What exactly is a simdisk? I have a 1996 Cent 1 controller, and it contains a floppy, a "simdisk", a pile of memory chips (RAM?), and a battery which I suppose is intended to keep the RAM from forgetting everything.
I got a few disks with the machine, these have all the parameters. I guess these parameters eventually reside in the RAM.
Cent 1 seems to be a DOS based operating system, but I have no "boot" disk. Was that an oversight, or does this operating system reside on the "simdisk"? Which I'm guessing is nothing but jargon for good old-fashioned ROM?
If this simdisk takes a dump, and if the operating system resides on it, whaddya do? Is there any way to copy the operating system onto ANYTHING else ...... up to and including pulling the ROMs off the board, scanning them, and burning a few backup spares?
Aside from the simdisk, does the Cent 1 controller contain any other freak components (at the chip level) that cannot be simply replaced with over-the-counter parts from an electronics supplier? To me, freak parts are an invitation for modification, ..... they do not belong in tools, weapons, or pacemakers