22 Apr
2023
22 Apr
'23
3:18 p.m.
I think I know the answer to this, but just in case:
Is there a way to image ESDI disks other than to hook them up to their
usual host controller and use the host? E.g. for MFM, I'd grab the MFM
Emulator board.
Cheers,
De
22 Apr
22 Apr
3:48 p.m.
Not that I know of. Esdi has a much faster data rate and I think that outstrips the BBB
solution.
C
On April 22, 2023 6:18:39 PM EDT, Dennis Boone via cctalk <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
wrote:
I think I know the answer to this, but just in case:
Is there a way to image ESDI disks other than to hook them up to their
usual host controller and use the host? E.g. for MFM, I'd grab the MFM
Emulator board.
Cheers,
De
4:44 p.m.
On 4/22/23 15:18, Dennis Boone via cctalk wrote:
I think I know the answer to this, but just in case:
Is there a way to image ESDI disks other than to hook them up to their
usual host controller and use the host? E.g. for MFM, I'd grab the MFM
Emulator board.
In my experience, you can use any ESDI controller--the drive has much of
the logic on it, similar to IDE, but not quite as integrated.
--Chuck
5:14 p.m.
On Apr 22, 2023, at 4:44 PM, Chuck Guzis via cctalk
<cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
On 4/22/23 15:18, Dennis Boone via cctalk wrote:
I can’t say that’s been my experience.
ok
bear.
I think I know the answer to this, but just in
case:
Is there a way to image ESDI disks other than to hook them up to their
usual host controller and use the host? E.g. for MFM, I'd grab the MFM
Emulator board.
In my experience, you can use any ESDI controller--the drive has much of
the logic on it, similar to IDE, but not quite as integrated.
5:36 p.m.
On 4/22/23 17:14, r.stricklin via cctalk wrote:
I can’t say that’s been my experience.
I guess I've led a sheltered life. I will say that some ESDI
controllers do have a bewildering variety of configuration options.
And the Q&A for the DTC 6280 does confirm your experience.
http://www.franken-online.de/ymmv/files/DTC_Q&A.pdf
So, I spoke too quickly. Nevermind.
--Chuck
23 Apr
23 Apr
12:31 a.m.
Den sön 23 apr. 2023 kl 08:34 skrev Christopher Zach via cctalk <
cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>gt;:
Not that I know of. Esdi has a much faster data rate
and I think that
outstrips the BBB solution.
Not necessarily. Yes, data rates are faster in ESDI. Up to 24 MHz and
perhaps higher. But in ESDI the data separator is in the drive. The
interface has a Data signal AND a clock signal so it is just a matter of
storing a bit on a clock edge. The MFM emulator needs to oversample the
data signal greatly to be able to decode the data correctly using the
software MFM decoder. That would not be necessary with ESDI.
But there are a number of complications with ESDI. Firstly there are both
hard sector and soft sector formats and then not all soft sector formats
are identical so using a different controller than which was used to format
a drive is likely to be difficult.
A reading device need to understand the format since the Read gate signal
need to be enabled and disabled at certain times to allow for the data
separator to resync in the gaps between sectors so the method used by the
BBB solution to just read everything into a buffer at high speed for later
processing wouldn't work AFAIK.
To some extent the older SMD interface is similar to ESDI. Both have the
data separator in the drive. Both have hard and soft sector formats. The
difference is how commands are sent to the drive. SMD uses a parallel bus
and tag while ESDI uses serial signalling.
I have seen a device which interfaces an ESDI drive while providing a SMD
interface to the host.
/Mattis
C
On April 22, 2023 6:18:39 PM EDT, Dennis Boone via cctalk <
cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
I think I know the answer to this, but just in
case:
Is there a way to image ESDI disks other than to hook them up to their
usual host controller and use the host? E.g. for MFM, I'd grab the MFM
Emulator board.
Cheers,
De
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days inactive
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5 comments
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participants (5)
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Christopher Zach -
Chuck Guzis -
Dennis Boone -
Mattis Lind -
r.stricklin