Hi,
I am still working on Catweasel NorthStar project and making
good progress.
The program can now make images of SSSD, SSDD, DSDD, and
those troublesome
"mixed density" disks. There are still a few
minor bugs to resolve and
another round of testing to go through. However, I am
planning on soon
releasing the code for an initial round of testing.
Since the CWNS program is only going to appeal to a very
limited audience,
the first rounds of code release and testing will be done on
the
NorthStar_Computers Yahoo Group. If you would like to
participate, please
join us at:
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/NorthStar_Computers/
I believe the CWNS program is finally coming together and I
am considering
the next project. The Heath H89 computer using H-17 disk
controller uses
the same media as the NorthStar (10 sector 5.25" hard
sector floppy disks)
and in some superficial ways are similar to the NorthStar
SSSD disk so this
seems like a logical next choice. I would like to extend
the concept of
CWNS to include Heath hard sector disks (i.e. Catweasel
Heath, CWH)
My theory is the main difference between CWNS and CWH will
be the bit stream
decoding logic. The H-17 disk format is entirely different
than the
NorthStar MDS-A series disks. However, the disk format is
documented here:
http://davidwallace2000.home.comcast
.net/h8/project8080_archive/design_h17.h
tml#format
A major problem with this plan is I do not have an H89 or
any Heath
formatted disks. I am seeking a partner to collaborate on
this project. If
someone would send me some Heath formatted hard sector
disks, I will start
the investigating whether a Catweasel Heath program is
feasible.
Please do not send irreplaceable originals or critical data
disks. I need
working disks you can afford to either lose or be damaged as
a result of
testing the software. Please contact me offline or reply to
this message if
you are willing to help out.
Thanks!
Andrew Lynch
|
