Do you still have a front panel from a five-inch drive, but no drive and floppy disks? But almost everyone has a smartphone, which means that not everything is lost. So the author of Instructables decided under the nickname mycovolution. True, he doesn’t have a smartphone, but an iPod Touch player - a device that is indistinguishable from an iPhone and has all its functions, but does not have a SIM card slot. Such a device is connected to the Internet via WiFi, for which a router or other smartphone is suitable.
The wizard takes the front panel from the five-inch drive of the Apple computer] [with the LED installed directly on it. It was a full height drive. Among the Soviet drives there are also such, for example, MC5301. You will not find the front panel from it - half-height panels, for example, from the MS5305, MC5311, MS5313, many imported drives, are also suitable. But if the drive is functional, it’s best to give it to familiar retrocomputers. Keep in mind that the LED directly on the front of the drive is the exception rather than the rule. It is usually located on the drive chassis. But you can install it yourself and stick it.
Also, the master takes plexiglass and a tool for processing it.
From plexiglass, the master makes the side walls of the dock.
It grinds and paints the walls, then glues them to the front panel from the drive so that they lift it above the table surface.
It installs a 30-pin connector, from which it feeds an LED through a resistor. In a similar way, you can install the Mini USB, Micro USB, Lightning, Type C connector - depending on which smartphone or player you have.
An improvised docking station, consisting of both vintage and modern parts, is ready. It remains to verify it in action.
Everything works. But so the connector under the weight of the device will quickly break. And well, if on the cable - it is easier to replace. Therefore, it is necessary to provide a vertical plate holding the smartphone or player in an upright position. The mechanical load on the connector will be significantly reduced.