On Mon, May 22, 2023 at 5:25 PM j...@cimmeri.com <j...@cimmeri.com> wrote: > > On 5/22/2023 5:38 AM, Tony Duell via cctalk wrote: > >>> I hereby formally retract my erroneous suggestion of a "386 98,SP2 desktop > >>> with floppies and USB", and replace my suggestion with: > >>> "a PC with USB and floppies", and let Tony decide what vintage to use. > >> Fully concur. If it were me, I'd probably suggest some box with from > >> the end of the era which came with an onboard floppy controller, and > >> dual-boot 98SE and some old Linux that can handle such a thing, like > >> Slackware or Debian. That would cover the most bases. > > I am sorry, but I think this is a stupid suggestion for many reasons. > > > It is, however, a viable suggestion, and that is better than none :)
I do seriously wonder why nobody has been suggesting the flux-transition type of device. If it can be got to work then it would seem the ideal solution in that it can handle anything the disk drive [1] can handle, including non FM/MFM formats. Is it that such devices don't work, or what? The Greaseweazle has schematics, firmware source and application source all available (OK I don't know python but would be happy to spend time learning that if need be) and thus would seem to be easier to keep going than some unknown PC. [1] Actually, do any such devices handle hard-sector disks? There seems to be no technical reason why not, but I've never seen it listed as a capability. But as just about all my machines use soft-sectored disks this is not really an issue. [...] > I wouldn't worry about the built in disk controller. You can add the > functionality you need with an Adaptec SCSI controller w/ floppy. Which AFAIK is no longer made and not necessarily available. > > Why do you need a monitor and keyboard? And since you don't drive, > again, have you heard of eBay? Well,, I need a monitor so I can see I've typed the command correctly, use a GUI (if that's what the OS uses) and see error messages. I need a keyboard to type the commands, and indeed to satisfy the POST of most such machines. I do not have such things around. Very few of my computers are PCs. -tony
