17 Apr
1997
17 Apr
'97
8:05 p.m.
WOW 1's and O's - you where lucky! I had to
use l's and O's.
Of course I cheated and wrote out all my code long hand - that was when
I was back in Egypt. I am sure you've seen some of my code 8-)
You had 1's AND 0's? Back in my day, we only had 0's, and we liked it. I
tried to get my parents to buy me some 1's, but they were just too much.
Actually, I am 28, and learned to program in basic. I am just now taking
the time to learn assembler on my atari 800. I have wanted to learn for the
last 14 years, but I think that some of the latter experience that I have
gotten has made it to where I think I can tackle assembly language. In the
"old fart" category, I just helped my next door neighbor get his first
computer, a classic of course, and he is in his early 60's. He's pretty
excited, and so am I.
While we are on the subject of disks, I got a bag of 5 1/4" disks from a
friend, and they are mostly DSHD. I have been able to format most of them,
but there are a select few that my Atari SSSD drive will not format. Do you
think that I could format them with a different machine, or pass them under
a magnet and get them to where my atari could format them? I hate to throw
them away, and I'm not that technical when it comes to magnetic properties
and such.
Isaac Davis
idavis(a)comland.com
indavis(a)juno.com
17 Apr
17 Apr
9:18 p.m.
New subject: Double-density floppy availability
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18 Apr
18 Apr
5:50 a.m.
New subject: Disks (was: Re: Generations and Hard/Soft sectoring
While we are on the subject of disks, I got a bag of 5 1/4" disks from a
friend, and they are mostly DSHD. I have been able to format most of them,
but there are a select few that my Atari SSSD drive will not format. Do you
think that I could format them with a different machine, or pass them under
a magnet and get them to where my atari could format them? I hate to throw
them away, and I'm not that technical when it comes to magnetic properties
and such.
Generally, I've found that the High Density disks are all but unusable in
these older computers/disk drives. . .found that out the hard way when I
bought a C128 with a 1751 disk drive, and tried to format some HD disks .
..for a while I thought the disk drive was broken!
4:01 p.m.
New subject: Disks (was: Re: Generations and Hard/Soft sectoring
On Fri, 18 Apr 1997, Charles P. Hobbs wrote:
Generally, I've found that the High Density disks
are all but unusable in
these older computers/disk drives. . .found that out the hard way when I
bought a C128 with a 1751 disk drive, and tried to format some HD disks .
..for a while I thought the disk drive was broken!
I agree here. I've had exactly the same experience with 3.5" disks and
went through the same hell trying to determine exactly what was wrong.
But it still defies sense. Surely, if the disk has a higher density, it
should be able to be formatted on a lower density drive. What's so
different?
--------------------------- ,o88,o888o,,o888o. -------------------------------
Alexios Chouchoulas '88 ,88' ,88'
alexios(a)vennea.demon.co.uk
The Unpronouncable One ,o88oooo88ooooo88oo, axc(a)dcs.ed.ac.uk
4:36 p.m.
New subject: Disks (was: Re: Generations and Hard/Soft sectoring
On Sat, 19 Apr 1997, Alexios Chouchoulas wrote:
On Fri, 18 Apr 1997, Charles P. Hobbs wrote:
Aw come on! Think about it 8-)
The media MUST be able to pack bits closer. (Higher density)
Even at higher spindle speeds you have to flip the dipoles.
You use higher current in the record head to get a bigger signal
out of the read head.
You do that be using a polished and *harder* (magnetically) medium.
The old soft style head can not successfully record and the read
head gain is too low the successfully read.
BC
Generally, I've found that the High Density
disks are all but unusable in
these older computers/disk drives. . .found that out the hard way when I
bought a C128 with a 1751 disk drive, and tried to format some HD disks .
..for a while I thought the disk drive was broken!
I agree here. I've had exactly the same experience with 3.5" disks and
went through the same hell trying to determine exactly what was wrong.
But it still defies sense. Surely, if the disk has a higher density, it
should be able to be formatted on a lower density drive. What's so
different?
19 Apr
19 Apr
8:43 a.m.
New subject: Disks (was: Re: Generations and Hard/Soft sectoring
On Fri, 18 Apr 1997, Brett wrote:
Aw come on! Think about it 8-)
Thinking? I'm running out of brain cells. I predict that by the end of my
final exams next week, I'll be so brainless that I'll even like being the
manager of immense software companies making GUIs and calling them operating
systems. :-)
Anyway, it wouldn't have helped! I was making the wrong assumptions.
The media MUST be able to pack bits closer. (Higher
density)
Even at higher spindle speeds you have to flip the dipoles.
You use higher current in the record head to get a bigger signal
out of the read head.
You do that be using a polished and *harder* (magnetically) medium.
The old soft style head can not successfully record and the read
head gain is too low the successfully read.
*NOW* I know. :-) I was under the impression that the media simply had
higher resolution. The way you put it, it's obvious.
It really is a good thing I still have a lot of DD diskettes at home.
I'm sure I could locate tons more if I need them -- old PC users usually
have loads of them. Most would be pleased to `part' with that old `junk'
(sic), especially if they get money for it.
--------------------------- ,o88,o888o,,o888o. -------------------------------
Alexios Chouchoulas '88 ,88' ,88'
alexios(a)vennea.demon.co.uk
The Unpronouncable One ,o88oooo88ooooo88oo, axc(a)dcs.ed.ac.uk
18 Apr
18 Apr
5:23 p.m.
New subject: Disks (was: Re: Generations and Hard/Soft sectoring
On Sat, 19 Apr 1997 02:01:24 +0100 (BST), you wrote:
On Fri, 18 Apr 1997, Charles P. Hobbs wrote:
Check the technical specs of floppies; the magnetic characteristics of
5.25" DD versus HD disks are different. They look similar but are very
different.
3.5" disks seem to differ only in that extra hole, the specs are
almost identical.
_______________
Barry Peterson bm_pete(a)ix.netcom.com
Husband to Diane, Father to Doug,
Grandfather to Zoe now and to Tegan at 10:23 a.m. on April 13th!!!
(7lbs. 2oz., 19", lots of dark hair, and HEALTHY!)
Generally, I've found that the High Density
disks are all but unusable in
these older computers/disk drives. . .found that out the hard way when I
bought a C128 with a 1751 disk drive, and tried to format some HD disks .
..for a while I thought the disk drive was broken!
I agree here. I've had exactly the same experience with 3.5" disks and
went through the same hell trying to determine exactly what was wrong.
But it still defies sense. Surely, if the disk has a higher density, it
should be able to be formatted on a lower density drive. What's so
different?
9956
days inactive
9957
days old
6 comments
6 participants
participants (6)
-
alexios＠vennea.demon.co.uk -
bm_pete＠ix.netcom.com -
danjo＠xnet.com -
idavis＠comland.com -
shoppa＠alph02.triumf.ca -
transit＠primenet.com