Hard sector format

HxC Floppy emulator support for all others computers...
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Jeff
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Re: Hard sector format

Post by Jeff »

snhirsch wrote:
Sun Mar 07, 2021 7:53 pm
Jeff wrote:
Sun Mar 07, 2021 7:37 pm
@snhirsch or others Heathkit users with the HxC Gotek : please tell us if you are using the HxC Gotek firmware with your Heathkit. If so tell us with which firmware version and share some working hfe files ! :D
Hi, Jeff. I haven't used the Gotek with hard-sector H89 controller in several years. The lack of write support was a deal-breaker in my use case. Shouldn't be too tough to set it up again and re-test, but I need to finish a couple of projects that are occupying bench space. Horizontal surface theory: Nature abhors a clear bench top :-).
What we need to know is just the firmware version code you have used and the files you have tried if you still have them somewhere in your archive. No need to retest it again, we know that this was working in 2018... :wink:

And about this : viewtopic.php?p=18213#p18213
Do you remember if you have made more tests than just copying files from files images ? Have you tried to boot from some emulated disks images ?

(BTW : This has the full read / write hard-sectored floppy drive simulation support and can dump hardsectored disks : https://sourceforge.net/p/hxcfloppyemu/ ... ine/trunk/)

snhirsch wrote:
Sun Mar 07, 2021 7:53 pm
The lack of write support was a deal-breaker in my use case.
I hope you have seen this post :

viewtopic.php?p=23358#p23358
Jeff wrote:
Mon Jan 04, 2021 10:15 am
If someone with an Heathkit machine still reading this thread :

I have released some months ago a firmware with the "HFE blind write mode support" :
You can enable this option on the custom firmware page : https://hxc2001.com/custom_fw/

Would be interesting to test the write support with an hard sectored Heathkit machine with this option enabled.
(I don't expect that this will work with a Northstar machine right now.)

(BTW I have some new ideas to improve the current hard sector support on Gotek, especially on the Northstar computers. Let me know if you are interested and also interested to make some tests)

snhirsch
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Re: Hard sector format

Post by snhirsch »

Unfortunately I do not know exactly which firmware and software versions I used back then - sorry! And, I'd love to have a Pauline. Where can I buy an assembled unit? The last time we spoke about this there were only boards available.

Jeff
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Re: Hard sector format

Post by Jeff »

A last point about this : viewtopic.php?p=18213#p18213
Do you remember if you have made more tests than just copying files from files images ? Have you tried to boot from some emulated disks images ?

Jeff
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Re: Hard sector format

Post by Jeff »

snhirsch wrote:
Sun Mar 07, 2021 8:28 pm
And, I'd love to have a Pauline. Where can I buy an assembled unit? The last time we spoke about this there were only boards available.
I think that you can get a "mostly" preassembled unit from pcbway (they have the full design)
Lotharek should launch a production soon too.

snhirsch
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Re: Hard sector format

Post by snhirsch »

Jeff wrote:
Sun Mar 07, 2021 8:34 pm
snhirsch wrote:
Sun Mar 07, 2021 8:28 pm
And, I'd love to have a Pauline. Where can I buy an assembled unit? The last time we spoke about this there were only boards available.
I think that you can get a "mostly" preassembled unit from pcbway (they have the full design)
Lotharek should launch a production soon too.
Yes, I looked around on the PCBway site, but it wasn't at all clear whether this was available and, if so, what cost and lead time would be. Looks like I'll need to hold out for Lotharek.

Jeff
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Re: Hard sector format

Post by Jeff »

etbusch wrote:
Sun Mar 07, 2021 7:25 pm
No discernible differences in behavior with the older firmware versions and the old converter. That's perhaps bad news for the machine itself. I will spend some time verifying the hardware is OK and try again.
I just found an issue in the HxC software converter: The main index is not correctly placed on the odd tracks with the H8D files. I am fixing the issue.

Jeff
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Re: Hard sector format

Post by Jeff »

Jeff wrote:
Sun Mar 07, 2021 9:48 pm
etbusch wrote:
Sun Mar 07, 2021 7:25 pm
No discernible differences in behavior with the older firmware versions and the old converter. That's perhaps bad news for the machine itself. I will spend some time verifying the hardware is OK and try again.
I just found an issue in the HxC software converter: The main index is not correctly placed on the odd tracks with the H8D files. I am fixing the issue.
Windows version updated/fixed :
https://hxc2001.com/download/floppy_dri ... t_beta.zip

Reconvert the H8D files to HFEv3 and retry.

snhirsch
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Re: Hard sector format

Post by snhirsch »

His this change been checked into the source code repository? I'd like to create a Linux binary.

Jeff
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Re: Hard sector format

Post by Jeff »

snhirsch wrote:
Sun Mar 07, 2021 10:56 pm
His this change been checked into the source code repository? I'd like to create a Linux binary.
yes

etbusch
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Re: Hard sector format

Post by etbusch »

Appreciate the quick attention and bug fix. Below is a link to the images I have just converted using the newest Windows software:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing

Unfortunately I think my particular machine has problems beyond floppy images. I'm unable to boot from any floppy image now, as well as from any of the soft-sector CPM disks I have using the soft-sector controller. I believe I have some bad RAM or other logic issues.

I will keep an eye on this thread and come back when I have more information to share.

Jeff
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Re: Hard sector format

Post by Jeff »

etbusch wrote:
Mon Mar 08, 2021 12:31 am
Appreciate the quick attention and bug fix. Below is a link to the images I have just converted using the newest Windows software:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing

Unfortunately I think my particular machine has problems beyond floppy images. I'm unable to boot from any floppy image now, as well as from any of the soft-sector CPM disks I have using the soft-sector controller. I believe I have some bad RAM or other logic issues.

I will keep an eye on this thread and come back when I have more information to share.
Ok thanks for the feedback ! :)

exidyboy
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Re: Hard sector format

Post by exidyboy »

exidyboy wrote:
Fri Aug 02, 2019 3:31 am
Jeff wrote:
Thu Aug 01, 2019 7:22 pm

Not exactly : I see the odd or even tracks without red. This probably means that the disk have large tracks. place an empty file named "doublestep" in the raw files folder and reload the raw. The software will skip the inter-tracks "tracks".
If by large tracks you mean written by a 40 track drive then yes this is my assumption.
WIth the doublestep file (no extension) the results look very good.
Jeff wrote:
Thu Aug 01, 2019 7:22 pm
Once done don't hesitate to enable more decoders : FM,MFM, HEATHKIT, Northstar...
I tried all those but the results don't look any different.
Jeff wrote:
Thu Aug 01, 2019 7:22 pm
It is possible that the software can't decode these tracks if this machine use an "alien" sector encoding, but at least you see if the disk dump appears "clean" in the track viewer.
The controller is pure TTL so probably will not correspond with any of the profiles you have currently implemented but hopefully is close.
Jeff wrote:
Thu Aug 01, 2019 7:22 pm
Also please some post track view mode screens (one odd & one even track). These are quite usefull to figure out what is going on.
Presumably you want the odd and evens before the double-stepping is applied?

Image
What do the red rings mean on the inner tracks?

exidyboy
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Re: Hard sector format

Post by exidyboy »

Image
Here is a new one I'm working on for the Vista system on the Exidy Sorcerer.
Again 10 sector hard sector 40 track single-sided. Some issues with the inner tracks.

Jeff
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Re: Hard sector format

Post by Jeff »

exidyboy wrote:
Wed Aug 11, 2021 9:02 am
What do the red rings mean on the inner tracks?
Probably not formatted / random : Have a look to the stream view to confirm (Get the latest software version for this) :

https://hxc2001.com/download/floppy_dri ... t_beta.zip

hdleng
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Re: Hard sector format

Post by hdleng »

I realize that this forum may not be the right place to make this inquiry, but I have not received a response to an email that I sent.

Please verify the suitability of STM32 USB HxC Floppy Emulator Firmware for my application. I own an Heathkit H89 with an H17 hard sector controller. I intend to use a GoTEK SFR1M44-U100 3.5 Inch 1.44MB USB SSD Floppy Drive Emulator flashed with your firmware. I will use the emulator for read/write access.

One more question; how do I find an order form on the HxC2001 web site?

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