HxC Floppy Emulator on a SORD Future32 Scanning electron microscope controller

The 8" Floppy disk drive of this SORD Future32 Scanning electron microscope controller was successfully replaced by an HxC Floppy Emulator.

- Original floppy disk drive was analyzed and backuped by the HxC Floppy Emulator software.

User feedback :

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The 8" external drive is a Y-E Data YD-180 1600 (DSDD), and has a typical 50-pin .1" header, but it has a unique pinout.
I built my own adapter on perfboard with 50-pin and 34-pin headers.
The other end of the 50-conductor cable has a much smaller connector with .05" pin spacing.
Also, the numbering scheme is different; pin 1 at the drive connects to pin 26 at the CPU connector.

The Future32 has a 68020 (16MHz) and 2-6MB RAM. It has graphics and a 16-color display. The OS is CP/M-68K with extensions and enhancements.
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Although you can see an empty bay, the "B" drive is an 8" unit in a separate enclosure.
The 5.25" HD & 8" DD both use the same NEC 72065 FDC, but they have separate drivers, receivers and cables.
The computer controls a scanning electron microscope used to measure critical dimensions on 75mm semiconductor wafers.
The computer is behind the front panel so that only the 8" drive is accessible to the user.
To allow long file names, the software uses two virtual drives of limited size on the HD and one on the "B" drive.
So the Floppy Emulator will replace the 8" drive and accommodate many more application files.

Merci beaucoup to you all, Torlus & Jean-Francois,
B.

February 2011
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