Re: 5.25" disk question

[cheer@i.hate.spam (Christopher D. Heer)]

It was 17 Mar 1997 23:30:01 GMT.  I was reading instead of working.  And Derek 
Peschel <dpeschel@u.washington.edu> said:

>In article <5g4nd2$sm3@login.freenet.columbus.oh.us>,
>Dave Althoff <dalloff@freenet.columbus.oh.us> wrote:

>>The disks that *DO NOT* work are the most modern DS/HD disks.  These are
>>the 1.2Mb 5.25" disks which are now widely available.

>This made me wonder something.

>In the PC world, there are formats that are even more ancient than 360K
>(namely, 320K, 180K, and 160K).  I think it may even be possible to
>"roll your own" format by changing the number of tracks/sectors
>per side.

Kinda sorta, yeah.  But the formats you listed are the only standard ones for 
the 5 1/4" disk form factor.

>So my question is:

>Since the Disk ][ is completely software-controlled (subject to the
>limitations of the hardware in the controller) would it be possible
>to get the Apple to write a disk in some format that a PC could read?

No.

The problem is much more low-level than the layout of tracks and sectors.  The 
Disk ][ uses GCR encoding, the PC MFM.  Never the twain shall meet without a 
hardware addon.
-- 
          Christopher D. Heer - cheer at us dot oracle dot com
     My opinions are my own and do not reflect those of Oracle Corp.
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