Reading various format 5.25" floppies on a PC

From: Fred Cisin <cisin_at_xenosoft.com>
Date: Mon Jun 16 18:14:01 2003

> > The PC hardware is so crude and simple that even with MY soldering skills,
> > it is possible to do mods such as for single density. The Mac hardware is
> > much more integrated, and is full of surface mout chips, etc. that I'm not
> > skilled enough to work with.

On Mon, 16 Jun 2003, Tony Duell wrote:
> Depends on the PC and the Mac :-).

It sure does. Comparing NEW PCs with OLD Macs is ludicrous. And it also
is an issue of how competent the individual is. I do NOT have the skill
to solder surface mount, nor to figure out how to modify the disk
operations of the Mac.

By the time that the Mac originally came out (1984?), I had had the
schematics and source code of the BIOS of the PC for several years (1981).
And by that time (1984), I had several extra FDC boards for the PC that I
experimented with, including doing 8", and had already implemented more
than 100 5.25" MFM formats in XenoCopy.

I don't doubt that the Mac was a superb platform for hacking for SOME
people. For me, with MY limitations of ability, the PC (OF COMPARABLE
VINTAGE) was a lot more open and easier to work with.

> Modern PCs seem to be stuffed full of
> SMD (and worse still BGA) chips. The disk controller is probably part of
> some large ASIC on the motherboard.
> Conversetly, the Mac+ has no SMD chips other than in the floppy drive AFAIK.

The PC AT THE TIME OF THE Mac+ ALSO had no SMD. They both became less
solder friendly at the same time. But the Mac, from the beginning, was
better integrated than the comparable vintage PC, which made the PC easier
for ME. For ME, the PC and the Apple ][ were comparable to work on, and
the Mac was closed to me. But for somebody else, or with different
hacking goals, it could be completely different.
Received on Mon Jun 16 2003 - 18:14:01 BST