[Coco] Status update and your input on the Floppy Disk Controller emulator for the CoCo

[Steve Bjork]

The FDC emulator will be using the FAT32 since it is using SDHC cards in 
place of the harder to find SD cards.  The SDHC can address up 32 GB of 
storage and used FAT32 in place of FAT16.  (SDHC uses sector addressing 
in place of SD's byte addressing.)

At first, I was going to use the .dsk format but it's not suited for 
this type of device.  (The format was design to run on an Intel PC with 
lots of memory compared to a micro-controller)  Also, there are a few 
bits of information missing to make the format play well with all CoCo 
software.  Besides, the PC tool let you reformat (rearrange the sectors) 
the disk for faster access and build custom floppy disks that are the 
size of a small hard drive.  Each disk will be its own folder with files 
for notes, configuration, wear factor, disk/track format and the real data.

The .DSK format will be supported with a conversion option in the PC 
tool.  This tool is need for setting up the 8 selectable boot up 
configurations for the FDC emulator anyway.  While the first version 
will be done for Windows 7,  it will be easy to recode for other OS.  As 
for backing up the SDHC, any image copying program will back it up nicely.

Please don't look for this anytime soon since this a hobby project with 
limited time and resources.  I have no plans build and market the 
project. Once the project has reaches the beta stage,  I will find a 
someone in the CoCo hardware community to take over the project and let 
them market it.  My asking price for the design and software will be 
$1.00 and the first unit off the production line.

On 6/1/2011 3:05 PM, Frank Pittel wrote:
> Steve,
>
> When you first mentioned the concept I misunderstood what you were doing
> and thought that it would be just a floppy controller and I wasn't interested
> since I already have a bunch of them. :-) What you discribe here is very different
> then what I first thought. I also like the idea of keeping it simple. Get
> something out the door now and add features later as they make sense!! I would
> suggest that you stick with the fat filesystem of the cards and use the .dsk
> format. That way us linux users can backup the cards and existing tools would be
> able use the "disks" directly without the need for additional tools.
>
> I hope that you get something out soon and look forward to getting one!!
>
> The Other Frank