Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84 exptools; site ihwpt.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ihnp4!ihwpt!knudsen
From: knudsen@ihwpt.UUCP (mike knudsen)
Newsgroups: net.micro,net.arch,net.micro.6809
Subject: Re: Architecture, or Coincidence?
Message-ID: <500@ihwpt.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 7-Oct-85 13:50:34 EDT
Article-I.D.: ihwpt.500
Posted: Mon Oct  7 13:50:34 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 8-Oct-85 04:04:19 EDT
References: <482@ihwpt.UUCP> <> <792@nmtvax.UUCP>
Distribution: net
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Lines: 34
Xref: watmath net.micro:12265 net.arch:1867 net.micro.6809:544

> In article <> doug@terak.UUCP (Doug Pardee) writes:
> >
> >time) Western Digital floppy disk controller chips.  These FDC's were
> >easy to connect to the 8080, but relatively difficult to connect to the
> >6502.  The bigger bucks bought much faster data transfer rates.  And
> >those transfer rates made it possible to write "real" operating systems
> >like CP/M and TRSDOS, and to develop applications which used significant
> >amounts of disk data.
> 
> I have spent more time waiting for a Rainbow, TRS-80, and a Motorola
> VME-10 than I have my Apple.  Don't think that I am protecting an 
> obsolete machine just because I own one.  Note that the "slow" apple
> drives are still used in comparison for many systems.  Considering that
> the processor has to do all the disk handling, its speed is fairly impressive
> compared to systems with floppy controllers.
> 
> I still think Atari's smart peripherals were a mistake.  "My 'smart' drive
> makes my computer go "bede-bede" whenever it does anything."  Sounds 
> pretty stupid to me...

I'll agree with Doug on this -- my CoCo drives are quite fast,
even tho the 6809 (a descendant of the 6800 AND 6502, whether or
not Motorola admits it) has to handle all the bytes.
And yes, those "smart" disks on the Atari and Commodore are slow
enuf to keep any "real" DOS off those machines, due to slow
load times for programs not in RAM.  I believe the C-64 disk
is slower than CoCo's CASSETTE!

However, I think the point of the 8080 article was that LSI
floppy controller chips were avaiable EARLIER for the 8080/Z80
than were the excellent chips that we now enjoy on
the 6502/6809 machines, and this led to the biz/text -vs- color grafix
dichotomy.
		mike k