Hmmmm, Where is the floppy drive in XP?

On Wed, 15 Nov 2017 14:16:24 +0000, "J. P. Gilliver (John)"
wrote:

In message , Paul
writes:
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The twisted part, consists of four active signals.
Two for each drive. The twist swaps the signals, so
that one connector can have an A personality and the
other a B personality. (Just like a CS Cable Select method.)
[]
I've always assumed it was that, and thought it was a clever solution
(admittedly, requiring unusual cable construction).

So presumably there is something like (_at the drive_):

01 - A
10 - B

(or vice versa).

Does that mean there is the _possibility_ of _four_ drives, using up the
00 and 11 options?

This is an unusual way of doing things, and making cables like that must
be difficult. I'd think it would have been easier to just have a
jumper(s) on the drive, for either drive A or Drive B. But this is how
they did it back then, and how it will always be.

I am curious if 3 or 4 drives could be used. Not that I would need that
many. I'm still trying to remember if those ZIP drives connected to the
floppy cable, or to something else, like a serial port? I had one, and
at the time it was the only way to store 100 megs on one drive, which at
that time was a lot of data. I had one of them for a brief time, but I
found they were unreliable. Flash drives sure are a better thing, now.