[Coco] Re: How about a new FDD Controller?

[Torsten Dittel]

> Now processing the buffer on the CoCo would be a challenge. You don't
> get bytes from the Catweasel, you get timed magnetic flux transistions.
> MFM or FM streams must be decoded by hand.

If it would be just for copying: Couldn't you write the same stuff back
without decoding? However, decoding should be easy, one could even avoid
to copy the whole buffer to the CoCo (no space for that) and process the
stream serially. But this would be sloooooooooooooooow. So it's not
really a replace for the normal disk controller, just an additional
hardware. By the way, I once saw a university project using a 68HC11 as
a disc controller (it was writing measured data of a physical experiment
(which was send to the HC11's serial) port to a 3.5" floppy (I guess a
proprietary format). The HC11 did everything: controlling the stepper
motor, selecting heads, doing the MFM coding etc...

Torsten