Re: Commodore drives can be controlled on Apple II serial!

[supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer)]

doug.cotton@cmdweb.com (Doug Cotton) wrote:

>> So, based on what David wrote about the SmartPort, can it be used to
>> emulate Commodore serial I/O?
>
>It sounds like it at this point. Due to the limited number of lines, I'd
>say use them for ATN, CLK, DATA and SRQ. RESET could be done in the 'cable'
>with a one-shot, or could be ignored for that matter... isn't an absolute
>necessity, though it would be better to have it than not. Is there by any
>chance some form of a reset signal on this port already? That would be
>another option. Need to pick up a ground too, but hopefully the port has
>that. Is there any documentation on this port anywhere?

The port has ground.  It is documented in the hardware reference.  I will
try to find it and post it here or a gif image of it to comp.binaries.apple2.

>The low-level software side isn't too bad, but the only other sticking
>points I can see are speed of the port, and finding out if interrupts can
>be avoided during operation.

If memory serves, the interrupts are normally shut off during a floppy
access.