12-29-2013, 09:09 PM
I'm not sure that IPF is limited in that regard, previously noted functional omissions aside. IPF is just another way of describing what flux is contained on a track of a disk. It does it (as LordCrass pointed out so vividly) by providing a set of instructions on how to generate the flux transitions on a track, vs. scp or KF streams which are more of a super-high-resolution scan. Both, properly executed, will get you to an identical copy of the flux transitions on a destination disk. But, you make an interesting point otherwise.
Essentially, what is needed is a disk format to describe what a disk holds, at the lowest level possible, which, agreed, is the flux level. But, that's not useful in and of itself. Those flux transitions mean nothing to hardware (or emulated hardware) without something to transform them from those flux transitions to meaningful data. And, that is going to be unique for each controller (yes, you may get lucky with some widely used common controller chips). But with the Amiga and 15*1 drives which use very unique controllers, the best way to get traction with emulator authors is to provide the hardware emulation layer in an easily-consumable abstraction layer. Your thread on eab.abime.net with Toni is a perfect example. And, that's not going to be an easy task, based on what I saw with the recent 1541 changes to VICE. And, I think that having .scp (or any other 1541 format) not be supported by VICE would be a huge mistake and impediment to its long-term.
Jim, I recognize and appreciate that you see the KryoFlux team as the competition, and I'll bet they see you in the same light. But (and this is to both groups) having product differentiation based just on unique file formats just seems like it will be, long-term, detrimental to the retro-computing community at large. I'd rather see competition based on the hardware and the imaging/analysis/verification software; not on a file format.
@LordCrass: thanks for the link; not sure how I missed that when searching!
Thanks,
Robert
Essentially, what is needed is a disk format to describe what a disk holds, at the lowest level possible, which, agreed, is the flux level. But, that's not useful in and of itself. Those flux transitions mean nothing to hardware (or emulated hardware) without something to transform them from those flux transitions to meaningful data. And, that is going to be unique for each controller (yes, you may get lucky with some widely used common controller chips). But with the Amiga and 15*1 drives which use very unique controllers, the best way to get traction with emulator authors is to provide the hardware emulation layer in an easily-consumable abstraction layer. Your thread on eab.abime.net with Toni is a perfect example. And, that's not going to be an easy task, based on what I saw with the recent 1541 changes to VICE. And, I think that having .scp (or any other 1541 format) not be supported by VICE would be a huge mistake and impediment to its long-term.
Jim, I recognize and appreciate that you see the KryoFlux team as the competition, and I'll bet they see you in the same light. But (and this is to both groups) having product differentiation based just on unique file formats just seems like it will be, long-term, detrimental to the retro-computing community at large. I'd rather see competition based on the hardware and the imaging/analysis/verification software; not on a file format.
@LordCrass: thanks for the link; not sure how I missed that when searching!
Thanks,
Robert