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8-Bit HD Floppy controller

k2x4b524[

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Joined
Jun 13, 2009
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Tacoma, Washington, USA. Zip code 98404
Got one for my XT build

I had forgotten how slow they were when handling HD disks.

Why is this? What kind of trickery do they employ to read the HD floppies?

It appears to access the drive with twice the time as when bolted to a 16-bit controller.
Is the card slowing the drive down to half the rate to be seen by the machine properly?

Just curious.
 
Shouldn't be. All floppy controllers used in PCs are 8 bit. Are you certain that you don't have a conflict somewhere? Mine work fine in 8088 boxes.

There was a drive offered that dropped the spindle speed to 180 RPM so that it could be used with a standard PC XT controller, but it didn't last long.
 
Certain of no conflict, it just seems like access times for HD media through the 8-bit controller are slower than on a more modern machine. Like it takes longer to format the disk than say a dos machine that's a 486+
It initially did have a conflict with my Pluscard 20+ *deceased now, it can't move the heads from the initial start point without help*

180rpm?

Perhaps the controller i have is adding wait states? I am happy it just works, just curious how though.
 
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