Re: I wonder if it would be complicated to design...

[osgeld <kevin@hackaday.com>]

On Saturday, May 11, 2013 12:40:34 AM UTC-5, Steve Nickolas wrote:
> On Fri, 10 May 2013, Phil Tubb wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> > On Thursday, May 9, 2013 12:29:48 AM UTC-7, Steve Nickolas wrote:
> 
> >> I wonder if it would be complicated to design a minimalistic,
> 
> >>
> 
> >> ProDOS-compatible drive controller for ordinary 1.44 MB drives (for PCs).
> 
> >>
> 
> >> That would be *my* ideal method of handling software on my //e.
> 
> >>
> 
> >>
> 
> >>
> 
> >> -uso.
> 
> >
> 
> > Doesn't this product http://www.bootzero.com/HDDD_A2_v1.2/HDDD_A2v1.2_specifications.html do what you want?
> 
> >
> 
> 
> 
> Isn't that just a "Unidisk 5.25" emulation device?
> 
> 
> 
> I was talking about a ProDOS block device (like CFFA) that used the 1.44 
> 
> MB floppy drives, somewhat like the other card you mentioned.  It would 
> 
> prolly give most of the advantages of a non-3000 CFFA (would be limited to 
> 
> 800K with a currently available patch of DOS 3.3, could use ProDOS to full 
> 
> capacity).
> 
> 
> 
> I figured maybe a couple ROMs, a little RAM, a disk controller chip, a 
> 
> cheap microcontroller, on a board with maybe a little glue logic would be 
> 
> all it'd take and wouldn't be all that expensive.
> 
> 
> 
> To me, I would believe such a device would be overall cheaper, including 
> 
> the cost of media, than a CFFA - if produced specifically to be 
> 
> inexpensive.
> 
> 
> 
> -uso.

so start working on it ... prodos block stuff is much easier than dealing with the raw floppy drive signals, a cheap micro that spoke to both would be enough