Reading various format 5.25" floppies on a PC

From: Hans Franke <Hans.Franke_at_mch20.sbs.de>
Date: Wed Jun 18 11:11:16 2003

> > 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.

I like the LC 475 for it's compactness while still having a
powerful 040, and the 630 for it's extensibility. 56 MB of
RAM in a 68k Mac is just to good to be true. CD Drive build
in and a 33 MHz 040 is everything you'll ever need - not to
mention the usage of IDE drives which allow the usage of
cheap large drives. And if the 486DX2 card is installed,
you get the best of both worlds (and a total RAM of 120 MB:)

> > > 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.

Still, it's a bus designed for a specific proprietary hardware.
How it's handled doesn't matter - there have been quite some
adoptions to other processors (aka emulations).

> > 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).

LC is available in a 16 Bit flavour (LC,LC II, LC III) and 32 Bit
one (LC 475, Performa 630 etc.).

Gruss
H.

--
VCF Europa 5.0 am 01./02. Mai 2004 in Muenchen
http://www.vcfe.org/
Received on Wed Jun 18 2003 - 11:11:16 BST

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