24 Oct
2016
24 Oct
'16
9:46 a.m.
On Oct 24, 2016, at 12:34 PM, allison <ajp166 at
verizon.net> wrote:
FWIW, microcontroller based disk controllers existed well before MSCP. For example, the
CDC 7054 disk controller (for 844 disks, which are basically RP04s, among other things)
uses a small 16 bit computer for the top level control, with a magic data mover engine to
construct the detailed bit-level track / sector layout. If you needed a better disk
controller, you could modify the firmware (it was downloaded to the disk controller at
system boot), though not many people were skilled enough to do so. But I worked with one,
the famous Don Lee at CERL (PLATO development) at the University of Illinois.
paul
...
And the RQDX1/2/3 used T11 for the job
so its not that intense save for speed.
The other part of it is much of the code is likely the interface to the MFM disk and
thats
speed intensive and likely more hardware than software.