HXC set up

dcdrac · 18:07, 24 April 13

Got the HXC today and been reading the manual and was planning on using it as the main drive on one 6128 which has a working 3 Inch drive I do not want to disable
So what does this mean in practice?
Note : In this case the internal floppy
disk drive must be disabled.
To do this you can connect wire 23 of
the external floppy cable to the
ground (wire 24), or simply unplug
the floppy cable from the internal disk
drive.
http://hxc2001.com/download/floppy_drive_emulator/SDCard_HxC_Floppy_Emulator_User_Manual_ENG.pdf
And found this suggestion:

http://hxc2001.com/download/floppy_drive_emulator/HxC_CPC6128_connection.jpg

redbox · 19:04, 24 April 13

Make an ABBA Switch instead?

This swaps the driver allocations of A & B over, so you won't need to disable your 3" drive.

dcdrac · 19:31, 24 April 13

would it be simpler just to use |B and run the dsk and hfes off that?

dcdrac · 19:48, 24 April 13

And just found this too
Guide for HxC SD Version - CPCWiki

Judging by this picture all I have to do is set the jumper as sown in this picture to have this as the main A:drive?

http://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/File:SDSETTINGS.jpg

MartinW · 20:13, 24 April 13

I got my HxC on Saturday. I had time to have a bit of a play about with it before I had to shoot up to the smoke to work for a couple of days.

Do you still need to fudge the ready signal by having a jumper in the cable, or can you do that on the HxC? The reason I ask is that I'd modified the ready signal direct on my 3.5" drive instead. My CPC has an AB/BA switch. Drive A always works correctly regardless of where the AB/BA switch is set, do a |B though and drive B always returns crap regardless. I didn't really want to solder the ready signal up on the brand new HxC device!!

Bryce · 20:36, 24 April 13

Quote from: dcdrac on 19:31, 24 April 13
would it be simpler just to use |B and run the dsk and hfes off that?

The problem with using the HxC as |B is that most commercial games will only run from A:, so the usefulness of the HxC is then very limited.

Bryce.

Bryce · 20:37, 24 April 13

Quote from: MartinW on 20:13, 24 April 13
I got my HxC on Saturday. I had time to have a bit of a play about with it before I had to shoot up to the smoke to work for a couple of days.

Do you still need to fudge the ready signal by having a jumper in the cable, or can you do that on the HxC? The reason I ask is that I'd modified the ready signal direct on my 3.5" drive instead. My CPC has an AB/BA switch. Drive A always works correctly regardless of where the AB/BA switch is set, do a |B though and drive B always returns crap regardless. I didn't really want to solder the ready signal up on the brand new HxC device!!

The HxC supplies the ready signal as required, you don't need to add jumpers or make any other mods.

Bryce.

MartinW · 20:40, 24 April 13

Hmm, thanks. I wonder why I'm getting odd results on drive B then?

Maybe I'll start my own thread later when I've got a bit more time

dcdrac · 20:54, 24 April 13

I have it reading the CFG file and the HFEs, however it does not appear to be picked up by the CPC.
Is there a simple a b an c for getting these things going?

When I plug the SD in it has something called RA flashing what does that mean?

Bryce · 20:56, 24 April 13

Have you set it as A or B? What's the exact setup (hardware mods, jumpers etc)? What happens when you choose the drive and CAT the disk?

Bryce.

dcdrac · 21:07, 24 April 13

I have the jumper set to the picture I found and linked to, when I CAT it nothing cannot find the disc and yes it is connected to the edge connector

dcdrac · 21:25, 24 April 13

I t does come up with the missing HXC.cfg file message although there is one on the SD, and then it shows the lsit of HFE files.

What would an ideal HXC config be like? I have the software I just need to know the settings

MartinW · 21:30, 24 April 13

Quote from: dcdrac on 21:25, 24 April 13
I t does come up with the missing HXC.cfg file message although there is one on the SD, and then it shows the lsit of HFE files.

What would an ideal HXC config be like? I have the software I just need to know the settings

Was the config file copied on immediately after formatting the SD card? I noticed that the HxC doesn't see files in alphabetic order or anything like that but rather the order they were copied to the SD card. Therefore I might guess that unless the config file is copied first it may not find it. As for what it would look like, it's a binary file so it's not readable with a text editor.

Bryce · 21:41, 24 April 13

The config file doesn't need to be the very first file, but it does need to be at the beginning sectors of the SD Card, so I'd advise only copying it to a freshly formatted Card. If the HxC isn't reading the config file successfully, then it's not going to react with the CPC.

Bryce.

dcdrac · 22:04, 24 April 13

Ok so step 1 Format the SD
Step 2 Use the emulator software to create the config file what should these be set to, to get the CPC to read the drive as either A or B?
Step 3 Set the jumper settings?

Bryce · 08:29, 25 April 13

The A and B part is selected with the jumpers, not the config file. Jeff also supplies a default config file, that should be fine to test with.

Bryce.

dcdrac · 17:13, 25 April 13

ok So what is the jumper configuration to make the floppy emulator Drive A?

TFM · 19:03, 25 April 13

I may have not the newest version of the handbook, but it it is missing there, then we should ask Jeff to include it there. Sorry, can't help more, I'm off my laptop.

dcdrac · 19:32, 25 April 13

Stupid question but who is Jeff?
Its begining to look like I have to nobble one of the 6128s by unplugging the internal floppy connector, The picture below shows the jumper setting I have on as far as I can tell it is the correct one for the emulator to be a B:drive or am I missing something?

As far as I can tell from the manual tis is the correct setting for the HXC to be seen as the b:drive by a 6128

TFM · 20:49, 25 April 13

He invented the HxC...

http://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/profile/Jeff_HxC2001/

The handbook can be found here...

HxC2001 HeadQuarters : HxC Floppy Emulator

dcdrac · 20:58, 25 April 13

I have looked at the handbook and set the jumper to what I think its stating I need to for setting it as Drive B:

db6128 · 21:05, 25 April 13

Quote from: Bryce on 20:37, 24 April 13The HxC supplies the ready signal as required, you don't need to add jumpers or make any other mods.

In case dcdrac is using the cable made by ikonsgr, or anyone is reading this who might use the cable, it supplies Ready too. Of course, the thing to be wary of with this is that it has to send Ready all the time, so if you attempt to access the drive when it's not actually ready, the CPC will lock up. I think this might even apply to both drives on the cable if you have two, meaning you would need to have a disk in both in order to use only one of them, but I can't remember the exact details. Anyway, none of this stops anything working; it just needs a bit of care.

Bryce · 21:15, 25 April 13

@dcdrac: It needs to be set to A: not B: to work on the CPC (even when you are using it as B).

@db6128: If your cable has a Ready switch included, it should definitely be left open at all times when using it with the HxC. The HxC provides this signal when it's really ready.

Bryce.

dcdrac · 21:20, 25 April 13

Quote from: Bryce on 21:15, 25 April 13
@dcdrac: It needs to be set to A: not B: to work on the CPC (even when you are using it as B).

@db6128: If your cable has a Ready switch included, it should definitely be left open at all times when using it with the HxC. The HxC provides this signal when it's really ready.

Bryce.

Thank you for the replies so far, and it is appreciated.

What is a ready switch and what does it look like/

dcdrac · 21:31, 25 April 13

Swapped the Jumper to what I think it should be for Drive a: the 6128 is still telling me that the disc is missing when I try to access |B all the LEDS do light though when I type |B

News:

HXC set up