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--- x68000:adding_an_fdx68_to_x68000 [2018/11/27 03:19] – leonk
+++ x68000:adding_an_fdx68_to_x68000 [2018/11/29 08:54] – leonk
@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 Original web site:  (http://www.geocities.jp/kugimoto0715/fdx68/index.html)
-__**Background Information:**__
+====== Background Information ======
 The X68000, like many other devices made in the 1990's and earlier, uses ICs that communicate on 5V rails (0V = binary 0, 5V = binary 1).  Modern electronics, use 3V rails (or even less).  Hence, one can't connect a micro computer like a Raspberry Pi to an X68000, as the data bus voltages are not compatible.
@@ Line 9: / Line 9: @@
 The FDX68 is a device that plugs into the Raspberry Pi, and voltage converts between a Pi and X68000 floppy drive port (both internal and/or external).  The actual emulation of the floppy drive happens in software; a very clever Linux application that runs on the Raspberry Pi. The FDX68 emulates 2 FD at the same time; external jumpers set which drives to emulate (0/1 internal, or 2/3 external).  Lastly, LEDs are included on the device to show you drive activity.
-__**PreReq:**__
+====== PreReq ======
    * Raspberry Pi 3B or 3B+
@@ Line 15: / Line 15: @@
    * FDX68 device (purchase from original maker from above link)
    * FDX68 interface cable (depending on X68000 unit you have, connector will differ)
-   * Knowledge of Linux (SSH into Pi, start service, run command line utilities to load disk images)
+   * **Knowledge of Linux (SSH into Pi, start service, run command line utilities to load disk images)**
    * Disk images of OS / Games you want to run
+   * FDX68 software downloaded and unarchived to a new **fdx68** directory in the rootfs
-__**Setup and Usage:**__
+====== Setup and Usage ======
 The original author has great instructions found here: http://www.geocities.jp/kugimoto0715/fdx68/index.html
@@ Line 33: / Line 34: @@
-__**X68000 XVI Compact:**__
+====== X68000 XVI Compact ======
-{{:x68000:fdx68_xvi_fd_connector.png?nolink&400|}}
+===== Connection Method =====
+The external FDD connecter is labelled "EXTERNAL FDD" on the back of the X68000. This is a very unusual port known as the "miniature delta ribbon (MDR) 40 position female connector". In order to connect an external device to this port an MDR 40 position male connector is necessary. The FDX68 author made a cable for converting this port to a standard 34-pin ribbon cable connector. One should be able to purchase the MDR 40 position male connector at many online retail stores. You will also need to purchase matching enclosure shell for the connector.
+{{:x68000:fdx68_xvi_fd_connector.png?nolink&200|}}
+{{:x68000:fdx68_connector_1.png?nolink&200|}}
+{{:x68000:fdx68_connector_2.png?nolink&300|}}
+When making your own cable to convert from MDR 40 to the 34-pin connector found on the FDX68, the following conversion table should be referenced. The pin assignment for creating the conversion cable is as follows. After soldering the pins, one should confirm they cable is soldered correctly using a voltmeter.
+{{:x68000:FDX68_connector_pingout.png?nolink&800|}}
+Here's how one connects the FDX68 externally to the X68000 using this custom cable
+{{:x68000:FDX68_xvi.png?nolink&200|}}
+===== Internal FDD are drives 0,1 and FDX68 are drives 2,3 =====
+To use the internal FDD as the first and second boot drives (drive A: and B:) and the FDX68 emulated floppy disk drives as the third and fourth drives (drive C: and D:) do the following. Set the "INTERNAL FDD NO." switch on the rear of the X68000 to 0,1. Next, set the FDX68 jumpers to location 2,3 for both DRV and OPT as shown below.
+The X68000 can still boot a system from the FDX68 as long as no bootable floppies are found in the internal FDDs. It is also important to note that although games will boot from drives 2,3 many multi-disk games will only search for additional floppy disks in drives 0,1.  This configuration is useful for booting HumanOS, or single disk games. It is also useful when the FDX68 emulator is not running but you still desire a bootable system.
+{{:x68000:FDX68_xvi_0.png?nolink&250|}}
+{{:x68000:FDX68_xvi_1.png?nolink&100|}}
+===== Internal FDD are drives 2,3 and FDX68 are drives 0,1 =====
+To use the FDX68 emulated floppy disk drives as the first and second drives (drive A: and B:) and the internal FDD as the third and fourth disk drives (drive C: and D:) do the following. Set the "INTERNAL FDD NO." switch on the rear of the X68000 to 2,3. Next, set the FDX68 jumpers to location 0,1 for both DRV and OPT as shown below.
+This configuration will allow you to use multi-disk games using the FDX68 FDD emulator with no drive number issues. But the FDX68 must be running at startup.  If drives 0,1 do not respond on boot-up (even with no disks) the X68000 will not boot (even when trying to boot to a hard drive). If you want to start your X68000 with the FDX68 disabled, change the "INTERNAL FDD NO." switch back to 0,1.
+{{:x68000:FDX68_xvi_2.png?nolink&250|}}
+{{:x68000:FDX68_xvi_3.png?nolink&100|}}
+===== Starting the Floppy Disk Drive emulator =====
+FDX68 can emulate both XDF as well as FDX images.  In this example, we will first convert an XDF image to FDX and then load it into the emulator.
+Let's convert the system disk image of Human 3.02, which was released free of charge in XDF format. For image conversion, we use the //fdxconv// utility. If you run //fdxconv// with no arguments, a simple help screen will display with usage instructions. //fdxconv// automatically determines the conversion process to use by using file extensions of the input and output files.
+<file>
+pi@raspberrypi:/fdx68 $ ./fdxconv
+FDX68 version 1.00, Copyright (C) 2017-2018 GIMONS
+Floppy image convert utility
+Usage: ./fdxconv -i SRCFILE [-n DISKNO] -o DESTFILE
+ SRCFILE is source image file path.
+ DISKNO is disk number of multi image format, Default is 1.
+ DESTFILE is destination image file path.
+</file>
+Here's an example of converting from XDF to FDX format. Because the original XDF image has only data sectors, it's only 1.2Mb big, but when converted to FDX format it will grow to about 5.5Mb.
+<file>
+pi@raspberrypi:/fdx68 $ ./fdxconv -i HUMAN302.XDF -o HUMAN302.FDX
+FDX68 version 1.00, Copyright (C) 2017-2018 GIMONS
+Floppy image convert utility
+Input file   : HUMAN302.XDF
+Disk no      : 1
+Output file  : HUMAN302.FDX
+</file>
+<file>
+pi@raspberrypi:/fdx68 $ ls -l HUMAN302.*
+-rw-r--r-- 1 pi pi 5505280  8月  9 18:53 HUMAN302.FDX
+-rw-r ----- 1 pi pi 1261568 August 9 18:53 HUMAN302.XDF
+pi@raspberrypi:/fdx68 $
+</file>
+After successfully converting the system disk of Human 3.02 to FDX format, let's copy this to HUMAN302_A.FDX and HUMAN302_B.FDX and start the //fddemu// emulator with these 2 disk images in the emulated drives (This is just an exercise to show you how to use //fddemu// to emulate 2 disk images.  You can also start the emulator with 1 or no disk images loaded by default)
+<file>
+pi@raspberrypi:/fdx68 $ cp HUMAN302.FDX HUMAN302_A.FDX
+pi@raspberrypi:/fdx68 $ cp HUMAN302.FDX HUMAN302_B.FDX
+pi@raspberrypi:/fdx68 $ sudo ./fddemu -0 HUMAN302_A.FDX -1 HUMAN302_B.FDX &
+FDX68 version 1.00, Copyright (C) 2017-2018 GIMONS
+Floppy disk drive emulation
+----+----+----+-----------------------------------
+ ID | WP | CL | DISK IMAGE
+----+----+----+-----------------------------------
+| -- | 00 | HUMAN302_A.FDX
+| -- | 00 | HUMAN302_B.FDX
+----+----+----------------------------------------
+</file>
+As you can see in the picture below, there are no floppies inserted into X68000 Compact and it is booting from the FDX68. After the system has booted, one can use the //drive// command to list what floppy disk drives the X68000 has detected.  One can see that the X68000 recognized a 4 drive configuration and that we are able to access the 2 emulated floppy disk drives.
+{{:x68000:FDX68_connected_1.png?nolink&400|}}
+{{:x68000:FDX68_connected_2.png?nolink&400|}}
+{{:x68000:FDX68_connected_3.png?nolink&400|}}