Ribbon / Performance Technologies / Ziatech ZT 8954 Low Profile Floppy Disk Controller

The Ziatech ZT 8954 is a low-profile floppy disk controller for STD 32 bus industrial and embedded systems requiring legacy floppy disk support. It features the Intel 82078-1 controller, register-compatible with the original IBM PC design, and supports 360 Kbyte, 720 Kbyte, 1.2 Mbyte, and 1.44 Mbyte floppy formats across 3.5-inch and 5.25-inch drive sizes. Two configurations are available: the ZT 8954-D1 integrates a 3.5-inch slimline drive in a single STD 32 slot with 0.5-inch maximum height; the ZT 8954-D0 provides remote mounting capability up to 21 inches from the chassis for customer-supplied drives. Both operate at 5 and 8 MHz bus speeds and rely on host CPU DMA cycles for data transfer.

– Technical Specifications

• Bus Interface: STD 32 Bus and STD Bus (Revision 1.2 of STD 32 Specification)
• Floppy Controller: Intel 82078-1, register-compatible with IBM PC
• Supported Formats: 360 Kbyte, 720 Kbyte, 1.2 Mbyte, 1.44 Mbyte
• Drive Sizes: 3.5-inch and 5.25-inch
• Bus Operation Speed: 5 MHz and 8 MHz
• Drive Interface Connectors: 34-pin 0.1″ header (5.25″ and 3.5″ drives); 26-pin 1 mm FPC connector (3.5″ slimline drives)
• Supply Voltage (ZT 8954-D0): 4.75 V (min), 5.0 V (typ), 5.25 V (max)
• Supply Current (Vcc = 5.0 V): 100 mA (min), 170 mA (typ)
• Floppy Drive Power: No +12 V requirement

– Key Features

• Single-slot footprint (ZT 8954-D1) with 0.5-inch maximum height including integrated drive
• Remote drive mounting option (ZT 8954-D0) extends cable distance to 21 inches
• Low power consumption enables integration in compact systems
• Backward-compatible with legacy 5.25-inch drives and modern 3.5-inch formats

– Compatibility & Integration

Designed for STD 32 CPU boards with Direct Memory Access capability. Compatible with ZT 8902 Revision A, ZT 8903, ZT 8904, and ZT 8905. Supported by Ziatech BIOS version 4.0 or greater. Mechanically compatible with both STD and STD 32 bus specifications.