Questions / Suggestions for SD Card Version

[petersieg]

Hi Jeff.

I am thinking of building at least one sd card unit for me.. probably a few more..

1.
The current board layout has GND areas quite close to the vias.. that makes it difficult to solder without soldering stop coating (my prototype supplier doesn't offer that).. would it be possible to supply a board layout without these GND areas or at laest 2mm distance between any vias and/or pad..?

2.
I saw that an external power supply is needed.. Could a floppy power connector be used instead? The floppy connector should have +5V and +12V available.

3. Could you probably think of an interim release of the current status?
Meaning a smaler pcb - probably 2-layer - for professional pcb production?

Thanks for all of your work!

Peter

[Pryanick]

Hi.
I decided to do PCB by myself. And I found some differences between "StandAlone_HXCFLOPPYEMULATOR_PCB.pdf" and "placement_layout_bottom.jpg". It concerns with pin25 and pin38 MCU
placement_layout_bottom.jpg shows us that pin25 and pin38 connected to somewhere, but "StandAlone_HXCFLOPPYEMULATOR_PCB.pdf" shows, that these pins are N/C.
Can I get fresh PCB version?

[Jeff]

Hi.
I decided to do PCB by myself. And I found some differences between "StandAlone_HXCFLOPPYEMULATOR_PCB.pdf" and "placement_layout_bottom.jpg". It concerns with pin25 and pin38 MCU
placement_layout_bottom.jpg shows us that pin25 and pin38 connected to somewhere, but "StandAlone_HXCFLOPPYEMULATOR_PCB.pdf" shows, that these pins are N/C.
Can I get fresh PCB version?

StandAlone_HXCFLOPPYEMULATOR_PCB.pdf is the lastest version of the pcb.

@petersieg:

the actual pcb is not for production. It's for prototyping/testing purpose only. i need to correct some design mistakes and before making a new pcb, i must be sure that all is ok. Additionnaly there still some missing firmware features.
Once all is ok (hardware and software), i will make a production pcb (smaller, 2 layers as you said).
I know that it's long, but this is needed to avoid bad surprise with the production.

[Pryanick]

StandAlone_HXCFLOPPYEMULATOR_PCB.pdf is the lastest version of the pcb.

Everything about PCB is clear. I can draw it manualy
Now schematic...
Which schematic version is the lastest and does fit the lastest firmware version for pic18f4525?
Finaly, I need the lastest schematic version and the lastest firmware version for pic18f4525 for this schematic

[Pryanick]

Jeff, may be You need time to fix all bugs in PCB gesign and firmware?

[Pryanick]

Hi, Jeff.
Today's evening I'm going to test Floppy Emulator (first start).
Should I change PIC18F4620 configuration bits or leave it by default?
TnX
Oh, I saw that when open hex into WinPic configuration bits changed from default to some other values...

[Pryanick]

TnX, Jeff!
I've just finished Floppy Emulator
Everything works fine!
Thank You, Jeff, very much for your experience and knowledge.

[Pryanick]

Hi, Jeff.
Today's evening I'm going to test Floppy Emulator (first start).
Should I change PIC18F4620 configuration bits or leave it by default?
TnX
Oh, I saw that when open hex into WinPic configuration bits changed from default to some other values...

Jeff, does this file support 256 bit write? I found that ZX Spectrum can format hfe-image only at half volume. I mean not 720kb but 360kb
And when I'm trying to write on SD-card image - I've got errors when reading saved data.

[Jeff]

note : Formatting is not really supported. This might work only if the image file uses the same track format (same sectors size and same number of sector per track). otherwise this will fail.

[Pryanick]

Thanks Jeff...

[Jeff]

Thanks Jeff...

is it working as espected with your spectrum ? (256bytes-sector read/write test successfull with a pc here)

[Pryanick]

*.SCL & *.TRD images reading goes perfect.
With 256byte write something wrong. After saving into image Spectrum says - OK. But when trying to read saved data Spectrum says Error Tr.:0, Sec.:0, sometimes I get Error Tr.:0, Sec.:3 or Error Tr.:0, Sec.:9.
And one more thing: there are a huge number of *.SCL & *.TRD games images, when image-file cotain only one separate game (not entire TR-DOS 720k disk). After installing such image-file Spectrum can't see it. Running Quick Commander from the shadow ROM solves this problem.

[Pryanick]

By the way, Beta Disk Interface doesn't use Floppy Connector pin2 (/DCD)...

[Jeff]

*.SCL & *.TRD images reading goes perfect.
With 256byte write something wrong. After saving into image Spectrum says - OK. But when trying to read saved data Spectrum says Error Tr.:0, Sec.:0, sometimes I get Error Tr.:0, Sec.:3 or Error Tr.:0, Sec.:9.

sound strange. Can you test the write support of your board with an another computer (a PC for example) ?
you can use this msdos floppy for the test:
https://hxc2001.com/floppy_drive_emulator/msdos.hfe

And one more thing: there are a huge number of *.SCL & *.TRD games images, when image-file cotain only one separate game (not entire TR-DOS 720k disk). After installing such image-file Spectrum can't see it. Running Quick Commander from the shadow ROM solves this problem.

can you send me some of these images please?

[Pryanick]

I tried emulator with PC. I checked all possible floppy bios combination but PC didn't see emulator. When W2K starts I get error message: Device not ready. Now I'm checking my PCB...