Twiggy floppy

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The Twiggy used media similar to the later [[PC-DOS 1.2M format|1.2 MB high-density disk format]] used on PCs, but with the casing holes arranged differently. It used a track pitch of 62.5 TPI, different from the common 48 and 96 TPI used in other formats. The drives were double-sided, and had a capacity of 871,424 bytes per disk. The speed varied from 218 to 320 RPM depending on which track was being read, allowing a near-constant amount of data per inch.
 
The Twiggy used media similar to the later [[PC-DOS 1.2M format|1.2 MB high-density disk format]] used on PCs, but with the casing holes arranged differently. It used a track pitch of 62.5 TPI, different from the common 48 and 96 TPI used in other formats. The drives were double-sided, and had a capacity of 871,424 bytes per disk. The speed varied from 218 to 320 RPM depending on which track was being read, allowing a near-constant amount of data per inch.
  
The disks had 1702 sectors storing 512 data bytes each (with 20 additional tag bytes per sector). Storage used [[GCR]] encoding.
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The disks had 1702 sectors storing 512 data bytes each (with 20 additional tag bytes per sector). Storage used [[GCR encoding]].
  
 
== Links ==
 
== Links ==
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* [http://www.brouhaha.com/~eric/retrocomputing/lisa/twiggy.html Info on Twiggy floppy]
 
* [http://www.brouhaha.com/~eric/retrocomputing/lisa/twiggy.html Info on Twiggy floppy]
 
* [http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Hide_Under_This_Desk.txt Anecdotal story]
 
* [http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Hide_Under_This_Desk.txt Anecdotal story]
* [http://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.1000bit.it/support/manuali/download.asp%3Fid%3D678&sa=U&ei=PKBhUbLXKIL09gSn_YCICw&ved=0CEkQFjAO&usg=AFQjCNFr3t9HH98w_gWgy3s77jo7NGBKQQ Apple patent on Twiggy drive]
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* [http://www.1000bit.it/support/manuali/apple/lisa/LisaPatentTwiggy.pdf Apple patent on Twiggy drive]
 
* [http://www.cultofmac.com/143458/rare-128k-mac-prototype-surfaces-with-5-25-floppy-disk-drive/ Rare prototype Mac with Twiggy drive]
 
* [http://www.cultofmac.com/143458/rare-128k-mac-prototype-surfaces-with-5-25-floppy-disk-drive/ Rare prototype Mac with Twiggy drive]
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* [https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/01/pioneering-apple-lisa-goes-open-source-thanks-to-computer-history-museum/ Lisa OS goes open source]
  
 
[[Category:Apple]]
 
[[Category:Apple]]

Latest revision as of 21:47, 27 January 2023

File Format
Name Twiggy floppy
Ontology
Released 1983


The Twiggy floppy (officially FileWare) was a nonstandard variety of 5.25" floppy disk used on the Apple Lisa computer in the early 1980s. Apple originally had plans for release of drives for this format for the Apple II line and for the (then-upcoming) Macintosh, but ultimately went in the direction of 3.5" disks instead, leaving the Twiggy as an orphan format.

The Twiggy used media similar to the later 1.2 MB high-density disk format used on PCs, but with the casing holes arranged differently. It used a track pitch of 62.5 TPI, different from the common 48 and 96 TPI used in other formats. The drives were double-sided, and had a capacity of 871,424 bytes per disk. The speed varied from 218 to 320 RPM depending on which track was being read, allowing a near-constant amount of data per inch.

The disks had 1702 sectors storing 512 data bytes each (with 20 additional tag bytes per sector). Storage used GCR encoding.

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