Do I need specific hardware to use a Kryoflux?

[MethodGit]

Now I've been eyeing up one of these things every now and then hoping to be rich enough to blag it myself one day. I have quite a few Amiga disks laying around that could do with being made useable somehow.

But do I need anything extra to slot into my PC before a Kryoflux can be utilised? I mean, it doesn't have a floppy controller or internal floppy drive, so hopefully a USB floppy drive can still be used...

I tried to look at specifications for Kryoflux but a lot of it just goes over my head!

[MethodGit]

Oh for frak's sake, I thought I had posted this in the SPS section! Feel free to move, mods.

[MrCheese]

The Kyroflux controls a standard PC floppy drive. You can't use a USB floppy drive. You connect the Kyroflux to a PC via a standard USB cable. You connect the kyroflux to a floppy drive via a standard ribbon cable and power the floppy drive from a PC PSU or external PSU, not from the Kyroflux.

If you buy this "KryoFlux Personal Edition Advanced" from here http://webstore.kryoflux.com/catalog...products_id=29 then you have everything except a floppy drive, which you can get form eBay for a few quid e.g. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Samsung-SF...item415f04dff3 or http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SAMSUNG-SF...item53ea16875b but do not get floppy drives made by ALPS as they suck for writing ( see list of drives that are OK here http://forum.kryoflux.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=4

[prowler]

Originally Posted by MrCheese

You connect the Kyroflux to a PC via a standard USB cable. You connect the kyroflux to a floppy drive via a standard ribbon cable and power the floppy drive from a PC PSU or external PSU, not from the Kyroflux.

...nor from the PSU powering the PC to which the KryoFlux is connected!

[MrCheese]

Originally Posted by prowler

...nor from the PSU powering the PC to which the KryoFlux is connected!

You can't power the FD from the PC PSU? Why is that?

[prowler]

Originally Posted by MrCheese

You can't power the FD from the PC PSU? Why is that?

It is not recommended. The setting up procedure in the KryoFlux manual must be strictly complied with to avoid damaging the unit and invalidating the warranty.

From the KryoFlux manual:

You are conecting two systems with different grounds, so ground (connected via the floppy data cable) must come first.

The floppy drive needs to be connected both to the KryFlux board and to an external supply - but with the mains power switched off - before the KryoFlux is connected via the USB cable to the PC, which should already be powered up and running Windows so that it will detect the card and install the driver. Only then should the power to the floppy drive PSU be switched on.

[MrCheese]

Fair enough. My Kyroflux is in it's own case with it's own PSU so that happens anyway. I plug the USB in, let it detect then power the case on, which powers the drives.

[MethodGit]

Welp, after watching this video just now, I feel really encouraged to try and splash out for one of these.

Could anyone recommend a spare power supply from any particular site I could buy to go with one of those Samsung drives linked to earlier? Speaking of which, both auctions have ended, but it doesn't matter which of all these Samsung drives I get as long as it's an SFD-321B, right?

[MrCheese]

Originally Posted by MethodGit

Welp, after watching this video just now, I feel really encouraged to try and splash out for one of these.

Could anyone recommend a spare power supply from any particular site I could buy to go with one of those Samsung drives linked to earlier? Speaking of which, both auctions have ended, but it doesn't matter which of all these Samsung drives I get as long as it's an SFD-321B, right?

It was designed for the SFD-321B so that in my opinion is the one to go for. This is a thread that lists compatible drive: http://forum.kryoflux.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=4 as to power you can get something like this http://compare.ebay.co.uk/like/13069...bar&adtype=pla and http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HDD-POWER-...ht_1051wt_1139 or if you want a box to stuff it all in something like http://www.span.com/product_info.php?products_id=32972

[MethodGit]

Originally Posted by MrCheese

It was designed for the SFD-321B so that in my opinion is the one to go for. This is a thread that lists compatible drive: http://forum.kryoflux.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=4 as to power you can get something like this http://compare.ebay.co.uk/like/13069...bar&adtype=pla and http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HDD-POWER-...ht_1051wt_1139 or if you want a box to stuff it all in something like http://www.span.com/product_info.php?products_id=32972

Isn't that the same cable as what you get if you buy the Kryoflux Advanced setup?

[prowler]

Originally Posted by MethodGit

Isn't that the same cable as what you get if you buy the Kryoflux Advanced setup?

No, both the KryoFlux Advanced cables are better. They're not simply adapters, but splitters with two sockets each.

[MethodGit]

Originally Posted by prowler

No, both the KryoFlux Advanced cables are better. They're not simply adapters, but splitters with two sockets each.

So I could just get the Advanced, and then the black Molex Power Supply linked above? All that plus the Samsung drive would set me up, right?

[prowler]

Originally Posted by MethodGit

So I could just get the Advanced, and then the black Molex Power Supply linked above? All that plus the Samsung drive would set me up, right?

Yep, that's the whole kit, effectively.

[mr.vince]

Indeed.

Sorry, overlooked this thread before. The Samsung drive is good for reading, especially if you want 84 tracks. There's also a Sony drive that's well, but only does 82. In general, mostly all are. Few have issues. E.g. there are some Samsungs that are missing HD detection, therefore these can't write to DD disks reliably.

As for the power supply... You can of course hook the drive up to your PC power supply. The external ones are just needed if you only have a laptop.

[MethodGit]

Woop woop! It arrived just yesterday - much quicker than I had anticipated!

(I ordered it last Wednesday and didn't expect it to arrive for ages due to the four-day bank holiday weekend over here, so this was a pleasant surprise. :-] )

Didn't get time to get it all out yesterday but will now proceed to hook it up to my PC along with the Samsung drive and the PSU (both of which arrived before the Kryoflux, naturally). Wish me luck.....

[MethodGit]

And here it is, ladies and gentlemen!



Click to enlarge the piccy, natch.

Now, just one thing....... how does one create IPFs with this thingymajig? The instructions only mention how to create ADFs and I have some disks which I know are protected and/or MFM'd up.

[MethodGit]

Oh globbits! I think the PSU's gone bust already. The little light on it isn't flickering on, and subsequently I've got no power coming to the floppy drive at all (hopefully the drive itself isn't toasted). It's the black block one I was recommended on eBay. I guess at a fiver each they're not exactly durable?

Maybe leaving it all plugged in for roughly two hours or so wasn't such a hot idea. Or maybe I just wasn't using an ideal generic power cable. I rummaged through the house looking for spares and found a couple that were labelled (by us, many years ago) as "5 amp" or "13 amp". Did I end up sending too much or too little voltage in the end? I managed to create a few ADFs at best while I did have a working setup, but still no closer to finding anything for Windows that'll allow me to make IPFs.

[MethodGit]

*Sigh* Where is everybody when you need them?

I guess the other solution available would be for me to connect the floppy drive to my PC's PSU, if mr.vince reckons it's okay. The driver is already installed so this shouldn't be too much of a concern, right? It'll do until I can find the opportunity to head to my nearest Maplin and ask for spare PSUs. It might help if I know which specific type of PSU and power cable (in terms of voltage/amp settings) I should stick to in future so that this silly mistake doesn't happen again. (For the record, I used a "5-amp" power cable, maybe even that is too much "ampage").

[mr.vince]

Ouch. I know these PSUs... They tend to die instantly. We've been trying to source reliable and durable PSUs for a long time and it seems we have found a company which can supply them, including power cords etc.

These will show up in the store shortly, and I think we can put them up for EUR 15.- ... Will depend on quantities ordered.

As for IPFs... There is no dump to IPF option, never was, even we don't have it. You don't press a button and get an IPF. An IPF is a scripted file that defines data. E.g. If you would read data and read "3", it might be that to get this result the disk would need the equation 2+1 instead of 6/2 to make the game load.

We therefore use a very specialised software tool to create such files. You can submit dumps to get an IPF in return. And you will soon be able to write back Stream files directly. The latter will leave room for errors and some protections won't work this way. But that's what copy protection was all about in the first place.

[MethodGit]

Thanks for the information there. :-] You don't suppose we could, um, make a quick deal on one of these cables now could we?

Maplin turn out - once again - to be staggeringly useless in regards to obtaining critical hardware. "Mer mer mer, we don't do adaptors of that kind, your best option is to look on Amazon yadda yadda yadda." Funny, cos' going to a quick brick & mortar shop was my idea of avoiding the prospect of doing more online ordering and playing the waiting game once more!

A trip to PC World, on the other hand, revealed a more interesting discovery. I had taken the now broken PSU with me to show to dealers what kind of thing I was after, and when I inquired about them to a PCW staff member, he said that while they did generally sell PSUs, they don't deal with that kind of adaptor, and when I showed him the existing PSU in my possession, he asked me if I got it off eBay. After a quick "yes", he informed me it was fake. Apparently, a real PSU is supposed to be much heavier in weight (the one I used was pretty light), and is also supposed to cost somewhere in the region of £50-60, and not the mere five quid I forked out for it. I should've known when to smell a rat when it was convenient! Perhaps this also explains why the PSU was prone to feeling very hot after a short period of time.

At that kind of price though, I feel like weeping. I was hoping to avoid making my trip into true self-preservation duties as least costly as possible. I'll be overjoyed if your cables do end up going for just 15 euros in comparison (and with a very light shipping charge). Right now I've resorted to just hooking the floppy drive directly into my PC, and I'm just lucky there's both a spare little caddy at the front to slot a 3.5" drive in, and just enough space within the large slot of my wooden workdesk where the desktop tower resides for my Kryoflux to sit comfortably. Thankfully, it appears the crappy PSU did no damage to either the device or the drive. So I can get back to making images for now, but it's a bit of a PITA to set it up like this. Which is why I'm hoping some kind of personal deal on a reliable PSU is possible as I speak....

[sneeker]

I think the guy in pcworld was confused, He must of thought it was some strange laptop psu... A floppy drive alone isnt going to use much power if you think about it, an entire amiga 600 runs on a 25w psu. Which nowerdays even a good quality 400w psu is only £30.... Laptop wise a 90w psu is about the same price.

And most people in pcworld wouldnt know a floppy drive and a molex plug if it bit them.

So its not fake par se, just random chinese tat.

[Sune Salminen]

You can use any old AT or ATX PC power supply.

If it doesn't want to power on with only the floppy drive connected (not enough load) bridge the green wire in the motherboard power connector with any black (ground) wire with a paperclip. This will leave the PSU on permanently.

I used to use an old PC PSU in this way to power up arcade JAMMA PCBs.

[MethodGit]

Originally Posted by mr.vince

As for IPFs... There is no dump to IPF option, never was, even we don't have it. You don't press a button and get an IPF. An IPF is a scripted file that defines data. E.g. If you would read data and read "3", it might be that to get this result the disk would need the equation 2+1 instead of 6/2 to make the game load.

We therefore use a very specialised software tool to create such files. You can submit dumps to get an IPF in return. And you will soon be able to write back Stream files directly. The latter will leave room for errors and some protections won't work this way. But that's what copy protection was all about in the first place.

I did find this on the Kryoflux forum (and I see there's a similar thread on here as well), and it looks useful, but unless someone is willing to provide Windows-compatible executables I can't see myself achieving much with it.

[MethodGit]

Originally Posted by MethodGit

I did find this on the Kryoflux forum (and I see there's a similar thread on here as well), and it looks useful, but unless someone is willing to provide Windows-compatible executables I can't see myself achieving much with it.

Never mind, bit the bullet in the end and compiled some quick EXEs with Cygwin. Had to install close to 3GB worth of Cygwin crap before I could actually succeed in making them mind you!

I've zoned them up along with the required cygwin1.dll file for anyone interested. So far, I managed to succeed in making one working IPF out of this Kryoflux and mfmparse team-up (Carrier Command, Kixx budget, complete with copylock track). I'll be stumped however if I know just how to deal with dual-format (Amiga/ST or Amiga/PC) disks, or those with weird-ass MFM (Switchblade). I also don't know just how accurate working IPFs made this way are, so I'm still open to sending out STREAM files to those of you interested. Just where do I upload them and/or who to send to?

[prowler]

Great work, MG!

Thankyou very much!

[mr.vince]

Originally Posted by MethodGit

I also don't know just how accurate working IPFs made this way are.

No one can say, as authenticity and integrity never gets checked. It's just some data cranked into a container. That's what I said before when I wrote that we use a software that actually scripts that (actually it recommends something, the preservationist then finalises and exports the data).