Re: FC5025 5.25" USB floppy controller available

["Michael J. Mahon" <mjmahon@aol.com>]

Michael J. Mahon wrote:
> I received my FC5025 a few weeks ago, but only now got access to
> my TEAC FD-55 drive to try it out.
>
> Although it offers the option to view the directory of ProDOS
> disks, unless you really don't know what's on a disk, that isn't
> used much.
>
> The host program for the FC5025 allows creating 140K DOS-order
> (.dsk) or ProDOS-order (.po) images of standard-format 5.25" disks.
> If you can VERIFY a disk with Copy II Plus, then you can image it.
>
> All 16-sector disks can be imaged either in DOS-order or ProDOS-
> order, and (of course) the convention is to use the order appropriate
> to the OS.  But many emulators and CiderPress auto-detect the sector
> order, and are tolerant of mismatches.
>
> That said, the program images in ProDOS order in about 30 seconds,
> while DOS-order takes about 70 seconds, so if you have a lot of disks
> to image, do them in ProDOS order and then, if necessary, "swizzle"
> the images needing DOS-order later using a utility program.

Bill Garber kindly pointed out to me that you can select and type
in a filename of your choice prior to creating an image.

From reading the source, I note that if the filename you type in
ends with decimal digit(s), they will be auto-incremented after
each image creation--handy for multi-disk packages.

> The FC5025 reads Apple disks one sector at a time, though it is
> capable (with more effort) of reading short blobs of nibbles from
> a track.  Presumeably one could read a track a couple of times in
> short "blobs" and then stitch them together (kind of like DNA
> sequencing ;-).
>
> Unfortunately, no raw track reading option is implemented, so using
> this hardware/firmware for more general Apple II disk imaging is an
> exercise for the reader.  ;-)  It would be worth doing, however, since
> it would allow the creation of .nib images of mildly nonstandard disk
> formats, and eventually capture and deprotection of truly nonstandard
> formats.
>
> For most people who want to image their libraries of non-copy-protected
> disks, this device is quite useful--even if you do have to go back and
> rename all the image files to something meaningful.
>
> It cannot read the back side of "flippy" disks without either cutting
> a second index-sensing hole in the disk jacket (easy for a few disks)
> or modifying the FD-55 drive to sense index holes when a disk is
> flipped over (probably easier for a lot of disks).
>
> Maybe someone will start offering a FD-55, modified to handle
> "flippy" disks, in a case with a power supply and the FC5025,
> ready to connect to a USB port!

-michael

NadaNet and AppleCrate II: parallel computing for Apple II computers!
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