Apple II DISK Emulator using STM32

New question

I have the emulator in the Disk 1 position on the interface card and a real floppy drive in the Disk 2 position.

Trying PR#6,D2  or PR6,S6,D2   does not boot into the second drive

What am I missing?

Aurbo wrote:

New question

 

I have the emulator in the Disk 1 position on the interface card and a real floppy drive in the Disk 2 position.

 

Trying PR#6,D2  or PR6,S6,D2   does not boot into the second drive

 

What am I missing?

That's normal, even with no SmartDiskII or with two floppy disks installed on the same card.

You can only boot from the first drive (Controller port 1/Drive 1) of any given slot.

Two controllers is a better set up with Floppies on 1 card and SmartDiskII on another. Note Smartloader will not work on a lower slot number than floppy disks, but will still boot in disk][ emulation mode with an image mounted (or last known if set to do so in settings).

My setup:

Slot 7 Re Epromed Grappler +

Slot 6 SmartdiskII -> drive 1

Slot 5 Floppies -> drive 1 and 2

etc........

Thanks again

I will give a second Interface card with Floppies a try and see how it goes

With SmartdiskII in slot 6, can a second SmartdiskII be added to the the mix?

Slot5 Floppies -> drive 1 and 2

Slot6 SmartDiskII -> drive 1  and a second SmartDiskII -> drive 2?

Quick reply

Your suggestion to add a second DiskII interface card with the physical Floppy drives attached to it in Slot 5  works.

Slot 6 still boots it's last run file on power up as configured and a PR#5,D1  or PR#5,D2 behaves correctly.

Thanks

Aurbo wrote:

 

With SmartdiskII in slot 6, can a second SmartdiskII be added to the the mix?

 

Probably, as it is addressed like a normal drive.

i have not physically tried it but do have enough emulators to do so just never seen the point.

Addendum: Just tried it and it works as per your expectation.

ATB Steve

New question:

I can create a disk on the emulator (empty file named CHUGGA)  trying to save the typed in code with  SAVE CHUGGA,  I get a WRITE PROTECTED response.

What am I not doing correctly?

Aurbo wrote:

New question:

 

I can create a disk on the emulator (empty file named CHUGGA)  trying to save the typed in code with  SAVE CHUGGA,  I get a WRITE PROTECTED response.

 

What am I not doing correctly?

 

I am fairly sure (but not 100%) that creating a disk in the emulator just creates a file with the correct extension. You still need to format it with DOS 3.x loaded (init hello) or with ProDOS filer for ProDos 8. IIRC not doing so causes a  WP error (locked)

Also in ProDOS.. it's not good practice to name your files the same as the Diskette prefix.

You can also make the disk bootable by coping ProDos.system, basic.system and a startup file (called startup) but make sure they are copied in the correct order (see online ProDOS users guide for full details.)

All the Best

Steve

Finally have some time to get back to this,

Slot 5 with 2 physical floppy drive units connected to S5,D1 and S5,D2 work fine.

Slot 6 with an Apple II DISK Emulator using STM32 connected to S6,D1 works fine, however it does NOT respond with a second Emulator in S6,D2 

Could someone take a moment to explain how to use the 6pin header in the lower right corner of the Rev8 pcb please. (https://github.com/vibr77/AppleIIDiskIIStm32F411)RDD,WRQ,DE,WRP,WRD,GND

I believe they might help solve my "write protected" and "disk full" errors when I try to save programs to the emulator.

I am currently using the required only components on the pcb.

I had trouble recording. It turned out my flat ribbon cable was too long. I checked all the connections, and only shortening it solved the problem.

VIBR wrote:

Just a quick note on the U2 footprint, 

I use this part for LCSC #C381084 I hope it will help 

Vincent 

Vincent, 

Pin 14 (device enable) controls the original Disk II interface card to enable Drive 1 or Drive 2 depending on the signal. 

Does your optional resistor D5 perform the same function depending on if R5 is installed or not, or are you using Device Enable on pin 14 for a different purpose?

Here is my spin on your project;

Panel mounted, installed into an empty Disk II drive case, (a new 3d printed faceplate for the Disk II case is completed but not shown)

.96 oled changed to a 1.54"

4 buttons changed to a 5way navigation button

1000014058a.jpg

1000014057a.gif

VIBR wrote:

Hello, 

Very nice work, I am always impressed by remix of the SmartdiskII, 

The D5 is a pull up resistor (R1K5) on Device_enable, you need this to avoid floating the signal. 

The Drive selection is made on the card but it is always PIN 14 on the IDC connector.

Hope it helps

Vincent 

 

Thank you for the clarification Vincent.

R5 is NOT listed as a mandatory part on the BOM so I did not install it, correcting that now.

Could you take a moment to review the BOM and update any additional mandatory parts please.

Cheers!