Anyone old enough to remember how floppy disk drives had some very characteristic sounds will instant appreciate this video – the Imperial March from Star Wars played on two floppy disks.
It’s nothing new and it’s very simple. The sound comes from a magnetic head moved by stepper motor. To make a specific sound, head must be moved with appropriate frequency.
FDD has a simple interface – the description may be found for example [ HERE ]. To move the head you need to activate the drive by pulling the DRVSB0 or 1 (depends on the cable you have and the connector – notice the crossover on the FDD ribbon cable) pin low and then falling edge on STEP pin makes the head move one step in direction dependent on DIR pin state.
An ATMega microcontroller is generating those frequencies and it makes the drives play music.
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4 Commentson "Random Cool Video: The Imperial March Played on Floppy Disk Drives"
I got rid of most of my older stuff when we moved a few years back. Still have a 3.5 USB floppy drive, and the one that goes with my HP Omnibook 300 and 800s !
I’m embarrassed to say I have a 5.25″ drive at home…along with my C64, C128D…and other assorted relics.
That is so cool! I love it since my default ringtone is the Imperial March.
I got rid of most of my older stuff when we moved a few years back. Still have a 3.5 USB floppy drive, and the one that goes with my HP Omnibook 300 and 800s !
That’s just awesome!
Although I shudder to think of how much time was spent creating that…