DRAFT REMarks for review (punching your own hard-sectored disks)

[glenn.f...@gmail.com]

FYI current draft of next REMarks. Comments welcome!

 

• Glenn
•  

[Joseph Travis]

Hi Glenn,

The following are some comments that I have regarding REMarks, Issue 8:

Although the cassette tape operation was slow and tedious,  I would argue it was quite reliable and not potentially error prone as described.

A third option would be to use a Hard Sector Floppy Emulator (HSFE) or Virtual Sector Generator (VSG) board inline with the floppy drive.

Under the heading: The H17 Floppy Disk System -  "...Perkin-Elmer and final Siemans..." should read as"...Perkin-Elmer and finally Siemans...".  BTW - I don't ever recall Heathkit using / selling Perkin-Elmer drives.

I now see the HSFE and VSG mentioned under the heading: The Emulation Approach.  It may or may not be worth mentioning that although they do the same thing, the disks written by one isn't compatible with the other (at least in my experience).

A very well written article none-the-less.  Thank you!

BR,

Joe

On Fri, Aug 21, 2026 at 9:41 PM <glenn.f...@gmail.com> wrote:

FYI current draft of next REMarks. Comments welcome!

 

• Glenn
•  

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[glenn.f...@gmail.com]

Thanks joe!  I do have one Perkin-Elmer branded FDD100-5 in my inventory and I believe it came from a Heath system (dunno where else I would have gotten it). I also have a Perkin-Elmer manual for it. It must have been a very short window during which they ran things?

 

I defer to your experience with tape I/O as I have only emulated that digitally (still don’t have a working tape player to experiment with) - will remove “error prone” 😊

 

I just need to decide where to host the .STL files and update the writeup with that info.

 

Tx.

 

• Glenn

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[Mike Cassidy]

Glenn,Glenn,

Your article is coming along nicely.  Great writing as always.   If I get time today, I’m going to take a stab at trying to do one.

I think it would be helpful to add a sentence or two about sourcing appropriate diskettes especially for newbies like me. You mentioned that soft-sectored floppy disks are available -  typically labeled double-sided double-density.  Good looking new old stock does seem in ample supply.  But there’s variations in the nomenclature that is used. Some are listed as double sided double density. Some are listed as double sided high density. Some are listed as preformatted for IBM. If you could add some specifics on what to look for I think it would be helpful. 

Look forward to the write up on printing.  

Mike

Regards,

Mike Cassidy

On Fri, Aug 21, 2026 at 9:41 PM <glenn.f...@gmail.com> wrote:

FYI current draft of next REMarks. Comments welcome!

 

• Glenn

•  

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[thego...@gmail.com]

Hi Glenn,

 

Great article on punching disks.  The only question I have is regarding the “chads” once punched.  Should they for the most part be on the backing plate when you take to 2 halves apart?  It seems like you said they might end up in the floppy disk sleeve or in the end of the punch.

 

The rest is very clear.

 

And I wasn’t aware that by just using the soft sectored controller, you increase the capacity of the floppy using the same floppy drive.  Did I get that right?

 

Thanks,

 

Fred

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[Joseph Corda]

Glenn..

Nice Job..   I'm looking forward to your next installment concerning printing your own 3D-printable guide mechanism (ie. jig).

Joe

On Fri, Aug 21, 2026 at 9:41 PM <glenn.f...@gmail.com> wrote:

FYI current draft of next REMarks. Comments welcome!

 

• Glenn
•  

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