On Tue, 20 Nov 2001 13:01:20 -0500 Byron A Jeff <byron@CC.GATECH.EDU>
writes:
>
> ...FLOPPIES SUCK!!!
>
> There, now I've sait it. The list of problems are myriad:
>
> - Too slow
> - Too small

        Do you really need to save 100MB out of a PIC?

> - Prone to media failure

        Never been much of a problem for me.

> - Drives have minimal control electronics
> - Controllers are now hard to find because they are embedded in PC
> chipsets

        Agreed! I've put a National PC84778 on a board, but have not yet written
any code for it (and don't know when I will, but the board's ready!).

> - Standalone controllers have interface and timing complexity
> issues.
> - And of course the one you've already run across: lack of
> information.
>
> Now it's unfair to rant and run, so just in case you're open to
> other
> avenues, let me throw out a couple:
>
> 1) IDE Zip drives. While I admit they do have media failure issues,
> they win
> in every other category. 100 MB, reasonably fast, embedded control
> electronics
> and rock solid standard interface. Drives are priced little more
> than floppies
> at this point. The last time I bought they were $35 US. Media is
> pricy but
> comes out to about the same price/MB as floppy ($7 US for a 100MB
> Zip disk as
> opposed to $15 or so for 100 floppies). Same form factor and about
> the same
> power requirements. And most importantly since it's IDE the PIC->IDE
> code
> that's out there applies.
>

        Again, do you need to save 100MB out of a PIC? I've got PIC stuff where
I've attached 128 KB of nonvolatile static RAM and would like removable
storage for that. Floppy seems ideal, except for writing the code to talk
to the controller! So, even though the price/MB for ZIP may be the same
as for floppy, we just don't need that many MB. The last 3.5 inch FD I
bought was $8. The floppies themselves are something like 15 to 25 cents.

        But, again, the code to drive the darn thing doesn't exist...

> 2) Compact Flash. Other than pricy media, it's nearly perfect. Solid
> state,
> compact (hence the name ;-), IDE interface, and a myriad of
> inexpensive
> PC interface options (parallel, IDE, floppy, USB). No media failure
> issues
> and because many digital camera's and the like use them there's a
> lot of parts
> available.
>

        As you say, pricey!


Harold



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