The Amstrad CPC 6128 USB Floppy Emulator Hardware BIG Review

Neil79 · 17:25, 19 February 16

QuoteAfter our BIG review for the DDI3 USB Floppy Emulator for the Amstrad CPC 464, developed by Zaxon also known as Piotr Bugaj. We thought it was about time the Amstrad 6128 also had a device of its own, so it too could play demo's and games stored on a USB memory stick. Thankfully Zaxon was happy to help and after a couple of months of teasing at the design stage, we finally have ' The Amstrad CPC 6128 USB Floppy Emulator ' in our hands for the second of our Amstrad reviews!

Indie Retro News: The Amstrad CPC 6128 USB Floppy Emulator Hardware BIG Review!

||C|-|E|| · 18:24, 19 February 16

It looks like a very nice and neat device, it would be great to have one of these that is already prepared for the MX4 and has a nice display as well. Maybe it would be even a better alternative that the HxC, I like how tidy it is

Neil79 · 18:58, 19 February 16

Quote from: ||C|-|E|| on 18:24, 19 February 16
It looks like a very nice and neat device, it would be great to have one of these that is already prepared for the MX4 and has a nice display as well. Maybe it would be even a better alternative that the HxC, I like how tidy it is

An LCD Display would've been really nice, but then that would probably bump up the cost by a bit

TotO · 01:00, 20 February 16

I'm surprise that it was not powered through the floppy connector.

TotO · 09:05, 20 February 16

Quote from: Neil79 on 18:58, 19 February 16An LCD Display would've been really nice, but then that would probably bump up the cost by a bit

The LCD display only cost $1.5 USD. The answer is more that it can't fit on the PCB design.

CPCOxygen · 01:57, 21 April 16

Mine arrived today, do anyone else have to wiggle it from time to time to get it working? I've tried on two 6128's, same problem. Cleaned the contacts on both computers, no luck. Not really a big problem if I'm careful, just wondering if anyone else is having the problem?

TFM · 16:20, 21 April 16

Moving to Centronics plugs should solve this problems. During 30 years of CPC I only had problems with edge connectors, so I changed em all (mostly) and all problems (most) are gone.

Dabz · 18:25, 21 April 16

I have one of these badboys for my 6128... Brilliant little bit of kit, and for the price, well, it's for nowt!

Dabz

Higgy · 18:53, 21 April 16

Just make sure I am not missing something, a Gotek with HxC firmware would do the same?

Rather than have an external module I would prefer to fit a Gotek in place of the 3" drive.

khaz · 23:49, 21 April 16

Quote from: Higgy on 18:53, 21 April 16Rather than have an external module I would prefer to fit a Gotek in place of the 3" drive.

That would make you loose compatibility with original 3" discs though. And the procedure is irreversible,you need to hack away quite a few bits of plastic, you can't put a 3" drive back at a later time. Are you sure you want to do that to your poor 6128?

pelrun · 08:59, 22 April 16

It's not irreversible - the Gotek PCB is a lot smaller than a standard 3.5" drive, so it doesn't require anything to be cut away.

llopis · 09:39, 22 April 16

Mine also arrived today. So far, so good (the first 10 minutes anyway).

One thing I noticed though: When I turn the CPC on, I hear the drive motor on and it never stops. Is this normal? It only happens with the emulator card plugged in. I'm using a power splitter cable in case it matters.

pelrun · 10:11, 22 April 16

Sounds like the device is inappropriately holding the motor enable line active. It's not needed by the Gotek, so it's probably been tied to ground when it should have been left floating.

Higgy · 10:57, 22 April 16

Quote from: pelrun on 08:59, 22 April 16
It's not irreversible - the Gotek PCB is a lot smaller than a standard 3.5" drive, so it doesn't require anything to be cut away.

That is right. I was planning on cutting the cheap Gotek case around the Amstrad's. There is a good guide online.
When the time comes I can retro fit the 3" IDC connector back on and refit and swap the 12v and 5v wires. So she will be back looking like a Retro Museum Queen

I only have about 8 disks. And if they are like Amiga disks there are not very reliable +20 years down the line. So files off a USB stick seems the best way.

I have the 464 USB floppy emulator. Seems a good bit of kit. I had to re-solder a joint on the I2C display as the backlight kept flickering.

Does anyone know which HxC firmware to use to update it? It would be nice to have more than 15 slots which the newer firmware gives.

pelrun · 11:23, 22 April 16

You want the "USB Stick STM32 HxC Floppy Emulator (beta)" firmware update file from the HxC download page.

llopis · 15:11, 22 April 16

Quote from: llopis on 09:39, 22 April 16One thing I noticed though: When I turn the CPC on, I hear the drive motor on and it never stops. Is this normal? It only happens with the emulator card plugged in. I'm using a power splitter cable in case it matters.

FWIW, I just noticed that if I set the USB emulator to be the B drive (by changing the jumpers), it doesn't cause the disk drive motor to come on (and I can use floppy disks as well, which is great).

llopis · 19:46, 24 April 16

So far I'm loving the USB floppy emulator.

I've been having some intermittent problems with it not working and claiming that the disk is missing, but it sounds like it's a faulty board and Piotr is sending me a new one to replace it. So that's great to see him standing behind the product.

One thing has eluded me so far though: I haven't been able to copy a disk from the USB emulator as B drive to a real disk on the floppy A drive. I've tried a bunch of disk copy programs, and they all fail in some way (JL-Copy fails to read past track 6 of a totally plain vanilla DSK image, and Oddjob copies everything but the resulting disk is unusable). Anybody knows what's going on? Is the emulation very basic and it fails when programs try to copy sector by sector? Is there any way to easily copy either a whole disk (ideally) or file by file to a real floppy?

Thanks.

llopis · 20:12, 24 April 16

Actually, the problem seems to be with the DSK image itself.

I created it with iDSK and used it to copy files directly into it. The DSK file opens up fine in Arnold and everything works. Then I convert it to HFE with HxCFloppyEmulator and load it up on the CPC. All the games load fine except for one that gives a read error. I imagine it's the track the JL-Copy is having a hard time with. I wonder what's going on. It's supposed to be a really plain vanilla disk. I'll try WinAPE and see if it generates a better DSK.

Higgy · 21:31, 28 April 16

Anyone managed to update the HxC firmware on one of these? I have the 464 version and it is on v3.0.6.6a

For my Gotek I just copied the *.upd to a blank USB stick and turned on the 6128 holding down the 2 Gotek buttons.

minwah · 14:29, 09 May 16

I have recently bought one of these. I had an initial problem with it not working at all due to bad contact on the edge connector. Having cleaned the connector it is up and running.

One other thing I discovered is that I have unplug the power from the device and plug it back in (after powering up the monitor) for it to come on. It is useful to use a USB stick with an LED on it so you can tell when it is on, as there is no other indication.

Aside from that, seems really good so far, and at a great price.

I'm thinking about making a case for it with a switch for power, and another to switch between drive A and B...

zhulien · 15:25, 23 August 16

Hi,

I received my floppy Zaxon 6128 emulators and today tried them but without any luck. When plugging them in, even just the centronics to edge connector adaptor, he internal 6128 Plus drive just makes a wirring noise. I have read and re-read the vague instructions from the floppy emulator site, but still unsure if they work, or am i doing something wrong? I have tried with and without a PSU supplying it, with and without all other exansions removed.

Any suggestions?

CraigsBar · 16:35, 23 August 16

The connectors on the back of the plus are not 1:1 pin compatible with the CPC (even the centronics Schneider CPC 6128) as the pins are shifted on to the left, and you meet to trim one wire off the end

zhulien · 02:04, 24 August 16

Isnt that the point of the adapter that came with it?

gerald · 06:02, 24 August 16

Quote from: zhulien on 02:04, 24 August 16
Isnt that the point of the adapter that came with it?

You need a centronic adapter for the Plus, which is different from the centronics adapter for a regular 6128 with centronics port.
As CraigsBar said, there is a shift in the pins to do.

Audronic · 07:47, 24 August 16

@zhulien
Look Here
DIY:Floppy Drives - CPCWiki
Ray