FlashFloppy - new firmware for Gotek drives, open source

[Keir]

Originally Posted by desiv

I lied..
The error was *ERR*31
(I think I got the ERR 2 because I named my HFE file Eliminator_2. )

In the zone. If you'd like the CTR file (if it will help), I can do that too.

Update: I finally realized that I could test the CTR file in WinUAE if I copied the correct (i.e. 64-bit) DLL into the right spot.
I did that, and the game loads in WinUAE.
So I know my CTR file is good (at least for booting the game).
Just the conversion to HFE doesn't seem happy. HFE v1 the game never loads (on a machine where the original floppy loads), HFEv2 I get the ERR31 on the FlashFloppy display, and on HFEv3, it never saves the file to an HFE.

FlashFloppy needed a tweak to support HFEv2. Actually the format is basically the same as HFEv1 so it was trivial. Although FlashFloppy next release will mount your HFEv2 of Eliminator, I doubt it will actually work. There is protection by Christian Weber (SCA virus fame) mentioned in the bootblock and I guess this doesn't get represented correctly in HFEv1/v2.

[desiv]

Originally Posted by kaffer

FlashFloppy needed a tweak to support HFEv2. Actually the format is basically the same as HFEv1 so it was trivial. Although FlashFloppy next release will mount your HFEv2 of Eliminator, I doubt it will actually work. There is protection by Christian Weber (SCA virus fame) mentioned in the bootblock and I guess this doesn't get represented correctly in HFEv1/v2.

Thanx for the info..
No rush, I do have a crack ADF that I can play the game.
Not the nice very nice crack done by StingRay that includes the intro, as that one unfortunately requires PAL, but at least one where I can play the game.
I wonder if HFEv3 will support more of those protections?
I had heard read that there might be some protections that the non-USB HxC probably wouldn't be able to handle, and I assume it might be the same with a Gotek.
I've come across 2 original games so far (Eliminator and Altered Beast) that don't seem to like the HFE format. All in all, still a pretty good percentage, combining ADFs and HFEs that work. ;-)

[Keir]

Originally Posted by desiv

Thanx for the info..
No rush, I do have a crack ADF that I can play the game.
Not the nice very nice crack done by StingRay that includes the intro, as that one unfortunately requires PAL, but at least one where I can play the game.
I wonder if HFEv3 will support more of those protections?
I had heard read that there might be some protections that the non-USB HxC probably wouldn't be able to handle, and I assume it might be the same with a Gotek.
I've come across 2 original games so far (Eliminator and Altered Beast) that don't seem to like the HFE format. All in all, still a pretty good percentage, combining ADFs and HFEs that work. ;-)

Everything is theoretically achievable on Gotek hardware, it is mainly a case of designing a suitable low-bandwidth format which can express these various protected track formats (eg raw flux formats like Supercard Pro and Kryoflux streams can't be streamed from USB drive fast enough over full-speed USB). HFEv3 with some further extensions is a nice enough candidate. And also implementing smart analyser/transcoder to target that format.

[Jeff_HxC2001]

Originally Posted by desiv

I've come across 2 original games so far (Eliminator and Altered Beast) that don't seem to like the HFE format. All in all, still a pretty good percentage, combining ADFs and HFEs that work. ;-)

Tested here and seems to work fine, at least with HFEv3 files converted from IPF and an A500 + a Gotek with the HxC firmware.

[desiv]

Originally Posted by Jeff_HxC2001

Tested here and seems to work fine, at least with HFEv3 files converted from IPF and an A500 + a Gotek with the HxC firmware.

Ah! Great to know, thanx!
(You say converted from IPF, you mean converted from the CTRaw I placed in the Zone? Or are you going from an IPF from another disk? (which may or may not be the same protection/format as mine) Just making sure we are on the same playing field here.. ;-)

Q: I have not been able to make an HFEv3 file from my CTRaw images.
I try it in the Gui (HxCFloppyEmulator.exe), but never creates the file. Just sits there on "writing."
In the log withDebug enabled, I see:
INFO 1 : Write HFEv3 file C:\Users\villdesi\Downloads\xfer\HxC\Eliminator_CTR.hfe for the standalone emulator.
INFO 1 : Floppy interface mode AMIGA_DD_FLOPPYMODE (Amiga Interface (880KB/DD))
DEBUG : HFEv3 Track 0 Size: 20294 bytes
DEBUG : HFEv3 Track 1 Size: 22638 bytes
DEBUG : HFEv3 Track 2 Size: 23130 bytes
DEBUG : HFEv3 Track 3 Size: 20136 bytes
DEBUG : HFEv3 Track 4 Size: 24051 bytes

But I never get any file saved.
If I change the output to HFE or HFEv2, I get a file.
I tried this at home with the stable release on my Win10 machine and just now on a Win7 machine with v2.1.11.1.

Can I use another program to try to convert CTRaw to HFEv3? hxcfe.exe somehow? (I didn't see a command line option that I could figure out to create an HFEv3 image.. Something with the -conv option??)

[Chain]

When enters sometime in subdirectory, load adf and goes back ".." it "sometimes" stops working /reading at all, and it needs amiga reset.
Im not using any HFE enhancements, just flashdrive with adf.

Can someone confirms/reproduce that?

[Keir]

Originally Posted by Chain

When enters sometime in subdirectory, load adf and goes back ".." it "sometimes" stops working /reading at all, and it needs amiga reset.
Im not using any HFE enhancements, just flashdrive with adf.

Can someone confirms/reproduce that?

What firmware version? When you say Amiga reset, do you mean power cycle or C-A-A?

[Chain]

v0.9.29 and yes, CTRL-A-A

[Keir]

Originally Posted by Chain

v0.9.29 and yes, CTRL-A-A

The problem may be on the Amiga side, as C-A-A does not reset the Gotek. Unless FlashFloppy has done something to drive the Amiga into a bad state, but I've not had other reports of this.

[Keir]

New release v2.0a (first in new experimental release series)
https://github.com/keirf/FlashFloppy/wiki/Downloads

* IMG: Allow geometry to be manually configured in new file IMG.CFG
--- See examples/IMG.CFG for documentation
--- Multiple formats can be defined; distinguished by image name tags
* IMG: Support FM mode with Index Address Mark (IAM)
* IMG: Support auto-configuration of GAP3 (post data gap) when using IMG.CFG
* FF.CFG: Fix parsing of comma-separated values
* Indexed Mode: Allow arbitrary image name after "DSKAnnnn" prefix
--- eg. DSKA0000_myimage.img, DSKA0002_another.adf
* Indexed Mode: Allow the "DSKA" prefix to be changed (FF.CFG:indexed-prefix=)

[Keir]

New release v2.1a (experimental release series)
https://github.com/keirf/FlashFloppy/wiki/Downloads

*** IMG.CFG: Allow up to 256 sectors per track

*** IMG.CFG: Split skew into per-cylinder and per-side values (cskew/sskew)

*** IMG.CFG: Introduce image-file layout option (file-layout=<csv-list>):
----> sequential,interleaved: Cylinder-first or side-first track ordering
----> reverse-sideN: Side-N cylinders in reverse order (high to low) (N=0,1)
----> sides-swapped: Ordering of disk sides is swapped in the image file

*** 7-Segment LED: Display track number when an image is mounted
----> FF.CFG: "display-type = led-trk"
----> Displays slot number as usual during image selection/navigation
----> First button press reverts to slot display; Next press begins navigation

*** LCD/OLED: Display full cylinder number on displays wider than 16 columns
----> Previously truncated at cylinder 99

[Keir]

New release v2.2a (experimental release series)
https://github.com/keirf/FlashFloppy/wiki/Downloads

*** New image types supported:
----> XDF: 3.5" HD eXtended Disk Format (1840kB)
----> ATR: Atari 8-bit

*** 7-Seg LED: Improved track display.
----> This new track display mode is now always enabled.

*** OLED: Fix horizontal offset on SH1106 128x32 displays

*** IMG.CFG: 'id' parameter simplified; 'sskew' renamed 'hskew' (head skew)

[Keir]

New release v2.3a (experimental release series)
https://github.com/keirf/FlashFloppy/wiki/Downloads

*** OLED: Auto-detect SSD1306/SH1106 display controller
----> FF.CFG: 'display-type = ...-sh1106' is now redundant and ignored

*** ATR: Fix readability of downloaded ATR images
----> Invert data as it is read/written, mirroring the standard XF551 interface
----> Thanks to Piotr for this report (using his XF551 clone)

[matburton]

Originally Posted by kaffer

*** 7-Seg LED: Improved track display.
----> This new track display mode is now always enabled.

That's pretty cool thanks

[Keir]

New release v2.5a (experimental release series)
https://github.com/keirf/FlashFloppy/wiki/Downloads

*** Fragment-offsets cache implemented at the FAT filesystem layer
*** Block cache implemented at the mass-storage volume layer
----> Faster image selection/navigation in large folders
----> Improved reliability in image handling (reduced access latencies)
----> USB stick will usually stop flashing when drive is not being accessed!

*** FF.CFG: New rotary input options
----> 'trackball': Blackberry-style trackball
----> 'buttons': Push-to-ground Prev/Next buttons

See a video demonstration of the trackball feature on Youtube: [ Show youtube player ]

[matburton]

Somewhat off topic but I suspect the copy protection in Eliminator is somewhat aggressive as it's the only game I've not been able to successfully write back to a real floppy from the IPF so far (using a Kryoflux, PAL version).

I tried different PC drives, different known good DD disks, different Amigas with different drives but the result is always the same. The game 'loads' but to a garbled screen.

[Keir]

New release v2.7a (experimental release series)
https://github.com/keirf/FlashFloppy/wiki/Downloads

*** Sort folders into alphabetical order during navigation
----> FF.CFG: folder-sort= to modify this behaviour

*** Fix memory corruption issues (stack overflow)

*** ATR: Interleave sectors for best performance

[mark_k]

Originally Posted by matburton

Somewhat off topic but I suspect the copy protection in Eliminator is somewhat aggressive as it's the only game I've not been able to successfully write back to a real floppy from the IPF so far (using a Kryoflux, PAL version).

I tried different PC drives, different known good DD disks, different Amigas with different drives but the result is always the same. The game 'loads' but to a garbled screen.

Could that be an incompatiblity with ECS Agnus? Have you tested it on a Kickstart 1.2 OCS Agnus A500?

[matburton]

Originally Posted by mark_k

Could that be an incompatiblity with ECS Agnus? Have you tested it on a Kickstart 1.2 OCS Agnus A500?

Good point, I never considered that! Both of the A500s I own must have an ECS Agnus. I tested the IPF in WinUAE with an ECS Agnus and got the exact same borked result as on real hardware.

So not copy protection after all!

[voxel]

keep in mind that if you use an ECS agnus in an A500 or A2000 you MUST use an ECS denise too or you will have some problems (with overscan and some other things)