Addition of Dual Virtual Drive Capability to Floppy Emulator

[diegoparrilla]

Current Functionality

At present, the floppy emulator is designed to support a single virtual floppy drive, automatically designated as Drive A. In cases where a physical floppy drive exists as Drive A, the emulator assigns it as Drive B, thereby relegating the physical drive to a secondary position. This setup does not support the simultaneous emulation of two floppy drives, which limits the functionality in certain use cases.

Limitations of Current Setup

• Inability to emulate two drives simultaneously for systems that require or benefit from dual-drive operations.
• Restriction in scenarios where software demands the presence of both an A and a B drive, rendering such software incompatible with the current emulator setup.
• Users with a physical drive A are forced to work with a single emulated drive, missing out on the full capabilities of dual-drive software.

Proposed Enhancement

We propose an expansion of the emulator's functionality to include the support of two simultaneous virtual floppy drives, designated as Drive A and Drive B. This will allow for a complete virtual replacement of physical floppy drives, where necessary.

Details of the Enhancement:

• Users will be able to select two separate floppy images, one for each of the virtual drives, through the emulator's interface before booting.
• Upon booting, the emulator will present two accessible virtual drives (A and B) to the system, each with its respective loaded image.
• This feature will facilitate the running of legacy software or systems that were originally designed to operate with two floppy drives, enhancing the emulator's versatility.

Anticipated Benefits

• Eliminates the need for a physical floppy drive, offering a fully virtualized dual-drive environment.
• Expands the range of compatible legacy software that can be used with the emulator.
• Provides greater flexibility in managing floppy disk data, particularly for tasks that require frequent swapping between two disks.

Conclusion

By introducing the ability to emulate both Drive A and Drive B simultaneously, we not only enhance the emulator's compatibility with dual-drive dependent software but also provide a more comprehensive and flexible tool for users who require or desire a dual-drive setup for their computing environment.