08-11-2014, 02:26 PM
Thanks for your answers 
I'm still a little confused with 2) and 3), and how they work compared to traditional FDCs. I'd always assumed that the density detect hole on the disk had complete control over the change in density behaviour within the drive. I'd also suspected the change between 300rpm and 360rpm might be triggered by some kind of media sniffing by a traditional FDC.
Ideally I'd like to image disks completely blind, but in an authentic way compared to a normal FDC. Knowing the maximum head and cylinder values should be enough, with the rest worked out. Previously I'd scan the track at each data rate until I found some valid sectors, leaving the FDC and drive to worry about the density and drive rotation speed. Having manual control of both settings potentially makes it more difficult!
With the SuperCard Pro I'm currently scanning at 300rpm and low density, and performing the same flux-level data rate scanning as above to find content. I can check the index time to determine whether I'm really scanning at the 300rpm, but if the drive supports dual speeds I don't think I can tell which is the natural speed for the media I'm reading, can I?
Is it possible to determine the density hole setting from the disk, for automatic density selection in the drive? I'm not sure I can think of a case when I'd want a different density to that of the media.
I'm still a little confused with 2) and 3), and how they work compared to traditional FDCs. I'd always assumed that the density detect hole on the disk had complete control over the change in density behaviour within the drive. I'd also suspected the change between 300rpm and 360rpm might be triggered by some kind of media sniffing by a traditional FDC.
Ideally I'd like to image disks completely blind, but in an authentic way compared to a normal FDC. Knowing the maximum head and cylinder values should be enough, with the rest worked out. Previously I'd scan the track at each data rate until I found some valid sectors, leaving the FDC and drive to worry about the density and drive rotation speed. Having manual control of both settings potentially makes it more difficult!
With the SuperCard Pro I'm currently scanning at 300rpm and low density, and performing the same flux-level data rate scanning as above to find content. I can check the index time to determine whether I'm really scanning at the 300rpm, but if the drive supports dual speeds I don't think I can tell which is the natural speed for the media I'm reading, can I?
Is it possible to determine the density hole setting from the disk, for automatic density selection in the drive? I'm not sure I can think of a case when I'd want a different density to that of the media.