppy drives but no 5.25" floppy drives on newegg.

I've used a Centronics-USB cable successfully for years so that I could keep my Laserjet 4 in service--do things worth differently for a parallel (female)-USB cable? That would explain why the OS isn't detecting the unit on the cable. While the parallel port card is a good possibility, but the only problem is that I'm using a laptop, so there's no way to install a PCI-E card into the unit.

 

[UniqueName]

Laserjet 4 is a select printer

How about ExpressCard?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16839328013

 

[jmichae3]

Parallel to USB cables work through software. Only select printers are supported. Try a Parallel port card like this one.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815158270

Oddly there are still plenty of 3.5" external floppy drives but no 5.25" floppy drives on newegg.

you are absolutely right. you need to use an adapter that uses the 378/3f8 II forget which) style of port address, not the packet-style of int13h BIOS calls that you do with USB in DOS. and in 98 and above, you use Win32 calls or IOCTLs to do your work if I am not mistaken. if you are a programmer. otherwise, your drivers or software must work with hardware that has that port number, and that means a card, be it
- pcie
- pci
- old old pentium laptop that has parallel port
- pcmcia
- pc card
- express card
- nice old parallel port (IEEE1284? does it need to be in EPP, ECP, or normal parallel port mode?)

if I remember right, there was LPT1: and LPT2:, and those were at the address 0x378 and 0x3F8. and MANY old software packages drove those ports in all sorts of ways directly and twiddled bits to do I/O, etc. I even used a parallel port to do digital I/O interfacing to the computer and did some audio with it. speech synths could be hooked up to it with projects from radio shack (the old SPO256AL2). so no, usb would be completely bypassed by such old software - it hadn't come out yet! 🙂

one extra issue beyond this: 64-bit windows does not have command.com so you can't run dos software, unless you are running freedos or other dos within some sort of virtual machine. or have made your own freedos ripcord cdrom... (lotsa coasters)...

32-bit windows DOES have command.com. you can tell microsoft you want command.com in win7 64-bit on their win7 feedback page.