Author: tIn (p508670B1.dip.t-dialin.net)
Date: 02-23-2002 11:11
Hy Facundo,
I would rather connect the for-now-to-build Interface REPLACING the Floppy Disk Drive (and the ACSI connection of the ST could surely be "emulated" by hardware, too).
Just to make that point clear: I'm thinking about a solution NOT involving software on the ST side (at least for the Floppy Disk connector), because many of the Games/Demos out ther simply won't work with replacement "drivers". Even patching the TOS will fail in most cases, because such pieces of software use their own loading routines.
So the idea is the ST not knowing something is "different". The Interface sould behave like a piece of Floppy Disk Drive Hardware or, in the HDD case, as a ACSI HDD.
That's one of the points why SIO2PC/ST is so successfull: it simply works on everything, even complicated and "tricky" loading routines (fast loaders etc.) are reported to work. If we'd use parallel or ACSI this might work for HDD-based Software (which seldomly uses own non-TOS loading routines, so a driver could be used/patched) but, as said above, not for ST Disk Images with own Loaders. Such an interface might be cheaper (less hardware), but if only 50% of the stuff I'd like to run is working, well, it's simply not "the real thing" and I could as well stick to an emulator.
So I'm begging for an Interface with ACSI and Floppy Disk Emulation in Hardware ;-)
O.K., as I'm not too familliar any more with the ACSI pinout (some kind of stripped down SCSI1, AFAIR), I would say for the HDD part Parallel Port maybe the easiest - arising the question how moch Data can the ST transfer through that port at max? Taken that setting up on Byte via parallel takes 32 Clockcycles, we end up at 250k/second. That's a minus. The DMA could transfer more through ACSI I believe? Well, dunno.
I also don't know if Software like HD-Driver, Cecile etc. is supported any more, so those people could include some kind of "parallel support"... I must admit as it happens, I am a programmer, but I'm a bit to rusty on the ST/TOS/GEM side. I could do a simple resident pogramm, but a complete HDD Driver is far off... The PC side, on the other Hand, should be no problem, though.
Maybe you can help bugging people to gather information about all of this...
Enough said,
tIn
P.S.: Another plus for parallel port wold be that it works on Falcon too (which happens to have no ACSI AFAIR)...
P.P.S: Did I mention that i would PAY for such a device, even for it's development? ;-)
|
