Hard sector format

HxC Floppy emulator support for all others computers...
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djones60
Posts: 21
Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2018 2:59 pm

Re: Hard sector format

Post by djones60 »

I have a question for the group. I recently received a Gotek and have updated the firmware to the beta. What is the jumper or menu settings that work best for testing on a Northstar? I was going to mess around with it this weekend and thought it would save time and ask.

Thanks
David

snhirsch
Posts: 170
Joined: Tue Dec 08, 2015 1:42 am

Re: Hard sector format

Post by snhirsch »

The "official" Beta is not what you want to be using. As far as I know the Northstar compatible firmware appears only as links from this topic. I am also not sure the "FloppyDiskEmulator" software produces an HFE file with the optimal timing, as Jeff was posting a bunch of test files he created himself from my raw capture.

If you want to work with any of those, search above in this topic and you should find working links to both firmware and images. Otherwise, drop me private e-mail and I'll send you what I have (I doubt Jeff wants this stuff floating around publicly, since it was alpha level).

djones60
Posts: 21
Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2018 2:59 pm

Re: Hard sector format

Post by djones60 »

Thanks for the reply. I was going to follow along with the tests and try to get up to speed with things. The firmware I used was the HxCUSBFE3.UPD or HxCUSBFE6.UPD that had links back a page or two. I tried sending you a private message but couldn't find the option. So, I'll mess around and figure things out.

Thanks
David

Jeff
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Re: Hard sector format

Post by Jeff »

snhirsch wrote:
Sat Jul 28, 2018 12:49 am
The "official" Beta is not what you want to be using. As far as I know the Northstar compatible firmware appears only as links from this topic. I am also not sure the "FloppyDiskEmulator" software produces an HFE file with the optimal timing, as Jeff was posting a bunch of test files he created himself from my raw capture.

If you want to work with any of those, search above in this topic and you should find working links to both firmware and images. Otherwise, drop me private e-mail and I'll send you what I have (I doubt Jeff wants this stuff floating around publicly, since it was alpha level).
the official firmware wip is currently fine.

snhirsch
Posts: 170
Joined: Tue Dec 08, 2015 1:42 am

Re: Hard sector format

Post by snhirsch »

Jeff wrote:
Sat Jul 28, 2018 8:14 am
the official firmware wip is currently fine.
I stand corrected. Thanks, Jeff.

djones60
Posts: 21
Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2018 2:59 pm

Re: Hard sector format

Post by djones60 »

Well I was able to get things mostly working. A lot of read errors but was able to get a directory listing and copy the files off the disk image. One good thing is my actual boot floppy was missing most of the standard utilities. So I was able to get those off the image. :)

Now time to mess around with it some more and see what else I can figure out.

David

snhirsch
Posts: 170
Joined: Tue Dec 08, 2015 1:42 am

Re: Hard sector format

Post by snhirsch »

djones60 wrote:
Mon Jul 30, 2018 1:15 am
Well I was able to get things mostly working. A lot of read errors but was able to get a directory listing and copy the files off the disk image. One good thing is my actual boot floppy was missing most of the standard utilities. So I was able to get those off the image. :)

Now time to mess around with it some more and see what else I can figure out.

David
Good. That's about where we left it. File copy will eventually succeed given enough retries. I'm able to boot from the system diskette image as well.

Jeff
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Re: Hard sector format

Post by Jeff »

djones60 wrote:
Mon Jul 30, 2018 1:15 am
Well I was able to get things mostly working. A lot of read errors but was able to get a directory listing and copy the files off the disk image. One good thing is my actual boot floppy was missing most of the standard utilities. So I was able to get those off the image. :)

Now time to mess around with it some more and see what else I can figure out.

David
Which read error did you get ?

djones60
Posts: 21
Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2018 2:59 pm

Re: Hard sector format

Post by djones60 »

Hi Jeff

I was at work when I seen your message. So I had to wait until I was home and could gather the info. So here goes. Hope this is what you are looking for. The firmware used is 3.1.26.5a with it's matching cfg file on the thumb drive

David

Booting with 1.hfe as B: drive. Got the initial copyright message then the following errors
T4D1S0010
T4D1S0000
T4D1S0020
T4D1S0260
T4D1S0270
T4D1S0280
T4D1S0290
T4D1S0020
T4D1S0291
T4D1S0300
T4D1S0310
Then I got a text message about not finding and being able to start the hard drive.

When I booted with a floppy in the A: drive and accessed the 1.HFE as the B: drive
DIR B: gave
T4D2S0000
T4D2S0020

pip a:=b:ddt.com
T4D2S0104
T4D2S0110

pip a:=b:ed.com
T4D2S0073
T4D2S0080

pip a:=b:asm.com
T4D2S0000
T4D2S0020
T4D2S0091
T4D2S0100

pip a:-b:load.com
T4D2S0120

pip a:=b:format.com
T4D2S0000
T4D2S0020
T4D2S204
T4D2S210

Let me know if you need any more info or other tests run.

snhirsch
Posts: 170
Joined: Tue Dec 08, 2015 1:42 am

Re: Hard sector format

Post by snhirsch »

That's what I'd expect you to be seeing. T4 means "no index pulse" or, more precisely, no index pulse seen within the expected time window. Snnnn refers to the 512 byte sector offset from start of diskette (base 10). The majority of errors occur on the first sector of the track, e.g. S0020 is first sector on track 2.

djones60
Posts: 21
Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2018 2:59 pm

Re: Hard sector format

Post by djones60 »

I hadn't looked the codes up but seemed to remember that is what they meant.

What I find interesting it the retry eventually works. I would think it would always work or never work. Seems like there is a funny timing issue in there somewhere.

Something else I noticed with my GoTek. To get it to boot, I had to install the motor on jumper. But to boot off the floppy, I had to remove that jumper. If I booted from the GoTek, I couldn't read the floppy until I removed the jumper again once the machine had booted.

David

snhirsch
Posts: 170
Joined: Tue Dec 08, 2015 1:42 am

Re: Hard sector format

Post by snhirsch »

djones60 wrote:
Tue Jul 31, 2018 8:33 pm
I hadn't looked the codes up but seemed to remember that is what they meant.

What I find interesting it the retry eventually works. I would think it would always work or never work. Seems like there is a funny timing issue in there somewhere.

Something else I noticed with my GoTek. To get it to boot, I had to install the motor on jumper. But to boot off the floppy, I had to remove that jumper. If I booted from the GoTek, I couldn't read the floppy until I removed the jumper again once the machine had booted.

David
That's odd behavior. Not seeing that here. Are you sure you have the drive select on both floppy and Gotek set correctly? Also, if you are using a PC cable with a "twist" in it that can cause all sorts of mayhem with drive assignment.

djones60
Posts: 21
Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2018 2:59 pm

Re: Hard sector format

Post by djones60 »

It's the stock floppy cable with no twist. I would say the drive select jumpers are set right since I can access both and copy files from the GoTek to the floppy. But I'll double check them tonight when I get home from work.

Edited to add: The floppy drive has D0 jumpered. The GoTek has S1 jumpered.

snhirsch
Posts: 170
Joined: Tue Dec 08, 2015 1:42 am

Re: Hard sector format

Post by snhirsch »

Could it be one of the other jumpers on the floppy drive? Just grasping at straws here because I have never encountered the problem on my system.

djones60
Posts: 21
Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2018 2:59 pm

Re: Hard sector format

Post by djones60 »

It could very well be the other jumpers. It came with no documentation. So, I've been looking for some that matches this unit. I'll eventually find some or figure it out. I'm not terribly worried about it since it does work otherwise and I know how to work around this quirk.

Something else I need to do when I have time is to flash a boot loader in another one that just has the two digit LED display.

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