Re: Hardware musings

["sicklittlemonkey" <Nick.Westgate@gmail.com>]

Justin England wrote:
> Second topic, disk transfer from a Windoze PC to A2 disks.  Since there is
> no way to directly connect a disk ][ drive to a PC (unlike other 8 bit
> computer's disk drives), why couldn't a "magic" box be built that would
> connect a disk ][ to a USB port.

Short answer: voltage/current and timing, IIRC. The magic box would be
an Apple II. I don't mean to burst your bubble or anything, but if you
search c.s.a2 on Google Groups you'll find it's been discussed before.

> I can't imagine it
> being horribly difficult to "emulate" a disk ][ controller with a PIC
> considering it should have to ability to do the timing critical functions.

Have you checked out the semi-virtual disk? It's a related concept:
http://www.thesvd.com/SVD/

Production has ceased for the time being, but version 2 is planned.

Cheers,
Nick.