29 Mar
2002
29 Mar
'02
5:09 a.m.
On Fri, 29 Mar 2002, Feldman, Robert wrote:
Question: the tech manual says that with the double
density option
installed, the O1 could read/write IBM 40 track 8 (512 byte) sectors, Xerox
820 40 track, 18 (128 byte) sectors, and DEC 1820 DD 40 track 9 (512 byte)
sectors. Can anybody verify this (Fred?)?
Hmmm. I don't know the O1 software enough to answer.
Whether or not it could do the 128 byte sectors will be a function of
which disk controller chip they used - check with Allison on that. The
rest would certainly be possible with the hardware, but would be an issue
of what additional software they provided. A few developers, such as
Howard Fullmer at Morrow, integrated some alternate formats into the OS,
but most that had such support did it by running additional software (such
as Uniform on the Kaypro).
On a LATER model, Adam "shot in the foot" Osborne announced that the NEW
machine "would be able to read and write EVERY DISK FORMAT IN EXISTENCE."
After enduring considerable heckling at the PC Faire from people informing
me that Osborne could do stuff that my software could not, I got home to
find a phone message re: Osborne company wanting to license my software to
fulfill the promise that they had made!
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin(a)xenosoft.com