Can you help me to understand this Roland drive?

HxC Floppy Emulator Roland Samplers/Keyboards support
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Jidis
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Joined: Sat Feb 13, 2016 11:28 pm

Can you help me to understand this Roland drive?

Post by Jidis »

Hi all,

Sorry if this is slightly off topic, but I couldn't find the answer in the places I looked.

I've got a Roland S-750 with a drive that doesn't quite act right (read/verify errors,etc.). I thought about tracking down a compatible replacement and soon found that they need to be set up specifically for the Roland. I then found that some Amiga computers use the same drive (Chinon FZ-357) and have similar issues with modern replacements. I tried some of the solutions those guys use on an available Samsung drive (changing the ID,swapping pins 2&34,etc.), but I think the closest I got was a drive that would read the boot disk, but couldn't write successfully or verify that disks were formatted.

Could anybody by chance tell me what it is which is so unique about the way Roland has these drives configured, that I might be able to make the same settings on a non-Chinon? Roland's drive has user jumpers for DS0,MM,and DC set, but there are a bunch of pads on the PCB which are likely involved too, and I'm not sure what's "non-standard" there.

FWIW, I built an adapter, so I have access to all the even numbered pins while it runs, to see what they're doing, but I figure Jeff or someone here already knows what the main obstacles are with this particular system.

Much Thanks!

Jeff
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Re: Can you help me to understand this Roland drive?

Post by Jeff »

You probably need to add some pull-up on the ready and disk change signals.

Jidis
Posts: 36
Joined: Sat Feb 13, 2016 11:28 pm

Re: Can you help me to understand this Roland drive?

Post by Jidis »

Thanks Jeff!

Yeah, I read about those pull-ups in some of the emulator related posts here. I'll try to get it set back up today and see if those help.

Take Care

Jidis
Posts: 36
Joined: Sat Feb 13, 2016 11:28 pm

Re: Can you help me to understand this Roland drive?

Post by Jidis »

Sorry to harp on this, but I was having a bunch of trouble getting working HFE's for the emulator and figured it would be wise to make sure they were working Roland images in the first place, so I've gone back to this.

I've tried a ton of stuff and am currently on one of the Teac FD-235HF's which has been tested in a Windows PC beforehand. It's a 7240, which is one of the ones without jumpers, but I've switched it to DS0 with a PCB resistor, and the adapter I'm using gives decent access to the pins.

Right now, it looks barely alive on the Roland. It sounds like the motor spins up, but it takes a while and I don't hear or see any signs of seeking. The LED stays off, I've tried the 2-34 pin swap, but the service manual pinout looks as though they're in the normal IBM configuration. I've also tried the pull-ups on 2 & 34, but nothing seems to change.

From looking at the attached pinout, does anyone here have any ideas on routing mods,etc. which would make a regular PC floppy work in this thing?

Much Thanks!
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Roland Floppy Pinouts.JPG
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Jeff
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Re: Can you help me to understand this Roland drive?

Post by Jeff »

The pull up resistors on pin 2 & 34 are for sure needed.

But is there any point with the HxC stuffs ? Have you an HxC emulator ? If yes, no adapter is needed, just connect it directly.

Jidis
Posts: 36
Joined: Sat Feb 13, 2016 11:28 pm

Re: Can you help me to understand this Roland drive?

Post by Jidis »

Hi Jeff,

Yes, I've got a Gotek with HxC firmware and another is on the way, but I had gone too far with this floppy thing and just want to see it work. I was also having a lot of trouble with the images I was exporting to the emulator, and the Roland wouldn't recognize most of them, so I figured I'd test them as actual floppies. I also don't like knowing that I don't have access to a working regular floppy drive on the 750.

Thanks!

Jeff
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Re: Can you help me to understand this Roland drive?

Post by Jeff »

Jidis wrote:Hi Jeff,

Yes, I've got a Gotek with HxC firmware and another is on the way, but I had gone too far with this floppy thing and just want to see it work. I was also having a lot of trouble with the images I was exporting to the emulator, and the Roland wouldn't recognize most of them, so I figured I'd test them as actual floppies. I also don't like knowing that I don't have access to a working regular floppy drive on the 750.

Thanks!
"most of them" : So some are working ?

Jidis
Posts: 36
Joined: Sat Feb 13, 2016 11:28 pm

Re: Can you help me to understand this Roland drive?

Post by Jidis »

Yeah, the 720k OS disk obviously works, and there are a couple (HD) sound library disks I was using to set things up, but most of the other ones didn't appear readable on the HxC Gotek.

Take Care

George

Jeff
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Re: Can you help me to understand this Roland drive?

Post by Jeff »

Please share your working and non-working DD & HD images

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