On Sun, May 28, 2023 at 2:32 PM Adrian Godwin via cctalk <cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > > Tony, > > An instrument slightly more to your taste than a PC might a 16500b logic > analyser. Perhaps you've already got one. I believe these can work with > both LIF and MSDOS floppies and uses an IDE HDD (which can painlessly be > replaced with CF card) in DOS format internally. I don't know if it will > handle other than 3.5" formats but it's quite possible that the support for > those formats is generic and it might work, given an appropriately mangled > hardware interface.
Well, the hardware might be capable of doing other formats but it might not. Most if not all of the HP HPIB disk units are hardwired to be double density only, as is the HP4951C protocol analyser's internal disk controller and I could well believe a logic analyser would be the same. Standard PC floppy disks and all 3.5" LIF floppy disks are double density after all. In any case to handle other formats you'd have to do battle with the 16500's firmware whch I doubt is documented at that level. And I don't think schematics of the instrument exist anywhere, I believe the HP1630 was the last HP logic analyser to have schematics in the service manual (I do have one of those). If I want to do that much work I might as well make my own system from scratch. One problem with that (and a major plus-point of things like the Greaseweazle) is that traditional floppy disk controller ICs are either discontinued or at best EOL'ed. I don't like designing round parts that might not be available. -tony
