Date   : Tue, 11 Oct 2005 01:20:22 +0100
From   : "Jason Watton (Lycos)" <jason.watton@...>
Subject: Re: 3.5" Floppy For A Master

> Jumpering, cabling and CMOS issues aside though, isn't the main issue
> that the PC's floppy hardware only ever really supported MFM data
> recording (except for the really early days) and so won't support the FM
> needed to read/write DFS disks?

Yes, but "needn't" rather than "won't". The PC's floppy hardware only ever
**needed** to support MFM to read/write the IBM formats. However, the
original PC, and many PC clones, were/are still capable of using FM.

It's true that no amount of setup will get around the hardware being
physically incapable of doing it. **But** it's still worth trying newer
hardware and software, both of which are more likely to support FM
(strangely enough, as Jules says...).