08-03-2019, 10:03 AM
The problem is that with the settings described above, the Supercard Pro fails to double step, as one would expect.
Any dump using those settings only contains the first 20 actual tracks from each side, with every other track empty or gibberish.
While selecting "1.44", or some other 80 cylinder format will capture all 40 tracks on each side, that will also capture the drives physical odd numbered tracks that usually contain gibberish. It is important to be able to omit these tracks, since some decoder tools will crap themselves when decoding, or insert extraneous garbage in to an image file.
It is therefore very important that people be allowed to double step or otherwise omit the physical odd cylinders.
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wylda, as to the matter of writing 360k disks dumped with a 1.2mb (360rpm) drive using a 360k (300rpm) drive or vice versa, no the SuperCard Pro will not do that. The SuperCard pro will not adjust the bitrates to match the drives RPMs.
Attempting to write any track read on a 360rpm drive (1.2mb) using a 300rpm drive (360k or quad density) will cause it to write the track faster than it should and it will be "squished" and usually unreadable. The other way around, and the track will be to long, overwriting part of itself.
The Kryoflux, however, has a feature that converts the bitrates written between 300RPM and 360RPM drives. So with that tool it IS possible.
With the SuperCard Pro software as it is, if you want to make a preservation dump that others can write using a 360k drive then the only good solution is to dump it with a genuine 360k drive.
Any dump using those settings only contains the first 20 actual tracks from each side, with every other track empty or gibberish.
While selecting "1.44", or some other 80 cylinder format will capture all 40 tracks on each side, that will also capture the drives physical odd numbered tracks that usually contain gibberish. It is important to be able to omit these tracks, since some decoder tools will crap themselves when decoding, or insert extraneous garbage in to an image file.
It is therefore very important that people be allowed to double step or otherwise omit the physical odd cylinders.
---
wylda, as to the matter of writing 360k disks dumped with a 1.2mb (360rpm) drive using a 360k (300rpm) drive or vice versa, no the SuperCard Pro will not do that. The SuperCard pro will not adjust the bitrates to match the drives RPMs.
Attempting to write any track read on a 360rpm drive (1.2mb) using a 300rpm drive (360k or quad density) will cause it to write the track faster than it should and it will be "squished" and usually unreadable. The other way around, and the track will be to long, overwriting part of itself.
The Kryoflux, however, has a feature that converts the bitrates written between 300RPM and 360RPM drives. So with that tool it IS possible.
With the SuperCard Pro software as it is, if you want to make a preservation dump that others can write using a 360k drive then the only good solution is to dump it with a genuine 360k drive.