Tim Ward ⭐🇪🇺🔶 #FBPE on Nostr: npub1k875t…jpm5j npub17mf38…cmpag I only searched for the word "align" so I may ...
npub1k875tfjw9tgukz46222c8s9lx0t4j6r7jkth9keghtpgujl4kp3qxjpm5j (npub1k87…pm5j) npub17mf38kqnj4g2vkkk0q0mf08gvghvyke4c2h2u83yrke4uq5zvslsrcmpag (npub17mf…mpag) I only searched for the word "align" so I may have missed it if it's called something else in that document ...
... but one problem with some older formats was that the head alignment on the drives wasn't terribly reliable, and sometimes had to be tweaked with the aid of a special alignment disk (I don't recall the details, but I imagine it was something to do with tweaking a screw with a screwdriver whilst watching for a maximum trace on an oscilloscope whilst "reading" the alignment disk).
Jolly good, that gets the drive into a nominal adjustment, in which state it'll read a properly written disk.
But what if the disk you need to read was written by an out-of-alignment drive? Then you have to tweak your drive to a matching out-of-alignment state in order to read the out-of-alignment disk ...
... and the only way we found to do that was to get one particular colleague to apply a magic amount of pressure to the disk head with his finger whilst reading the disk. Nobody else could do it, and he couldn't explain how he came up with the right amount of pressure.
... but one problem with some older formats was that the head alignment on the drives wasn't terribly reliable, and sometimes had to be tweaked with the aid of a special alignment disk (I don't recall the details, but I imagine it was something to do with tweaking a screw with a screwdriver whilst watching for a maximum trace on an oscilloscope whilst "reading" the alignment disk).
Jolly good, that gets the drive into a nominal adjustment, in which state it'll read a properly written disk.
But what if the disk you need to read was written by an out-of-alignment drive? Then you have to tweak your drive to a matching out-of-alignment state in order to read the out-of-alignment disk ...
... and the only way we found to do that was to get one particular colleague to apply a magic amount of pressure to the disk head with his finger whilst reading the disk. Nobody else could do it, and he couldn't explain how he came up with the right amount of pressure.