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The FDX68 is an add-on device to the Raspberry Pi 3B / 3B+ (and potentially newer revisions) that enables one to emulate an X68000 floppy drive on a real X68000. This wiki page was created to mirror information found on the original creator's web site. Please reference the original web site first for the most up-to-date information.
Original web site: (http://www.geocities.jp/kugimoto0715/fdx68/index.html)
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.
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:
- Raspberry Pi 3B or 3B+
- Latest version of RASPBIAN OS for Raspberry Pi (Raspbian Stretch was used here)
- 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)
- Disk images of OS / Games you want to run
Setup and Usage:
The original author has great instructions found here: http://www.geocities.jp/kugimoto0715/fdx68/index.html Use google translate to get the details. The rest of this page was a result of edited google translate of original page (pulled 11/26/2018)