Interest in a DiscFerret?

[Michael Mulhern]

AppleII have a look at AppleSauce to USB connect an Apple Disk][ to a Mac
to flux read the diskettes.

If you’re not Mac interested, maybe someone could do them for you. I would,
but I’m in Sydney , AU.

//m

On Thu, 10 Jan 2019 at 1:26 pm, Guy Dunphy via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
wrote:

> At 03:39 PM 9/01/2019 -0500, you wrote:
> >
> >I had the bug to do something similar.. then I found SuperCard Pro.
> >It's closed hardware but the USB protocol is fully documented.  Because
> >if that, it's almost a perfect commodity turn-key hardware bridge to raw
> >flux-level transitions - in or out.  It's $100 and in-stock.  One could
> >always build custom hardware, but you'd wind up with something very
> >similar in hardware and protocol design.  What's your time worth?
> >
> >The heavy lift is always in software.  There is an open-source Amiga
> >disk image utility package that has turned into something more
> >flux-level generic called Keirf Utilities.  And the built-in software is
> >also descent.  But since the USB protocol is documented, the hardware
> >capabilities can be extended by anyone.
> >
> >-Alan
> >
> >
> >On 2019-01-09 15:12, Al Kossow via cctalk wrote:
> >> On 1/9/19 12:05 PM, Torfinn Ingolfsen via cctalk wrote:
> >>> Less finished (ok, unfinished) project
> >>
> >> Just what the world needs, more half-baked floppy reading hardware
> >> and no software, just like the stupid thing on hackaday.
> >>
> >>
> https://hackaday.com/2019/01/08/preserving-floppy-disks-via-logic-analyser/
> >>
> >> Universal joy through the reinvention of the wheel (badly)
>
>
> Has anyone used a DiscFerret, to actually extract files from say, Apple II
> disks
> and HP LIF disks?
>
> The website- https://discferret.com/wiki/DiscFerret
> It seemms like the project is dead since 2013, was only ever for Linux,
> and never included software
> that understands various old floppy formats. Is that right?
>
> My neads (using DOS, WinXP or Win7) are:
>
> * At the moment I'm attempting to restore my old, heavily modified  Apple
> II to working condition,
>   and then archive all my old Apple II files on floppies to PC. Part of a
> project to document a
>   bunch of projects I did in my 20s, 1970s t0 1980s.
>   The intro article is here:
> http://everist.org/NobLog/20181001_missing_wave.htm
>   Another article is in progress, about the restoration and doco of all
> the mods I did on my Apple II.
>   After it's working and old files extracted, then an article about my
> hacking Apple DOS 3.2 to
>   get higher data density. The old thermal printer listings are faded to
> illegibility, so I'm
>   really hoping the floppies are still readable.
>
> * Also I have some old HP equipment that uses HP-format floppies. LIF?
> They're not DOS compatible.
>   A HP 1630G logic analyzer with 9121 GPIB dual floppy drive, and a HP
> 80000 data generator.
>   For both machines I have old floppies containing critical  utilities
> (including a bunch of
>   disassembly utilities for early processors) that I really want to back
> up on PC and put online.
>
> There's sentimental and historical interest with both, and practical need
> with the HP gear.
>
> But, I have little experience with data recovery from old floppies. Long
> ago I did have a PC ISA
> bus card for extracting bit transition images from floppies, but I can't
> find it.
> Just now starting to look for what's available. Hoping for something that
> just works, as I have
> way too many projects already.
>
> I do have boxes of old drives, 8" 5.25" and 3.5", most densities.
>
> What other all-formats floppy R/W and data recovery tools do people here
> know of?
> Comments of their functionality?
>
> Guy
>
>
> --


*Blog: RetroRetrospective – Fun today with yesterday's gear……..
<http://www.jongleur.co.uk/blogs/>*
*Podcast*: *Retro Computing Roundtable <http://rcrpodcast.com/>* (Co-Host)