Family Computer Disk System
Frederic P. Miller, Agnes F. Vandome, John McBrewster · Alpha Press eBooks · 2010
The Family Computer Disk System, sometimes abbreviated as the Famicom Disk System, the Disk System, or simply the FDS) was released on February 21, 1986 by Nintendo as a peripheral for the Family Computer (Famicom) console in Japan. It was a unit that used proprietary floppy disks (called cards) for data storage. It was announced, but never released, for the North American Nintendo Entertainment System. Through its entire production span, 1986-2003, 4.5 million units were sold. The device was connected to the Famicom deck by plugging a modified cartridge known as the RAM Adapter into the system's cartridge port, which attached via a supplied cable to the disk drive. The RAM adapter contained 32 kilobytes of RAM for temporary program storage, 8 kilobytes of RAM for tile and sprite data storage, and an ASIC known as the 2C33. The ASIC acted as a disk controller for the floppy drive, and also included additional sound hardware featuring primitive wavetable synthesis and FM synthesis capabilities. The disk cards used were double-sided, with a total capacity of 896 kilobits or 112 kilobytes per disk.