This “DrawBridge” Lets You Read and Write to Amiga Floppy Disks From a Modern Computer

Vintage computers are difficult to work with because technology has advanced so much in such a short amount of time that compatibility with modern hardware is often nil. Even a task a simple as transferring some data from a modern computer to a vintage computer can be a challenge, as there might not be any storage devices that work with both. If you have a Commodore Amiga and want to read or write to its floppy disks from a modern computer, then Robert Smith's DrawBridge device is something to check out.

There were several Commodore Amiga models released between 1985 and 1992. They all either had built-in floppy disk drives or had such drives available as peripherals. And while there are still some floppy disk drives on the market today that work with modern computers, they are not compatible with Amiga floppy disks. Today’s floppy disk drives use 3.5” floppy disks, just like Amiga floppy disk drives. But Amiga disks are DS/DD (Double Sided, Double Density), while “modern” disks are DS/HD (Double Sided, High Density). They also use completely different data formats, which further complicates things.

Fortunately for Amiga enthusiasts, Rob Smith found that one can use a modern floppy disk drive to work with Amiga floppy disks and the DrawBridge was born. The key here is in gaining direct control over the drive in order to write according the proper parameters, instead of letting your modern computer treat it like a modern PC-compatible drive. An Arduino Pro Mini provides that control, with an FTDI USB-to-serial board providing the USB interface to the modern computer. This works with a couple of different floppy disk drive controllers, including those with standard 34-pin cables and “slimline” USB models that have a 26-pin interface inside.

You can hack apart an interface cable and solder the connections yourself, or you can use tebl’s awesome custom PCBs. These PCBs look like floppy disks (heck yeah!) and simplify wiring. They handle all of the connections, have onboard power and activity LEDs, and a built-in DC barrel jack for power. You can order those PCBs from any fabrication house and they will probably cost less than $20 to get to your door with the kinds of promotions that are usually available. They only require through-hole soldering, so anyone with basic soldering skills can assemble them.

If you have a collection of Amiga floppies that you want to back up before they corrupt or you want to download ROMs from the internet, the Amiga DrawBridge is the perfect solution.