Catweasel Definitions (WAS: Catweasel Northstar Project)

[snip] Thanks Jonathan, Those definitions you mentioned are all soft sector MFM encoded formats, I believe. I suspect cw2dmk will already decode those since they have the necessary sync marks, etc. Have you tried cw2dmk? It can extract dmk images from any FM, MFM, or RX02 encoded soft sector disk. It is good thing you are doing to add capability to the Linux cw driver for more formats. Thanks for doing that. The more Catweasel support of any kind, the better it is for everyone. Unfortunately, writing software for the Catweasel to make images of NorthStar hard sector format is an entirely different creature altogether. The NorthStar controller has its own unique sync sequence which makes the disks incapable of being read by NEC 765 or derivative FDCs. As a result, it requires entirely custom software to decode. Thank you to those individuals who have been of invaluable help to me in getting this far with the project (you know who you are!). Here is a bit of technical background on the problem from the NorthStar floppy disk controller. The NorthStar double density sync sequence is 32 $00's followed by $FB, another $FB, 512 bytes of data, and then a one byte checksum. The single density sync is similar. The NorthStar timing sequences is based on the ten sector holes and one index hole. I found the index hole because it is between two sector holes. The sequence is something like this: Gap 1 24 mS Gap 2 24 mS Gap 3 12 mS <- index hole passed by Gap 4 12 mS <- start of sector 0 Gap 5 24 mS . . . Gap 11 24 mS My prototype code is currently two parts: the first is a modified utility to make a raw image, and the second is another utility which extracts the data "proof of concept" stage. It is way too crude for a general release and that is why I am asking for some volunteers to help (re)write it and test it to bring the code up to some reasonable level of decency before any release. Here is a sample dump from the imaging tool of a disk. It is the NorthStar DOS 5.0 Double Density boot disk. It is the one which comes with the Dave Dunfield NorthStar Horizon simulator and tool set. I created an actual boot floppy on my Horizon and used my Catweasel station to create the image. http://www.geocities.com/lynchaj/out3.zip I entirely agree and I apologize for sending multiple posts. Believe me, it was not my plan for three postings. I first posted Thursday last week but my messages did not show up in the archive until today for some unknown reason. I read the list by reading the archive of messages and I thought my messages were going into the bit bucket. I suspect the cctech mailing list was having some sort of problem. Sorry for the repeats. Thanks! Andrew Lynch