Firmware updates for the STM32/Gotek HxC floppy emulators !

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solarmon
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Re: New Alpha version Firmware - Volunteer Testers needed !

Post by solarmon »

Jeff wrote:
Thu Apr 04, 2019 8:59 pm
Try first the normal firmware. This should work "out the box".
OK - so I went back to v3.1.23.1a. My OLED screen is working, as expected:

Image

I then connected up the LCD screen, but it didn't seem to show any text:

Image

Then I realised that there was very faint text when I looked at it at a certain angle:

Image

So the issue was the contrast - so I turned the potentiometer clockwise all the way and that was much better:

Image

I changed the firmware back to v3.1.46.1a customer firmware (LCD selected, OLED unselected) and it is working fine:

Image

However, with this LCD I'm finding that with 'light' text has too much ghosting when it changes/scrolls, but with 'dark' text is a bit too hard to see.

I like this LCD screen physical form factor - it will probably be easier to panel mount compared to the OLED screens, but the text is no where near as good/clear as the OLED screens.

And I'm finding, after a while, the text turns to:

Image

Jeff
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Re: New Alpha version Firmware - Volunteer Testers needed !

Post by Jeff »

Yes OLED screens have a better constrast than lcd screens...

For the glitch : Have you set the i2c bus to 400khz ? stay at 100khz with these screens.

solarmon
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Re: New Alpha version Firmware - Volunteer Testers needed !

Post by solarmon »

Jeff wrote:
Thu Apr 04, 2019 11:48 pm
For the glitch : Have you set the i2c bus to 400khz ? stay at 100khz with these screens.
I had unchecked the "OLED support" option in the "OLED Screen setup" section. Since "I2C bus speed" option is in this same "OLED Screen setup" section, will that still be applicable for LCD screens?

The default is 100khz, so it would have been that anyways:

CONFIG_I2C_SPEED = 0x186a0

Jeff
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Re: New Alpha version Firmware - Volunteer Testers needed !

Post by Jeff »

solarmon wrote:
Fri Apr 05, 2019 10:33 am
Jeff wrote:
Thu Apr 04, 2019 11:48 pm
For the glitch : Have you set the i2c bus to 400khz ? stay at 100khz with these screens.
I had unchecked the "OLED support" option in the "OLED Screen setup" section. Since "I2C bus speed" option is in this same "OLED Screen setup" section, will that still be applicable for LCD screens?

The default is 100khz, so it would have been that anyways:

CONFIG_I2C_SPEED = 0x186a0
ok. did you reproduce this issue each time ?

solarmon
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Re: New Alpha version Firmware - Volunteer Testers needed !

Post by solarmon »

Jeff wrote:
Fri Apr 05, 2019 4:41 pm
ok. did you reproduce this issue each time ?
I think it is an issue with my USB power supply from my laptop - it's not very stable (varies in voltage) - so I think it is due to that.

Jeff
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Re: New Alpha version Firmware - Volunteer Testers needed !

Post by Jeff »

solarmon wrote:
Fri Apr 05, 2019 8:21 pm
Jeff wrote:
Fri Apr 05, 2019 4:41 pm
ok. did you reproduce this issue each time ?
I think it is an issue with my USB power supply from my laptop - it's not very stable (varies in voltage) - so I think it is due to that.
yes this is possible.

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Re: New Alpha version Firmware - Volunteer Testers needed !

Post by Jeff »

11 April 2019 : Firmware STM32 USB HxCFloppyEmulator v3.1.47.1a ( -> In the "WIP_Firmware" Folder and https://hxc2001.com/custom_fw/ )

- New option : Hide the files extensions on the OLED/LCD screens.

https://hxc2001.com/custom_fw/
https://hxc2001.com/download/floppy_dri ... rmware.zip

https://hxc2001.com/download/floppy_dri ... _notes.txt

Jeff
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Re: New Alpha version Firmware - Volunteer Testers needed !

Post by Jeff »

12 April 2019 : Firmware STM32 USB HxCFloppyEmulator v3.1.48.1a ( -> In the "WIP_Firmware" Folder and https://hxc2001.com/custom_fw/ )

New direct raw format support :

- Yamaha QX3 format (*.IMG,*.DSK)

7 segments screen menu : Add missing system family entries :

15 = Robox RC9400
16 = Kawai
17 = Yamaha QX3
18 = User defined format
https://hxc2001.com/download/floppy_dri ... rmware.zip

https://hxc2001.com/download/floppy_dri ... _notes.txt

Jeff
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Re: New Alpha version Firmware - Volunteer Testers needed !

Post by Jeff »

28 April 2019 : Firmware STM32 USB HxCFloppyEmulator v3.1.60.2a ( -> In the "WIP_Firmware" Folder and https://hxc2001.com/custom_fw/ )

- Motor-ON signal support to emulate properly the "READY" and "INDEX" signals.
See the https://hxc2001.com/custom_fw/ to select the input line and tweak the timings.

- OLED : SSD1305 2.23" 128x32 OLED screen support added.

- Internal enhancements. (WIP)
https://hxc2001.com/download/floppy_dri ... rmware.zip

https://hxc2001.com/download/floppy_dri ... _notes.txt

Jeff
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Re: New Alpha version Firmware - Volunteer Testers needed !

Post by Jeff »

1 May 2019 : Firmware STM32 USB HxCFloppyEmulator v3.1.60.5a

- GeneralMusic S2/S3 : Undocumented floppy format support added + *.gem file extension support.

- Non-gated interface : Ignore the floppy selection line for the head step + Some fixes.
https://hxc2001.com/download/floppy_dri ... rmware.zip

https://hxc2001.com/download/floppy_dri ... _notes.txt

Jeff
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Re: New Alpha version Firmware - Volunteer Testers needed !

Post by Jeff »

5 May 2019 : Firmware STM32 USB HxCFloppyEmulator v3.2.1.1a ( -> In the "WIP_Firmware" Folder and https://hxc2001.com/custom_fw/ )

- New major feature ! : Auto mount USB stick folder to a FAT/DOS compatible virtual floppy !

This feature allows you to directly put your files in a stick's folder and mount this folder as a FAT/DOS floppy disk !

You can use it with any machine compatible with the FAT file system (PC, Atari ST, lots of keyboards/samplers and CNC machines...).

To use this feature, copy an empty/preformatted DOS IMG image to the stick path "/mount/emptyfat.img"
This image can be a 720KB or 1.44MB blank DOS image or any other FAT compatible blank image.
You can use the HxC Floppy Emulator software Disk Browser to create it or take the ones present in the firmware archive.

Once you select a "mount source" folder on the emulator, the emptyfat.img file is duplicated to a "MOUNTED.IMG" file.
Then all files/subfolders present into the selected folder are added into this duplicated image.
(Note : the emptyfat.img remains untouched).

Your "mount sources" / root folders should have the extension ".mnt" to be mounted by the emulator :
example : "myvirtualdisk.mnt"

This new feature can be used with the "normal"/direct browsing (oled/lcd screen usage) and indexed modes.
For the indexed mode just put the DSKAXXXX prefix in the mount point folder name.
example : "DSKA0000_MyMidiFiles.mnt"

Please note that the image duplication and files copy operations can take some seconds.
I will try to optimize/speedup the mount operations in the next releases.

Let me know if you have any problems or any suggestions/questions/comments on the HxC forum or by email.

- FAT 12/16/32 layer write support enhanced to create entries (files & folders) and allocate clusters.
https://hxc2001.com/download/floppy_dri ... rmware.zip

https://hxc2001.com/download/floppy_dri ... _notes.txt

Jeff
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Re: New Alpha version Firmware - Volunteer Testers needed !

Post by Jeff »

17 May 2019 : Firmware STM32 USB HxCFloppyEmulator v3.2.1.2a ( -> In the "WIP_Firmware" Folder and https://hxc2001.com/custom_fw/)

- Fix the files extensions display option : you can now also hide the file name extensions in selector/indexed mode.
https://hxc2001.com/download/floppy_dri ... rmware.zip

https://hxc2001.com/download/floppy_dri ... _notes.txt

Jeff
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Re: New Alpha version Firmware - Volunteer Testers needed !

Post by Jeff »

22 May 2019 : Firmware STM32 USB HxCFloppyEmulator v3.2.2.1a ( -> In the "WIP_Firmware" Folder and https://hxc2001.com/custom_fw/)

- HFEv3 : Weakbits support added.
https://hxc2001.com/download/floppy_dri ... rmware.zip

https://hxc2001.com/download/floppy_dri ... _notes.txt

PC/MAC HxC software updated too :
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=950&start=30#p20463

solarmon
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Re: New Alpha version Firmware - Volunteer Testers needed !

Post by solarmon »

Hi Jeff,

Does the custom firmware support remembering the last disk image file used when it powers up? I could not see it anywhere in the custom firmware options and it doesn't seem to do that.

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Re: New Alpha version Firmware - Volunteer Testers needed !

Post by Jeff »

solarmon wrote:
Mon May 27, 2019 9:01 am
Hi Jeff,

Does the custom firmware support remembering the last disk image file used when it powers up? I could not see it anywhere in the custom firmware options and it doesn't seem to do that.
Yes it does, like the normal version. But you need to have a cfg file on the usb stick since the last disk image selection is saved in this file.

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