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Update the AES Lanier decoder to use the new architecture.

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David Given
2019-04-28 00:47:47 +02:00
parent 00bae9fba7
commit 587f11afdc
4 changed files with 52 additions and 73 deletions
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11
doc/disk-aeslanier.md
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@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ Disk: AES Lanier word processor
Back in 1980 Lanier released a series of very early integrated word processor
appliances, the No Problem. These were actually [rebranded AES Data Superplus
machines](http://vintagecomputers.site90.net/aes/). They wrer gigantic,
machines](http://vintagecomputers.site90.net/aes/). They were gigantic,
weighed 40kg, and one example I've found cost £13,000 in 1981 (the equivalent
of nearly £50,000 in 2018!).
@@ -17,9 +17,10 @@ indicating to the hardware where the sectors start. The encoding scheme
itself is [MMFM (aka
M2FM)](http://www.retrotechnology.com/herbs_stuff/m2fm.html), an early
attempt at double-density disk encoding which rapidly got obsoleted by the
simpler MFM. Even aside from the encoding, the format on disk was strange;
unified sector header/data records, so that the sector header (containing the
sector and track number) is actually inside the user data.
simpler MFM --- and the bytes are stored on disk _backwards_. Even aside from
the encoding, the format on disk was strange; unified sector header/data
records, so that the sector header (containing the sector and track number)
is actually inside the user data.
FluxEngine can read these, but I only have a single, fairly poor example of a
disk image, and I've had to make a lot of guesses as to the sector format
@@ -38,4 +39,4 @@ Just do:
Useful references
-----------------
* [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.
* [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.