03 June 2023, 15:22 | #1 |
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Sony MPF920 PC HD Floppy Drive to Amiga HD Floppy Drive Hack
Here's an early release of the mod I have been working on and covered in this thread from page 3 onwards.
Note this is Beta so there may be some undocumented features. See below for current known issues/limitations which I will try to update as I get feedback. However, I and others have tested this mod and it works well as a single drive and in big box Amigas with two drives. Issues and Limitations
Known working drives Model...........IC2..........Resistor Replaced? =========================== T/B53.......D9848N..............Yes.............. Z/131.......BA6986FS...........No............... E/131.......BA6986FS...........No............... The attached zip has the jed file and instructions. You will need a GAL16V8 PLCC. The instructions assume you are familiar with modding a Sony drive to work as an Amiga DD drive. If you are not, search for your drive in the Modifying PC floppy drives for Amiga use thread. Last edited by chrisfi; 24 July 2023 at 20:44. Reason: Update to issues and limitations |
14 June 2023, 12:32 | #2 |
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Nice work, I never thought that'd be possible!
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25 July 2023, 01:10 | #3 |
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Thank you for releasing this! This mod has been a very secretive endeavour to the point someone posted they wanted to make some more money off it before they would consider releasing it.
I know there are other mods including one on Aminet I believe but this seems to be a neater solution. Now flashing GAL... I recall JTAGging a OBD2 connector to flash the GAL16V8D chip (same as the one you're using although this has D on end). I wonder if that could be used as a donor to flash this. Keep up the good work! I've got quite a few drives here... including Sony MPF920. I currently prefer it for use on Greaseweazle as it was an NOS drive... might convert it. Would a pic variant instead of PLCC work (cutting off pins to make it sit flat. Update: Just a thought. Rather than modifying the floppy drives to effectively swap pins (to make PC floppy drive work on Amiga), would it not be better to just have a mini pcb / connector that can slot into the back of PC drive before you attach the floppy drive cable that effectively swaps the necessary pins thereby no need to mod drive at all (or even doing this on a cable directly) On top of that, adding further circuitry on this board could work for signal interruption to allow GAL chip to work? Last edited by lesta_smsc; 25 July 2023 at 03:15. |
25 July 2023, 05:59 | #4 |
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Great work! I need to look through my FDD stash to see if I have the correct model.
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29 July 2023, 21:07 | #5 | ||||
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03 August 2023, 13:02 | #6 |
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Picking up on a topic from the other thread.
Yes, the mod is not related to the compatibility issue with certain Sony floppy drives and the trackdisk.device in 3.2. This failure happens simply by modifying the floppy drive for Amiga. It has nothing to do with the MOD HD. The issue is that I have two models of boards that are practically the same and in one it works perfectly and in the other it fails. I'm going to test the mod with a GAL 16V8 15 to see how it behaves. The tests were done with a 16V8 10. |
03 August 2023, 14:56 | #7 | |
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03 August 2023, 16:33 | #8 | |
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03 August 2023, 17:04 | #9 |
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08 August 2023, 15:59 | #10 |
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Tested the mod with a GAL 16V8D15 and it works the same as with the 16V8D10. The GAL 16V8D15 are somewhat cheaper.
I confirm that the floppy drive modified with the mod is somewhat slower than the Chinon 357A. The Sony has taken 7 minutes and 8 seconds to copy a folder with FileX (about 1.3 megabytes) on a PC-formatted floppy disk. In the original Chinon it took 6 minutes and 52 seconds. |
10 November 2023, 11:58 | #11 |
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Hello
First of all great work But, what am I missing? I tried the mod. on two different Sony 920 drives. One from 1996 with LML-F1 board and one from 2004 with LML-F32 board. Both have the model # E/131 on the outside sticker. I can boot the Amiga after the HD mod, but the Amiga is slow to boot, and when Workbench is loaded up, I get DF1:????, DF2:???? AND DF3:???? I'm trying as DF0: in an Amiga 500 with kickstart 2.04 The drives works modded for Amiga use without the HD mod. Regards Tommy |
10 November 2023, 14:38 | #12 |
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Hello again.
I guessed there is something strange with the READY line, so I hooked up my oscilloscope. I can see that there is activity on PIN3 on the GAL, but nothing on PIN16 that is beeing fed to the floppy. Any ideas on what may be the cause of that? Regards Tommy |
13 November 2023, 00:16 | #13 |
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Hi Tommy,
Hmm, what voltage can your scope see on pins 3 and 16? Whats the part number of the GAL you're using and have you tried another GAL? Also, if you can boot ATK with the modded floppy drive, put a DD floppy in the drive note the drive ID and do a signal test with the motor on and note both the index pulse period and RDY value. Repeat with a HD floppy in the drive. |
13 November 2023, 10:12 | #14 |
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Hello Chris
When you said GAL part number... I looked again and I had several types of the 16v8 type, so I checked my programmers settings and I was missing a B in the type settings. Burned again, and it worked Thanks for your help Tommy |
13 November 2023, 15:22 | #15 |
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20 November 2023, 22:13 | #16 | |
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Quote:
I have read that this might have something to do woth timing and specific drives in newer kickstart versions. I will try to do some tests with kick 2.05 at some point. Will also try to see of my A4000 HD drive can work in the Emu68 A1000 at some point. Regards Tommy |
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21 July 2024, 11:08 | #17 |
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I've tested:
TB/63 (from 2006), it want recognize HD floppies. E/131 did work. |
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