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Author Topic: EXDOS with HxC Floppy Emulator works perfect ! (Read 25362 times)

Offline TomPhobos

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EXDOS with HxC Floppy Emulator works perfect !
« on: 2013.March.03. 00:34:49 »
Hi,

last week i tried to connect my Enterprise to a HxC Floppy Emulator (SD card version). And it works perfect :)
Today i checked it out the whole day at a retro computer where i also took some photos.
The images must be created as 3,5" IBM 720kb-disks (ok, that's no surprise ;) ), then they must be converted to the HFE-format.
It's a great way to work with disk images on the Enterprise :)

Offline BruceTanner

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Re: EXDOS with HxC Floppy Emulator works perfect !
« Reply #1 on: 2013.March.03. 09:50:02 »
That looks like a nice easy way to use SD cards!

Did you buy the HxC emulator new? Are they still available, or is it an eBay item? There is one on eBay UK at the moment but it does not have a display on top like yours.

Offline TomPhobos

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Re: EXDOS with HxC Floppy Emulator works perfect !
« Reply #2 on: 2013.March.03. 10:30:30 »
I got mine from here:
http://www.lotharek.pl/product.php?pid=48

You can also get this floppy emulators with case or other LED colors.
You also need a power supply for the HxC (it's a connection like on a real 3,5" floppy drive) and of course an EXDOS (or compatible) interface. So it's only an emulator for disk drives, not a replacement for the EXDOS-interface.

Offline TomPhobos

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Re: EXDOS with HxC Floppy Emulator works perfect !
« Reply #3 on: 2013.March.04. 14:16:50 »
OK, soon the Enterprise will be on the HxC-list of official supported computers :)

Offline Zozosoft

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Re: EXDOS with HxC Floppy Emulator works perfect !
« Reply #4 on: 2013.March.04. 14:23:56 »
Are extra sectors and tracks possible? (The most commonly used disk format in Hungary is 840K (84/10))
« Last Edit: 2013.March.04. 16:05:41 by szipucsu »

Offline TomPhobos

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Re: EXDOS with HxC Floppy Emulator works perfect !
« Reply #5 on: 2013.March.04. 14:26:19 »
Good question, do you have an example-image that i can check it out ? Actutally i tested it with the demos and the game images from the download section.

Offline Zozosoft

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Re: EXDOS with HxC Floppy Emulator works perfect !
« Reply #6 on: 2013.March.04. 14:37:04 »
Games 800K
Music 800K
(800K disks also can be used under Windows NT/2000/XP/Vista/7/8)

Offline TomPhobos

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Re: EXDOS with HxC Floppy Emulator works perfect !
« Reply #7 on: 2013.March.04. 15:40:13 »
Ah, ok, i downloaded the 720kb-images from the download-section. I didn't knew that it's more common to use 840kb-disks.
OK, i tried one of the 800kb-images. The standard-loader in windows gives me an error, "Load error! Image file not supported!". But i can also load a raw image. s you can see it has much settings. How many sectors and tracks are used by the 800kb-images ? So i can try to import them with this raw loader.

Offline Zozosoft

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Re: EXDOS with HxC Floppy Emulator works perfect !
« Reply #8 on: 2013.March.04. 15:51:02 »
Quote from: TomPhobos
How many sectors and tracks are used by the 800kb-images ?
10 sectors 80 tracks

The settings window looks very interesting! Probably also can use HD images just needed EXDOS ROM upgrade.

Offline TomPhobos

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Re: EXDOS with HxC Floppy Emulator works perfect !
« Reply #9 on: 2013.March.04. 16:13:22 »
HD-floppy images ? With the floppy emulator you can also read and write HD-PC-disks. If the format is the same that should also work.
Yes, the settings-menu is really interestings, with this you should be able to read almost every format. I can read the 800kb-image with it, also i can create an image for the emulator. I'll check if i can read this images with a real Enterprise tonight.
You can get the HxC-software here:
http://hxc2001.free.fr/floppy_drive_emulator/index.html#download
So if you want to play around with this tool you can use it and create images, even if you don't own such a device. But it's great for checking out if images can be read. And if you have some images please send them to me so i can test them with the emulator.

Offline Zozosoft

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Re: EXDOS with HxC Floppy Emulator works perfect !
« Reply #10 on: 2013.March.04. 16:38:08 »
Quote from: TomPhobos
HD-floppy images ? With the floppy emulator you can also read and write HD-PC-disks. If the format is the same that should also work.
The problem with the bitrate, HD run on 500000 bits/sec instead the 250000.
On the real Enterprise the WD disk controller needed overclocking to double speed (8->16Mhz), and the machine also needed least 6Mhz. Then the EP will work with HD disk.

In this settings menu if you set the bitrate to the DD normal 250000 and the rpm to 150 (in the real world some tricky Amiga drives do this) then I think HD images will work with unmodified EP+EXDOS. Only the EXDOS EPROM needed to be replaced, because the original version only accepts 10 sectors/track disks.
« Last Edit: 2013.March.04. 19:14:52 by szipucsu »

Offline TomPhobos

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Re: EXDOS with HxC Floppy Emulator works perfect !
« Reply #11 on: 2013.March.04. 23:50:21 »
Ah, ok, so with an unmodified EXDOS it's only possible to use DD-disks/images.

OK, i tried to use the 800kb-images with the HxC. I used the RAW-loader with 80 sectors / 10 tracks, wrote the images to the SD card and successfully loaded them into the Enterprise. So it also works perfect :)

Offline Zozosoft

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Re: EXDOS with HxC Floppy Emulator works perfect !
« Reply #12 on: 2013.March.05. 15:47:52 »
90 tracks example. (NEC FD1035 drives can be used up to 90 tracks! :ds_icon_cheesygrin: )

Offline TomPhobos

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Re: EXDOS with HxC Floppy Emulator works perfect !
« Reply #13 on: 2013.March.05. 19:15:01 »
Quote from: Zozosoft
90 tracks example. (NEC FD1035 drives can be used up to 90 tracks! :ds_icon_cheesygrin: )
OK, here is the result :)

Offline Zozosoft

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Re: EXDOS with HxC Floppy Emulator works perfect !
« Reply #14 on: 2013.March.05. 21:39:42 »
Quote from: TomPhobos
OK, here is the result :)
Great!

Now I've looked at the HxC website, and found some interesting feature: possible write control sw for the host computer. And also possible use it as "hdd"!
« Last Edit: 2013.March.06. 12:16:40 by szipucsu »