Amiga 5,25" floppy?

[mongo]

Sadly, I haven't got such a drive, but it made me think - how would a (big-box) Amiga react to a common 5,25" drive being put on its drive chain? Would that be a no-go, and if so, for what reason?

It would work, but would be identified by the Amiga as a 3.5" drive. I don't think the software on Aminet for reading 1541 disks actually checks what kind of drive is attached though, so it should still work.

Also, while it is possible to read 1541 disks, you can only reliably write to the first half of a disk (up to track 18, I think.)

[mongo]

How would it work? The 5 &1/4 PC floppy drive has no onboard floppy controller, it is handled by the CIAs which AFAIK do not support that format.

Floppy reading and writing is controlled by Paula, which does support the GCR format used by the 1541. The only problem with reading 1541 disks on an Amiga is that the 1541 used different bit-rates depending on which track it was writing, which Paula doesn't support. However, if you adjust the speed of the drive down to about 280 rpm, Paula is able to read the entire disk.

BTW: Aren't you the one making VICtim?

Yup.

I might even get around to finishing it someday.