Adapting Laptop giblets to Desktops?

Unless the Zip drive has an ATAPI connector - which I'm guessing it doesn't - I'd say you're out of luck

The Optical Adapter is really ATAPI, which is a superset of IDE, neh? I'll have to look up the pinouts of Dell's plug for these things. I don't NEED to do this, but it would be nice to know if it's possible and maybe even available.

I always wondered this too. I don't see why there wouldn't be a way. There are PCMCIA card bays for 5.25" bays..

laptop sata drives are just PnP, IDE already has adapters, the cdrom and floppies have adapters, etc. Zip is probably using a proprietary connector for something ordinary on the inside. Like how the SCSI external Jaz is just a internal SCSI Jaz with a 50pin to Centronics adapter. (Which has been killing me since I've got uniserver's SCA drive.. I think I'm going to try that this week.)

For IDE at least I have found on ebay the adapter you are thinking of. I use one with an external +5/+12v power brick (a laptop will NOT have the juice to drive a regular CD drive) to solve "chicken-or-egg" problems on laptops where they lack either floppy or CD drives.

Was looking for one to take a pic . . .



. . . found the box . . . :beige:

http://www.startech.com/HDD/Adapters/IDE-to-Slim-Optical-IDE-Drive-Adapter~OPT2IDE

. . . and the connector installed on the MIA iBook slot loader . . .

. . . bad news: wrong connector . . .

. . . great news: I don' need to convert the laptop Zip drive at all!

Unlike the next to worst case scenario I'd envisioned . . .



. . . the standard Zip drive/adapted slotloader stack fits perfectly! :approve:

I've got a pair of adapters for turning Laptop Optical Drives into standard IDE & MOLEX connector internals for desktop/tower use.Is there such a thing available for adapting Laptop Zip Drives to same? :?:

Click to expand...

Funny, I would have bet that the connector on the back of the Zip drive was the same as the one on a CD/DVD.

BTW, instead of figuring out the Dell connector, try the one for the Pismo/Lombard Zip. Same connector on the Zip end and you probably already have the pinout for the PB end.

Funny, I would have bet that the connector on the back of the Zip drive was the same as the one on a CD/DVD.

Click to expand...

In the junk drawer in the garage there's a laptop LS-120 "Superdrive" that *does* have the same connector as a CD/DVD drive. Likewise slightly surprised the ZIP isn't the same.

Except out of idling curiosity, I've laid this one to rest because my hack plan is progressing nicely with the current drive stack.

If I ever find the friggin' thing again . . . :

. . . I'll be sticking this ex-Dell Zip250 laptop sucker into the borken 1400 Zip.

Did they ever make the Zip250 for the Pismo-n-PDQ?

If I ever find the friggin' thing again . . . : . . . I'll be sticking this ex-Dell Zip250 laptop sucker into the borken 1400 Zip.

Did they ever make the Zip250 for the Pismo-n-PDQ?

Click to expand...

Lombard/Pismo- yes, though it seems to demand a bit of a premium on ebay, so I suspect they are not as common.

Wallstreet/PDQ- I don't think so. Never seen one at least.

I've done the 250 "upgrade" to a Pismo module. 15 minutes tops, most of it removing really small screws. Ironically, the Dell module had Torx screws and the Pismo module had Phillips.

I'm surprised you haven't done this one already.

Pismo's down, or was the last time I tried it. Do IRC reading something about them not booting if they've got a flatlined PRAM battery? I'm hip deep in 1400s-n-hacks ATM, trying to stow some of them back away in the project boxes and alernating that with cleanin' cookin' & watchin' action/war movies . . .

. . . grlf's outta' town & I'm off for the weekend!

Just gotta unplug the PRAM in a pismo to see if thats the case or not. I haven't had a pram battery in ours for 3 years now.

So it works WITHOUT one , but not with a dead one? :?:

Yeah, it doesn't make any sense at all, but I look at it like a lock.

If a door is locked and you dont have a key, your SOL. (dead battery)

If a door is locked and you have a key, you enter -OR- if a door has no lock, you enter (no battery or good battery)

It's a mystery! :?:

< /Shakespeare in Love >

Meanwhile I got Beater3 up and running after taking out the PRAM battery! Didn't work before that, so I put it back in and it started back up . . .

. . . but it seems a little wonky. Time will tell . . .

. . . battery is charging nicely!

Great news!

Also: is that slim white slot load from an iMac?

I snagged this one off eBay, because it has the plastic and dustmop, the first one didn't. it was listed as Mac compatible, my assumption was White iBook, but iMac makes sense. An iMac is basically a big, stationary laptop.

The desk looks a lot nicer with the Pismo/BookEndz Dock than the ZipMacPlus Case and detritus, but it doesn't nestle underneath the shelf as nicely. Gotta hook it up to the KVM switch.

Cheaper option for the slim DVD drive to regular IDE adapter:

http://amzn.com/B001O4XWZ6



The 5.25" PATA optical drives are now difficult to find and expensive when found. E.g. $85 for a new Pioneer DVR-118LBK DVD drive. But the PATA slim optical drives are still around for less than $30 new.

And this adapter is handy, if you're wondering how to fit a slot loading optical drive into the vast space normally occupied by a half-height 5.25" drive:

http://amzn.com/B007C1KPQY

Did they ever make the Zip250 for the Pismo-n-PDQ?

Click to expand...

Lombard/Pismo- yes, though it seems to demand a bit of a premium on ebay, so I suspect they are not as common.

Click to expand...

Here's one of the Lombard/Pismo ones.

Wonderful! : I just transferred all but $2 out of the internet account this afternoon. :-/

If it's still there I may snag it tomorrow.

Snatcharoonies! THX, jr! }

NP. I still would have just swapped one of the Dell 250 mechs into your existing Pismo 100, but I can't really say anything... I just went and bought one of the Latitude D 250s for the D630 I have.

I think I have one Zip 100 that's mint and another that's NISW'dB. The fugly 250 goes much better with the "Beater" motif of my wardriver PB collection.

Maybe I'll list the nice ones with 250MB conversion packages. )