[Info-vax] OT: For MAC Lovers Only :-)

[John E. Malmberg]

On 10/15/2012 5:58 AM, Johnny Billquist wrote:
> On 2012-10-14 01:46, Steven Schweda wrote:
>>
>>     Hmmm.  Interesting.  I don't think that I ever tried one
>> of those on a non-Mac system before.  (That was a "Microsoft
>> Excel for Apple Macintosh" installation disk.  "Disk Format
>> 800K", "Version 4.0".)
>
> Apple used their own low level format for disks for a while. You can
> totally forget to read such disks on anything else. (Of course anything
> is possible, assuming that you can access the magnetic flux on the
> floppy...)

It may be possible to use the "read track" low level floppy disk 
controller command, which basically just copies all the bits read into a 
memory buffer and then use a program to try to separate the data.

The read track is used to verify the write track, which is what is used 
to format a standard floppy disk.  As it needs to read everything, it 
just reads a bit stream, paying no attention to what the data is.

I am not sure that the VMS I/O drivers give you access to that API.

The catweasle products also allow access to the low level stuff, the 
last time I looked they were all sold out, and of course no drivers are 
available for VMS.

Regards,
-John
wb8tyw at qsl.network
Personal Opinion Only