Installed the 2nd openflops unit in my compaq lte elite and it was an easy job. I ended up using perler beads (kids craft toy) that I had around as spacers under the openflops board. Worked perfectly (only 1/2 perler bead height required to clear all chips / act as spacer). Will put up an install video when I have a chance to demonstrate. Great work.
I am absolutely thrilled about this! I’ve been struggling with a repair-resistant Citizen W1D in my Compaq LTE Elite 4/75CX for about a month now. The thing is incorrigible… I will absolutely be picking one of these up. Fantastic work!
Hi there. I finally got around to installing one of your openflops w1d (v1) that I got from you ~ 9 months ago. I can confirm that it fits and works right out of the box on my AT&T Globalyst 200s which also had a w1d drive. This is also the same laptop as the Samsung SENS 700 so you can add these 2 laptops to your openflops compatible list. The mounting holes don't match but I just double sided taped the openflops to the motherboard after sealing all visible contacts with electrical/kapton tape. Thanks for great work. I have a 2nd openflops unit from you that I'm planning to put in the compaq lte elite when I have time.
Great job Nick. For the final mount/screwing, i would suggest users apply some kapton tape or even regular electrical tape on any through hole solder joints (even if they are clipped flush). just for added protection. Another option is simply using some plastic standoffs so there is less pressure of the board on the motherboard chips (not that I'm really worried about that as the board looks VERY light weight. I have a gotek usb floppy on an acer 386 laptop and i can attest it is amazingly useful/easy to use. The compaq does have the advantage of the PCMCIA to compactflash adapter option but getting the drivers working in dos is a bit of a chore and eats up some low memory. This floppy emulator will be natively supported allowing boot/and os install
Thanks and that's absolutely a great call out, and I don't know why I forgot to mention it in the video, as on the ones I make and sell I do actually stick some kapton over the OLED pins on the underside!
I've had my Citizen W1D open no less than 50 times since replacing the belt trying to get it to work. You'll probably be getting a new order soon hahaha
Great Video! It looks like you reengineered this a bit to for the Compaq. I was just wondering if any of the hardware or software was customized to the Compaq, or if it would still work with any vintage computer? I'm considering one of these for an old Kaypro 1.
This device would work on anything that uses the 26-pin FDD connector (mostly laptops) although it is specifically designed to be a drop-in replacement for the Citizen W1D floppy drive. I think the Kaypro uses the standard 34-pin shugart ribbon connector so probably not. A regular Gotek or even an unmodified OpenFlops with FlashFloppy would work in the Kaypro I'd imagine!
Thanks! I should update the store page... I'm currently restocking, but also testing a new prototype that helps support more devices than just the Compaq LTE Elite. Aiming for opening sales again around mid December at this point.
Thanks! Great question, I made this very specifically to physically fit in the LTE Elite series, so it *probably* won't fit the LTE 5000 out of the box. Unfortunately, I don't have an LTE 5000 to test on or develop for, so I wouldn't be able to tell. I've been discussing updates to this for various other W1D based systems in the Compaq LTE & Armada Owners group on Facebook if you want to come join the discussion!
has anyone made something like this for the 26 pin 1.25mm pitch floppy drives? im struggling to get an old laptop from an obscure minor brand working but the floppy is toast and i cant find anything to replace it
Hello, I have a toshiba satellite 430 CDS. There is an "external" floppy disk drive with a citizen W1D inside that I want to replace. I saw that Openflops w1d works for the Toshiba T4400CT. Should I rationally think it will be OK in my case ? Thanks.
It should be a drop-in replacement anywhere a Citizen W1D is used, but I haven't personally tested with an Armada nor have I had any feedback on it. If you get one and it works, please let me know so I can update my Compatibility list at silvestron.com/openflops-w1d/ !
I've recently bought one and I have a question whilst it's on its way here to the UK. Are the seperate floppy images just seperate folders or are they .img (Or equivalent) files?
Hey! I've had a few requests for more detailed usage guide and this specific question has come up more than once, so I decided to write up a guide on use available on my website - silvestron.com/openflops-w1d/ TL;DR it supports .img .ima and .dsk images, which you can organise into separate folders but is not necessary. If you want to make images based on loose files, I recommend the WinImage piece of software!
@@silvestronsbitsandbytes Hey, the emulator finally arrived today and works perfectly! Just one question though. This is most likely User Error, but sometimes my disks won't change over despite me selecting a different disk on the menu? For example, I'm trying to install DOS 6.22 on my machine but every time it says to put Setup Disk 2 into the drive, it won't change over depsite me selecting Disk 2 on the emulator. I had the same issue when installing Doom. It would ask for disk 2, but when I switch to it it doesn't detect that it's changed.
Love this project. I would love to add this to my IBM ThinkPad 600e! I have my real floppy drive in the official external drive caddy with it's proprietary connector but finding functional floppys has been a struggle. I'm not sure if this would work. If anyone knows of a similar project please let me know. Thanks!
Hey! Thanks :) Ahh IBM and their love of proprietary connectors... I'd have to know what type of connector the actual internal floppy drive used in order to know if this would work. It should work with anything that uses a "standard" 26-pin floppy FPC, but as I've seen with Toshiba laptops there can be some compatibility troubles. I unfortunately don't have a ThinkPad to test with, so just don't know!
Installed the 2nd openflops unit in my compaq lte elite and it was an easy job. I ended up using perler beads (kids craft toy) that I had around as spacers under the openflops board. Worked perfectly (only 1/2 perler bead height required to clear all chips / act as spacer). Will put up an install video when I have a chance to demonstrate. Great work.
Brilliant! This is an amazing service to the Compaq LTE Elite community! I’ve got my tracking number already. Thank you!
I am absolutely thrilled about this! I’ve been struggling with a repair-resistant Citizen W1D in my Compaq LTE Elite 4/75CX for about a month now. The thing is incorrigible… I will absolutely be picking one of these up. Fantastic work!
The same struggles that drove me to make this! Enjoy :)
Additionally, I’ll most definitely be plugging this on my small (but rapidly growing) channel when I do the LTE Elite repair video.
Hi there. I finally got around to installing one of your openflops w1d (v1) that I got from you ~ 9 months ago. I can confirm that it fits and works right out of the box on my AT&T Globalyst 200s which also had a w1d drive. This is also the same laptop as the Samsung SENS 700 so you can add these 2 laptops to your openflops compatible list. The mounting holes don't match but I just double sided taped the openflops to the motherboard after sealing all visible contacts with electrical/kapton tape. Thanks for great work. I have a 2nd openflops unit from you that I'm planning to put in the compaq lte elite when I have time.
Great job Nick. For the final mount/screwing, i would suggest users apply some kapton tape or even regular electrical tape on any through hole solder joints (even if they are clipped flush). just for added protection. Another option is simply using some plastic standoffs so there is less pressure of the board on the motherboard chips (not that I'm really worried about that as the board looks VERY light weight.
I have a gotek usb floppy on an acer 386 laptop and i can attest it is amazingly useful/easy to use.
The compaq does have the advantage of the PCMCIA to compactflash adapter option but getting the drivers working in dos is a bit of a chore and eats up some low memory.
This floppy emulator will be natively supported allowing boot/and os install
Thanks and that's absolutely a great call out, and I don't know why I forgot to mention it in the video, as on the ones I make and sell I do actually stick some kapton over the OLED pins on the underside!
I've had my Citizen W1D open no less than 50 times since replacing the belt trying to get it to work. You'll probably be getting a new order soon hahaha
Great Video! It looks like you reengineered this a bit to for the Compaq. I was just wondering if any of the hardware or software was customized to the Compaq, or if it would still work with any vintage computer? I'm considering one of these for an old Kaypro 1.
This device would work on anything that uses the 26-pin FDD connector (mostly laptops) although it is specifically designed to be a drop-in replacement for the Citizen W1D floppy drive.
I think the Kaypro uses the standard 34-pin shugart ribbon connector so probably not. A regular Gotek or even an unmodified OpenFlops with FlashFloppy would work in the Kaypro I'd imagine!
Thanks, you are correct about the ribbon cable. I knew I’d need to adapt it, but hadn’t looked into doing it yet.
This is amazing. Definite going to get one. When will you have stock again as i see store shows no stock?
Thanks! I should update the store page... I'm currently restocking, but also testing a new prototype that helps support more devices than just the Compaq LTE Elite. Aiming for opening sales again around mid December at this point.
Fantastic. Will keep a close eye on the store. Do you do shipping to South Africa?@@silvestronsbitsandbytes
I'm so sorry for not replying sooner, YT didn't notify me of your reply! Yes, I can ship to South Africa!
Oh shit, Flux is magical stuff, amazing how much easier it makes small soldering jobs look
Flux is indeed the best, so shiny
Hi, super video! I am a LTE 5000 series enthousiast and I am wondering would it also work in the floppydrive bays of thes Compaqs?
Thanks! Great question, I made this very specifically to physically fit in the LTE Elite series, so it *probably* won't fit the LTE 5000 out of the box. Unfortunately, I don't have an LTE 5000 to test on or develop for, so I wouldn't be able to tell.
I've been discussing updates to this for various other W1D based systems in the Compaq LTE & Armada Owners group on Facebook if you want to come join the discussion!
has anyone made something like this for the 26 pin 1.25mm pitch floppy drives? im struggling to get an old laptop from an obscure minor brand working but the floppy is toast and i cant find anything to replace it
Hello, I have a toshiba satellite 430 CDS. There is an "external" floppy disk drive with a citizen W1D inside that I want to replace. I saw that Openflops w1d works for the Toshiba T4400CT. Should I rationally think it will be OK in my case ? Thanks.
It should be fine, but I'm unable to confirm 100% as I don't have a Satellite myself. Anywhere a real Citizen W1D is it should work fine, though.
@@silvestronsbitsandbytes OK thanks. I'll test that !
Would this need any modification to work in a Compaq Armada 7700 series? They also use the Citizen W1D
It should be a drop-in replacement anywhere a Citizen W1D is used, but I haven't personally tested with an Armada nor have I had any feedback on it. If you get one and it works, please let me know so I can update my Compatibility list at silvestron.com/openflops-w1d/ !
I've recently bought one and I have a question whilst it's on its way here to the UK. Are the seperate floppy images just seperate folders or are they .img (Or equivalent) files?
Hey! I've had a few requests for more detailed usage guide and this specific question has come up more than once, so I decided to write up a guide on use available on my website - silvestron.com/openflops-w1d/
TL;DR it supports .img .ima and .dsk images, which you can organise into separate folders but is not necessary. If you want to make images based on loose files, I recommend the WinImage piece of software!
@@silvestronsbitsandbytes Hey, the emulator finally arrived today and works perfectly! Just one question though. This is most likely User Error, but sometimes my disks won't change over despite me selecting a different disk on the menu? For example, I'm trying to install DOS 6.22 on my machine but every time it says to put Setup Disk 2 into the drive, it won't change over depsite me selecting Disk 2 on the emulator. I had the same issue when installing Doom. It would ask for disk 2, but when I switch to it it doesn't detect that it's changed.
Hey! That's a weird one... Could you email me (just reply to the invoice email) and let's discuss it
Love this project. I would love to add this to my IBM ThinkPad 600e! I have my real floppy drive in the official external drive caddy with it's proprietary connector but finding functional floppys has been a struggle. I'm not sure if this would work. If anyone knows of a similar project please let me know. Thanks!
Hey! Thanks :) Ahh IBM and their love of proprietary connectors... I'd have to know what type of connector the actual internal floppy drive used in order to know if this would work. It should work with anything that uses a "standard" 26-pin floppy FPC, but as I've seen with Toshiba laptops there can be some compatibility troubles. I unfortunately don't have a ThinkPad to test with, so just don't know!