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

[supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer)]

Rubywand <rubywand@swbell.net> wrote:

>     From what has been posted about "Burst Mode" transfers on newer
>drives, the cycle time (uS per bit) is much shorter. Since the interface
>would, in any case, require a special cable, it might be best to go
>ahead and put together something with IC's designed for the job. If the
>C128 can handle full-speed transfers with the newer drives, its design
>and firmware would be worth checking.

I posted a request in comp.sys.cbm for information and it looks like
one of their regulars dropped several links to sites containing the C128
firmware and 1571 disk drive software.

This is beginning to look like a commercially feasable project.  CMD
is making a high density 3.5" disk drive using the Commodore serial
I/O interface.  This drive is capable of MFM encoding, which means
that theoretically this drive can read and write standard high density
ProDOS disks compatible with the SuperDrive.

If you add one plus one, the conclusion is inevitable.  A driver written
to control drives like the 1571 can also control CMD's drive.  This
means that CMD can sell the drive to Apple II users as well as the
traditional Commodore user.