Pros & Cons HxC SD-Interface

[Cpcmaniaco]

Look at this good french modding :

http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/9587/photoqoc.jpg

From the french forum :

http://cpcrulez.fr/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=100&start=120

[Gryzor]

This is just great.... wish I could do it myself!

[Bryce]

The cut-outs are a bit rough (around the buttons) and the disc-drive looks like it's a fake PC 3.5 bay-cover, but a good idea.

Bryce.

[TFM]

May one of you friendly guys here can test the SD Card Floppy emulator with FutureOS? Would be great to know if it can read and especially write files. Please help me with this, I can't test it by myself.

[Gryzor]

Why wouldn't it? I mean, it's supposed to appear as a real drive...

[jsa]

Just quick stupid question: any experiences with 6128+ and HxC SD version?
(Reason why i'am asking: Just upgraded my PC and new one does not have floppy disk controller anymore  )

[CPCIak]

Hi jsa, you don't need a floppy controller in your pc in order to work with the SD interface!
The floppy cable is connected to the cpc - not to the pc.
All you need is a cardreader

Please have a look at the user manual
http://hxc2001.free.fr/floppy_drive_emulator/SDCard_HxC_Floppy_Emulator_User_Manual.pdf

[Cholo]

May   one of you friendly guys here can test the SD Card Floppy emulator with   FutureOS? Would be great to know if it can read and especially write   files. Please help me with this, I can't test it by myself.

A very good question indeed. I dont have the FutureOS roms in my cpc. But the software seems to correctly convert the 800kb large DSK files to HFE and back to DSK again too.

Just quick stupid question: any experiences with 6128+ and HxC SD version?
(Reason why i'am asking: Just upgraded my PC and new one does not have floppy disk controller anymore  )

I dont have a 6128+ to test it with, but since they are selling a 6128+ cable at:
http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/urban-retro/
.. it probably works ok 

Been using the new firmware 1.1.1.0 for some days now and it works ok. Didnt notice anything different from the previous one tho. So only limit is still that you cant reformat floppies from one format to another.

[robcfg]

I have tested the SD interface on a CPC6128 with the Orion Prime french image and it works beatifully well.


I also managed to save the game and load it again.


Nice piece of hardware indeed.

[CPCIak]

13/06/2010: Firmware SD HxCFloppyEmulator v1.1.2.3
    - Atari ST/STE/Falcon :"Write protect" disk change emulation implemented (disk change detection is now working correctly).
    - Direct Access mode : Density select signal set in the right state. (Atari ST computer with HD able FDC)
    - HFE file format : new parameter : "Write allowed" byte.
    - Some code optimizations (speed & size).

Does this mean formatting (data <-> system) is possible now?

[Cholo]

Does this mean formatting (data <-> system) is possible now?

Sadly, i noticed no difference using the new firmware and software. Like: Still cant copy a simple data disc on top of a cpm one. Note this is ONLY when copying to the SD HxC .. because it works brilliantly when you copy from the SD HxC to a real  drive. Also there is no troubles copying files back and forth. So its only when you deside to make backups of your real discs that you need to make sure that the destination HFE is the same format/no. tracks that you copy from.

[Gryzor]

That's a really minor niggle, ain't it?

[Cholo]

That's a really minor niggle, ain't it?

True, true.

Most people would probably not even notice this as "primary" use of this device is probably to copy discs PC -> CPC (aka play games or similar). And CPC -> PC also works as long as the format is the same (or you copy files). And its easy to make as many empty data or system or large track disc as you want using a emulator, managedsk or similar and put them on the SD card like data01.hfe, data02.hfe, data03.hfe, system01.hfe, system02.hfe ...

So making backups of you old data/system discs is no troubles even tho a bit incovenient having to check format first.

Workaround: Use Xexor or similar tool to archive your disc as a single compressed file. Like: "archive floppy01" will write a floppy01.arc file on the destination floppy. Once the hfe with the file on has been extracted to dsk, just "extract floppy01" will write the floppy back inside a emulator on pc. This works with most normal discs independant on format or size. Still, you wont be able to make backups of most of your protected games.

Again, the Hxc SD is a really cool tool and it works really great, so dont let my rantings stop anyone from getting one (its 10 trillion times easier than ye ol' cable transfers). 3 years ago I would have sold my own mother to get one of these 

[Shredder11]

I received my SD HxC a few weeks ago now; I got it for my Atari STE and Falcon 030 machines, but seeing as it also supported other computers from my youth such as the Amstrad CPC6128 and Sinclair ZX Spectrum +3 128K, I ended up buying a CPC6128  and +3 128K along with lots of extra hardware for them.  I've not had chance to use it yet though as I am trying to find decent SDHC cards that are not a rip off, although I missed out on a Sandisk Ultra 32GB card on Ebay that sold for £41.  At first I planned on buying a few 4GB cards but I now think a single 32GB would be better, with each computer in a seperate folder etc.  It's good to see that the developer listens to his customers and then improves the firmware;  I suggested that he made image selection easier by implementing an on-screen method, and a week or two later this was in the next firmware.  Prior to this you could only select images via the hardware buttons on the board.

By the way in my youth I actually had the CPC464 in 1987 and I bought approx 500 games for that.  I also had a ZX Spectrum 48K (rubber keys) in 1983 which was replaced numerous times under warranty, before in 1985 I ended up with a +48K as they had no more rubber key models.

Anyway once I have bought a good SDHC card for it, I will report back here on how well it works with my CPC6128 (and Spectrum +3 128K if anyone is interested).

[Gryzor]

A 030... ooooooh I want one...

[Shredder11]

Hehehe I have two Falcon 030 at present, both with 68882 FPU and one with 14MB and lots of Steinberg and SoundPool hardware.  Actually a little potted history of me now...  Once the 1980s had ended and the 1990s began, my interest in being a musician took over from my gaming obsession on my CPC464 and Speccy 48K.  In 1994 I bought a Atari STE + monitor from my friend as he needed the funds towards his dream Land Rover MkII.  The STE was ONLY used for making music with Cubase and Band-in-a-Box and then one day in December 1999, I decided to plug the STE into my portable 14" colour TV and try out a PD game I had downloaded at a friends place.  It was a fabulous pinball game called Starball and from that moment I was hooked on home micros again!  Shortly after though my uncle gave me a PC and I got my own internet connection and my interest in 1980s micros was gone.  However I still occasionally had a peek at emulation stuff but never really did anything, until in September 2008 I saw an Atari STE auction that seemed too good to pass up, so I bought it.  Since then I have bought so much stuff I am struggling to find room in the house for it all, and I am supposed to be getting the house ready to move!

I now have:

Amstrad CPC6128 + 3.5" Ext. Floppy + SD HxC Floppy Interface
Atari STE x3 + everything you can think of IDE, SCSI, scanner, video capture, 16-bit audio and so on...the list is almost endless!
Atari Falcon 030 x2 + large selection of hardware
Sinclair ZX Spectrum 48K (rubber Series 2)
Sinclair ZX81
Sinclair ZX Spectrum +3 128K
Sinclair ZX Spectrum+ 128K (black heatsink model) died a month after buying by using wrong PSU polarity
Commodore 64 (breadbin) died in summer heat the other day after only two weeks of ownership
Psion Series 3
Psion Series 3mx + 4MB RAM card + other stuff

Most of the stuff that takes up lots of room are all the addons,  cables,  adapters,  PSU, mice,  floppy disks, CD/DVD ROMs etc.

[Gryzor]

Soooo mate, how about donating one of those Falcons there to the wiki? I'll even put a virtual shrine up in your honor - heck, I'll give you the admin password!

I see we had similar tastes... though I've lost my Psion and also have some Amigas/Sam Coupe's/Enterprise64 lying around...

[Shredder11]

Oooh I dunno, your Sam Coupé and Enterprise64 are far more rare than a mere Falcon 030    However owning a Falcon 030 is a spiritual experience direct from the retro gods themselves    Actually today I may finish the job of housing a VERY noisy SCSI 10000rpm drive in a Scythe Quiet Drive enclosure, into my PC tower so that I can begin using Cubase Audio for my Falcon 030 with my studio setup.  One way or another I have used Cubase since 1990 and the Atari versions are perfect, whereas all the PC versions are bloatware of the worst order; far too complex and over specified.....I just wanna sequence some music for gods sake!    I've never done any sequencing on an CPC or Speccy though, and the Speccy I have now has a MIDI OUT port albeit with a telephone style socket and limited polyphony/channels.

[MacDeath]

Commodore 64 (breadbin) died in summer heat the other day after only two   weeks of ownership

He was probably killed by the numùerous speccies, lead by the Amstrad CPC (Speccy being an amstrad property...lol) : rebellion in Geekland...

Computers can be cruel...


You said you used Qbase...but did you achieve some YM tunes (with soundtrakers per exemple) ? as you lknow, those can be used on Speccies128 and amstrad (AY)... If so I hope you will upload them on the many AY/YM tunes databases...

[Shredder11]

YM tunes?  Nope I have never made any music with them as I am a musician in the full sense, i.e. learning instruments, arrangements and theory and studio/stage craft etc.  Tracker style stuff can be great and I respect what people do with it sometimes, but I would struggle to write music that relied upon repetitive patterns and simplistic styles.  However in my first tentative steps into learning music between 1985 and 1992, a lot of what I did would probably have been easy to convert into tracker style tunes.

[mr_lou]

My first computer-music was coded in BASIC on the CPC.
I looked up the frequencies in the back of the manuel, and wrote them down on a piece of paper on top of my cool drawing of a keyboard or piano. And then I used DATA lines to create the music. Very time consuming work...hehe.

I also had a Psion MC218. It broke. Got another one a few years later, but don't use it anymore now that phones can do a lot of the stuff. I tried the HP Jornada 720 as a replacement for my Psion, but that just didn't work out. Maybe the www.openpandora.org would work out as a decent replacement....

[Shredder11]

The Psion Series 5mx was an excellent machine.  My uncle has a few of them and I still have a Psion Series 3 and Psion Series 3mx which are also superb.

[Gryzor]

You're spot-on. For some reason I've been longing for a 030, though I never had one, nor will it offer me much my STFM/STe/MegaST/MegaSTe won't offer me. Darn I want one!

Not in a PC case though, it makes no sense for me...

But we're waaay off-topic!

Oooh I dunno, your Sam Coupé and Enterprise64 are far more rare than a mere Falcon 030    However owning a Falcon 030 is a spiritual experience direct from the retro gods themselves    Actually today I may finish the job of housing a VERY noisy SCSI 10000rpm drive in a Scythe Quiet Drive enclosure, into my PC tower so that I can begin using Cubase Audio for my Falcon 030 with my studio setup.  One way or another I have used Cubase since 1990 and the Atari versions are perfect, whereas all the PC versions are bloatware of the worst order; far too complex and over specified.....I just wanna sequence some music for gods sake!    I've never done any sequencing on an CPC or Speccy though, and the Speccy I have now has a MIDI OUT port albeit with a telephone style socket and limited polyphony/channels.

[Shredder11]

No no nooooo, my Falcon 030 is in it's original case / form factor; it is only the external SCSI drive that I am housing in a PC tower as I had a bay spare, and near enough the Falcon case.  However in the future I may decide to finally use my Eiffel PS/2 keyboard and mouse interface, and I do not want to butcher my lovely Falcon case to fit it so a tower may come into play then.  For now though my two Falcon 030 are in their Atari cases.

Right back on topic! 

[Jeff_HxC2001]

Hi,

I have just finished the port of the HxC Floppy image tool manager to CPC.



I need some feedbacks, and since it seems there some hxc floppy emu users here i post the link to this tool here :

http://hxc2001.free.fr/floppy_drive_emulator/SDCard_HxC_Floppy_Emulator_Manager.zip

NOTE : you need to update your firmware version before use it, and  the HxC Floppy must be the first disk drive.

Jeff  / HxC2001