Thread
Floppy Emu update: Mac 128K/512K support
OK, I've got some new firmware that gets Floppy Emu sort-of-working on Macs with the original 64K ROM (the Mac 128K and 512K un-enhanced). With this change, there's no more Sad Mac 0F0004 on boot up, and I was able to successfully boot System 3.3.0 many times on a Mac 512K, and verify that read and write emulation works!
The "sort-of-working" part is that System 3.3.0 appears to be the ONLY disk image that works. I tried two different versions of System 1.1 boot images, and they both die with Sad Mac 0F0062 when the disk is inserted.
It's encouraging that at least System 3.3.0 works - maybe there's just something bad about my 1.1 disk images. Or maybe there's something in the System 1.1 code that's a problem. Bbraun, dougg3, haplain, and anyone else with hardware: if you guys have any other bootable 400K disk images, I'd be curious to see what results you get.
The new firmware is at http://www.bigmessowires.com/floppy-emu-64K.zip It's important to apply both the new CPLD firmware (firmware.xvf) *and* the new AVR application (floppyemu.hex, or femu.bin if you're using the SD bootloader to update the AVR). I've been changing the signal assignments of the traces connecting the two chips, so if you update one without the other, you could leave yourself in a fubar state, or create contention where both chips try to drive the same line.
Also, I think the versions of the 3.3.0 and 1.1 disk images that I originally distributed are wrong. For one thing, they're 800K, and for another, at least one of them appears to be a HFS image instead of MFS. I've included two new disk images in the ZIP file.
The "sort-of-working" part is that System 3.3.0 appears to be the ONLY disk image that works. I tried two different versions of System 1.1 boot images, and they both die with Sad Mac 0F0062 when the disk is inserted.
It's encouraging that at least System 3.3.0 works - maybe there's just something bad about my 1.1 disk images. Or maybe there's something in the System 1.1 code that's a problem. Bbraun, dougg3, haplain, and anyone else with hardware: if you guys have any other bootable 400K disk images, I'd be curious to see what results you get.
The new firmware is at http://www.bigmessowires.com/floppy-emu-64K.zip It's important to apply both the new CPLD firmware (firmware.xvf) *and* the new AVR application (floppyemu.hex, or femu.bin if you're using the SD bootloader to update the AVR). I've been changing the signal assignments of the traces connecting the two chips, so if you update one without the other, you could leave yourself in a fubar state, or create contention where both chips try to drive the same line.
Also, I think the versions of the 3.3.0 and 1.1 disk images that I originally distributed are wrong. For one thing, they're 800K, and for another, at least one of them appears to be a HFS image instead of MFS. I've included two new disk images in the ZIP file.
Cool! With bbraun's assistance for the fusebit settings (looks like high = 0xBF, low = 0xDA, ext. = 0xFF), I got the new AVR and CPLD firmware flashed.
I don't have a 128K or 512K to play with (only a Plus if needed), so I don't know how useful this info is, but your new Disk011.dsk and Sys330.dsk images definitely mount OK on my IIci through the floppy emu....
I don't have a 128K or 512K to play with (only a Plus if needed), so I don't know how useful this info is, but your new Disk011.dsk and Sys330.dsk images definitely mount OK on my IIci through the floppy emu....
Cool, sorry I forgot to explain the bootloader. Now that you've got it installed, for future updates you can copy femu.bin to your SD card, and then press Reset while holding PREV and SELECT. The ISP programmer isn't needed.
Good news! After many hours of scouring the web for ancient system software, and converting it to the right disk image format, all the 400K disk images I tried worked great on my Mac 512K:
System 2.0
Bootable MacPaint (system 2.0)
Bootable MacWrite (system 2.0)
System 3.2 HD 20
System 3.2 Installer
The only disk that doesn't work is that Disk011.dsk. I need to try copying that to a real floppy, and booting my 512K with that, to see if it's the disk contents or the Floppy Emu at fault. But at the moment the 512K's floppy drive is out of commission, so I need to get that working before I can try it.
Good news! After many hours of scouring the web for ancient system software, and converting it to the right disk image format, all the 400K disk images I tried worked great on my Mac 512K:
System 2.0
Bootable MacPaint (system 2.0)
Bootable MacWrite (system 2.0)
System 3.2 HD 20
System 3.2 Installer
The only disk that doesn't work is that Disk011.dsk. I need to try copying that to a real floppy, and booting my 512K with that, to see if it's the disk contents or the Floppy Emu at fault. But at the moment the 512K's floppy drive is out of commission, so I need to get that working before I can try it.
I found a System 0.97/Finder 1.0 image that works, as well as a French System 1.1 Finder 1.1, and the 400K version of Dark Castle. All run fine as emulated 400K disks under Floppy Emu on the Mac 512K. I don't know what's up with the US System 1.1/Finder 1.1 image, but I'm not going to worry about it any further.
Looks like Floppy Emu is now officially working on these 64K ROM Macs! Now, for 1.44MB floppy emulation support...
Looks like Floppy Emu is now officially working on these 64K ROM Macs! Now, for 1.44MB floppy emulation support...
Just try redownloading the System 1 disk images from Apple (if they've got them, that is ).
I just remembered that I've also got a System 1 disk image, but on second thought I think it was the one which came in the floppyemu download (I downloaded it when I was trying to make a 1.44 MB version).
).I just remembered that I've also got a System 1 disk image, but on second thought I think it was the one which came in the floppyemu download (I downloaded it when I was trying to make a 1.44 MB version).
And then I'm gonna nag you for a free one!!! And a schematic of your CPU, since I would like to see how it compares with my own CPU design.Now, for 1.44MB floppy emulation support...
More info: there's definitely something screwy about that System 1.1 disk image. The real floppy drive magically started working, so I made a 400K floppy from the System 1.1 image, and tried booting the Mac 512K with that. It crashes with the same 0F0062 Sad Mac error as I get when using Floppy Emu, so it's definitely a problem with the software and not the Floppy Emu. Strange that the same System 1.1 disk image boots up fine in a Mac 512Ke and a Mac Plus. But at least the Floppy Emu seems to be behaving identically to a real floppy drive here.
Note that all Mac floppy drives are variable speed. The difference between the 400K and all the later ones is the speed of the 400K is directly regulated based on a PWM signal from the motherboard, while all the later ones automatically change speed based on what track they're on. (IE, they ignore/don't need the PWM signal.)
Ahh, so could that explain why the 400k sounds different then the 800k? the PWM is controlling 400k?
lol i'm sure this is why he made a separate thread for this topic :-D
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=22231
or maybe its just a differently designed SEEK and Drive motor I know for sure the SEEK motor is different on the 800k drive.
lol i'm sure this is why he made a separate thread for this topic :-D
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=22231
or maybe its just a differently designed SEEK and Drive motor
I know for sure the SEEK motor is different on the 800k drive.
New update: adds support for the Mac Classic (and probably a bunch of others with similar ROM)
http://www.bigmessowires.com/floppy-emu-1.0E-F4.zip
Known compatible Macs:
512K
512Ke
Plus
SE 800K
Classic
I don't know of any *incompatible* Macs, but these are the only ones that have been tested so far.
http://www.bigmessowires.com/floppy-emu-1.0E-F4.zip
Known compatible Macs:
512K
512Ke
Plus
SE 800K
Classic
I don't know of any *incompatible* Macs, but these are the only ones that have been tested so far.
If those used the same disk format as the Mac, then it should work. I'm fairly certain the drives themselves are compatible, but not sure if the IIgs used the same low-level scheme for marking sectors on the disk, checksumming, D5 AA 96 and all that fun GCR encoding stuff. :beige:
Another couple of updates:
1. Added support for DiskCopy 4.2 images, in read-only mode. Writable DiskCopy images should be possible too, but it's a little complicated since the disk data isn't aligned to block boundaries on the SD card, and also the whole disk image has a checksum that needs updating whenever a write occurs. I'll probably come back to that later, but for now having readable DiskCopy 4.2 images (as well as raw .dsk images) is pretty nice.
2. 1.44 MB HD floppy support has taken a small but important step. It's gone from the Mac telling me it has no idea what this disk signal means (error -67, can't find address mark), to it telling me it sees the sector address section, but the checksum is wrong (error -69, bad address mark). That may not sound like much, but I think it proves all the wacky MFM signalling stuff is actually working, which is the part I was most worried about. So now I can start working on the higher-level stuff, like actually sending the right data.
1. Added support for DiskCopy 4.2 images, in read-only mode. Writable DiskCopy images should be possible too, but it's a little complicated since the disk data isn't aligned to block boundaries on the SD card, and also the whole disk image has a checksum that needs updating whenever a write occurs. I'll probably come back to that later, but for now having readable DiskCopy 4.2 images (as well as raw .dsk images) is pretty nice.
2. 1.44 MB HD floppy support has taken a small but important step. It's gone from the Mac telling me it has no idea what this disk signal means (error -67, can't find address mark), to it telling me it sees the sector address section, but the checksum is wrong (error -69, bad address mark). That may not sound like much, but I think it proves all the wacky MFM signalling stuff is actually working, which is the part I was most worried about. So now I can start working on the higher-level stuff, like actually sending the right data.
) 
So it's you who's buying the food each week? That's an odd position for someone who doesn't even have enough clout to decide what they keep in their room to be in.
According to Google six pounds is at this exact moment worth $9.55. I guess according to the USDA's statistics I could "Thriftily" feed a male human between 14-18 years of age for a little over a day and a half on that much money.. Gee, that's sort of depressing, but nonetheless... that's a "whopping" sum to you? I'm sorry.
Weren't you totally working on your own floppy emulator board using some unnamed microcontroller or something? Are those free in England? They sure ain't here.
I must have missed the beginning of this story. Your Mac doesn't have a floppy drive? Or it's broken?
Like Blinkenlightz said, all Mac floppy drives are auto-eject. Whether it's manual or auto-inject doesn't matter too much, except if you put a manual inject drive in a computer that originally had an auto-inject drive, the opening in the case may not be big enough to easily push the floppy in all the way. You can still do it with the edge of your finger, though. I used to have a Mac setup like that.
If your family is truly struggling to afford a week's food, then I'm sorry to hear it. In that case, your extra cash is probably better spent on things other than floppy drives anyway. But if it's something you REALLY want, there are lots of ways a smart person with enough spare time can earn a little money. You obviously know something about classic Macs - there are tons of opportunities on eBay to buy things that are priced too low or are mislabeled, and immediately resell them with a better description for a small profit. Or buy old Mac parts that are "broken", many of which are simply missing software or other parts, or just need a good cleaning. Or depending on your neighborhood, you can likely earn some extra money babysitting, or mowing lawns, or running errands for neighbors. When I was 12, me and two friends put notes in about 50 neighborhood mailboxes, advertising ourselves as "helpers" for odd jobs, and got a lot of phone calls that led to work raking leaves and washing cars and stuff. Good times.
I used to have a hard drive and a floppy drive. The hard drive broke. I ran the Mac from floppies. The floppy drive broke (bottom head cracked during a clumsy re-alignment operation). I got a free hard drive from a PC guy we know.
Thus I do not have a floppy drive.
Yeah, do NOT put anything directly in to any one else's mail box. It is a violation of US law (18 USC 1725) to put anything in or on a mailbox that does not have properly-paid postage. (Funnily enough, you do not have to actually SEND it through the USPS, it just has to have proper postage...)
When I was first starting my business, my wife and I went out distributing fliers in our neighborhood. My wife decided it was easier to tape them to mailboxes than to go up and tape them on doors. About two days later, I got a nastygram from the local US Postal Inspector. An apology was sufficient, no fine since it was the first time without a large distribution, but still...
For what it's worth, while I was living with my parents and didn't have my own job, I was pretty limited in what I could buy, I think this applies to just about everybody on this forum. It continues to be in poor taste to directly ask for handouts though, and it's even worse to suggest that the rest of us are bad people because we have the money to buy this type of hardware, and you don't.
Maybe one day you'll be able to pay for cool and convenient upgrades to TWENTY year old machines that only become practical for basic text processing tasks when you put a few hundred dollars of decade-newer upgrades into them. Until then, you've done a surprising job of making do with what you have, Keep it up until something comes along. Maybe your parents will surprise you with a disbursement to get new parts at some point in the near future.
And I'm sure you'd rather hear the screeching of a dial-up modem. It's interesting, how hilariously hipsterish you are about this hardware given that 100% of it was built before you were born.