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Re: Hardware musings

"Linards Ticmanis" <ticmanis@gmx.de> wrote in message 
news:453d04ea$0$5719$9b4e6d93@newsspool3.arcor-online.net...
> Charlie wrote:
>
>> The registered version of Disk2FDI does not need 2 floppy drives to 
>> create
>> an FDI.  It does require a simple 2 wire cable connected to a fast 
>> parallel
>> port. Many motherboard parallel ports are not fast enough, PCI parallel 
>> port
>> cards usually are.
>
> Yeah, I forgot about that.
>
>> The real show-stopper with the PC drives is that they can't read the back
>> side of most Apple II floppies even when flipped.
>
> I wonder why one can't simply read them "backwards", i.e. without
> flipping, then reversing things in software?

As Andy mentioned the second head on a PC drive is offset from the first (I 
believe it keeps your from reading the first three tracks) so that keeps you 
from being able to use the second head.  If you flip the disk like we do 
with an Apple II drive then the index hole is on the wrong side. Apple IIs 
don't use the index hole but Disk2FDI uses the index hole to read the disk. 
If someone would come up with a way to generate an index pulse no matter 
where the index hole is located than I would think it would work.

Here are two possible hardware solutions:

http://www.oldskool.org/disk2fdi/FLIPPY.htm

http://www.siliconsonic.de/t/flipside.html

Charlie