Reading various format 5.25" floppies on a PC

From: Ethan Dicks <erd_6502_at_yahoo.com>
Date: Wed Jun 18 10:41:01 2003

--- Hans Franke <Hans.Franke_at_mch20.sbs.de> wrote:
> In my opinion the LC 475 and Performa 630 are the best coices for
> a classic (68k) Mac. Both hafe the 32 Bit PDS slot, where you may
> find network cards or even video cards. Beside that you may with
> low effort design your own cards, since the PDS is nothing else
> than a 68k bus, ment for machine specific add ons.

My personal favorite is the SE/30, but I like the compact Mac
format and the built-in monitor. If you need color, then I'd
agree about the two models you mentioned.
 
> > The Mac approach is something like the Amiga approach - give little
> > boxes a proprietary processor-specific slot
>
> Now, let's get setious, isn't the ISA bus exactly the same?
> A Processor specific bus for an 8088 system (and an extension
> to 16 Bit for the AT) ?

Well... it certainly was for the PC, XT and AT. By the time the
CPUs went to a 32-bit data bus, the ISA bus was, in effect, emulated.

> Basicly you'll have a 16 Bit and a 32 Bit PDS Version. Way
> like the XT/AT thing for PCs.

I'll admit to that being basically true, but when you are trying to
fit card "A" into Mac "B", how many varieties of PDS slot are there?

I don't know the exact answer, but I have handled at least three
kinds of cards (SE (16-bit), SE/30+IIsi (32-bit) and LC (32-bit).

-ethan
Received on Wed Jun 18 2003 - 10:41:01 BST