USIfAC II:Convert a PC or USB stick to Amstrad HDD,access dsk's,and many more!

[Brocky]

heres some interesting observations with REV7a

i put USIFAC II in a slot on my MX4 board..alone, no other addon cards, powered up the CPC and gave the out &fbd2,5 command and rebooted.
it boots and i can see usifac and usb are detected, cpc reboots itself and hangs at the end of the amstrad licence info. it just hangs there and doesnt go any further...

but heres the interesting thing....
if i plug the M4 board into another slot alongside the usifac on the MX4 and boot, then the 2nd boot IS successful!! no hang on boot! and USB is perfectly usable!
now, i do have 6128 roms loaded up in M4, (i also have a modified 6128 rom onboard).. and if i CAT i get M4 files |CAT gives usifac files (cant use both at same time usifac overwrites M4s |CD command! but roms loaded on M4 work fine with usifac)
EDIT: after switching cpc off, and powering back up, now its gone into a bootloop... if i change the slot the usifac is in, i can sometimes get it to boot with USB working, but after power down and back up, it goes into bootloop! (with m4)..removing USB stick allows it to boot normally..

[GUNHED]

Eventually I started working with my new USIfAC II (7) yesterday. 
And it seems all to work well. 
There are so much features!
Great product! :-)))))))))

However as newbie to USIfAC II, may I ask some questions please...

- Can I use a ROM expansion together with USIfAC II? Which one(s)?
- Is the source code of the ROM available?

I would be especially interested in a list of compatible expansions.

Any help is appreciated. 

[wolfgang]

Hi,

I just noticed that my USIFAC II's (I have two of them) don't work with the latest Software  USIFACII_REV7.hex and 18f47q10_7_.hex but they do work fine with Version 18f47q10_6g.hex or older ones.

I use a Pickit 3 Programmer and Microchip MPLAB X IPE v6.00 Software to flash them, works fine.

Its not a problem (I normally use ULIFAC anyway) I just wondered if anybody else has noticed?

 After flashing PIC with REV7 fw, first time you power on Amstrad, you should give out &fbd2,5 to set board's Rom number.  On previous fw versions, if no number was set it defaults to 5 (that's why it worked without needing to set rom no.), but as this might cause problems, i've decide it to remove it and make setting of rom number after flashing the PIC mandatory. Of course setting rom number (out &fbd2,x)  needs to be done only once, after flashing PIC (after that, rom no. is saved into PIC's EEPROM), also you might need to do it again, if for some reason you don't get USIfAC's boot message on screen.

Hi,

many thanks for the info (it was probably mentioned somewhere before already, but I did not remember), changed firmware to Rev 7 and gave Output, now everything works perfect.

[ikonsgr]

- Can I use a ROM expansion together with USIfAC II? Which one(s)?
- Is the source code of the ROM available?

  When you say "rom expansion" you mean rom board? Obviously you can use my RAM/ROM board, but possibly other rom boards might be compatible too.

[ikonsgr]

now, i do have 6128 roms loaded up in M4, (i also have a modified 6128 rom onboard)...

Perhaps, this is why USIfAC works with your "Sticky cpc464" when you also plug M4 board: The 6128 roms probably mix up USIfAC, to "think" it's connected to a CPC6128, so everything works ok (as with a normal CPC 6128).

removing USB stick allows it to boot normally..

Did you also try to disable "auto usb" (by giving OUT &FBD1,93) and see if that works too?After all, the only "nuisance" would be to give an extra |USB after boot :-)

[Brocky]

now, i do have 6128 roms loaded up in M4, (i also have a modified 6128 rom onboard)...

Perhaps, this is why USIfAC works with your "Sticky cpc464" when you also plug M4 board: The 6128 roms probably mix up USIfAC, to "think" it's connected to a CPC6128, so everything works ok (as with a normal CPC 6128).

removing USB stick allows it to boot normally..

Did you also try to disable "auto usb" (by giving OUT &FBD1,93) and see if that works too?After all, the only "nuisance" would be to give an extra |USB after boot :-)

strange thing is i have patched 6128 ROM onboard, and the behaviour is different with M4 and 6128 ROMs loaded...and if i go back to original 464 ROM, it acts the same as the 6128 ROM, but with the 464 limitations (strings!)

and yes i also disabled auto USB, and it still works. i can live without the auto USB function..


as for the compatability with other devices, the ROM and WIFI side of M4 works fine, the only issue ive found is i cant change directory on M4 while USIFAC is connected, i can access and load files if they are on the root of the M4s SD card, with normal CAT command, |CAT lists usifac files) id like to maybe change one of the devices |CD RSX command labels/names to another name to see if both can run side by side without any command clashes..
also the universal 512kb ram card seems to work fine with usifac

[ikonsgr]

@Brocky very nice information about USIfAC II compatibility with other boards, thanks for sharing! ;-)

[ikonsgr]

I made some changes and update the 7a firmware, that might have better results with "sticky 464".
So, anyone having the "hang-up upon boot/reset" on a CPC464, try to update with this firmware (REV7a, for the moment, NOT an official firmware):
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/xob716tul3sbpjk40orkg/18f47q10_7a_.zip?rlkey=1o9acs1alj4f2i9vw1sfk0xf0&dl=0
Note this is the plain hex, WITHOUT the bootloader, so you can use either PICKIT to update, or if you have REV3. board, you can use the simpler method with the usb2serial cable too.

[GUNHED]

- Can I use a ROM expansion together with USIfAC II? Which one(s)?
- Is the source code of the ROM available?

  When you say "rom expansion" you mean rom board? Obviously you can use my RAM/ROM board, but possibly other rom boards might be compatible too.

Well, yes, ROM-expansions like X-MEM, MegaFlash, FlashGordon, M4, SF2/3, ROM-RAM-Box, RAMcard or just a simple EPROM expansion. Everything where we can have expansion ROMs constantly. 

Maybe the users have done this before. So before I do all the experiments by myself I'd like to ask.

Reason? I want to do software located in ROM being able to use the USB stick.

[XeNoMoRPH]

new version !!!

LiliCPC is a set of software and loaders in Basic that makes it easy to use your Amstrad CPC or CPC+ models in "console mode", allowing you to load digitized backup copies of your games or applications quickly and comfortably, requiring a USB device or MicroSD card connected to ULIfAC/USIfAC II+Memory Exp. (@Ikonsgr) or to the M4 (@Duke).

https://shacpc.itch.io/lilicpc  ( available to download from the 24th )

[GUNHED]

First test: collaboration of USIfAC II with FlashGordon (512 KB Flash) and Gemini (2 MB RAM).

Result: Works, but the ROM in FlashGordon, which is also used by the USIfAC II ROM (I mean the same ROM select / ROM number), must be deleted to &FF in FlashGordon.

Note: The ROM number of the USIfAC II ROM can be set with OUT &FBD2,nr 
For example it can also be set to 33. But, can it be deactivated?

Has anyone else ever used the USIfAC II with a flash card / ROM expansion?
Please share your successful experiences. 

[ikonsgr]

First test: collaboration of USIfAC II with FlashGordon (512 KB Flash) and Gemini (2 MB RAM).

Result: Works, but the ROM in FlashGordon, which is also used by the USIfAC II ROM (I mean the same ROM select / ROM number), must be deleted to &FF in FlashGordon.
Note: The ROM number of the USIfAC II ROM can be set with OUT &FBD2,nr
For example it can also be set to 33. But, can it be deactivated?
Has anyone else ever used the USIfAC II with a flash card / ROM expansion?
Please share your successful experiences. 

About USIfAC II deactivation, you can indeed disable completely USIfAC II by giving a simple: OUT &FBD1,100
You can then reset Amstrad and you will get no boot msg, and apart from serial port, everything else is disabled (this is practically like "demoting" board to the old USIfAC I ,which had only a serial port).
You can also re-enable board by giving: OUT &FBD1,101 and then either reset amstrad or give out &fbd1,0 (which resets USIfAC II board).
About Flashgordon you should use ron number 3 (OUT &FBD2,3 for max compatibility), but if you still have problems @poulette73  found a solution: https://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/amstrad-cpc-hardware/usifac-iimake-your-pc-or-usb-stick-an-hdd-for-amstrad-access-dsk-and-many-more!/msg219228/#msg219228

[Brocky]

@ikonsgr is this new 7a any different from the last modified rev7 we played with a week or so ago? or does it have some other changes too?

[ikonsgr]

@ikonsgr is this new 7a any different from the last modified rev7 we played with a week or so ago? or does it have some other changes too?

It has some changes in initialization code of the board,i found out that in some cases, FDC emulation was disabled after initial boot of Amstrad,so i modified the code to ensure that FDC emulation will be active upon all boot process.
  @Josip who had boot problems with his CPC 464 and ULIfAC already confirmed better behavior, so maybe the same will happen with USIfAC II and "Sticky CPC464" too.

[Brocky]

@ikonsgr is this new 7a any different from the last modified rev7 we played with a week or so ago? or does it have some other changes too?

It has some changes in initialization code of the board,i found out that in some cases, FDC emulation was disabled after initial boot of Amstrad,so i modified the code to ensure that FDC emulation will be active upon all boot process.
  @Josip who had boot problems with his CPC 464 and ULIfAC already confirmed better behavior, so maybe the same will happen with USIfAC II and "Sticky CPC464" too.

thanks...ill try it out tomorrow

[Brocky]

EDIT ..sorry wrong thread...

[ikonsgr]

We have passed the 500 limit for both boards, 400 USifAC II+ 105 ULIfAC sold worldwide!

[ford68]

...and I'm proud to be one of those users soon 

When I read this thread, both boards seem to be a really good addition for the CPC's...
...and shame on me, since yesterday I don't know anything about this boards...

Best regards to this fantastic community...and of course a big THX to John...

[GUNHED]

Congratulation to 400 units of USIfAC II - this makes it the 2nd most sold expansion for the CPC during the last 30 years!!! 

[ikonsgr]

I just upload a new firmware (rev.7b), i made some modifications to the usb device initialization code (affects |USB and "auto usb). If your board works ok, you don't need to update, but if you have booting problems you can try and see if there is any change in behavior.

[Devlin]

I just upload a new firmware (rev.7b), i made some modifications to the usb device initialization code (affects |USB and "auto usb). If your board works ok, you don't need to update, but if you have booting problems you can try and see if there is any change in behavior.

Works great on the 464, but on my 6128, I can't mount disk images at all and I have to reset the cpc to get usb or real disk capability back.

I also noticed that even following the instructions I cannot *at all* get the usifac2 to be recognised by tinymultibootloader+ to program by serial, meaning I had to do chip swapping on my newer usifac2 to update it with my older rev board and the pickit3.

I also found a really rather lovely utility on CPC-Power while "random surfing" - a little BASIC listing which lets you use strings on 464 as if it were a 6128 - may be useful to those who don't particularly want to switch out firmwares or can't for whatever reason. This is a great excuse to ask for an "auto-run" feature because i'd love to have this just run on start-up

https://www.cpc-power.com/index.php?page=detail&num=13720

[jesusdelmas]

Wow this is really cool, is there still time to buy one USifAC? I would be interrsted 

[ikonsgr]

Works great on the 464, but on my 6128, I can't mount disk images at all and I have to reset the cpc to get usb or real disk capability back.

You mean that with previous fw worked fine and with rev7b you can't mount dsk images on CPC 6128? That's really doesn't make any sense, the modification had nothing to do with dsk image support and also i never heard of any problem ragarding CPC6128 before... 

I also noticed that even following the instructions I cannot *at all* get the usifac2 to be recognised by tinymultibootloader+ to program by serial, meaning I had to do chip swapping on my newer usifac2 to update it with my older rev board and the pickit3.

First, make sure that usb2serial has proper drivers installed and works ok, many cheap cable adapters (having 2303AT/HX chip) are not working right with newer windows 10/11. Then, make sure that Tx, Rx cables are connected correctly, and finally don't forget that, after pressing " Check Device" or "Write Device" button on TBL utility, you should also press the reset button on USIfAC board too.

I also found a really rather lovely utility on CPC-Power while "random surfing" - a little BASIC listing which lets you use strings on 464 as if it were a 6128 - may be useful to those who don't particularly want to switch out firmwares or can't for whatever reason. This is a great excuse to ask for an "auto-run" feature because i'd love to have this just run on start-up
https://www.cpc-power.com/index.php?page=detail&num=13720

That's really very nice and small utility for CPC464 owners! I'll see if i could integrate it in USifAC's rom too. 

[ikonsgr]

Wow this is really cool, is there still time to buy one USifAC? I would be interrsted 

Give me a note to ikonsgr745@hotmail.com to arrange it.

[eto]

I tested firmware 7b it with 2 CPCs that had issues before and if anything, it made things worse at least on the older USIFAC board (no DSK swap button:

During boot, the 464 is stuck after the initial boot message forever. If I press reset very, very often, in some rare case, I will get the USIFAC boot message, however USB is not available then. I need to type |usb (which disables USB) and then |usb which enables it again, and then the USB drive is avaible.

I have another Schneider 464 with tall keys which accepts the USIFAC immediately.

I have also tested with a more recent version of the board (with dsk swap button).

There it's a bit different: The CPC boots and hangs. Then I press reset and it restarts and recognizes the USIFAC. Then it performs immediately a reset and hangs again. But THEN if I press reset, it boots correctly with active USIFAC.