Reading various format 5.25" floppies on

From: Tony Duell <ard_at_p850ug1.demon.co.uk>
Date: Mon Jun 16 21:16:01 2003

> As you've seen, it is a lot easier, and MUCH more fun, to write such
> software than it is to deal with a lawyer who wants to open his water

Oh, indeed. Fortunately I don't have to support people like that.... I
just have to suppor my own crazy idesa

> > I didn't write a program to directly copy a disk (for one thing, my PC
> > only has 1 3.5" floppy drive) -- I wrote programs to transfer between a
> > physical disk and an image file in both directions. That seemed to cover
> > it (just put the image file in /tmp if you don't need to keep it :-))
>
> A very reasonable approach. It handles archiving, copying, and with some
> software to parse the image, could handle data conversion.

YEs, I also wrote programs to produce a directory listing (either of an
image file or a physical disk), to extract a file from an image or
physical disk (the reverse -- to put a new file onto an image/disk is
something I must do soon) and to translate some of the HP files into more
normal ones (like LIF1 text files into normal text files).

>
>
> > Of course. I was just pointing out that you might still have problems,
> > and that a PC can't read all disks with 'western digital headers'. In
> > particular, I couldn't read disks formatted on my TRS-80 Model 4 on this
> > PC. I could format a disk on the PC with the same type of format and then
> > read/write it correctly on both machines.
>
> Can you read them if you block the index signal?

I think so, but I found it easier just to format the disk on the PC...

>
>
> > > It CAN be done. I had already assumed that Tony dould do it. _Most_ end
> > Why me? I am not a programmer. In fact I doubt I'm a hacker [1] either.
> > [1] In the original sense. I am certainly not a cracker.
> because
> 1) you are a hacker

AHving read some ofEric Raymond's (I think) pages I am convinced I am not...

> 2) you understand the hardware that it needs to deal with

True. I also have a fair idea of how a CP/M directory is put together,
what the various options in the 22disk program mean, etc.

> 3) you're willing to put the effort into experimenting

It's often the only way...

-tony
Received on Mon Jun 16 2003 - 21:16:01 BST