CPCWiki forum

Hi All,

I've tried modifying my Alps FDD for a Ready signal but not having much luck.  Can anyone advise?

I broke the connection for DC to pin 34 then soldered on a wire from the rdy pad to pin 34 but no luck.  Seems to work when I sort pin34 to ground but not when jumpered from the pad.

Picture attached.

According to an Amibay thread I found that's the right mod - are you sure you disconnected the original trace completely?


(http://www.amibay.com/showthread.php?18582-Modifying-PC-Floppy-Drive-for-Amiga-Use)

Scratch that; RD isn't the ready signal at all (I expect it worked on an Amiga because they also route the DC signal to another pin.)


Try this one instead (pin 34 to pin 32 on the IC): https://www.msxinfo.net/2014/03/12/making-a-alps-df354h127f-msx-compatible/

Thanks I'll give that a go and report back shortly.  Any idea how to lock down the drive into DD instead of HD so I don't need to worry about covering the hole on HD disks?


Thanks Trevor

to fix a HD to a DD would require a sensor or LED to be removed where the hole usually sits. The detection of HD is normally a combination of a LED on one side and light detection sensor on the other.

The Amibay link includes a mod to lock it to DD:

Quote
F: Solder a wire from the pad marked HD2 to the pad at the top left which happens to be a convenient ground. (Bypasses the HD detect switch so all disks are treated as DD - thus no need for tape over the HD holes.)

Quote from: pelrun on 01:19, 23 February 18
The Amibay link includes a mod to lock it to DD:

I can't see a pad marked hd on my pcb.  I'm assuming the sensor comes in on the ribbon cable so maybe could ground one of the pins if I could work out which one.

HD*2*. It's on the photo you posted, a couple of cm up and to the right from the screw on the left.

Here, I marked it for you. Sorry if it's still a bit unclear  :laugh:

Quote from: pelrun on 02:05, 23 February 18
Here, I marked it for you. Sorry if it's still a bit unclear  [emoji23]

Thanks. I'm struggling to see your marks, please can you add a few more :-P

Sent from my E5823 using Tapatalk

Quote from: pelrun on 02:05, 23 February 18
Here, I marked it for you. Sorry if it's still a bit unclear  [emoji23]

Thanks pelrun working well with the second mod you suggested.  On the hd2 pad which pad shall i correct that too, i can't see the full picture on amibay as I'm not a registered user and don't want to screw the drive up.

Sent from my E5823 using Tapatalk

Hi all, mission complete, Alps DF354H modified for ready signal and fixed to DD

See attached picture

Quote from: tjohnson on 00:48, 24 February 18
Hi all, mission complete, Alps DF354H modified for ready signal and fixed to DD

See attached picture

I soldered pin 34 to the same pin of the IC that you did but all it did to me is a proper disk change signal :(
My drive might not be the same model but definitely the main board looks the same.

Also after I made the RD mistake too, mislead by the Amiga people, it came off together with the solder point and had to fix it with another wire to the IC... That was a lot of stress.

Wysłane z mojego Redmi Note 4 przy użyciu Tapatalka

Edit: removing Tapatalk accidental multipost (it said it couldn't post)

Edit: removing Tapatalk accidental multipost

Quote from: ikari on 23:21, 13 June 18
I soldered pin 34 to the same pin of the IC that you did but all it did to me is a proper disk change signal :(
My drive might not be the same model but definitely the main board looks the same.

Also after I made the RD mistake too, mislead by the Amiga people, it came off together with the solder point and had to fix it with another wire to the IC... That was a lot of stress.

Wysłane z mojego Redmi Note 4 przy użyciu Tapatalka

Do you mean it doesn't work?  You don't get disk ready?  Did you cut the current trace for pin 34, you can see I did that in my first picture.  looking at last picture i also removed the jumper on ms2.

Quote from: pelrun on 04:18, 22 February 18
Scratch that; RD isn't the ready signal at all (I expect it worked on an Amiga because they also route the DC signal to another pin.)
Try this one instead (pin 34 to pin 32 on the IC): https://www.msxinfo.net/2014/03/12/making-a-alps-df354h127f-msx-compatible/ (https://www.msxinfo.net/2014/03/12/making-a-alps-df354h127f-msx-compatible/)

Hi

I just found a spare DF354h and:-

Cut the Track at pin 34.
Ran a wire from 32 On the Ic (Alps) to Pin 34 on header
Left the Blob on DS1.

Powered it up and away it went "as an External drive (1 - B)"
Thanks    Ray

Quote from: tjohnson on 23:53, 13 June 18
Do you mean it doesn't work?  You don't get disk ready?  Did you cut the current trace for pin 34, you can see I did that in my first picture.  looking at last picture i also removed the jumper on ms2.

Hard to say if I get a proper "disk ready" signal. When I tested it with a LED instead of a jumper in the cable, looks like it goes HIGH when the disk is ejected, so it's more like the regular disk change. Though it didn't do that before the mod.


Fact check:
1. I did cut the original path
2. At first connected it to RD, as the other instructions said, then it came off together with the metal pad and I had to reconstruct the entire RD connection...
3. The drive works. It really does, just.. not everything about it. So I can list files, run Tasword, run the Batman Forever (2 sides and 80 tracks version) off of it. But I can't run Arkanoid, can't run Prehistorik, some disk images just don't work.
4. I also tried using ProCopy to copy from B to A, but it freezes at trying to map the 1st track of the disk - so SOMETING is missing. Just not sure what.
5. My pin 34 is now connected to where it is on the MSX instructions.


What does MS2 do? Didn't change that.
I also never changed DS1 to DS0, I do want it to stay drive B.  The cable also has a switch to make it drive A, grounding some signal... this works too.


Why can't I use disk copying soft with the drive? Why do some loaders just freeze, whether it's running as B, or switched (via this grounding of something) to A?


Maybe it wasn't about the Ready signal?

Some software will not work from b drive so that may be your issue

Sent from my E5823 using Tapatalk

Quote from: tjohnson on 21:44, 14 June 18
Some software will not work from b drive so that may be your issue

This is true. But one of the problems is also running ProCopy (from either drive B or A, doesn't matter) and using it to copy (not run) drive B onto drive A. Also hangs on copying/mapping the disk. That's why I suspected it's waiting for a specific signal...

Also would it run when pins 11 and 12 are connected?


Still: what's the meaning of MS2 jumper?

Is the software being copied protected as you can have this behaviour can occur.  Are you using double density disks or hd points worth the hole covered

Sent from my E5823 using Tapatalk

I think I have experienced this behavior for all disks, not only the copy protected (weird format) ones, but will verify.


5 minutes ago, I think I have also discovered the real meaning of the signal both of us soldered to pin 34 - it goes low not on disk change, but on something pressing on the HD/DD hole button. When I insert a HD disk (with the hole open), it stays high. With a DD disk, it goes low.

You'll need to cover the hd hole unless you mod the drive for that too like i did.

Sent from my E5823 using Tapatalk

I do cover it on all disks. That's why it looked to me like the pin actually means Disk Change signal now, until I found an old disk I thought was CPC data from years ago, hole uncovered, and it behaved differently.


Currently, with the few handmade mods, the drive still works both with a PC and the CPC

What are the mods you've made?

Sent from my E5823 using Tapatalk

   
• cut original pin 34 path
• connect it to RD because of the first tutorial
• unsolder, discover that the RD pad has left the PCB together with the wire
• connect RD to pin 30 (Read Data) again
• wire pin 34 to the IC like here: https://www.msxinfo.net/2014/03/12/making-a-alps-df354h127f-msx-compatible/ (https://www.msxinfo.net/2014/03/12/making-a-alps-df354h127f-msx-compatible/-)
• left DS1 connected (wanted it to be drive B)
• left MS1/MS2 disconnected- used isolation tape on floppies to make them DD
• used a cable with drive swap switch (pins 11 and 12) and side select switch
• initially the cable had also pins 33 and 34 jumpered together but after the drive mods I don't seem to need that anymore.

This setup works with the PC (unless we're writing a single 128-byte sector of Arkanoid disk - that's the only sector that didn't write correctly so far) and with the CPC, and:

   
• ✅ The CPC can load CP/M, regular files, do cat, etc.
• ✅ CP/M works, DISCKIT3 works
• ⚠️ ProCopy 1.2 is unable to map a disk (any disk) when the drive is connected, even from Drive A
• ⚠️ Discology didn't load
• ⚠️ Arkanoid didn't load

Yesterday I also received Lotharek's emulator and... surprisingly, things behave the same, except Discology now loaded - but still didn't map the drive, neither does ProCopy, Arkanoid still doesn't work, even when the drive acts as drive A.
Not sure what's going wrong in these special cases.

ikari,

The link in your reply "https://www.msxinfo.net/2014/03/12/making-a-alps-df354h127f-msx-compatible/" says page not found.

rpalmer

Quote from: rpalmer on 21:48, 16 June 18
ikari,

The link in your reply "https://www.msxinfo.net/2014/03/12/making-a-alps-df354h127f-msx-compatible/ (https://www.msxinfo.net/2014/03/12/making-a-alps-df354h127f-msx-compatible/)" says page not found.

rpalmer

Works ok for me this is what the page says

I got another drive and modified the ready signal, this version appears to work better.  I added a switch for the side selection which are the additional wires at the bottom.

Now this is interesting! Would you care to explain the connections you've made? I see it's a bit different than in the instructions.

I highlighted some of the questions and differences with my version in the picture attached. Not sure if I will modify it again, as it generally works well as it is now, but I am eager to learn what's different and what's happening in yours. I wasn't able to find any good description of the signals in this Alps drive, so all I have were the instructions from the two links.
Edit: ok, after typing this post 4 times, my attachment "fails security checks". Posting it to imgur then:
(https://i.imgur.com/QLHrWfV.jpg)

The short cable at the top makes the drive dd permanently, no need for cellotape over HD disks.  I changed the ready signal after i found it was permanently ready with the mod.  It is now only ready when there is a disk in the drive.

Quote from: ikari on 08:20, 20 June 18
Now this is interesting! Would you care to explain the connections you've made? I see it's a bit different than in the instructions.

I highlighted some of the questions and differences with my version in the picture attached. Not sure if I will modify it again, as it generally works well as it is now, but I am eager to learn what's different and what's happening in yours. I wasn't able to find any good description of the signals in this Alps drive, so all I have were the instructions from the two links.
Edit: ok, after typing this post 4 times, my attachment "fails security checks". Posting it to imgur then:
(https://i.imgur.com/QLHrWfV.jpg)

Sent from my E5823 using Tapatalk

Quote from: tjohnson on 22:38, 19 June 18
I got another drive and modified the ready signal, this version appears to work better.  I added a switch for the side selection which are the additional wires at the bottom.

That's some seriously high voltage cable you've chosen for 5V signals.

Bryce.

Quote from: tjohnson on 22:38, 19 June 18
I got another drive and modified the ready signal, this version appears to work better.  I added a switch for the side selection which are the additional wires at the bottom.

That's some seriously high voltage cable you've chosen for 5V signals.

Bryce.

Is just what i had lying round, the pcb is very small so the cable looks a bit bigger than it actually is.

Sent from my E5823 using Tapatalk

Quote from: tjohnson on 08:44, 20 June 18
The short cable at the top makes the drive dd permanently, no need for cellotape over HD disks.  I changed the ready signal after i found it was permanently ready with the mod.  It is now only ready when there is a disk in the drive.

I see. In my version I accidently have it READY when there's a disk in the drive, because the 2nd-from-corner pin on the chip that the MSX instructions said to connect to pin34 seems to behave like drive density detector. So when something presses on my HD-hole sensor (meaning: no hole), the signal goes low. I discovered, with a LED, that a disk with a hole means the signal will stay high.
So it probably works for me because I *didn't* permanently set it to DD :D

Is there anything on the Alps drive that would be exactly like the original "Ready" signal, checking the motor speed, etc.?

Quote from: ikari on 14:31, 20 June 18
I see. In my version I accidently have it READY when there's a disk in the drive, because the 2nd-from-corner pin on the chip that the MSX instructions said to connect to pin34 seems to behave like drive density detector. So when something presses on my HD-hole sensor (meaning: no hole), the signal goes low. I discovered, with a LED, that a disk with a hole means the signal will stay high.
So it probably works for me because I *didn't* permanently set it to DD :D

Is there anything on the Alps drive that would be exactly like the original "Ready" signal, checking the motor speed, etc.?

I see what you mean, that would make sense.  I would have to probe about to see if I could find a suitable signal on the IC.  Maybe I'll try more likely not!

Ok, I will try it...

xesrjb 

Quote from: pelrun on 04:18, 22 February 18Scratch that; RD isn't the ready signal at all (I expect it worked on an Amiga because they also route the DC signal to another pin.)


Try this one instead (pin 34 to pin 32 on the IC): https://www.msxinfo.net/2014/03/12/making-a-alps-df354h127f-msx-compatible/

This solution is good, I tried it and it is running. Using it as b: for a CPC 6128. Two cuts, two wires thats it...

xesrjb