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IBM 5160  -  Floppy Drive Support


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Cable and Termination

• A diagram is at here.

• You need to use the particular cable shown at here.  The IBM controller expects it.  The cable manipulates both the motor-on and drive-select lines.

• Do not accidentally use the hard drive type of twisted cable.  Difference shown at here.

• For 5.25" drives, terminate as appropriate, per the diagram at here.


5.25" 360K drives

DOS:  DOS 2.0 or later  (2.0 introduced DOS support for 360K floppies).
BIOS:  The IBM BIOS (all three revisions) on the IBM 5160 motherboard has full support for 360K drives/floppies.
Hardware:  The floppy controller (photo) that IBM supplied in the IBM 5160 supports 360K drives.


5.25" 1.2M drives

DOS:  DOS 3.0 or later  (3.0 introduced DOS support for 1.2M floppies).
BIOS:  Motherboard BIOS revision of 11/08/82:  No support.
Motherboard BIOS revision of 01/10/86:  Partial support.  See here.
Motherboard BIOS revision of 05/09/86:  Partial support.  See here.
Hardware:  The floppy controller (photo) that IBM supplied in the IBM 5160 does not support 1.2M drives.


1.2M drives postdate the introduction of the IBM 5160. They were introduced with the IBM 5170 (IBM AT) in 1984.
Although IBM did later add (partial) support for them in the motherboard BIOS of the 5160, IBM did not offer a floppy controller for the 5160 that supported them.

To gain 1.2M operation, a high density (HD) floppy controller, together with a suitable floppy BIOS, is required.
One possible solution is here.
Another possible solution is here.


3.5" 720K drives

720K drives are uncommon.

DOS:  DOS 3.2 or later  (3.2 introduced DOS support for 720K diskettes).
BIOS:  Motherboard BIOS revision of 11/08/82:  Partial support.  See note 1 below.
Motherboard BIOS revision of 01/10/86:  Full support.
Motherboard BIOS revision of 05/09/86:  Full support.
Hardware:  The floppy controller (photo) that IBM supplied in the IBM 5160 supports 720K drives.


Note 1 11/08/82 BIOS
You can read from and write to 720K diskettes, but not format.
Use of one of the options shown at here will give you the ability to format.


3.5" 1.44M drives

DOS:  DOS 3.3 or later  (3.3 introduced DOS support for 1.44M diskettes).
BIOS:  The IBM BIOS (all three revisions) on the IBM 5160 motherboard does not support 1.44M drives/diskettes.
Hardware:  The floppy controller (photo) that IBM supplied in the IBM 5160 does not support 1.44M drives.


720K diskette in 1.44M drive

If a 1.44M drive is connected to the IBM supplied controller, it will be discovered that 720K diskettes can be used.
You can read from and write to 720K diskettes, but not format.
Use of one of the options shown at here will give you the ability to format.

Note that the 1.44M drive can be attached to either the controller's internal connector (P2) or external connector (J1).  For internal connection, see here.  For external connection, see here.


1.44M diskette in 1.44M drive

One possible solution is here.
Another possible solution is here.
Another possible solution is here.