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Update AES Lanier documentation.
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@@ -1,4 +1,39 @@
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AES Lanier word processor disks
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===============================
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Back in 1980 Lanier released a series of very early integrated word processor
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appliances, the No Problem. These were actually [rebranded AES Data Superplus
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machines](http://vintagecomputers.site90.net/aes/). They wrer gigantic,
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weighed 40kg, and one example I've found cost £13,000 in 1981 (the equivalent
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of nearly £50,000 in 2018!).
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8080 machines with 32kB of RAM, they ran their own proprietary word
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processing software off twin 5.25" drive units, but apparently other software
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was available.
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The disk format is exceptionally weird. They used hard sectored disks, where
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there were multiple index holes, one for each sector. The encoding scheme
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itself is [MMFM (aka
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M2FM)](http://www.retrotechnology.com/herbs_stuff/m2fm.html), an early
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attempt at double-density disk encoding which rapidly got obsoleted by the
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simpler MFM. Even aside from the encoding, the format on disk was strange;
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unified sector header/data records, and 253 (or maybe 252) byte sectors.
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FluxEngine can read these, but I only have a single, fairly poor example of a
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disk image, and I've had to make a lot of guesses as to the sector format
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based on what looks right. If anyone knows _anything_ about these disks,
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[please get in touch](https://github.com/davidgiven/fluxengine/issues/new).
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Reading discs
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-------------
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Just do:
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```
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.obj/fe-readaeslanier
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```
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Useful references
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-----------------
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* [SA800 Diskette Storage Drive - Theory Of Operations](http://www.hartetechnologies.com/manuals/Shugart/50664-1_SA800_TheorOp_May78.pdf)
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* [SA800 Diskette Storage Drive - Theory Of Operations](http://www.hartetechnologies.com/manuals/Shugart/50664-1_SA800_TheorOp_May78.pdf): talks about MMFM a lot, but the Lanier machines didn't use this disk format.
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@@ -84,6 +84,7 @@ Here's the table.
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| IBM PC compatible | 🦄 | | and compatibles (like the Atari ST) |
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| [Acorn ADFS](acornadfs.html) | 🦖 | | single- and double- sided |
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| [Acorn DFS](acorndfs.html) | 🦄 | | |
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| [AES Superplus / No Problem](aeslanier.html) | 🦖 | | hard sectors! and _very_ experimental |
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| [Ampro Little Board](ampro.html) | 🦖 | | |
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| [Apple II DOS 3.3](apple2.html) | 🦖 | | doesn't do logical sector remapping |
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| [Amiga](amiga.html) | 🦄 | | |
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