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General Category => Amstrad CPC hardware => Topic started by: Neil79 on 13:22, 27 June 14

Title: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Neil79 on 13:22, 27 June 14
lotharek1977 on eBay (http://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/lotharek1977?_trksid=p2047675.l2559)


I was looking to buy a SD C - HXC Floppy Emulator REV C next week, but I don't see any left on Ebay, have they all sold out?
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: pelrun on 13:43, 27 June 14
The listings expired only a day or two ago - maybe lotharek didn't notice?
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Bryce on 13:45, 27 June 14
Just order it directly from his Website: http://www.lotharek.pl/category.php?kid=7 (http://www.lotharek.pl/category.php?kid=7)

Bryce.
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Neil79 on 14:30, 27 June 14
Grand, will sort it out next week :)
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Neil79 on 15:24, 27 June 14
Think I'll order the SD S Floppy Emulator SLIM - 34 pin connector as I like the price and I'll make my own case  :o 
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Baptiste on 08:12, 28 June 14
I received mine tomorrow.

Envoyé de mon GT-N7000 en utilisant Tapatalk

Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: steve on 11:50, 28 June 14
Can I borrow your time machine?
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Neil79 on 19:13, 28 June 14
 :laugh:
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Gryzor on 19:23, 28 June 14
The Slim is so much more advanced, it would seem! :D
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Neil79 on 12:10, 01 July 14

Look what I just purchased for the Amstrad CPC 6128


(http://s13.postimg.org/rmlnyfns7/T2e_C16d_zo_E9s5ng_H_OBRve9_HLT_w_60_57.jpg)


(http://s13.postimg.org/6eckuqyp3/image.jpg)


£70 all in :)
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Gryzor on 13:17, 01 July 14
Yay :) Have fun with it!!
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Neil79 on 13:38, 01 July 14
Quote from: Gryzor on 13:17, 01 July 14
Yay :) Have fun with it!!




Any idea of the delivery time for one of these?
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Gryzor on 13:48, 01 July 14
What's the seller??
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Bryce on 14:14, 01 July 14
Quote from: Gryzor on 13:48, 01 July 14
What's the seller??

Probably a person.

Who is the seller might be better information to estimate delivery time?

Bryce.
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Neil79 on 14:15, 01 July 14
Quote from: Gryzor on 13:48, 01 July 14
What's the seller??


http://www.lotharek.pl/product.php?pid=13 (http://www.lotharek.pl/product.php?pid=13)


Purchased it direct
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Bryce on 14:19, 01 July 14
He uses standard postage. I think the last one he sent me took about 6 days to get to Germany.

Bryce.
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Gryzor on 15:42, 01 July 14
Let me turn the "Pedantic" mode to off in the forum's settings...

Ok, back. Lotharek. Takes about a week to arrive (Greece), but he doesn't send them out every day, so you'll have to add a couple of days to that.
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Neil79 on 17:00, 03 July 14
LOTHAREK added delivery information.
Delivery status
Sent

:o
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Neil79 on 01:02, 05 July 14
So what's the best way to play Amstrad games from this thing? ( I have an SD card already )


Is every game available to play through the HxC?
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: beaker on 01:21, 05 July 14
Unfortunately the only games compatible with it are Dizzy games ;)
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: CraigsBar on 11:38, 05 July 14
Quote from: beaker on 01:21, 05 July 14
Unfortunately the only games compatible with it are Dizzy games ;)


LOL!!
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Neil79 on 12:49, 05 July 14
Quote from: beaker on 01:21, 05 July 14
Unfortunately the only games compatible with it are Dizzy games ;)


Awesome  :laugh: :laugh:
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Gryzor on 19:12, 06 July 14
Quote from: Neil79 on 01:02, 05 July 14
Is every game available to play through the HxC?


Of course. You just convert all the dsk file syou have into the HFE format with the software provided (supports muss conversion) and it will read them all.


Word of caution: better put your HFE files into subdirectories - having hundreds of files to wade through becomes cumbersome. So use subdirs like 0-9,A,B and so on.
Word of caution (bis): HFE files as shown in the HxC manager on your CPC are NOT sorted alphabetically, but rather by date - files added last will be shown first. That's how files are organised on SD cards from what I understand, so unless you want to end up with everything mixed up, first finalise the file organisation on your PC and THEN copy them over to the SD. Alternatively, there are programs that can touch the files' dates on an SD card in alphabetical order so that you see them in, erm, alphabetical order. Do a search here on the forum, it's been discussed before...
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Neil79 on 11:16, 07 July 14
^ Great cheers!


Anyhoo my HxC device arrived, but guess what still waiting on the bloody cables! This is why I really feel the creator should sell packages  :(
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: marioweezer on 11:47, 07 July 14
I agree with you Neil79 - it's a great device but it would be nice if it came with the ribbon cable, power cable, etc. I'm fairly new to the CPC scene so it's been a real learning curve trying to figure out where to buy all the extras from!
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Bryce on 11:59, 07 July 14
As mentioned before. The HxC isn't a CPC device, it works on hundreds of devices, which all need different cables / power solutions. It would be completely impractical to offer kits for every device it can be connected to.

Bryce.
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Neil79 on 13:09, 07 July 14

Quote from: marioweezer on 11:47, 07 July 14I agree with you Neil79 - it's a great device but it would be nice if it came with the ribbon cable, power cable, etc. I'm fairly new to the CPC scene so it's been a real learning curve trying to figure out where to buy all the extras from!


Yep



Quote from: Bryce on 11:59, 07 July 14
As mentioned before. The HxC isn't a CPC device, it works on hundreds of devices, which all need different cables / power solutions. It would be completely impractical to offer kits for every device it can be connected to.

Bryce.



Considering you need to test these devices on other hardware which all have different cables/power etc I don't see how it's impractical, it's just more beneficial to the buyer if given the option. I would've purchased it much sooner had it come with the kit. And yes I know it's not a CPC device
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Bryce on 13:33, 07 July 14
Why would he need to test the devices on other hardware? When he developed it he probably tried it on a few devices, but after that, I doubt he's connecting them to anything but one PC set up to test them. It was very helpful of Jeff to include specific detailed instructions for the Amstrad, but if he offers cables for the CPC, then he'd soon be asked for cables for Keyboard X, Oscilloscope Y and Sewing machine Z. Where would it end?

It was designed to be Shugart compatible, most of the other machines that it works on have been reported by users and not all tested by Jeff. If you are selling that many devices, you want to have a simple process of packing the same contents every time, adding an address and off it goes. Not checking whether this time it needs cable A or cable B included.

Bryce.
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Gryzor on 16:30, 07 July 14
Indeed - plus, I'm pretty sure the percentage of HxC devices sold for use with CPCs is very, very small compared to the total. Heck, I use mine with a CPC, a CPC Plus and a Schneider (different connectors, then), an Amiga and an Atari ST (whose cable is a bitch to make, so extra thanks to Bryce...)
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Neil79 on 19:32, 07 July 14
My make shift container for the HxC using a plastic package which used to have an 60GB EVO SSD drive ;). Granted it's not the best but it will keep it from being damaged or scratched on the table



Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Nich on 20:16, 07 July 14
Quote from: Gryzor on 19:12, 06 July 14
Word of caution (bis): HFE files as shown in the HxC manager on your CPC are NOT sorted alphabetically, but rather by date - files added last will be shown first. That's how files are organised on SD cards from what I understand, so unless you want to end up with everything mixed up, first finalise the file organisation on your PC and THEN copy them over to the SD. Alternatively, there are programs that can touch the files' dates on an SD card in alphabetical order so that you see them in, erm, alphabetical order. Do a search here on the forum, it's been discussed before...
Here is a link to Gryzor's recommendations (http://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/games/games-for-hxc/msg49765/#msg49765) for programs to sort directories.

I'll just add that I use a little Windows program called DriveSort (http://www.anerty.net/software/file/DriveSort.php) for this purpose.
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Bryce on 20:46, 07 July 14
Quote from: Gryzor on 16:30, 07 July 14
Indeed - plus, I'm pretty sure the percentage of HxC devices sold for use with CPCs is very, very small compared to the total. Heck, I use mine with a CPC, a CPC Plus and a Schneider (different connectors, then), an Amiga and an Atari ST (whose cable is a bitch to make, so extra thanks to Bryce...)

The best solution for an ST would be an old SF314 case. That has the right header inside, but it's a bit big just for a HxC, it would only make sense if you could keep a real floppy inside too.

Bryce.

Gesendet von meinem Motorola DynaTEC 8000X mit Tapatalk 2.

Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Neil79 on 21:08, 07 July 14
Is there a step by step guide of what to do when the HxC is all connected?


I have all the *.dsk files from gamebase and have made subdirectories and currently batch converting them all to HFE


EDIT : No matter found it Guide for HxC SD Version - CPCWiki (http://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/Guide_for_HxC_SD_Version)  :laugh:
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Neil79 on 23:42, 07 July 14
Not sure what happened but HxC batch convert just made tons of duplicates increasing my size usage to 3GB over!


Checked the directory of originals and it came up like game_HFE_HFE.HFE with the proper ones being GAME.HFE


Yet the directories A-Z didn't have that problem, spent all night fixing it  >:(
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Token on 00:20, 08 July 14
Save the HLE files into another folder.  ;D
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Neil79 on 00:22, 08 July 14
Quote from: Token on 00:20, 08 July 14
Save the HLE files into another folder.  ;D


Wasn't any need to at first as it created the HFE files just fine, but in a subdiretory of a subdirectory it didn't like it and created many many duplicates


All sorted now though, just need to wait for the cables  :laugh:


F:\A\
F:\A\Originals
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Gryzor on 08:01, 08 July 14
Yes, the software does that when you tell it to convert a directory - if you set that directory as the target folder you create a loop as it finds the newly created files and processes them again...

As a workflow, I prefer first converting them all from one folder to a new one and then split them into alphabetical folders.

@Nich (http://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=53) : ah, DriveSort is what I use myself these days :D
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Gryzor on 08:19, 08 July 14
Just updated the wiki page with the information discussed here.
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Neil79 on 10:38, 08 July 14
 8)
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Neil79 on 18:47, 08 July 14
QUESTION :


I'm looking to buy an SD HC 8GB for the HxC, but does it matter what make and speed?


Maplins UK are selling an 8GB maplins branded one for £8.99 and an 8GB upto 20m/s maplins branded £12.99


EDIT : Sorted got this one below for £7 through Ebay :)  : SanDisk Ultra 8 GB SD HC" Card upto 30mb/s
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: chinnyhill10 on 00:45, 09 July 14
Bit late but NEVER buy cheap SD cards via Ebay. Always use a reputable supplier.


There are a great number of forgeries out there, especially on Ebay where well known brands are involved. Companies in China knocking out visually extremely convincing forgeries and flooding the market with them.


I use SD cards professionally and the only cards I currently buy for that purpose are Sandisk Extreme cards from Amazon who are themselves supplied direct by Sandisk. Are they they best deal? No. But frankly I don't care as I want the piece of mind that I am getting original media.


My HxC has an 8GB Sandisk Ultra card in it.
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Bryce on 08:31, 09 July 14
SandDisk are the only ones guaranteed to be 100% to spec, so they should work on any properly coded device. As far as speed is concerned, don't spend extra money for a Super-duper-hi-speed-extreme x3Million or whatever, it will have no effect on the speed of the HxC.

Bryce.
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Neil79 on 12:11, 09 July 14
Quote from: chinnyhill10 on 00:45, 09 July 14
Bit late but NEVER buy cheap SD cards via Ebay. Always use a reputable supplier.



Agreed, same thing is said for the Amiga CF cards as well.


However this was purchased because it was brand new ( second hand purchase )
QuoteSandisk SD memory Card 8 GB Full HD Speed Up To 30 MB/s 200 XBrand New ) reduced the price to £6.99 for a kick sale!


Hopefully it's an original, but nothing was purchased from Hong Kong, straight in the UK  :-X
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Neil79 on 12:13, 09 July 14
Quote from: Bryce on 08:31, 09 July 14
SandDisk are the only ones guaranteed to be 100% to spec, so they should work on any properly coded device. As far as speed is concerned, don't spend extra money for a Super-duper-hi-speed-extreme x3Million or whatever, it will have no effect on the speed of the HxC.

Bryce.


Thought as much  :D


SanDisk are great SD cards
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Jeff_HxC2001 on 18:56, 09 July 14
Quote from: Neil79 on 12:13, 09 July 14

Thought as much  :D


SanDisk are great SD cards

This vary a lot... Some series are very good (SanDisk Extreme Series for example, got one since years now and still have very good RW performance). Some SanDisk low cost series are very very bad : Can be destroyed very easily and with very bad WR performance.
Take care when you choose an SD Card (or any others flash based media...)

I have a lot of kind of SD here ;)
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Neil79 on 14:34, 10 July 14
It all arrived, can't wait to test it tonight  8)
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Gryzor on 19:27, 10 July 14
Quote from: Bryce on 08:31, 09 July 14
SandDisk are the only ones guaranteed to be 100% to spec, so they should work on any properly coded device. As far as speed is concerned, don't spend extra money for a Super-duper-hi-speed-extreme x3Million or whatever, it will have no effect on the speed of the HxC.

Bryce.


Actually my Class 20 pushed my Z80 to 6MHz, so there.
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Neil79 on 20:12, 10 July 14
Having trouble getting it to work, it's all plugged in correctly I believe...


When I first start it all up, the red light just flickers like crazy and when i type run"Hxc it says "bad command"


I've saved a config file with "enable autoboot mode" and "force loading of autoboot.hfe" from the cpc manager
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Token on 20:51, 10 July 14
Set the jumpers on the slim, 1 & 2 ON (up), other all OFF.
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Neil79 on 20:55, 10 July 14
Quote from: Token on 20:51, 10 July 14
Set the jumpers on the slim, 1 & 2 ON (up), other all OFF.


OMG YOU'RE THE BOSS!


It worked, huge thanks :D
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Neil79 on 21:00, 10 July 14
yay Oh mummy!


do do do do  :laugh: :laugh:
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Neil79 on 21:08, 10 July 14
As I was helped by Token  :)  Here's my guide for newbies like myself with the HxC slim


0) Buy one of these to save the hastle after buying an HxC
AMSTRAD/SPECTRUM +3 KIT:RIBBON CABLE AND POWER CABLE FOR 3,5" DRIVE OR HxC EMU | (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/121373461801?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649)


1) Make sure that the red stripe is on the right side when coming out of the Amstrad and on left side when going into the HxC SD SLIM


2) Make sure both switch 1 and switch 2 are both ON and all the rest are off


3) Make subdirectories for games on the SD card, 8GB is recommended ( Label them A-Z ) with games A in A, B in B and they have all been converted to *.HFE


4) Download the manager here and extract to SD card
HxC Floppy Emulator Manager - NoRecess (http://www.norecess.net/hxc-floppy-emulator-manager.html)


5) Load the SDCard HxC Floppy Emulator and set "Enable auto boot mode" and "Force Loading Autoboot.HFE at power up " - SAVE CONFIG FILE


6) Place SDcard in, boot the Amstrad and everything else :p Then do Run"HXC


7) Homebrew games or music can be run after slotted with the command Run"Disc
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Token on 21:08, 10 July 14

It can be a pain but that card is very powerfull, you can use so many hardware, like old samplers etc. I'm waiting for Gotek but won't sell my slim.
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Neil79 on 21:18, 10 July 14
How do I clear the slots and play a two disk game?
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Token on 21:34, 10 July 14
Quote from: Neil79 on 21:18, 10 July 14
How do I clear the slots and play a two disk game?


[DEL]




[CTRL] + left or right


[H] for HELP


Press the button more than a sec to come back to slot 0
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: CraigsBar on 21:37, 10 July 14
Quote from: Neil79 on 21:18, 10 July 14
How do I clear the slots and play a two disk game?


Relaunch the HXC Manager from either the Autoboot or |hxc


this will then allow all 15 disk slots to be reassigned. your 2 disc game can then be mapped to 2,3 or 4 slots and the buttons used to swap between them.....


Or was the question more related to the Gotek? In which case just get an HxC ;)


Craig
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Neil79 on 21:45, 10 July 14

Quote from: Token on 21:34, 10 July 14[DEL][CTRL] + left or right [H] for HELPPress the button more than a sec to come back to slot 0


Cheers ^

Quote from: CraigsBar on 21:37, 10 July 14

Relaunch the HXC Manager from either the Autoboot or |hxc


this will then allow all 15 disk slots to be reassigned. your 2 disc game can then be mapped to 2,3 or 4 slots and the buttons used to swap between them.....


Or was the question more related to the Gotek? In which case just get an HxC ;)


Craig



So if I'm playing a game and it tells me to insert another disk, I just click the little tiny black switch on the HxC slim?
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: CraigsBar on 21:53, 10 July 14
Quote from: Neil79 on 21:45, 10 July 14


Cheers ^




So if I'm playing a game and it tells me to insert another disk, I just click the little tiny black switch on the HxC slim?



yep. the button will go up to the next slot.
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Neil79 on 21:54, 10 July 14
Quote from: CraigsBar on 21:53, 10 July 14

yep. the button will go up to the next slot.


Awesome! :D Cheers
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Neil79 on 22:17, 10 July 14
EDIT:Stupid me


Run"disc


not


Run"disk


:P
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Neil79 on 23:41, 10 July 14
Meh I was doing it right in the first place! Not sure what's going on :(


Ok I load up the HxC manager, select R-type disc A in slot 0 , disc B in slot 1 then quit and save.


Running the command Run"disc and it says it can't find disc, typing in cat and it shows a dot and a 0 file size, same with the second disc.


If I press the switch on the HxC device to go through both discs and HxC then back to slot 0, the game shows up fine  >:(


( This seems to be a problem with the two disk games especially homebrew and demo scene only )
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Neil79 on 17:05, 11 July 14
Anyone?  ;D
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Gryzor on 22:26, 13 July 14
Weird... which firmare are you using on the HxC?
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Neil79 on 22:31, 13 July 14
V2.1.02.40 I believe
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Neil79 on 22:38, 13 July 14
I'm now getting a Drive A: Read Fail, when typing in CAT :(  - Fixed that, the HxC device needed a reboot
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Neil79 on 19:28, 14 July 14
Jeff gave me some help on the official HxC forums!



After selecting this


(http://s13.postimg.org/esrfeonwn/Clipboard02.jpg)


and using SDCard_HxC_Floppy_Emulator_Manager V2.5 ( NOT 3.0 )


So far it's working!


8) 8)


It actually looks better and is easier to read the files in the manager as well :)
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Gryzor on 21:02, 14 July 14
Really? Why not v3? Can you give the link to the thread?
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Neil79 on 21:14, 14 July 14
Quote from: Gryzor on 21:02, 14 July 14
Really? Why not v3? Can you give the link to the thread?


http://torlus.com/floppy/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=1450 (http://torlus.com/floppy/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=1450)


"Why not V3"


Errr because it would show the game up as "blank" and wouldn't load after being slot and saved , whereas V2.5 would  :blank:


V2.5 just works and is easier on the eyes, can read the listing better
Title: Re: No HxC Rev C available?
Post by: Gryzor on 21:18, 14 July 14
Heh, no, this is the symptom, I meant what the underlying problem is. I'll go take a look :)
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