CWVG

[Jay Jaeger]

I don't have that code, however a couple of points:

First of all, I think Vector Graphic actually used Micropolis drives 
(and I suspect yours are because of the hard sectoring).  I have 
Micropolis drives on my Altair.  Back in 2006 I imaged my floppies - by 
reading the sectors on my Altair and transferring the data over to my PC 
and saving an image file.

Note that at least for the 100 TPI Mod II model you'd have to use an 
actual Micropolis drive or the tracks won't line up.  I don't know if 
that is also true of the Mod I drives which have a more standard tracks 
per inch.

Back in 2006 I modified some existing catweasel code I got from Jim 
Battle to handle Data General hard sector floppies, and if I remember 
correctly - this was all back in 2006 - also changed the code so that 
more stuff was in tables.  You can find a link to download the code at:

https://www.computercollection.net/index.php/specialized-interfaces/

It would require source code changes to read Micropolis floppies directly.

Another option might be the open-source fluxengine, which has 
dead-simple hardware that plugs into USB, and can also process catweasel 
cell capture files.  (Greaseweazle can't handle hard sector floppies yet)

http://cowlark.com/fluxengine/index.html
http://cowlark.com/fluxengine/doc/disk-micropolis.html

I am actually looking to re-image my Micropolis floppies (single sided, 
both Mod I and Mod II) to confirm my existing images, and have the 
requisite hardware on order from DigiKey which should arrive this week. 
  Fluxengine already has support for hard sectoring, so I will give that 
a try and report back in a few days.

JRJ


On 8/24/2021 6:00 PM, Mike Loewen via cctech wrote:
> 
>     Back in the 2007 time frame, Andrew Lynch had written a utility to 
> read Vector Graphic hard-sectored diskettes on a Catweasel board. Called 
> "CWVG", does anyone have a copy of the program?
> 
> 
> Mike Loewen                mloewen at cpumagic.scol.pa.us
> Old Technology                http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/