12 May
2008
12 May
'08
5:05 p.m.
Chuck Guzis wrote:
If one wants to enjoy a "vintage"
experience, what sense is there in
being diskless? At any rate, even something as simple as a WD1770-
type controller added to the design would give that capability with a
minimum of support "glue".
Agreed.
Alternatively, one could stay diskless and add a
sound-effects module
to emulate the "chunk" and "grrr" of a head-load and seek--and the
"thunk-click" of a drive door being opened and a floppy inserted.
And the high-pitched squeal of a disk shedding its coating in the drive...
(maybe a dip-switch for "Wabash mode"? :-)
Personally I'm all for adding to vintage systems (hard disks where none were
originally supported, video additions etc.) if it makes the system a little
easier for frequent use - but not at the expense of original features. Part of
the 'experience' is being able to enjoy the system as it was originally used,
after all. (Similarly, I'm in awe of emulator writers - but give me the
original hardware any day...)
cheers
Jules