Floppy Controller
MIRE contains a custom single/double density, single/double side floppy controller that is a complete reproduction of the Western Digital WD1771 and WD1791 chips used in the original Expansion Interface and double-density adapters. The density-select logic is compatible with both Radio Shack and Percom/Aerocomp style doublers.
Unlike the vintage FDC chips, the MIRE floppy controller has a 256-byte (full sector) read data buffer to simplify driver implementation.
Connect your floppy cable to card edge CONN3 on the right rear of the MIRE. Alternatively the MIRE PCB includes site HDR3 for a 34-pin box header.
Physical floppy drives may be superseded by emulated SD floppy drives as desired. See the section on emulated floppies for details.
If using MIRE with a MISE attached to the expansion port, hold down <SHIFT> during boot in order to boot from floppy (real or virtual) instead of the MISE hard drives.