1 Jun
2000
1 Jun
'00
9:03 a.m.
On 1 Jun 2000, Eric Smith wrote:
After all, everyone knows that a 1 MHz 6502 isn't fast enough to do disk
control in software at all! :-) Woz's design is a classic example of
"thinking outside the box". IIRC, he was quoted somewhere as saying
that he didn't previously have any knowledge of the design of disk
controllers, so he just designed what he thought would be necessary.
But can you dedcode 6&2 encoded bytes in realtime on a 6502? Something
tells me it's not fast enough to do this.
Once the Intel 8271, WD 1771, and similar FDC chips
became available,
any idiot could "design a disk controller". But if you compare Woz's
design with other pre-FDC-chip designs, Woz's has 1/10 as many chips
as some of them.
6 to be exact.
Sellam International Man of Intrigue and Danger
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