21 May
2006
21 May
'06
9:41 p.m.
On 5/21/2006 at 5:09 PM Richard A. Cini wrote:
I would think that since the 1771 is an FM controller
I won't be
able to go cross-platform (i.e., using a PC) to create or image diskettes.
If this is true, then is there a "better" S100 floppy controller I should
hunt for?
Not necessarily--try out the testsd.exe utility on your PC at:
www.sydex.com/download/testsd.exe
It'll tell you very quickly if your PC can write FM diskettes. If you've
got several machines to try, just make a 3.5" DOS boot floppy with
testsd.exe on it. Testsd uses the last couple of cylinders on the
diskette, so you have a quick "boot and test" solution. My experience
tells me that later (post 1999) PCs generally have a better probability of
supporting FM than earlier ones. Go figure.
But if you want to write MFM, you can either modify the board you have or
glom onto something like one of the CompuPro controller boards.
Cheers,
Chuck