IDEA - Collector interest database

On Wed, May 12, 2004 at 04:00:04PM -0400, der Mouse wrote: The only HPIB disks I have _are_ of trivial digital size and _non_ trivial physical size - Commodore D9060 and D9090 units (5MB and 7.5MB, 5.25"-full height MFM drives inside). I keep thinking of trying to rewrite the ROM code and turn the software-driven SASI port into a SCSI port. One limitation, naturally, is the filesystem - it tops out at around 16MB (it manages cylinder, head and sectors internally as bytes - the "normal" geometry is something like 153 x 4|6 x 32). One could re-write the filesystem, since I am not aware of any PET apps that accessed the drive on a track/sector basis, unlike lots of floppy programs, but that's a whole lot more work than implementing a larger drive as N units of 255x255x255 sectors of 256 bytes. What probably makes more sense, naturally, is to not attempt to make the drive handle larger disks internally, but rather to make a D9060/D9090 _compatible_ drive, with a subset of C= DOS 3.0, using all modern technology, down to either a modern hard drive, or perhaps a CF card. All you'd really need for that is your favorite uP with an IEEE-488 interface, and a few megs of local storage. I haven't played much with HP IEEE-488 devices... where would I find the command set (i.e. what strings to send the drive over the GPIB bus) for mass storage? The other device I'm curious about is a 9-track HP drive I have, but that can wait until I'm home and have it in front of me... -ethan -- Ethan Dicks, A-130-S Current South Pole Weather at 12-May-2004 22:36 Z South Pole Station PSC 468 Box 400 Temp -65.5 F (-54.2 C) Windchill -124.6 F (-87 C) APO AP 96598 Wind 14.4 kts Grid 034 Barometer 687.6 mb (10341. ft) Ethan.Dicks(a)amanda.spole.gov http://penguincentral.com/penguincentral.html