Add documentation for PC-98, X68000, etc.

This commit is contained in:
Thomas Daede
2022-01-25 09:53:56 -08:00
parent dbfc0f98c3
commit 82d8c40b5f
2 changed files with 40 additions and 8 deletions

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@@ -103,6 +103,8 @@ people who've had it work).
| [Brother 240kB](doc/disk-brother.md) | 🦄 | 🦄 | |
| [Brother FB-100](doc/disk-fb100.md) | 🦖 | | Tandy Model 100, Husky Hunter, knitting machines |
| [Macintosh 800kB](doc/disk-macintosh.md) | 🦄 | 🦄 | and probably the 400kB too |
| [NEC PC-98](doc/disk-ibm.md) | 🦄 | 🦄 | trimode drive not required |
| [Sharp X68000](doc/disk-ibm.md) | 🦄 | 🦄 | |
| [TRS-80](doc/disk-trs80.md) | 🦖 | 🦖* | a minor variation of the IBM scheme |
{: .datatable }

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@@ -14,6 +14,10 @@ metadata. Systems which use IBM scheme disks include but are not limited to:
- the TRS-80
- late era Commodore machines (the 1571 and so on)
- most CP/M machines
- NEC PC-88 series
- NEC PC-98 series
- Sharp X68000
- Fujitsu FM Towns
- etc
FluxEngine supports reading these. However, some variants are more peculiar
@@ -93,11 +97,12 @@ correct format to use.
Mixed-format disks
------------------
Some disks, usually those belonging to early CP/M machines, have more than one
format on the disk at once. Typically, the first few tracks will be low-density
FM encoded and will be read by the machine's ROM; those tracks contain new
floppy drive handling code capable of coping with MFM data, and so the rest of
the disk will use that, allowing them to store more data.
Some disks, such as those belonging to early CP/M machines, or N88-Basic disks
(for PC-88 and PC-98), have more than one format on the disk at once. Typically,
the first few tracks will be low-density FM encoded and will be read by the
machine's ROM; those tracks contain new floppy drive handling code capable of
coping with MFM data, and so the rest of the disk will use that, allowing them
to store more data.
FluxEngine can read these fine, but it tends to get a bit confused when it sees
tracks with differing numbers of sectors --- if track 0 has 32 sectors but
@@ -105,6 +110,31 @@ track 1 has 16, it will assume that sectors 16..31 are missing on track 1 and
size the image file accordingly. This can be worked around by specifying the
size of each track; see the `eco1` read profile for an example.
Writing can be made to work too, but there is currently no example. Please [get
in touch](https://github.com/davidgiven/fluxengine/issues/new) if you have
specific requirements (nothing's come up yet).
N88-Basic format floppies can be written by either specifying the `n88basic`
format, or by using D88 or NFD format images which include explicit sector
layout information.
Writing other formats can be made to work too, by creating a custom format
specifier, using the `n88basic` format as an example.
Please [get in touch](https://github.com/davidgiven/fluxengine/issues/new) if
you have specific requirements.
360rpm 3.5" disks
-----------------
Japanese PCs (NEC PC-98, Sharp X68000, Fujitsu FM Towns) spin their floppy
drives at 360rpm rather than the more typical 300rpm. This was done in order
to be fully backwards compatible with 5.25" disks, while using the exact
same floppy controller. Later models of the PC-9821, as well as most USB floppy
drives, feature "tri-mode" support which in addition to normal 300rpm modes,
can change their speed to read and write 360rpm DD and HD disks.
Neither the FluxEngine or Greaseweazle hardware can currently command a
tri-mode drive to spin at 360rpm, however an older 360rpm-only drive will work
to read these formats.
Alternately, the FluxEngine software can resale the flux pulses to enable
reading and writing these formats with a plain 300rpm drive. To do this,
specify the following two additional options:
--flux_source.rescale=1.2 --flux_sink.rescale=1.2