Bad Feelings...

From: Sam Ismail <dastar_at_crl.com>
Date: Sun Jun 22 19:04:52 1997

On Sun, 22 Jun 1997, A.R. Duell wrote:

> > from, there are compnents of computers that are shear art as the disk
> > controller in the apple II (from what I read the board was drawn 'not
>
> I'll have to disagree with you there. IMHO the Disk II controller is
> nothing other than a kludge. It could certainly have done with a track 0
> sensor (that would have stopped the heads from banging on start-up). And,
> as a hardware designer, I don't like designs where most of the
> functionality is handled in software.

Blasphemer! No really though, if you must call the Disk ][ controller a
kludge, at least qualify it by calling it a beautiful kludge, which it is.
Also, having software control over the disk drive is not a bad thing at
all. It allowed you to play directly with the bits on the disks and make
your own disk formats. It provided years of fun and challenge during my
teenage days trying to crack the ever-more-complicated disk copy
protection schemes that the software houses kept creating by way of being
able to control the disk circuitry from software.

> > totally in the dark about). Case in point, Exidy Sorceror, I purchased
> > one and sent it to Sam Ismael, he is now looking for information, not
> > very many people ever seen one, much less an ad for one, sometimes the
>
> Somewhere I have a Techref for the Sorceror, and one for the S100 adapter
> for it. I also have some user group newsletters, etc. Feel free to pester
> me on this list if you want me to dig this stuff out.
>
> BTW, it's not up for grabs. I need it to maintain my Sorceror :-)

Tony, any information you can e-mail me or send me concerning the
Sorcerer would be appreciated. I need information about the power
requirements, plus just general information such as how much RAM it came
with, processor type, built-in languages, etc. Thanks.

Sam
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Computer Historian, Programmer, Musician, Philosopher, Athlete, Writer, Jackass
Received on Sun Jun 22 1997 - 19:04:52 BST