1 Jul
2002
1 Jul
'02
7:25 a.m.
> Actually, I didn't notice any RAM on the
board that was scanned
> and put up on the web. But I did notice a little 8-pin chip that
> I didn't recognise. A Google search for "UM8326" revealed
On Mon, 1 Jul 2002, Eric Smith wrote:
That's a data separator for FM and MFM data.
Using that chip, there is
no way to read other formats like GCR. So it's not equivalent to the
Central Point stuff.
no way to read other formats like GCR. So it's not equivalent to the
Central Point stuff.
Is, or is not, the picture being discussed a picture of an option board?
The Central Point boards let the software read the raw
data from the
drive at a point *before* any data separation would be done in a "normal"
disk controller.
The option board was designed for making unauthorized copies of copy
protected software. Being able to read non-MFM diskettes was a bonus, NOT
part of the original primary design goals. It actually has some serious
difficulties with trying to read some non-MFM formats. If it uses a
UM8326, that could account for some of the problems.
'course being able to read some other stuff was VERY handy, in being able
to point to a use for it OTHER THAN piracy. Brown of Central Point was
VERY adament that the board was NOT a tool for piracy, even though that's
all that most folks ever used it for.