28 May
2023
28 May
'23
2:54 p.m.
I'm suprised to hear you're familliar with the
GreaseWeasel but have
never heard of BlueSCSI. ( https://scsi.blue/ ). Though SASI
compatability seems "possible but not guaranteed", being an open source
project, you can probably wangle the existing PCB's/software to be SASI
compliant. More research, that i can leave you to perform, will probably
help with that endeavor.
The only reason I've heard of the Greaseweazle is that it was
recommended to me. I did ask at the start of this thread about other
similar flux-transition interfaces but got no real information. On the
grounds I could get a Greaseweazle easily, it was fairly inexpensive
and it's open-source I've decided to give it a go. Still not managed
to get the software working, which is probably down to the Windows
installation on this machine. But I am going to take the adviceof some
more knowledgeable friends before I change anything.
I suspect that making a SASI-SD interface is something I could attempt myself.
Anyway, you seem to truly have your heart set on the
Greaseweasel. As
long as you can write, or find, software that can turn the Weasels
output into something useful, i'm sure it will suit your purposes fine.
Of course, if you're archiving software froma truly unknown format, it
will almost definitely be the best solutions. Getting useful data into
and out of it is where the trouble will be.
Most of my computers [1] use normal FM or MFM disks and I would hope
the Greaseweazle software could handle that.If I can convert to/from a
disk image file I can probably carry on on my own.
One problem with the Greaseweazle is that there is no documentation. I
would at least have expected the equivalent of a man page. Knowing
what the options are, what it claims to be able to do, etc would be a
good start!
[1] I do have machines using GCR recording (Apple ][. Sirius (Victor
9000), etc). And M2FM (DEC RX02). And that odd double-density system
used by Intel in the MDS800. But I can manage without being able to
transfer to/from those, at least at the start.
-tony
Good luck!
Josh