20 Oct
2006
20 Oct
'06
1:56 p.m.
On 20 Oct 2006 at 15:17, Barry Watzman wrote:
Doing this with RS-232 is just dumb. It's clearly
a USB application.
Even for those systems without USB support? You're forgetting who
posts on this list!
I personally don't care about a cat-weasel type
device that tries to capture
every flux transition on the disc. I don't care about hard sector formats
either (Heathkit, NorthStar) unless I can do them with no great extra
effort. Being able to handle "any" soft-sector format with 128, 256, 512 or
1024 byte sectors, single or double sided, 5.25" (360k or 1.2MB) {and
POSSBILY 8" (ok, for me, preferably)) is good enough and is relatively easy
to do. A USB interface, a microprocessor and a floppy controller. And some
software on the PC side for file transfer. Keep it relatively simple,
relatively cheap, and still meet the needs of the vast majority of people
who might have a use for such a device.
A CPA's not likely to be terribly interested in 5.25" diskettes, is
s/he? Given that the statute of limitations in most jurisdictions is
about 7 years, that puts the outer edge of the window firmly in 3.5"
territory--and there are already cheap USB boxes for that.
The other issue is that marketing a box to handle 5.25" and 8" to the
Great Horde brings up the problem of where one obtains a 5.25" or 8"
drive nowadays. Sure, there's the used-equipment market, but just
try selling someone in a white shirt and pinstriped suit on the idea
of scavenging a drive. What the heck, if I have to scavenge a drive,
why not just use the whole PC that I'm scavenging it from? (nod to
Fred).
There are many formats that a generic floppy controller won't handle--
and some are not uncommon. For example, old Mac 400K/800K floppies,
Apple ][ diskettes, CBM diskettes, Wang, Lanier and many other WP
formats?
If you're going to sell something to the masses, you'd better offer
complete solutions (drives and all) and be able to explain why you
can't read old Mac formats.
My take, of course.
Cheers,
Chuck
While I might want to use this for CP/M (and the device should allow that,
even if the extent of this is that it allows arbitrary read and write I/O to
specific side/track/sector, and let software on the PC deal with the file
system), the primary use of this is going to be for 5.25" PC diskettes (both
360k and 1.2MB) now that PCs no longer have 5.25" floppies. And, if it
wasn't for the fact that there are USB 3.5" floppy drives, we'd soon need
it
for those as well, as floppy drives of all types and sizes are in their "end
days".