Date   : Sun, 17 Oct 2010 19:24:04 +0200
From   : rick@... (Rick Murray)
Subject: Fw: DD & HD Floppies

On 17/10/2010 14:44, J.G.Harston wrote:

> See all the work Beardo has done with HD disk access. It is *very*
> difficult on a BBC due to the incredibly tight access loops to
> get the data transfered fast enough, and needs customised hardware
> and rewritten firmware.

This might be a stupid question...

...but given some of us have experience with microcontrollers and the 
like, would it not be better to hook some sort of microcontroller to FDC 
and an old SIMM to "pretend" to be a disc drive, and arbitrate between 
the slow Beeb and the fast floppy?

This might be a better solution than "tight code" (eek, so what happens 
if copying a file off Econet?!) and firmware rewrites.


Best wishes,

Rick.

-- 
Rick Murray, eeePC901 & ADSL WiFI'd into it, all ETLAs!
BBC B: DNFS, 2 x 5.25" floppies, EPROM prog, Acorn TTX
E01S FileStore, A3000/A5000/RiscPC/various PCs/blahblah...