[sebhc] diskette drive

[Lee Hart]

melamy at earthlink.net wrote:
> a point of clarification, the National PC87322 supports 250kbs
> which is single density.

Ok; thanks for the correction. My comment was not about that chip in
particular; I was speaking of the fact that most modern PCs have floppy
controller chips that don't support single density. I just took a quick
look at the PC87322 data sheet and see that it says it is fully
compatible with the 765A and single density.

I was frustrated to discover that of the 6 PCs I have, only one of them
supports single density (using programs like 22disk) -- and that is an
ancient Zenith Z-159 with a real 765A chip. The other, newer machines do
not (Compaq 386 laptop, Compaq 486 laptop, HP Vectra 486DX2 desktop,
Gateway 2000 Pentium, and Dell Pentium III).

> On the issue of being clever, an elegant solution is one that
> meets cost, time to market, or a combination of both.

Well, I would say that there are *many* solutions to every problem. But,
some are better than others. There is a tendency nowday for people to be
in a flaming hurry to do it fast and cheap, and so grab the first
solution that falls to hand. This is not what I would call an "elegant"
solution.

An elegant solution is one that is clearly better than other solutions.
It often goes far beyond just barely meeting the criteria, but exceeds
them by a considerable margin.

> For the record, I am an old fogey to and I certainly do not throw
> chips at a design just to make it work. I will, however, use
> state of the art chips to accomplish what I need to do.

I was not trying to be at all critical, Steve. I'll use the newest and
best tools for the job as well, if that's what produces the best
solution.

But, the H8 is a relic from a bygone age. Using a 100-pin single-sourced
surface-mount chip in a new design doesn't bother me; but it seems out
of place in a 25-year-old H8. Many of the reasons I love the H8 are
*because* it is simple and straightforward, uses generic, easy to get
parts, and can be worked on with very simple tools. So for me, I would
rather have the PC87322 in my desktop PC (so it could read Heath single
density disks). And, have an original Heath disk controller board for my
H8.
-- 
"Never doubt that the work of a small group of thoughtful, committed
citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever
has!" -- Margaret Mead
--
Lee A. Hart  814 8th Ave N  Sartell MN 56377  leeahart_at_earthlink.net

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