Charlie wrote:
"sicklittlemonkey" <Nick.Westgate@gmail.com> wrote in message ecc64a46-bbb1-4b0c-9bdf-e4b8d69d465f@d70g2000hsb.googlegroups.com">news:ecc64a46-bbb1-4b0c-9bdf-e4b8d69d465f@d70g2000hsb.googlegroups.com...On Jan 14, 12:26 pm, "Charlie" <charlieD...@verEYEzon.net> wrote:Could such a system create FDIs?Possibly, but the actual format itself is not so important. If the data is equivalent it can be converted from one format to the other. Personally I prefer a format that is hack-friendly. Regular Disk II data bytes interspersed with obvious meta-data bytes for example. I have nothing against the FDI format except that it requires a fairly specialized setup and closed source software. Installing an extra Apple II card (EDD+ or similar) would seem to align better with the interests of most Apple II enthusiasts.Actually, I agree with you for the most part. Having an Apple ][ centered way to make true duplicates of protected disks would be my preferred method as well but I'd like to see the images as FDIs if that is possible. My reason is that we would then have two different means of producing the images. The already available disk2fdi system and the as yet to be invented Apple ][ system.If the EDD+ / ADTPro / AppleWin or some such Apple ][ system ever becomes a reality there will probably be a rather small amount actually running. While that number may be more than disk2fdi systems why shut out those systems by making yet another format?
That's my concern, as well. Why invent yet another format when at least some support already exists for a satisfactory one? BTW, I have seen protected disks which can only be represented as bit streams, in the sense that there are "nibbles" with their high bits *off* (that can be written but not read by a Disk ][ Controller). This protection scheme relied upon the bit stream being able to be read two different ways, depending on precisely when the state machine was reset! -michael NadaPong: Network game demo for Apple II computers! Home page: http://members.aol.com/MJMahon/ "The wastebasket is our most important design tool--and it's seriously underused."