11 Jun
2004
11 Jun
'04
8:34 a.m.
On Jun 11, 14:44, Jules Richardson wrote:
The information I have gives the makeup of each of the gap types in
terms of bit patterns, counts, what clock transitions are missing for
MFM formats etc.
Question is, is this a standard? I mean, for any disk using MFM or FM
recording are these bit patterns going to be the same? Or is it
dependant on the controller chip being used?
So long as it's FM/MFM it's pretty much the same for any controller --
otherwise disks wouldn't be so interchangable :-)
If you want an external floppy, why go to a lot of effort when all you
need is one of the old cards that had an external connector? It's
normally a 37-pin D-connector, with a few pins used to supply the
power. Of course they're ISA cards, so you'd need a machine with ISA
slots, but your reference to "ISA bus hang-ups" implies you have that.
You also need to be able to set the card to be the second floppy
controller (but most of the ones with external connectors have that
capability) or disable the on-board floppy controller (if there is one
-- but most older boards can do that too).
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York