No, PS/2 DBA disks are not ESDI

One of the most common questions I get from people is "Can I put the ESDI-Emu in my PS/2 Models 50/55/70?"

Sadly, the answer is no. Why not? Because the PS/2 Models 50/55/70 doesn't use ESDI disk drives.

The ESDI-Emu: ESDI Disk Emulation

For the last few years I've volunteered at the System Source Computer Museum. I've done a couple of projects for them, some of which I've described in this blog. But this has also exposed me to the world of vintage personal computers. Hobbyists spent incredible amounts of time collecting and restoring computers from the dawn of the PC era.

One of the challenges in the "vintage" computer world is finding replacement parts. Maybe you need to fix a vintage keyboard whose foam components have turned to goo. Or you have a 1980s era PC that requires disks with the ST-506 interface (often called "MFM" disks for the recording format). I have a VAXstation 3100 that requires narrow-bus SCSI disks no larger than 8 GB. An entire cottage industry has evolved to satisfy these needs.

Skipping ahead 9 months...

When I last wrote in this blog last December I'd just completed Lesson 2 of FEDEVEL's "Advanced PCB Layout" course. By mid January I'd finished all the videos and then went back over several of the lessons I thought were most relevant. Robert Feranec is a good instructor with clear mastery of the topic.

As good as that class was, I still felt I needed a bit broader coverage. I've been doing digital design as a hobby for over 20 years, but I knew I was making some decisions based on guesses rather than good data. I decided to invest in FEDEVEL's "Advanced Digital Hardware Design" course, taught by Philip Salmony who also makes the "Phil's Lab" YouTube videos. The "Zett Brett" design he discusses in the video has many parallels with my latest project. I'd already completed almost all of my design by the time I started this course, but it gave me added confidence in many of my decisions.