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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxl!ihnp4!ihnss!knudsen
From: knudsen@ihnss.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.micro,net.micro.6809
Subject: 80-track drives for free?
Message-ID: <1958@ihnss.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 14-Mar-84 18:02:50 EST
Article-I.D.: ihnss.1958
Posted: Wed Mar 14 18:02:50 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 15-Mar-84 02:09:14 EST
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, IL
Lines: 10

I heard at a Coco club meeting that the stepper motors in RS disk
drives (and presumably all others) are actually geared twice as fine
as required for 35/40 tracks.  That is, they are pulsed TWICE to go
to the next track.  So, some copy-protection schemes use "half-tracking"
where they write between the regular tracks.  (Ever notice the funny
sound that Sands of Egypt makes when it boots up?  SOunds like double-
speed stepping, all right).
	Now, does anyone know how to make the Coco step half of a normal
track (one step) at a time?  Could this be trusted as an 80-track device?
(probably not, as tracks may be too wide on the medium).  --mike k