7 Dec
2005
7 Dec
'05
7:22 p.m.
On 12/7/2005 at 1:38 PM Allison wrote:
Then once you have blistering performance from the
hardware the software
must
use it. Then you can emulate/simulate older legacy stuff in a way that is
not hurting system performance inside the OS.
Consider that few mobos now made have ISA slots and 8237 DMA isn't
accessible from PCI. This leaves you with the veneered and generated old
765 floppy controller as the last vestige using the facility. I'm pretty
sure that everyone involved would love to drop the ISA bridge and 765 and
8327 stuff and say "if you need a floppy, buy a USB drive". Yet Vista (at
least at the last beta) still has legacy floppy support in it.
As much as it's nice for those of us with old floppies to image and
transfer, it's not worth the trouble for the general population. Time to
start investigating what, if anything, can be hacked on current USB
drives--some USB floppy controllers have downloadable user code via serial
EEPROM. I think the old 34-pin floppy interface may be the next thing
headed for the scrap heap of history.
Cheers,
Chuck