The Vector
"dual mode" floppy & hard disk controller had its own RAM, which was accessed
through a control port. This provided high speed loading and unloading of data
to and from the floppy & hard disks. Board control and status, were each
accessed through two 8-bit register data ports. After the board receives the
control signals and data in the correct format, it automatically sequence the
physical reading or writing of the disks.
The board had built in hardware to generated Error Correction Code (ECC) of the
data. Write pre-compensation for disks that needed it was also an option.
It was quite a creative accomplishment at the time putting on one board what
took others two boards to do. Unfortunately the floppy disks had to be hard
sectored.
The schematic for the board can be
obtained
here.
The manual can be found
here.
