28 May
2023
28 May
'23
3:12 p.m.
On Sun, May 28, 2023 at 2:32 PM Adrian Godwin via cctalk
<cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
Tony,
An instrument slightly more to your taste than a PC might a 16500b logic
analyser. Perhaps you've already got one. I believe these can work with
both LIF and MSDOS floppies and uses an IDE HDD (which can painlessly be
replaced with CF card) in DOS format internally. I don't know if it will
handle other than 3.5" formats but it's quite possible that the support for
those formats is generic and it might work, given an appropriately mangled
hardware interface.
Well, the hardware might be capable of doing other formats but it
might not. Most if not all of the HP HPIB disk units are hardwired to
be double density only, as is the HP4951C protocol analyser's internal
disk controller and I could well believe a logic analyser would be the
same. Standard PC floppy disks and all 3.5" LIF floppy disks are
double density after all.
In any case to handle other formats you'd have to do battle with the
16500's firmware whch I doubt is documented at that level. And I don't
think schematics of the instrument exist anywhere, I believe the
HP1630 was the last HP logic analyser to have schematics in the
service manual (I do have one of those).
If I want to do that much work I might as well make my own system from
scratch. One problem with that (and a major plus-point of things like
the Greaseweazle) is that traditional floppy disk controller ICs are
either discontinued or at best EOL'ed. I don't like designing round
parts that might not be available.
-tony