Cyclone 20 - idea for homemade USB-based floppy controller (Catweasel-ish) - Page 14

TCD · 30 December 2008, 17:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr.vince

Well, you might want to check this:

[ Show youtube player ]

;-)

Wow, now that's what I call an Action flick

Looks really good and best of luck making it work with heavy protected disks

Arnie · 30 December 2008, 19:00

Works better than my Catweasel ever did

kolla · 30 December 2008, 21:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arnie

Works better than my Catweasel ever did

Heh, how so?
I do this all the time with catweasel, read and write floppies to/from adf files, and better yet, I do it without an application that takes all my workspace, and with an OS I can actually use

My only concern is that PCI is vanishing, and I want something that I can use with laptops - USB is the obvious way to go

mr.vince · 30 December 2008, 22:17

No OS discussion please. Won't help anyone.

And the app is that ugly because it's just been thrown together. Btw if you are satisfied with Catweasel (and only want adf stuff)... great. We're not.

Best,
Chris

whiteb · 31 December 2008, 00:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr.vince

No OS discussion please. Won't help anyone.

And the app is that ugly because it's just been thrown together. Btw if you are satisfied with Catweasel (and only want adf stuff)... great. We're not.

Best,
Chris

I agree, from what the video shows, it runs to do what its supposed to do, as opposed to the Catweasel, which has drivers which are.... flakey (To be kind) doing the most basic operations.

Thats what turned me off the catweasel, all the reports of bugs and crashes etc.

Keep up the good work guys, simply Fantastic.

Arnie · 31 December 2008, 13:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by kolla

Heh, how so?
I do this all the time with catweasel, read and write floppies to/from adf files, and better yet, I do it without an application that takes all my workspace, and with an OS I can actually use

My only concern is that PCI is vanishing, and I want something that I can use with laptops - USB is the obvious way to go

lucky old you, mine only worked if there was no "R" in the month

Rabbit80 · 31 December 2008, 15:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arnie

lucky old you, mine only worked if there was no "R" in the month

So it worked in May, June, July and August then - 4 months in a row isn't that bad...

Arnie · 31 December 2008, 16:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rabbit80

So it worked in May, June, July and August then - 4 months in a row isn't that bad...

Well i bought it the end of August and gave up on it in March

cosmicfrog · 31 December 2008, 17:43

yay proof of it workin and like it only been a couple of weeks, this is about the best thread I`ve read in ages

Keep up thy good work ppl, we love it we realy do

gizmomelb · 01 January 2009, 00:57

mr. vince - just wondering if you managed to do any testing with copy protected floppies? does it image them successfully yet?

01 January 2009, 03:19

Great project, I had been wanting to do something like this myself but glad to see someone else has made a start. I'm not into Amiga computers and don't know much about them but I see the project is aimed at all types of floppy disks. For me I want to use it for IBM (FM/MFM) disks formats.

I have a development board I designed to take an NXP LPC2148 ARM7 but from memory it only has 32K SRAM and 512K Flash memory so I might try adding some extra external SRAM to that and see if I can make it work.

Is the firmware source code available for download anywhere ?

aperez · 01 January 2009, 03:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crackersixx

My foot... But that was after I had messed it up pretty badly with my bad soldering skills.

I'll give it another attempt, with a new board, unless someone close (USA) would like to do the soldering in exchange for a board for themselves

Rich,

I'd be happy to solder one up for you in exchange for your stomped-upon unit.

I'm just down in San Francisco. I'll send you a PM with my contact info. and speaking of which, Rich, when you're back from your islandfest (sounds awesome) I'd love an opportunity to buy you a beer or whatever beveragey refreshment you happen to prefer. I work on the edge of the Potrero district, just off 16th.

Cheers,
Alex

mr.vince · 01 January 2009, 10:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by aperez

Rich,

I'd be happy to solder one up for you in exchange for your stomped-upon unit.

I'm just down in San Francisco. I'll send you a PM with my contact info. and speaking of which, Rich, when you're back from your islandfest (sounds awesome) I'd love an opportunity to buy you a beer or whatever beveragey refreshment you happen to prefer. I work on the edge of the Potrero district, just off 16th.

Cheers,
Alex

Hi!

C6 is not Rich... Rich already has a hardware...

You may of course still have a beer with him.

Best,
Chris

mr.vince · 01 January 2009, 11:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by gizmomelb

mr. vince - just wondering if you managed to do any testing with copy protected floppies? does it image them successfully yet?

Yes, imaging works. The ADFs are already based on raw data, and I can clearly see the higher density on titles like Turrican II or Dragon's Lair. Have to work out a dumping process that fits the needs of Softpres people and on the other end can be a base for writing back directly using Cyclone20.

So far only ADF ouput has been implemented and I am currently looking into the raw stuff. This is all advanced stuff and Rich is really good at it. Takes some time to understand genius' work.

Chris

mr.vince · 01 January 2009, 11:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by staticmem

Is the firmware source code available for download anywhere ?

Sure. Right here in the thread.

Chris

BlueAchenar · 08 January 2009, 02:12

Could it be that there's already some model of external usb floppy drive in which we could easily change the microcontroller/FPGA firmware to our needs?

Sorry for interrupting.

BlueAchenar · 08 January 2009, 17:46

Could this board be used instead?

http://microcontrollershop.com/produ...roducts_id=942

It already has the pins connected to the IO ports in a standard floppy type connector. It would be easier for everyone to use out of the box.

Supamax · 08 January 2009, 17:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlueAchenar

Could this board be used instead?

http://microcontrollershop.com/produ...roducts_id=942

It already has the pins connected to the IO ports in a standard floppy type connector. It would be easier for everyone to use out of the box.

100 USD...!

BlueAchenar · 08 January 2009, 18:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Supamax

100 USD...!

There must be some cheap dev. board with a IDC34 connector somewhere...

BlueAchenar · 08 January 2009, 18:36

I think I'll try this one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ATMEL-AT91SAM7S2...713.m153.l1262

Much cheaper than the alternatives. I'll just have to build a custom cable to connect the floppy drive to the board headers.

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30 December 2008, 19:00	#262
Arnie R.I.P Smudge 18-08-16 Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Leicester/UK Age: 66 Posts: 3,968	Works better than my Catweasel ever did

30 December 2008, 22:17	#264
mr.vince Cheesy crust Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Hawk's Creek Age: 48 Posts: 1,383	No OS discussion please. Won't help anyone. And the app is that ugly because it's just been thrown together. Btw if you are satisfied with Catweasel (and only want adf stuff)... great. We're not. Best, Chris

31 December 2008, 17:43	#269
cosmicfrog The 1 who ribbits Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: leek, Staffs, UK Age: 56 Posts: 3,557	yay proof of it workin and like it only been a couple of weeks, this is about the best thread I`ve read in ages Keep up thy good work ppl, we love it we realy do

01 January 2009, 00:57	#270
gizmomelb Registered User Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: melbourne Age: 55 Posts: 541	mr. vince - just wondering if you managed to do any testing with copy protected floppies? does it image them successfully yet?

01 January 2009, 03:19	#271
staticmem Posts: n/a	Great project, I had been wanting to do something like this myself but glad to see someone else has made a start. I'm not into Amiga computers and don't know much about them but I see the project is aimed at all types of floppy disks. For me I want to use it for IBM (FM/MFM) disks formats. I have a development board I designed to take an NXP LPC2148 ARM7 but from memory it only has 32K SRAM and 512K Flash memory so I might try adding some extra external SRAM to that and see if I can make it work. Is the firmware source code available for download anywhere ?

08 January 2009, 02:12	#276
BlueAchenar Not dead yet!!! :D Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Aveiro / Portugal Age: 42 Posts: 690	Could it be that there's already some model of external usb floppy drive in which we could easily change the microcontroller/FPGA firmware to our needs? Sorry for interrupting.

08 January 2009, 17:46	#277
BlueAchenar Not dead yet!!! :D Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Aveiro / Portugal Age: 42 Posts: 690	Could this board be used instead? http://microcontrollershop.com/produ...roducts_id=942 It already has the pins connected to the IO ports in a standard floppy type connector. It would be easier for everyone to use out of the box.

08 January 2009, 18:36	#280
BlueAchenar Not dead yet!!! :D Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Aveiro / Portugal Age: 42 Posts: 690	I think I'll try this one: http://cgi.ebay.com/ATMEL-AT91SAM7S2...713.m153.l1262 Much cheaper than the alternatives. I'll just have to build a custom cable to connect the floppy drive to the board headers.

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