Pros & Cons HxC SD-Interface

[Gryzor]

Cheers, Cholo, nice tip. However, Jeff (in his README files) says to use toe provided CFG file with the CPC manager software... I hope there's not something special in it?

[andycadley]

Is this a subtle difference with the 6128+ then, or am I missing something? I've removed the dead 3" drive from mine, but still have the HxC on the external port (it was easier to get a cable) and it functions fine as both drive A and B.

[Gryzor]

Ok, found a small problem: I tried to load the latest Color Lines release, and it says "File error-Bad FAT". This is because I forgot to convert it. However, the board enters a loop and there's nothing you can do to escape! I had to remove the SD and delete the files on the PC to be able to proceed...

Also, why is it that, apparently, folders and files are listed by Modified Date? Wouldn't it make more sense to have it done alphabetically?

Cheers
Gryzor

[TFM]

***Request***
The versions of Discology that I have at hand run through |CPM. But CPM tries to read drive A. Anyone has a version of Discology (v5 preferably?) that runs normally and thus can be loaded through HxC? Thanks in advance!

What you can do is use XD-DOS. This DOS allows the command ICPM,2 which boots from drive B. You can boot CP/M in fact from a 0.7 MB disc ;-)
The ICPM,2 may also work for Discology, try it.

[Gryzor]

Hmm.... I don't even have XD-DOS, let alone on a ROM...

|CPM,2 gives a Drive A read fail!?!

[Gryzor]

Ok... a potentially serious problem?

After the problems with the latest Color Lines version that I mentioned above, I deleted the files, and I also rewrote AUTOBOOT.hfe and HXCSDFE.cfg from the original CPC Manager archive.

The board is recognized fine, I run"HXC, it starts loading and then (when it switches to mode 2)... it gives me a Drive A Disc missing error!!!!

If I Cancel it says "Bad Signature - HxC Floppy Emulator Not Found (0)"!

Any ideas?

Thanks
T

PS The board's screen doesn't give any indication, I think it continues trying to read the file...

[Ynot.zer0]

I had similar issues with HXC.exe and the HxCSDInterface.  The HxCSDInterface 'has' to be set as Drive A (via the IDx jumper settings), whilst this works by forcing it to be 'Drive A', I can only ever see 'Drive A' and not 'Drive B'.


So, if I load HXC, and insert abc.hfe into Drive A and def.hfe into Drive B.  I will always see abc.hfe, even if I |a:cat or |b:cat.
If I physically move the IDx jumper to the top selection then I will always see def.hfe.


I cannot seem to find a common ground where I can see both 'Drive A' and 'Drive B'... without physical jumper movement - pressing the buttons on the device doesn't seem to do anything.






...but then again I may have damaged my board when my (real) cat knocked my equipment off my desk including the HxCSDInterface.  (When ordering starts again, I might order a backup HxCSDInterface card - just incase)

[Gryzor]

Hmmm... the issue is, it worked 100% fine up to last night, with the jumpers in place (Drive B) and all... and it suddenly decided to stop.

It's even weirder, given that I *am* loading the program (hxc.bin) from the SD and it fails to recognize the board!!!

I hope Jeff is not on vacation...

[Gryzor]

Hm, there's a new software and firmware version that went unnoticed:

06/08/2010: HxCFloppyEmulator 1.3.12.0
-> New file Support : SAM Coupé MGT file image support added.
-> New file Support : SAM Coupé SAD file image support added.
-> New file Support : Emu EMAX & Emu EMAX 2 (*.EM1 & *.EM2) file support added.
   Note : The operating system image (emaxos.emx) must be present in the same folder than the bank files.
-> New file Support : Ensoniq Mirage file support. (the file must have the *.EDM extension)
-> CPC DSK : Random crash bug corrected.

and:
07/08/2010: Firmware SD HxCFloppyEmulator v1.2.0.0
    - Bootloader update :
   - Size Improvement.
   - ASM-C stack corrected, code optimizations.

Link still has the old name, but leads to firmware 1.2.0.0...

[Gryzor]

Ouf... more problems.

-I copy HxC_SD_Bootloader_V1_0TOV1_1.upd to a formatted SD.
-I press the left and right buttons, then power up
-I leave the buttons, and the only thing it does is stay powered on, with all three leds and all pixels on... and nothing
-After the bootloader update fail, I tried going directly to the firmware update, but still the same: everything just stays lit...

[EDIT]...more problems: I copied a few HFE images along with a HXCSDFE.CFG file just to see if I can at least use it normally. It claims it can't find HXCSDFE.CFG...

Is my board toasted?

[andycadley]

Have you tried a different SD card? That was exactly the way mine was behaving with the first card I tried. No amount of reformatting made any difference. Used a different one and it worked straight off.

[Jeff_HxC2001]

My answer : http://torlus.com/floppy/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2786#2786
 
  It's easy to corrupt the sdcard (if you removed it during a write on your pc for example...)
  So if you get such behavior, try reformat it in FAT32. If this doesn't work try this format tool :
 
  http://www.sdcard.org/consumers/formatter_3/SDFormatterEN2905.zip 
  (Option -> Format type -> FULL (Erase On) )   
   
  And reformat the sdcard in FAT32 after this.
   
  If this doesn't work, try another sdcard.
   
   

 

[TFM]

Hmm.... I don't even have XD-DOS, let alone on a ROM...

|CPM,2 gives a Drive A read fail!?!

Well, the command |CPM,2 boots from drive B. So if there is no disc in B or a non-system formatted you will get a read fail.

However, you need the XD-DOS, because it provides the |CPM,2 command, it's not in the Amsdos.

You can get the XD-DOS in the Wiki.

[Gryzor]

@Andy: thanks for the tip, mate.

Ok, a second (4GB) SD worked in loading the Manager and it recognized the board ok... will try again updating the bootloader/firmware and buy a few 512MB cards as well  

Will report later...

However, why would a card be corrupted so that nto even a format can bring it back?

@TFM: thanks, man... but at this point, with all the paraphernalia on my CPC it's a bit too much also bringing out the old ROM box

So, anyhone has a Discology version that doesn't run with |CPM?

[archcosmo]

Hey Gryzor,

I've dumped this DSK from a cracked Discology version 6 that I had on hand by using SamDisk v3... (CPCDiskXP only creates a bad dump due to the Data Corruption error on track 4..) it'll run by typing run"D

but, you can only run it from drive A .. it complains to insert disk in drive A if you run it from the B drive... also, I havent converted it to test on the SD card yet  (at least in WinApe when I tested it, actual 6128 CPC just ran the drive motor)... ;-)

also (on topic), my testing with SD Floppy Manager hasn't yet got it working to the point of choosing a disk image, unlike what everyone else is reporting

I spent a few hours over the weekend trying out all the combinations of jumpers and ABBA drive switch settings on my CPC 6128 with a few SD cards... and can consistently get an error message if I load the Floppy Manager from Drive A, and a different message when run from Drive B.... maybe someone can load my setup into their SD Floppy emulator and check it for me??? using it normally through the LCD menu and push buttons can run HFE files no problem, I just can't get the Floppy Manager software working on my setup

here's the summary: I've run the floppy manager on my FAT32 formatted SD card, using firmware v1.1.3.0, and Floppy Manager v1.3a software and using one of either: SanDisk 2GB Class 2 SD card, SanDisk 4GB Class 2 SDHC card, SanDisk 8GB Class 2 SDHC card, or a SanDisk 4GB Class 4 SDHC Card...

If i run the Floppy manager from Drive A (IDx jumper as first drive, ABBA switch set the external floppy to Drive A, internal 3" set to B drive), the outcome is the application displays on the monitor "Mounting SD card" which then displays at the top of the screen the message "FAT_FS: Error could not load FAT details (-2)!". The LCD display on the SD HxC displays "Direct Access LBA: 0000000", and the green LED is flashing, orange LED is not lit....

If i run the Floppy manager from Drive B (IDx jumper as second drive, ABBA switch set the external floppy to Drive B, internal 3" floppy as the A drive), the outcome is the application displays on the monitor "Init SD floppy" which then displays the message "ERROR: Floppy Access error! [64]". The LCD display on the SD HxC displays "Direct Access LBA: 0000000", and the green LED is flashing, orange LED is flashing....

if i test the Floppy manager program with a Lexar 2GB Class 2 SD Card, running it from drive A will display the message on screen "Reading HXCSDFE.cfg" and nothing happens (waited several minutes just to be sure). LCD screen displays "Direct Access LBA: 0000000"
changing the jumper and ABBA switches so that the SD HxC emulator is then set to the B drive, will generate the message "Init SD floppy" which then changes to displaying the message "ERROR: Floppy Access error! [64]". The LCD display on the SD HxC displays "Direct Access LBA: 0000000"

can anyone else try out my settings and HFE game (1943) on their own SD HxC board, and report back what happens?

cheers!

@Andy: thanks for the tip, mate.

Ok, a second (4GB) SD worked in loading the Manager and it recognized the board ok... will try again updating the bootloader/firmware and buy a few 512MB cards as well 

Will report later...

However, why would a card be corrupted so that nto even a format can bring it back?

@TFM: thanks, man... but at this point, with all the paraphernalia on my CPC it's a bit too much also bringing out the old ROM box

So, anyhone has a Discology version that doesn't run with |CPM?

[Bryce]

@Gryzor,
       The communication to the SD CARD is done using the SPI protocol, this is a serial protocol which "should" be able to ramp up/down through a whole range of speeds. As I had absolutely nothing to do with the HxC design, I can't tell you which speed Jeff chose to communicate with the cards, but my own experiences of SPI SD communication was that some lesser known cards can have issues if the speed changed to quickly or if you used particular speeds (usually the lower range of the speed scale) that they didn't like. The card may be perfectly good on other devices, just it doesn't work well at the speeds the HxC uses. I try to stick to SanDisk or other well known brands, that stick to the exact specs.

But Jeff can probably give you more details of exactly what the HxC uses.

Bryce.

[Gryzor]

@Gryzor,
       The communication to the SD CARD is done using the SPI protocol, this is a serial protocol which "should" be able to ramp up/down through a whole range of speeds. As I had absolutely nothing to do with the HxC design, I can't tell you which speed Jeff chose to communicate with the cards, but my own experiences of SPI SD communication was that some lesser known cards can have issues if the speed changed to quickly or if you used particular speeds (usually the lower range of the speed scale) that they didn't like. The card may be perfectly good on other devices, just it doesn't work well at the speeds the HxC uses. I try to stick to SanDisk or other well known brands, that stick to the exact specs.

But Jeff can probably give you more details of exactly what the HxC uses.

Bryce.

Hm... this is interesting. Actually today I got out and got me a 2GB Kingston one (with a very nice adaptor: no longer a micro->mini-standard thing, just a USB adaptor!), and againt he same problems... the card of course is working perfectly on my PC and netbook, it's just the board that refuses to cooperate. In the meantime, an older Kingston SD (4GB) that I had in my Dingoo works just fine (but read on). I just hope the Emulator does not chew through SD cards, this would be uneconomical...

Hey Gryzor,

I've dumped this DSK from a cracked Discology version 6 that I had on hand by using SamDisk v3... (CPCDiskXP only creates a bad dump due to the Data Corruption error on track 4..) it'll run by typing run"D

but, you can only run it from drive A .. it complains to insert disk in drive A if you run it from the B drive... also, I havent converted it to test on the SD card yet  (at least in WinApe when I tested it, actual 6128 CPC just ran the drive motor)... ;-)

I much appreciate it mate! Of course it's a pity it doesn't work from |b... What would you guys suggest as the best method of copying dsk images from the Emulator (drive B) to a real disk in Drive A?
I will test your config tomorrow morning, as I'm leaving in a while. But, could you also attach the hfe file?
Cheers

Gryzor
PS Although the card I'm using now seems to be working fine, I'm getting the LBA messages (starting from 0000000 and building up). What does that mean?
PS2 You mention red and green LEDs? Mine only has red ones!!!

[Jeff_HxC2001]

Hm... this is interesting. Actually today I got out and got me a 2GB Kingston one (with a very nice adaptor: no longer a micro->mini-standard thing, just a USB adaptor!), and againt he same problems... the card of course is working perfectly on my PC and netbook, it's just the board that refuses to cooperate. In the meantime, an older Kingston SD (4GB) that I had in my Dingoo works just fine (but read on). I just hope the Emulator does not chew through SD cards, this would be uneconomical...I much appreciate it mate! Of course it's a pity it doesn't work from |b... What would you guys suggest as the best method of copying dsk images from the Emulator (drive B) to a real disk in Drive A?
I will test your config tomorrow morning, as I'm leaving in a while. But, could you also attach the hfe file?
Cheers

Gryzor
PS Although the card I'm using now seems to be working fine, I'm getting the LBA messages (starting from 0000000 and building up). What does that mean?
PS2 You mention red and green LEDs? Mine only has red ones!!!

Gryzor : your first sdcard didn't work anymore because you have removed it during a write (during the dead loop bug-> i will correct this). So some sectors are probably bad or locked.
Please make this : make a big zip file (~512MB), copy it to the sdcard.Once done remove the sdcard and reinsert it (to kill all memory cache), and then try to copy back to your pc. After this try to unpack this zip file.

[Jeff_HxC2001]

Hey Gryzor,

I've dumped this DSK from a cracked Discology version 6 that I had on hand by using SamDisk v3... (CPCDiskXP only creates a bad dump due to the Data Corruption error on track 4..) it'll run by typing run"D

but, you can only run it from drive A .. it complains to insert disk in drive A if you run it from the B drive... also, I havent converted it to test on the SD card yet  (at least in WinApe when I tested it, actual 6128 CPC just ran the drive motor)... ;-)

also (on topic), my testing with SD Floppy Manager hasn't yet got it working to the point of choosing a disk image, unlike what everyone else is reporting

I spent a few hours over the weekend trying out all the combinations of jumpers and ABBA drive switch settings on my CPC 6128 with a few SD cards... and can consistently get an error message if I load the Floppy Manager from Drive A, and a different message when run from Drive B.... maybe someone can load my setup into their SD Floppy emulator and check it for me??? using it normally through the LCD menu and push buttons can run HFE files no problem, I just can't get the Floppy Manager software working on my setup

here's the summary: I've run the floppy manager on my FAT32 formatted SD card, using firmware v1.1.3.0, and Floppy Manager v1.3a software and using one of either: SanDisk 2GB Class 2 SD card, SanDisk 4GB Class 2 SDHC card, SanDisk 8GB Class 2 SDHC card, or a SanDisk 4GB Class 4 SDHC Card...

If i run the Floppy manager from Drive A (IDx jumper as first drive, ABBA switch set the external floppy to Drive A, internal 3" set to B drive), the outcome is the application displays on the monitor "Mounting SD card" which then displays at the top of the screen the message "FAT_FS: Error could not load FAT details (-2)!". The LCD display on the SD HxC displays "Direct Access LBA: 0000000", and the green LED is flashing, orange LED is not lit....

If i run the Floppy manager from Drive B (IDx jumper as second drive, ABBA switch set the external floppy to Drive B, internal 3" floppy as the A drive), the outcome is the application displays on the monitor "Init SD floppy" which then displays the message "ERROR: Floppy Access error! [64]". The LCD display on the SD HxC displays "Direct Access LBA: 0000000", and the green LED is flashing, orange LED is flashing....

if i test the Floppy manager program with a Lexar 2GB Class 2 SD Card, running it from drive A will display the message on screen "Reading HXCSDFE.cfg" and nothing happens (waited several minutes just to be sure). LCD screen displays "Direct Access LBA: 0000000"
changing the jumper and ABBA switches so that the SD HxC emulator is then set to the B drive, will generate the message "Init SD floppy" which then changes to displaying the message "ERROR: Floppy Access error! [64]". The LCD display on the SD HxC displays "Direct Access LBA: 0000000"

can anyone else try out my settings and HFE game (1943) on their own SD HxC board, and report back what happens?

cheers!

Which computer are you using ? 464 6128,6128+ ?

[Jeff_HxC2001]

PS Although the card I'm using now seems to be working fine, I'm getting the LBA messages (starting from 0000000 and building up). What does that mean?

This means that all is ok :
LBA=Logical block addressing -> Address of the sdcard sector actually read or write
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logical_block_addressing

PS2 You mention red and green LEDs? Mine only has red ones!!!

Yes some changes during the production.

[Gryzor]

Gryzor : your first sdcard didn't work anymore because you have removed it during a write (during the dead loop bug-> i will correct this). So some sectors are probably bad or locked.
Please make this : make a big zip file (~512MB), copy it to the sdcard.Once done remove the sdcard and reinsert it (to kill all memory cache), and then try to copy back to your pc. After this try to unpack this zip file.

Thanks for all the support mate... it's much, much appreciated.
 I never remove a card while the board is still on. And I don't turn it off while it's obviously reading or writing something -but then again, I'm not sure what 'obviously' means here.
About the file method you suggested: this is all done on the PC, right? But what will it achieve?

Also, thanks about the LBA clarification. I hadn't seen it with older firmware versions, and I did guess that it probably didn't mean anything was wrong, but thought I'd ask.
Shame, I'd like some yellow and green blinkies...
Off to a date now, already running late. See what your board does? Kills social life!

[Jeff_HxC2001]

Thanks for all the support mate... it's much, much appreciated.
I never remove a card while the board is still on. And I don't turn it off while it's obviously reading or writing something -but then again, I'm not sure what 'obviously' means here.

After the problems with the latest Color Lines   version (it wouldn't load the files, then it'd try to auto-load the bad   files upon rebooting and thus enter a loop)...

The device enter in a loop and many operation are done on the sdcard. You have removed or cut the power supply at this moment.

About the file method you suggested: this is all done on the PC, right? But what will it achieve?

Yes on PC. If you got a bad zip file (crc error or something else), you have some dead sectors on the sdcard.

Also, thanks about the LBA clarification. I hadn't seen it with older firmware versions, and I did guess that it probably didn't mean anything was wrong, but thought I'd ask.

Strange. This message was there since the direct access mode support.

Off to a date now, already running late. See what your board does? Kills social life!

[Jeff_HxC2001]

Firmware update !

http://hxc2001.free.fr/floppy_drive_emulator/SDCard_HxCFloppyEmulator_firmware.zip

[Cholo]

Updated to 1.2.0.0 (took a whole hour of reformatting but finally worked, lol).  Also helped that i got a 1GB Kingston card (the old Lexar 256mb one seemed to give me all but troubles). Anyways everything works now even the Manager on my 464+DDI (DF0)+HxC(DF1) and boot from either drive 

Hints about flashing the 1.2.0.0 firmware: While flashing the bootloader.upd first keep an eye on the 3rd led and if it flashes a lot very quickly then its reading from the SD card (aka its updating). After its done its hard to know if its actually flashed as it behaves a bit like its empty. But just go ahead and flash the actual 1.2.0.0 then as its most likely flash ok, and is waiting for the firmware to be flashed. Again looking at the 3rd led when flashing .. if you dont get a full 1-2 sec of rapid flashing then something is probably wrong and you need to reformat and try again.

[Jeff_HxC2001]

Updated to 1.2.0.0 (took a whole hour of reformatting but finally worked, lol).  Also helped that i got a 1GB Kingston card (the old Lexar 256mb one seemed to give me all but troubles). Anyways everything works now even the Manager on my 464+DDI (DF0)+HxC(DF1) and boot from either drive 

Hints about flashing the 1.2.0.0 firmware: While flashing the bootloader.upd first keep an eye on the 3rd led and if it flashes a lot very quickly then its reading from the SD card (aka its updating). After its done its hard to know if its actually flashed as it behaves a bit like its empty. But just go ahead and flash the actual 1.2.0.0 then as its most likely flash ok, and is waiting for the firmware to be flashed. Again looking at the 3rd led when flashing .. if you dont get a full 1-2 sec of rapid flashing then something is probably wrong and you need to reformat and try again.

Some important points :
-> The actual firmware version is V1.2.0.1
-> Do not cut the power supply during the bootloader programming !!!! The bootloader programming is done when 2 leds are blinking, not before ! (Sdcard access led and Floppy Access led). To be sure wait 1 minutes.

Here the readme.txt

SDCard HxC Floppy Emulator Update procedure :

    For users with the firmware V1.2.0.0 or above jump to the step 2) directly



1)    Bootloader update  (for users with a firmware below the version 1.2.0.0)

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!       
!!!    Warning : DO NOT CUT the power supply of the board during the bootloader programming !     !!!
!!!    In case of power loss, the device may be unusable and need a factory reprogramming.        !!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    -> Copy the new bootloader file (HxC_SD_Bootloader_V1_0TOV1_1.upd) to a freshly formated FAT32 SDCard.
    -> Insert the SDCard into the emulator
    -> Press Left and Right buttons before power up and keep it pressed at least 1 seconds at power up.
    -> Wait some seconds. When 2 leds are blinking (Sdcard access led and Floppy Access led) it's done !
       (to be sure wait 1 minutes before removing the power supply).

        After this the firmware must be flashed. (->step 2 Firmware update)



2)    Firmware update

    -> Copy the new firmware file (*.upd) to a freshly formated FAT32 SDCard.
    -> Insert the SDCard into the emulator
    -> Press Left and Right buttons before power up and keep it pressed at least 1 seconds at power up.
    -> Wait some seconds .... its done !



Note 1:
    The file must be unfragmented on the sdcard and must be in the first part of the root directory.
        For these reasons it is recommended to use a freshly formatted FAT32 SDCard, otherwise you may get the error 4 or 6 (see note 2).

Note 2:
Bootstrap LED error messages:
    Error 1 : (blink 1 time and 2 seconds pause cycle)  No entry point (->no software flashed)
    Error 2 : (blink 2 time and 2 seconds pause cycle)  SDCard init error.
    Error 3 : (blink 3 time and 2 seconds pause cycle)  FAT error.
    Error 4 : (blink 4 time and 2 seconds pause cycle)  UPD File not found!
    Error 5 : (blink 5 time and 2 seconds pause cycle)  Bad UPD File header! (bad file)
    Error 6 : (blink 6 time and 2 seconds pause cycle)  Bad data crc! (file corrupt)
    Error 7 : (blink 7 time and 2 seconds pause cycle)  Bad data size!
    Error 8 : (blink 8 time and 2 seconds pause cycle)  Write error (Pic flash error)
   

Jeff / HxC2001