Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site fortune.UUCP
Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!harpo!eagle!mhuxl!houxm!ihnp4!fortune!burton
From: burton@fortune.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.micro
Subject: Re: disk flipping
Message-ID: <1815@fortune.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 21-Nov-83 15:50:37 EST
Article-I.D.: fortune.1815
Posted: Mon Nov 21 15:50:37 1983
Date-Received: Wed, 23-Nov-83 04:29:20 EST
References: <384@burl.UUCP>
Organization: Fortune Systems, Redwood City, CA
Lines: 20

You haven't indicated what system you are running on.  I may be wrong, but
most systems also need to see "index," which is a signal generated when the
disk rotates and a small hole appears in the disk in the hole punchout near
the center opening of the disk.  Without index, a controller has no way of
knowing where the beginning of the track is on the disk.

I believe that Apple doesn't require index, due to their controller design, 
but all other systems do.

There is no reason why you couldn't make a "flippy" from a double-sided disk, but why?

In general, flippy disks are a bad idea, except for archival storage.  As a
disk spins, it collects dirt and dust in the lint-free liner, which is the
white material on the inside of the diskette jacket.  If you reverse the spin
direction, you can free up some of that dirt, which can and will reach the
drive's read/write head, with unhappy results.
                                -Phil Burton,
                                 Fortune Systems