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gizmomelb
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Location: Melbourne, Australia

Post by gizmomelb »

H Jeff,

thanks for the info.. certainly more for me to think about as I'm trying to understand the PIC code.

I was wondering if you'd please consider looking at the BBC and Electron SSD and DSD disk formats, as the BBC has a FDC very similar to the Amstrad CPC - so possibly the emulator (both FPGA and SD standalone) may already work - the HxC Floppy Emulator Software might just need a small update to understand and handle decoding the format?

I'm so excited about this project :)
Jeff
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Post by Jeff »

gizmomelb wrote:H Jeff,

thanks for the info.. certainly more for me to think about as I'm trying to understand the PIC code.

I was wondering if you'd please consider looking at the BBC and Electron SSD and DSD disk formats, as the BBC has a FDC very similar to the Amstrad CPC - so possibly the emulator (both FPGA and SD standalone) may already work - the HxC Floppy Emulator Software might just need a small update to understand and handle decoding the format?

I'm so excited about this project :)
Exactly, Theoretically i only need to add some new plugins to support these computers.. :D
SnakeMGL
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Post by SnakeMGL »

Hi Jeff!
Thank you very much for this project! Especially for standalone version with SDCARD!
And I have severall questions :)
About standalone scheme
if I make this this Emulator and then connect it instead a usuall Floppy to PC. PC will recognize it like a usuall Floppy 3,5? Can this Emulator totally emulate Floppy (of course jet without opportunity to write to SDCARD)?
And can I read from SDCARD any PC files (*.txt for example)? not only image files (*.ST,*.MSA,*.ADF,...)?
Jeff
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Post by Jeff »

SnakeMGL wrote: if I make this this Emulator and then connect it instead a usuall Floppy to PC. PC will recognize it like a usuall Floppy 3,5? Can this Emulator totally emulate Floppy (of course jet without opportunity to write to SDCARD)?
Yes it should, but i never tested it on an PC, and i will have to improve some part of the code to emulate HD floppy disk (500Kbits/s).
SnakeMGL wrote:
And can I read from SDCARD any PC files (*.txt for example)? not only image files (*.ST,*.MSA,*.ADF,...)?
The emulator use only image files, but you can easily create an floppy image from an folder with the control software.
Jeff
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Post by Jeff »

Jeff wrote: Yes it should, but i never tested it on an PC, and i will have to improve some part of the code to emulate HD floppy disk (500Kbits/s).
okay i have just tested the sdcard emulator on an PC and this seems to work well even at 500kbits/s (HD / 1.44MB). :)
gizmomelb
Posts: 26
Joined: Mon Oct 30, 2006 2:33 pm
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Post by gizmomelb »

Hi Jeff,

just curious, did IBM PC HD support require any code or circuit changes?

Amiga HD support might require a code change, the Amiga slows down access on it's HD disks to 250KB/s.

I'm looking forward to when we finish moving house, so I can set up my workbench and start constructing a SD floppy emulator. I've bought an Atari ST, ZX Spectrum+3 and Amstrad CPC 6128 to test the drive on.
Jeff
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Post by Jeff »

hi,
gizmomelb wrote:Hi Jeff,
just curious, did IBM PC HD support require any code or circuit changes?
no circuit change, but a little code change to correctly handle the Density select signal.
gizmomelb wrote: Amiga HD support might require a code change, the Amiga slows down access on it's HD disks to 250KB/s.
it's not a problem, the pic can already load 150rpm / 250kb/s tracks.

but i think there will be a problem with the "ID drive" feature of this kind of amiga floppy drive. :
more informations here:
http://www.amiga.org/modules/newbb/view ... 87&forum=8
gizmomelb wrote: I'm looking forward to when we finish moving house, so I can set up my workbench and start constructing a SD floppy emulator. I've bought an Atari ST, ZX Spectrum+3 and Amstrad CPC 6128 to test the drive on.
Good ! :)

(ZX Spectrum+3 are not yet supported)
gizmomelb
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Location: Melbourne, Australia

Post by gizmomelb »

Jeff wrote:hi,
(ZX Spectrum+3 are not yet supported)
I know, I'm crossing my fingers you may have a look at the Spectrum .DSK and .EDSK (same as the Amstrad I think) format and hopefully write a plugin for them! :lol:

heeh maybe I need to buy a BBC model B so I can also test the floppy emulator with that (and FM decoding I think).

cheers!
Gizmomelb
zozo10
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 12:13 pm

hi jeff

Post by zozo10 »

I'm new in this project, but i want to design a project to simulate the floppy drive with ftdi usb and want u PLZ to help me
I'm using now Rabbit and dynamic if can help me plz send me anything can help me
my mail is zozo_dot_h@yahoo.com
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