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Re: the floppy equivalent of a “cassette adapter” does exist: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FlashPath https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FlashPath They don’t actual

Re: the floppy equivalent of a “cassette adapter” does exist: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FlashPath https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FlashPath They don’t actually emulate a floppy diskette, though. They have a signaling protocol that works through the floppy mechanism but they won’t just work in a floppy drive with the stock BIOS floppy calls. They need a driver to implement the host side of the protocol.

derefr 4y ago
Sure, yeah. A real "cassette adapter" for floppies would need not just a regular one-head magnetic transducer inside the diskette, but some mechanism to determine which track the read-head is trying to read. Maybe another, much more sensitive magnetic transducer, to determine how far away the read-head is from it. Maybe a strain gauge, if the read-head actually makes contact with the medium. Or maybe just a bunch of metallic pads that close different voltages on an ADC ladder circuit — presuming that doesn't disturb the flux pattern being read out by the head. Though I suppose you don't really need to know where the head is. You could just have an array of very small magnetic transducers, with good magnetic isolation between each one, where each one is looping over a different track; and whatever track the read-head angles onto, it just ends up "plugged into" one of the transducers that was already there waiting for it. Kind of like how a "cassette adapter" for 8-track players would have to work, if one of those was ever made. Bonus thought: try to imagine how a "cassette adapter" for VHS would have to work. Tape with conductive wire run through it in on a matching slanted raster, etc. There's a reason they never made them :)
- grishka 4y ago
  > There's a reason they never made them No, the reason is that there are no situations where you'd want one. If you have a VCR connected to your TV, this means it has a video input, so why not just plug your video thing straight into that input?
  - derefr 4y ago
    There are TV/VCR all-in-ones with no external inputs other than antenna-in. A VHS “coupler” would be the only way to route past the lossy tuner-to-baseband phase of one of these (unless you’re willing to open the TV’s chassis to bodge something in.)
oso2k 4y ago
One of these days...I'll build a Pi Virtual Floppy https://www.smbaker.com/raspberry-pi-virtual-floppy-for-isa-pc-xtat-computers https://www.smbaker.com/raspberry-pi-virtual-floppy-for-isa-...
userbinator 4y ago
For those interested in the details of the protocol, there's some information here (apparently from an attempt to create a Linux driver): https://schou.dk/flashpath/ https://schou.dk/flashpath/

derefr 4y ago

Sure, yeah. A real "cassette adapter" for floppies would need not just a regular one-head magnetic transducer inside the diskette, but some mechanism to determine which track the read-head is trying to read. Maybe another, much more sensitive magnetic transducer, to determine how far away the read-head is from it. Maybe a strain gauge, if the read-head actually makes contact with the medium. Or maybe just a bunch of metallic pads that close different voltages on an ADC ladder circuit — presuming that doesn't disturb the flux pattern being read out by the head. Though I suppose you don't really need to know where the head is. You could just have an array of very small magnetic transducers, with good magnetic isolation between each one, where each one is looping over a different track; and whatever track the read-head angles onto, it just ends up "plugged into" one of the transducers that was already there waiting for it. Kind of like how a "cassette adapter" for 8-track players would have to work, if one of those was ever made. Bonus thought: try to imagine how a "cassette adapter" for VHS would have to work. Tape with conductive wire run through it in on a matching slanted raster, etc. There's a reason they never made them :)

grishka 4y ago
> There's a reason they never made them No, the reason is that there are no situations where you'd want one. If you have a VCR connected to your TV, this means it has a video input, so why not just plug your video thing straight into that input?
- derefr 4y ago
  There are TV/VCR all-in-ones with no external inputs other than antenna-in. A VHS “coupler” would be the only way to route past the lossy tuner-to-baseband phase of one of these (unless you’re willing to open the TV’s chassis to bodge something in.)

oso2k 4y ago

One of these days...I'll build a Pi Virtual Floppy https://www.smbaker.com/raspberry-pi-virtual-floppy-for-isa-pc-xtat-computers https://www.smbaker.com/raspberry-pi-virtual-floppy-for-isa-...

userbinator 4y ago

For those interested in the details of the protocol, there's some information here (apparently from an attempt to create a Linux driver): https://schou.dk/flashpath/ https://schou.dk/flashpath/