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MFM drive emulator.

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Mario9501

New Member
Joined
Mar 23, 2017
Messages
9
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Utah US
Hello everyone I was wondering if it is worth it to buy a MFM drive emulator since I have a MFM controller that is not being used and is just sitting in a computer doing nothing at the moment.
 
So if it's a PC, i'd definitely agree with Chuck.

If it's not a PC, then the answer is probably still that it's not worth it. MFM Emulators are between $175-250 and most computers that were MFM/RLL only have CF/SD solutions that are less than that and offer more.
 
As others have said above it depends on what the MFM controller is installed in, and how easy it is to replace. So I have a number of beasts such as VAX 1000 and IBM terminal controllers which need MFM drives and replacing the controller is hard, then an MFM controller is a good, but perhaps expensive solution. I have one of these...

https://www.pdp8.net/mfm/mfm.shtml

... but in many cases replacing the controller with IDE or SCSI controller and then adding a SCSI22SD or IDE to CF card adaptor would be cheaper.....
 
g4ugm said:
As others have said above it depends on what the MFM controller is installed in, and how easy it is to replace. So I have a number of beasts such as VAX 1000 and IBM terminal controllers which need MFM drives and replacing the controller is hard, then an MFM controller is a good, but perhaps expensive solution. I have one of these...

https://www.pdp8.net/mfm/mfm.shtml

... but in many cases replacing the controller with IDE or SCSI controller and then adding a SCSI22SD or IDE to CF card adaptor would be cheaper.....
Click to expand...

Yeah, I looked at both that and the DREM since i'd really like to replace the RLL drive that's in my Megafile 30 for my Atari ST (to maintain originality), but the cost is impractical for that machine. The alternative for the Atari is $130 CF/SD system, which I also haven't been able to justify so in my case I just used a gotek for now. I revisit it every 3-6 months or so to see if anyone has done anything new, like with a Raspberry Pi, but as of yet no-one has. Luckily I have a number of other machines that need my attention with much easier and less expensive solutions.
 
Chuck(G) said:
The problem for me (why I don't do one) is that the market and interest would be miniscule.
Click to expand...

Yeah, definitely. The biggest market would have been the PC market but with easy and cheap Isa alternatives, that market is out. The only market left is machines that only take mfm/rll drives where there is no alternative plug and play solutions.
 
You might get some action from anyone with an Apple Profile. It holds an ST506... the only worry I have is almost everything MFM is looking for a fairly specific geometry unless its PC with settable BIOS, or an XT card with setup ROM on it.
 
Anthony Adverse said:
You might get some action from anyone with an Apple Profile. It holds an ST506... the only worry I have is almost everything MFM is looking for a fairly specific geometry unless its PC with settable BIOS, or an XT card with setup ROM on it.
Click to expand...

That's true, I don't miss the days of entering all the values off the hard drives, including entering the pre-identified Bad Sectors they shipped with (which just seems nuts now). :) I guess you would need documentation that just identified values you could or needed to use.
 
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