On 7/20/2021 7:34 PM, Josh Dersch wrote:
On Tue, Jul 20, 2021 at 4:06 PM Jay Jaeger via cctalk
<[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
On 7/20/2021 6:59 AM, Eric Moore wrote:
>
>
> >> 11) ESDI disk emulator
> >
> > I am not aware of any such beasties in the wild. MFM,
yes, but I
> haven't seen ESDI. I would love for such a thing to exist,
> thinking of my Apollo, 3B2 and IBM RT/PC workstations.
>
> I’d also love to have one of these, preferably using SD or CF
> cards. The Webster WQESD/04 card is a fantastic card, it’s only
> downfall is that it works with ESDI drives, rather than SCSI, and
> they’re big and loud. :-)
>
> Zane
>
>
> http://www.datexdsm.com/ESDI.php
<http://www.datexdsm.com/ESDI.php> <http://www.datexdsm.com/ESDI.php
<http://www.datexdsm.com/ESDI.php>> is
> what I was thinking of. There are a couple other commercial
models out
> there on offer, no one seems to have one though in the discord or
> apparently here :)
>
> -Eric
>
>
I fear these, as well as those shown on one or two other websites, are
vapor-ware. The MFM emulators all seem out of stock, the ESDI emulator
(DWX750) "documentation" is not even a page - just a "blurb".
I had a similar experience with a set of emulators made by Arraid -- LCM
inquired about one of their SMD emulators
(https://www.arraid.com/data-storage-products/product/aem-1.html
<https://www.arraid.com/data-storage-products/product/aem-1.html>) and
the response we got was "we can no longer source the parts to
manufacture these, we have a few remaining in stock that we will sell
for $10,000 a piece." We did not purchase one.
I suspect that even if you could find someone to sell you one of these
emulators, they would be extremely expensive. I have never seen one for
sale on the used market. If you find one, consider yourself lucky. If
anyone *DOES* have one of these SMD emulators and wants to find a new
home for it, do drop me a line.
- Josh
JRJ
For SMD, this patent may have been a bit of a stumbling block at one
time, though if it was approved, it would have expired long ago.
https://patents.google.com/patent/WO1990001193A1/en
JRJ
