HxC Floppy Drive Emulator

Here are the pictures as promised:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=Q2YQGRNP

Thanks ! Did you have another/older x68000 disk drive ?

I have a X68000 CompactXVI with two good and , apart, two faulty complete floppy drives (assembly+PCB).Please, let me know what do you need.

I don't know very well this computer.

But Alex_Mena have done a lot of tests of the HxC and x68000.
have a look to this mail archive:
http://hxc2001.free.fr/floppy_drive_emu ... X68000.zip

What kind of HDD do you use on your X68000?Which model of X68000 do you have?
If you are using SCSI HDD, I highly recommed you to do a Compact Flash mod on your X68000, please refer to this page:

http://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=x68000:hard_drive_on_sasi_machine

For example I did it on my X68000XVI Compact:

http://nfggames.com/forum2/index.php?topic=4458.0

Then, installing games on Compact Flash is very easy.Besides there are compilations of pre-installed games (some made by be):

http://rapidshare.com/files/455756847/Installed_X68000_games.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/456531010/Other_games.rar
http://nfggames.com/X68000/Games/

Caius> i've got an X68030 with a 200Mb SCSI HDD.

I'm gonna test your links

Thanks a lot for your help guys !

Jeff, I found this useful information about X68000 FDD, take a look:

http://www.jcec.co.uk/fdc_detail.htm

I Just got an x68000 and now i know how all the stuff works

Good news!What model of X6800 did you get?Could you explain better what did you understand about?Did you understand how the floppy signals works?

Yes!

This is a part of the schematic of the X68000 XVI floppy interface :
http://hxc2001.free.fr/floppy_drive_emu ... ERFACE.gif

First thing: extra functions (eject/insert/led control..) are totaly separated from the others floppy signals.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Access/Write strobe :

/OPTION_SEL_X : "Chip select" for the extra functions of drive DSX (X: 0-3)

Input / functions signals :

/EJECT_FUNC : If this signal is low when OPTION_SEL_X is asserted, the disk will be ejected.
/LOCK_FUNC : If this signal is low when OPTION_SEL_X is asserted, the disk will be locked (eject button off). If this signal is high when OPTION_SEL_X is asserted the disk will be unlocked (eject button on).
/BLINK_FUNC : If this signal is low when OPTION_SEL_X is asserted, the LED blink. If this signal is high when OPTION_SEL_X is asserted, the LED stop blinking.

Output signals (drive status):

/DISK_IN_DRIVE : when OPTION_SEL_X is asserted : Low = a disk in the drive. High = No disk.
/INSERT_FAULT : when OPTION_SEL_X is asserted : Low = a disk insert failure occured . High = No problem. This status is cleared at the rising edge of OPTION_SEL_X.

Output signal (Interrupt line):

/INT : Interrupt line : This signal is activated at each disk status change (inserted/ejected). The interrupt is cleared at the rising edge of /OPTION_SEL_X. (Note : more than one drive can activate this line in the same time -> Softwares scan all disk drive at each /INT assertion).

Note 1: For proper operation all output should be able to drive 5/150=33mA since 150 ohms pull-up are used.
Note 2: The X68000 /OPTION_SEL_X assertion duration is ~2.5us per access. This can depend of the software, the CPU speed.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

So to make the X68000 happy, these signals should be managed : /OPTION_SEL_X, /EJECT_FUNC, /DISK_IN_DRIVE, /INT

Some logic gates or a tiny PIC16F84A should do the trick .

Jeff

Great work Jeff!So now you have all informations to implement full support (multi-disks games, soft eject, etc..) to X68000 in your wonderful floppy emulator?

Yes, but this will need some extra hardware (a small board with a PIC16F84A for example) since there are no more GPIO free on the SD HxC.

In fact i am thinking to make a small board to manage/emulate extra functions for the HxC and all others disk drive (to hook an PC 1.44MB floppy disk drive to the x68000).

It would be a great thing if you could succeed in it! If you need betatesters, I'm here!

Hi Jeff,
just to let you know that full schematics of X68000 hardware are available here:

http://nfggames.com/X68000/Schematics/Outside%20X68000%20-%20Schematics/

I think now we have all the info needed to implement 68000 extra-features on your HxC emulator, it would be very useful since, as we know, X68000 FDDs are notorious to fail sooner or later.Please, let me know what do you think about.