21 Sep
2014
21 Sep
'14
1 p.m.
On Sep 21, 2014, at 11:31 , Chuck Guzis <cclist at sydex.com> wrote:
I don't understand the need for special hardware.
Any PC capable of reading/writing FM and MFM should handle it.
That makes sense if you take it for granted that PCs with suitable floppy controllers are
sitting around on the shelf waiting to be used, which is probably true for many or even
most folks here. Some of us don't generally use PCs, though, and have spent most of
our lives using mostly non-PC hardware. For me, a PC on which to run ImageDisk is no less
special than a KryoFlux or Supercard Pro board, since I need to buy all of the hardware to
build it anyway.
I'm in the process of building up an old 386 box that I bought on eBay for use with
ImageDisk; I'm not sure why I'm bothering other than for the fun of it, since once
I'm done it'll be a lot less convenient for me to use it than my KryoFlux. The
KryoFlux plugs into my daily-use computer (a MacBook Air), but I'll need to go through
extra contortions to get files on and off of the 386 box. I suppose it'll come in
handy for helping out with debugging of the very young ImageDisk file format support in
Keir's Disk Utilities software, and it'll also provide a gold standard for
compatibility testing with the ImageDisk file manipulation code I'm presently writing
in Python.
--
Mark J. Blair, NF6X <nf6x at nf6x.net>
http://www.nf6x.net/