Re: IDE

From: Frank Kontros (frank_at_kontr.uzhgorod.ua)
Date: 1998-12-21 21:51:20

Ooops Steve,

Levente> - We're so stupid, but we expect the HDD a lot of 1541 compatible
Levente> features.
Levente>
Levente> - No surprise, the 1541's own filesystem is too small, simply unable to
Levente> use as main filesystem for a HDD. The useability of the HDD and it's
Levente> filesystem is much more serious than the need to be compatible with the
Levente> 1541.
>
Steve>I'm still a bit unclear on the purpose of this scheme.  While I certainly
Steve>appreciate the technical merits, my question relates to the practical uses
Steve>of the scheme.  So, let's say that after a long development time it works
Steve>100% perfectly:
>
Steve>1) Who is going to use it?
Steve>2) What are they going to use it for?

That was an interesting question ...

Levente> - The solution is, to use regular disk images. How, and why to do this?
>
Steve>What kind of software are we talking about here?  Games are all I can think
Steve>of that need a disk image.
>
Steve>1) What advantage is gained over just using a floppy?

Dunno. Same speed. Same capacity (inside images). Compatibility under question. Worth?
Except you hear not a floppy noise but a HDD rotating sweep :-)
What about an alternative? Backup quickly disk image from HDD into floppy (GCR too) at
10-25 secs and use real 1541 for play it. Only one or two floppy disk needed for all prgs.

Steve>2) What percentage of non-emulator users are dedicated gamers?

Also an interesting question.

Steve>For what it's worth, CMD devices rather let you format different partitions
Steve>in different ways (1541, 1581, native mode, etc.).  So it's similar to what
Steve>you describe, but uses "CP" instead of "CD" (and of course uses a physical
Steve>partition instead of a disk image).

CMD devs little overpriced I think for this purpose. I cannot live with the
following things:

buy CMD 40 Megabyte HDD for 		$269
buy CMD 1750 512K REU for                $99
buy CMD FD-2000 (800K and 1.6 MB) for   $179
JiffyDOS C64/SX-64 System                $39
JiffyDOS CMD HDD 			 $19
JiffyDOS CMD FDD 			 $19
--------------------------------------------
All for					$624

Just imagine you expanded only C64 with today minimum memory, floppy and hdd. Another
calculation:

buy used PC, maybe a 286/386 or 486sx with 2-4 meg RAM, 1.44 floppy and 200 meg HDD for $150
(or less?). Oh I forgot, you hopefully get a monitor in this price. All hardware in that PC
are much better comparable with the CMD configuration (okey they're used, but for $624 I
suppose something better also possible :-) What the user need connect that PC with C64 and
use the PC's resources. Some programming challenge and little hardware. What else are
necessary for today's C= user? And most of us already have PC around C64.

Levente> - When speaking of disk images, one thinks 1541 is good but there are a
Levente> lot of other floppy drives too, all with the appropriate image formats.
Levente> What about these?
>
Steve>Hmmm, which drives are you referring to?

I think partition types accepted by CMD (1541, 1571, 1581) are really enough.

Steve>the 64 which are effectively useless, or at least not used.  This in general
Steve>happens because they are either too difficult to use, too specialized,
Steve>or address problems which simply aren't of much concern on the 64.

And that's the main problem with all complicated things.

Steve>I find that while there's great personal satisfaction in writing a program,
Steve>it's an awful lot nicer if the program actually gets used by others

Great words.

Merry XMAS for all C= hackers,
Frank


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