Tim's own version of the Catweasel/Compaticard/whatever

From: Eric J. Korpela <korpela_at_ellie.ssl.berkeley.edu>
Date: Thu Jul 6 08:51:08 2000

> >You prefer software solutions. I prefer hardware. It doesn't make either
> >of us wrong. When you close your eyes, you see pseudocode. I see schematics.
>
> I've been using variants on "raw data capture" for years, and I find it
> *most* flexible when the data is captured in its rawest forms.

I certainly agree, and wouldn't design a board that didn't have the capability
to do this. It's definitely required in the case of a totally unsupported
format or a damaged disk. But in the case of a well known format that's
read by a well documented FDC, having an FDC that can be thrown into a
CPLD or FPGA seems attractive to me. And as a collector, I can see an
advantage to having schematics of FDCs compatible with a variety of existing
(and past, of course) FDCs. Some day I'll be forced to build a NEC765 in my
garage out of tin cans and bailing twine. Besides, reverse engineering is
fun. :)

I agree that it's not buying much more than can be bought with software,
apart from the satisfaction of having done it, and the value of a bunch
of FDC schematics.

Eric
Received on Thu Jul 06 2000 - 08:51:08 BST