Let's develop an open-source media archive standard

I realize that the idea is to create a format to make re-creation of media possible for a variety of platforms. We can certainly do that and have its only function be to maintain a physical data format. My added idea is that the data and the formatting be separated so that a simple utility on a non-target platform could extract data from the image file. If we create a physical description only and do not abstract the data then any emulator must understand the OS file structure in order to retrieve any internal file representation. My idea would make the file re-creation simple in that the xml image file would be parsed for the actual file data that an emulator would need. This makes the emulator easier. To retrieve a file from the physical layout that it at the end of this message, the emulator must know the actual disk format that is used on the target system (the one the image file was made for). I have seen cp/m systems where the actual physical sectors were sequential on disk and the OS file sector was actually virtual to increase speed. Not my idea of the way to do it. It is much easier to make the physical sectors slewed so that a physical sector is a file sector. These are the types of issues you will have to overcome if an emulator must totally understand each and every file system for a cp/m version for example. Sellam, let me know if you would like to discuss this via telephone so I can convery the idea that I am proposing. best regards, Steve Thatcher -----Original Message----- From: Vintage Computer Festival <vcf(a)siconic.com> Sent: Aug 11, 2004 3:00 PM To: Steve Thatcher <melamy(a)earthlink.net>et>, "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> Subject: RE: Let's develop an open-source media archive standard On Wed, 11 Aug 2004, Steve Thatcher wrote: That is the point, really. What we are attempting to do is describe as faithfully as possible a physical media with logical data in a purely logical form. The goal would be that the physical media could be re-created from the imagefile if need be. The parameters of the physcial media are specified so that this can be possible. I'm not quite understanding you here. Or maybe I am. An image in the format shown below could be read by any emulator. Making sense of the data with respect to that emulator is a different issue altogether, but it does make it possible for, say, a Northstar Horizon emulator to load up an Apple ][ disk image and then try to access it. Anyway, I don't think I am quite getting the point you are trying to make. -- Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org [ Old computing resources for business || Buy/Sell/Trade Vintage Computers ] [ and academia at www.VintageTech.com || at http://marketplace.vintage.org ]