Internal ribbon cable for CPC+

[francouai]

Hi guys,
I bought online my HXC, but the ribbon cable is too very short 
any idea if the connector facing the mother board can be removed or it fixed?

Where to find this ribbon cable with connector?
or I'm wondering if I need to unplug the ribbon cable from the connector then press a new from took from a PC floppy drive..

thanks.

Ps: I know, my HXC is black into a white CPC PLUS, but the seller did a mistake and sent me a black one.
I'll have to paint it later one.

[||C|-|E||]

You can remove the original cable from the motherboard and replace it with an identical longer one, no problem  If you do not know how to make it yourself, there are a few e-bay sellers that will make a custom one for you. Alternatively you can buy the ribbon cable, the connectors, a crimping tool and create your very own cable.

[francouai]

Thanks!
I found on ebay, a ribbon kit M/F for 8euros.
This will extend the original one.

[Bryce]

Yup, it's safer to just add an extension cable. If you don't know exactly what you're doing you will end up breaking the header connector on the PCB if you try to replace the original cable.

Bryce.

[francouai]

Just check on ebay for GPIO ribbon for raspberry
This should do the trick !

[CraigsBar]

My white one arrived, and with the raspberry pi gpio extension works perfectly.... However the 3" hxc Clone duplicates itself as A and B drives all the time. As I have an Abba switch and external 3.5inch drive, this is not ideal. Is there any easy fix?

I tried to contact zaxon through sellmyretro but got no response, so I am now asking here.

[Skunkfish]

I believe there's a jumper for that on a standard HxC board, what headers are there on the Zaxon board?

[Skunkfish]

Have you had a look at this? http://www.eightbitclone.com/6128.html

Is the board similar?

[CraigsBar]

Well the board is not similar enough. It has a single jumper block with only 1 jumper on it. And it is currently working as both a and b at the same time. Makes copying files from floppy to HFE disc images painfully impossible.

[Skunkfish]

Sorry, posted wrong link - I guess the board is this one? Tytu³ dokumentu

Not much of an expert but it seems the drive is set to respond to the DS1 signal on pin 4, I imagine the jumper should change this but it's not clear... Where do the traces from the jumper headers go to?

[CraigsBar]

Dunno, I have to take the machines apart again.... Unless there is still someone that has a non fitted drive?

[robbarton]

Well the board is not similar enough. It has a single jumper block with only 1 jumper on it. And it is currently working as both a and b at the same time. Makes copying files from floppy to HFE disc images painfully impossible.

I'll attempt to help!

I have an external Hxc so it might be different from yours (it's connected on the disc expansion port at the back of the 6128). It has only one header block (J3) with a 3x4 array of pins, i.e.

1  2  3  4
5  6  7  8
9 10 11 12

According to the documentation   the top row 1-4 sets to drive B and the bottom 9-12 sets to drive A. The middle row is labelled L-R as ID3, ID2, ID1, ID0.

[attachurl=2]

I have a jumper connecting 7 and 11. That is supposed to configure as the first disk drive on A: with a twisted floppy cable (which is what I'm using) but it configures it to be both A and B on ID1.

I've tried moving the jumper to 3+7 to set internal back to A which works, but then fails to recognise the HXC as B. I'll play around with it and post back if I get any joy.

[robbarton]

Hmm in my haste I think I have provided some duff info:

1) Seems like the pdf only covers the external version

2) I have managed to get my external HXC recognised as |b by toggling my abba switch so I can still use the internal 3" on |a. Maybe they have to be this way around?

Hope you get a more useful response from someone who knows what they are talking about!

[Skunkfish]

I'll attempt to help!

I have an external Hxc so it might be different from yours (it's connected on the disc expansion port at the back of the 6128). It has only one header block (J3) with a 3x4 array of pins, i.e.

1  2  3  4
5  6  7  8
9 10 11 12

According to the documentation   the top row 1-4 sets to drive B and the bottom 9-12 sets to drive A. The middle row is labelled L-R as ID3, ID2, ID1, ID0.


I have a jumper connecting 7 and 11. That is supposed to configure as the first disk drive on A: with a twisted floppy cable (which is what I'm using) but it configures it to be both A and B on ID1.

I've tried moving the jumper to 3+7 to set internal back to A which works, but then fails to recognise the HXC as B. I'll play around with it and post back if I get any joy.

Hi robbarton,

Did you get as far as the CPC6128 jumper settings page in the PDF? It seems to suggest different jumper settings compared to the ones you have set. Not sure if these need to be mirrored due to the twist in your cable?

I don't have an actual HxC but a Gotek drive with the HxC firmware on the external port. The Gotek is set as drive B and works fine with internal 3-inch as drive A:. When I want to use the Gotek as drive A: I have a switch to short pins 11 & 12 on the cable after power on which makes the Gotek become drive A: (unfortunately the internal drive is then not able to be used, and the motor spins when accessing the Gotek).

[robbarton]

My final spam onto this thread for today - looking at the wiki

HxC SDCard Internal - CPCWiki

@CraigsBar: the photos seem to show the jumper over 5+9 - but then the author is also changing round his power connectors etc. so not sure what will work in your case.

@Skunkfish: yes I usually just use the HXC on the external port and it's set to be both A and B, or I can use the abba switch to set it to B if I need to use the internal A (e.g. to copy from HXC to a real disk). The jumper is set at 7+11 which is external drive A as per the pdf but works for A or B as detailed above.

I'd better go back to the type ins, I'm likely to break something if I carry on helping with hardware tips 

[CraigsBar]

Dunno, I have to take the machines apart again.... Unless there is still someone that has a non fitted drive?

OK I took the CPC 6128 one out this evening and stripped it.


The other side of the jumpers seems to do nothing at all. Either with both populated or on its own.


I guess I have to hope that @Piotr is about to answer the questions sooner rather than later.


I really need these drives to function like my original HxC ot the internal 3 inch drive and obay the ABBA switch swapping over accordingly.

[CraigsBar]

Still no reply. Looks like I might be putting my floppy drives back in after all. these drives are nicely put together but forcing them to always present the same image as A and B is pretty poor. Unless I have missed something of course.

[Bryce]

Piotr doesn't support his products at all. You'll be a while waiting for any answer.

Bryce.

[CraigsBar]

Piotr doesn't support his products at all. You'll be a while waiting for any answer.

Bryce.

That is what I was fearing. So can any hack be made to the 26 pin connector or a pcb in between the drive and the cpc to force the drive as A by default and as B when Abba switched? I know this is probably no but it's worth asking if you know what I mean.

[gerald]

That is what I was fearing. So can any hack be made to the 26 pin connector or a pcb in between the drive and the cpc to force the drive as A by default and as B when Abba switched? I know this is probably no but it's worth asking if you know what I mean.

Any chance @Jeff_HxC2001 could help ? At least to understand how is software is handling A and B at the same time ?

[CraigsBar]

Well it's not his device, I hope @Piotr paid the gotek conversion fee for each drive sold. Does the original gotek with hxc firmware do this too?

I know Jeff's genuine drives don't.

[Bryce]

Any chance @Jeff_HxC2001 could help ? At least to understand how is software is handling A and B at the same time ?

I think you'll understand as much as I do, that it's unlikely that any hardware guy will be willing to give support to someone elses hardware. Especially for someone who has a "clone-for-profit and run" business model.

Bryce.

[CraigsBar]

I think you'll understand as much as I do, that it's unlikely that any hardware guy will be willing to give support to someone elses hardware. Especially for someone who has a "clone-for-profit and run" business model.

Bryce.

If their was an original Jeff HxC in a 3 inch drive case then I'd have bought one long ago. Just check back over the gotek v hxc threads on which I have commented. However there isn't one and I don't want to cut my cpc's about to fit a 3.5 inch drive in.

[gerald]

I think you'll understand as much as I do, that it's unlikely that any hardware guy will be willing to give support to someone elses hardware. Especially for someone who has a "clone-for-profit and run" business model.

While he is cloning the Gotek HW, he is running HxC firmware.
I do not know if there is an agreement (licence ?) between piotr and Jeff. If this is not the case, then this should be known.

For a drive to answer A and B while internally connected means that the SEL line at uC interface is always low (bad jumper configuration) or the uC is ignoring it.
Only Jeff can answer the software side and we all know piotr answer from HW side  .

[CraigsBar]