HxC as external drive

HxC Floppy Emulator on Atari ST support
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pulkomandy
Posts: 132
Joined: Sun Mar 20, 2011 6:55 pm

HxC as external drive

Post by pulkomandy »

Hello,
I want to use the HxC mostly as an hard disk on my STe, for data storage. I want to keep the original drive in.

So, I bought the needed 14 pin DIN connector. I made an adapter to plug the HxC to this using this as reference :
http://pinouts.ru/Storage/AtariFloppyPort_pinout.shtml

But it doesn't work. There seem to be some kind of conflict somewhere...

Questions :
* Which setup should I use for the HxC in this case ? Drive B, no cable twist ?
* Is this pinout correct ? Anything else I should know ?
* Doing some tests with my multimeter, pin 7 on the DIN connector isn't grounded like said on the pinout. Looking at the way it maps to the floppy connector, it looks obvious that it should be DS2. Butthat isn't available on the ST, right ? So where does PIN7 goes on the motherboard ? Just not connected ? Is it used to detect the external floppy presence ?
* Are there any other steps than just plugging the drive ? Should I install it like a hard disk, adding an icon in GEM ?

pulkomandy
Posts: 132
Joined: Sun Mar 20, 2011 6:55 pm

Re: HxC as external drive

Post by pulkomandy »

Nevermind, the schematic on pinouts.ru is wrong. Proper one is here : http://info-coach.fr/atari/hardware/interfaces.php

A change request was sent to pinouts.ru. Hopefully it will get fixed soon. Meanwhile, back to soldering...

fredforty8
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Sep 21, 2012 4:40 am

Re: HxC as external drive

Post by fredforty8 »

I know this is an ancient thread, but I wanted to share that I did this using a Rev.C SD HxC Floppy Emulator and an external floppy drive unit. The external floppy drive I have is an old Future Systems GTS 100X unit (this would also work with an Atari SF-314). Of course, the Rev. C board fit perfectly in place of the floppy drive, and I merely had to add a jumper (as described in the manual) for it to be recognized as the B drive (initially I made the mistake of thinking I only needed one jumper in the B drive position, but 2 jumpers are needed, as the manual illustrates). Also, I took the precaution of making sure the 5 volt lead was the correct one, and then disconnected the 12 volt wire.
The cool thing was that the addition of a couple of Arduino headers raised the readout to the perfect height, so that all I had to do was cut a hole in the top of the housing for the readout to poke through.
Hole_in_cover.jpg
Hole_in_cover.jpg (36.52 KiB) Viewed 5871 times
add_arduinoheaders.jpg
add_arduinoheaders.jpg (31.74 KiB) Viewed 5871 times
This is a fantastic addition to my Atari 1040 STE computer!

peaceman
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Nov 11, 2012 11:42 pm

Re: HxC as external drive

Post by peaceman »

This trick should actually also work with a SF354, no? Or is the 354 case itself telling the Atari that the drive is single-sided only? I hope not... would finally be a good use for a SF354 brick.

artispec
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Mar 07, 2013 9:56 pm

Re: HxC as external drive

Post by artispec »

Hi!
How do I set the jumpers on HxC?
I want to use an internal drive (A) and an external HxC (B) at the same time - is it possible?

Jeff
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Re: HxC as external drive

Post by Jeff »

artispec wrote:Hi!
How do I set the jumpers on HxC?
I want to use an internal drive (A) and an external HxC (B) at the same time - is it possible?
Yes of course. Just set the Hxc to DS1/ID1-A

artispec
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Mar 07, 2013 9:56 pm

Re: HxC as external drive

Post by artispec »

Thank you! My problem is not a jumper. The problem was in the cable. I have an external drive enclosure. I checked where he was pin 1 of the connector floppy drive. I had to turn the cable. And I set the jumpers on the A=ID0 and B=ID1 and works well!

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