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From: ali@rocky.STANFORD.EDU (Ali Ozer)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Some thoughts and questions about the Ranger
Message-ID: <158@rocky.STANFORD.EDU>
Date: Fri, 6-Mar-87 14:05:04 EST
Article-I.D.: rocky.158
Posted: Fri Mar  6 14:05:04 1987
Date-Received: Sun, 8-Mar-87 09:58:26 EST
References: <140@tahoma.UUCP>
Reply-To: ali@rocky.UUCP (Ali Ozer)
Organization: Stanford University Computer Science Department
Lines: 24
Keywords: C64

----
Well, Dave Bakken had a lot of thoughts and questions about what might
be incorporated into the Amiga in the future... Here's a question from me...

How generic are 5&1/4" drives like the one to be put in the A2000 for
IBM emulation? I mean, does the drive itself have anything to do with what
format data is on the disk, or is it the disk controller that determines
most parameters? The actual question is, can the 5&1/4" drive destined for
the A2000 read Commodore 64 disks, given a different controller? 

I imagine (with maybe a bit of clever programming) the Amiga could
emulate a C64 in full time (including to the smallest details including
sound, sprites, the different video modes, etc), in software only.
Then all you would need is the disk controller chip to be plugged into 
one of the slots, and how much could that cost?

Any comments? Am I right in assuming that all the hardware one would need
is a disk controller? And am I right in assuming the Amiga can emulate a C64
in software? If it was possible for the A2000 to fully emulate a C64
for less than $50 plus the price of the disk drive, it might make current
C64 owners happy and more willing to spend money on an Amiga (rather
than some other machine).

Ali Ozer, ali@rocky.stanford.edu, decwrl!rocky.stanford.edu!ali