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Disc drives

Started by arnoldemu, 13:31, 11 August 09

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arnoldemu

I need to test my disc loader on some different setups.

I am specifically looking for somebody who has a 3.5" disc drive connected which is permanently forced to be ready.. e.g. such as a pc drive modified for cpc.

Also is there anyone who has 3.5" disc drives for both drive A and for drive B?

I am writing some code to detect which drives exist and to detect if they are double sided or not and I need to test this on other setups.
(I am currently using a cpc6128, 3" drive A, and 3.5" drive B which has normal ready).

If you can help, send me a private message or reply to this post.
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ynot zer0

#1
this version of the forum seems to think I don't exist (hence I'm shown as Guest)----
I have a 6128 with a 3.5" disc drive that has a A/B switch - click the link and you'll see a photo of the back of the drive.

I'm happy to test any code for you - drop me an email with your app & I'll give it a go (a test spec would also be useful, to know exactly what it is you want to test and then I can record the results more accurately for you)


thanks
ynot.zer0

Devilmarkus

Quote from: ynot zer0 on 20:40, 11 August 09
this version of the forum seems to think I don't exist (hence I'm shown as Guest)

I hope, that you remember, that you need to login as "tonypig777"
Cheers,
Markus
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Ynot.zer0

(I'll try that posting again - thanks for reminding me who I am!)  ;D

I have a 6128 with a 3.5" disc drive that has a A/B switch - click the link and you'll see a photo of the back of the drive.

I'm happy to test any code for you - drop me an email with your app & I'll give it a go (a test spec would also be useful, to know exactly what it is you want to test and then I can record the results more accurately for you)

mr_lou

Quote from: arnoldemu on 13:31, 11 August 09
I am specifically looking for somebody who has a 3.5" disc drive connected which is permanently forced to be ready.. e.g. such as a pc drive modified for cpc.

Also is there anyone who has 3.5" disc drives for both drive A and for drive B?

I have a CPC464 with a 3.5" drive plugged in as my A drive, and a 3" drive as my B drive. The 3.5" drive was taken from a PC and I'm using some special cable I soldered pr instructions at the wiki, so that it works with my 3" controller.
If you mail me a DSK it's easy for me to transfer to a real 3.5" disk for testing. My mail is mr_lou (at) vip dot cybercity dot dk

P.S.: The speakers on the picture are magnetically shielded, so don't worry. ;)

Targhan

Hi,

There's a bug on CPC, it's not possible to detect if the drive is 3" or 3,5". There's indeed a flag in ST3 (bit 3) that *should* allow to do this, but it doesn't work, and gives the same value as the bit 6 (Write Protected).

The only way I found to detect if the drive is double sided or not is to read a sector on head 0, and compare with the same sector on head 1. If they're equal, your drive *may* be single-sided (but if you're working on a double-sided demo/game, it's more reliable since you know the data aren't the same from one side to another).

Targhan/Arkos.
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arnoldemu

Quote from: Targhan on 22:59, 12 August 09
Hi,

There's a bug on CPC, it's not possible to detect if the drive is 3" or 3,5". There's indeed a flag in ST3 (bit 3) that *should* allow to do this, but it doesn't work, and gives the same value as the bit 6 (Write Protected).

The only way I found to detect if the drive is double sided or not is to read a sector on head 0, and compare with the same sector on head 1. If they're equal, your drive *may* be single-sided (but if you're working on a double-sided demo/game, it's more reliable since you know the data aren't the same from one side to another).

Targhan/Arkos.
#
Hi Targhan, thankyou for the tip, but I already know not to trust this bit. It's not a bug, I think more that the cpc 3" drive doesn't support it for cost reasons.

But looking at the intel 8272 docs it says
"Write Protect/Two Side: Senses Write Protect status in Read/Write mode and Two side media in Seek mode."
So I will try it but I don't think I will have any success ;)
So I need to do a seek and then ask for the state.
I will try it but I don't expect I will find any useful result.

I was already planning to similar to what you suggest :) Try a read and then detect it from that.

I am working on a test program to check some timings too and then I will send it out for people to try. :)

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My website with coding examples: Unofficial Amstrad WWW Resource

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