Charlie wrote:
"Steven Hirsch" <snhirsch@gmail.com> wrote in message fu2dnU05iqHEthfUnZ2dnUVZ_vSdnZ2d@giganews.com">news:fu2dnU05iqHEthfUnZ2dnUVZ_vSdnZ2d@giganews.com...Charlie wrote:I'm not familiar with the Copy II Plus board but another interesting card is the PC Transporter. It can read/write an Apple II 3.5" drive in either GCR with the variable speed (800K) or PC MFM with single speed (720K). In this case though, I don't believe the speed is done in software. If I remember correctly the PC Transporter somehow keeps the speed from varying in the drive.The PCT uses a real Apple drive to do 800K 3.5" diskettes AFAIK.Yes, you are correct. I shouldn't have brought up the PC Transporter. I was just referring to it as a curiosity because I believe it manages to do multi-speed and single speed (hardware rotational speed not software read/write speed) on an Apple drive.
I'm sceptical that the PCT is doing anything special at all. I'm of the impression that the variable speed magic is simply built into the drive itself Unless I'm confusing this with the Unidisk 3.5 (original) the drive presents itself as a sequence of blocks and completely hides the fact that tracks and sectors are involved.