2 Nov
2011
2 Nov
'11
11:42 a.m.
On Nov 2, 2011, at 1:28 PM, Mouse wrote:
Document it enough I can write my own software to
drive it, and I might
be interested in the hardware. I will not be interested in
undocumented hardware and, as mentioned above, I will not be interested
in the software (unless it's open sourced, and then only insofar as it
forms documentation on how to talk to the hardware).
Well, this sounds like an opportunity. I've been interested for quite a while in
writing a raw-ish USB disk interface for archiving my old Mac and Apple II disks using
modern, more reliable drives. If there's actually a demand out there for simple
hardware that can be talked to via an open specification, I'd be glad to hear
others' thoughts on what a good spec would be.
It's ridiculously easy to do A/D and D/A on modern micros, and even the cheap,
easy-to-drive ARMs have USB interfaces. Should be a cheap board to build and stick a JTAG
interface on to let people muck around with their own firmware as much as they want.
I'm also interested in building a similar device for 1/2" tape archival, but that
requires some serious mechanical and analog design expertise that I just don't have
(and don't currently have the time to pick up).
Any interested takers on the floppy bit, though? Should be easy to build up a prototype
that'll talk to a Shugart interface for a handful of bucks (maybe $50 in prototype
quantities, though I'm pulling that number out of the air based on recent projects).
- Dave