working with devices other than the DHC MD595

minidisc.org took a snapshot of the "full" list of compatible hardware. This also hints at the idea that PCLK-PX3 is a direct serial equivalent of the PCLK-MNxx models (but unless someone has the hardware and adapts this code to talk to the serial bus, we'll never know).

I finally got a chance to test the PCLK-MN10 with a MiniDisc device, and things look good: a little investigation has shown the MDS-JE470 to be compatible. However this requires my tools to be a little more sophisticated and remember some details of the hardware it's talking to.

Hello

The "on" command works as expected:

>> 00 60 00
 < 04 00 12 b8 f0

And subsequent "on" commands return the same greeting, slightly different from the MD595. My suspicions that the commands have a 'host' and 'subsystem' element to them seem confirmed. This reply comes "from" 0xb_, the MiniDisc device (as opposed to the MD595 where replies come "from" the amplifier subsystem 0xc_).

So it stands to reason that the 'off' command for the MD595 doesn't work here:

>> 04 00 60 c0 2f
# *tumbleweed*

This command never gets a reply -- I presume discarded. So, let's call the MD by name:

# Get disc status (this is a blank disc)
>> 06 00 60 b0 54 00 01
 < 09 00 12 b8 54 00 01 01 0e 3b

# "MiniDisc, turn off"
>> 04 00 60 b0 2f
 < 11 00 12 b8 70 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 13 00 08 02 00
 < 04 00 12 b8 d8

It works ... then it turns off, just as hoped. The 0x70 command is one of the routine status messages we see elsewhere (in MD and CD subsystems).

Work to be done...

Record who answers when we send an 'on' command, and use this address thereafter. In the long run we'll have to store a bunch more state if we're to make use of things such as MD titling functions, etc..