Changes
/* Mass-storage, RTC and network dilemma */
Multiple mass-storage, RTC and network solutions already exist for the Amstrad CPC. We can put them in 3 categories:
*Historical: The [[Vortex Winchester Drive]] and the [[Dobbertin Harddisc|Dobbertin HD20]] with [[Dobbertin Smart Watch]] were sold during the commercial lifetime of the CPC. But these solutions are clumsy today with their very small capacity and their non-standard hard-drives and interface.
*Historically-plausible: The [[Symbiface II]] IDE/PATA mass-storage or [[X-Mass]] with [[Nova]] NVRAM/RTC are using the IDE/PATA interface created in 1986. But it's fake as However, the IDE interface was introduced on the CPC way after its commercial lifetime, the Symbiface II being released in 2006. The whole IDE/PATA sector access and FAT filesystem dance the CPC has to perform here is just unnecessary not necessary with more modern solutions. AlsoOn the positive side, this isolation of the filesystem guarantees that the CPC software and the emulator cannot do wrong on the host filesystem, as the operations are limited to the virtual hard-drive file. Alas, these devices don't offer any network support.*Modern: [[Albireo]], [[ULIfAC]], [[Symbiface 3]] and [[M4 Board]] as they give the CPC a direct file view of the mass-storage instead of a sectors view. So the FAT filesystem does not need to be handled on the CPC itself. It's overall a simplerAlso, more convenient, more future-proof approach. The the Symbiface 3 and the M4 Board provide a NetAPI to access the Internet unlike the Albireo and the ULIfAC. But the Symbiface 3 is going overboard with its embedded MP3 player.
Emulator support is as follows:
