FlashFloppy: Open-source Firmware for floppy emulators | Hacker News Reader

FlashFloppy: Open-source Firmware for floppy emulators

github.com

65 pointstodsacerdoti19 comments

The source code is funny because:

    CFLAGS += -include decls.h

Notice that none of the .c files include header files, he just does it globally. I almost do this sometimes- I exclicitly include a "lib.h" in all .c files for some projects.

It's convenient, but not good for sharing code with others.

Also these asynchronously cancelable functions are interesting.

I have been using it for a year for an old 286 PC. I even installed the OLED display. The main problem was finding the correct driver for the PL2303 used to flash Gotek, because Prolific disabled the Chinese clones with an update.

No such issue on Linux, fortunately. But I'd suggest getting a FT232H or FT2232H breakout board. They're practically free on aliexpress and such, and that's a much better chip

The PL2303 chips weren't very good to begin with. When I was first in the market for an usb-ttl dongle, I was told to avoid these like the plague.

CP210x is OK too:

https://www.adafruit.com/product/954?gclid=Cj0KCQiAh4j-BRCsA...

PL2303 used to be OK in Linux, but in recent versions (Ubuntu 16, 18) I've seen at least two problems with it: driver hangs sometimes when you replug the USB and device node will hang on open() if there is already serial data being received.

>CP210x is OK too:

While it is, it doesn't do SPI/I2C/GPIO/JTAG/etc like the FT232H does.

Some CH340 variants have some extra functionality, but the CP210x are pretty bare.

Somehow, because of how cheap the breakout boards are these days (in aliexpress, at least), I ended up with one or more of each of the popular chips.

Use Microchip MCP2200, SiLabs CP2102, or WCH CH341. I stopped using FTDI after the driver scandal.

I just recently flashed a Gotek with this firmware to resurrect an Amiga A500 with a broken floppy drive. It works great with the addition of an OLED screen and a 3D printed bracket to mount it in the Amiga's internal floppy slot.

I'm also eagerly awaiting the support for Heathkit *.H8D format images so that I can more easily use my H89 without needing unobtainable hard-sector floppy disks.

I'm surprised there isn't some open source hardware for this to run on. Could be an interesting project.

https://github.com/SukkoPera/OpenFlops

I'm looking for something like this that runs on a raspberrypi. The pi would provide the image to the floppy drive connection.

Curious why specifically a Pi? Is there something specific you want to build?

> Curious why specifically a Pi?

Not the OP, but I guess the power of Raspberry Pi is that everyone already has one - really useful if you want to do something in a hurry without anything extra. I've used a Pi as an emergency programmer on multiple occasions, as an SPI flash burner, as an SWD debugger, as an AVR programmer. You can even use the Pi as an USB-FDD bootdisk or emulate an IDE driver via its parallel interface.

I guess it doesn't have to be a pi. The idea would be that the pi would connect to your network and provide the floppy drive into an older system. Any system on the network could command the pi to mount the floppy image to the connected device.

Basically I don't want to have to be constantly moving a usb disk around.

Ultimately, the pi is unsuitable for deterministic behavior, and Linux is unsuitable for the kind of realtime needed to sample from a floppy directly.

Don't get me wrong: It would be possible to do it, but it would be theoretically not reliable, even if it felt reliable. You'd also need some sort of glue in between, as floppy drives signal at 5v and the rpi isn't 5v tolerant.

Therefore, you could connect the pi to the stm32, rather than directly run the floppy drive from the pi.

My guess is that he has one already, so why buy new kit if unneeded? I was excited about Pi1541 as I have a C128D that needs more of a life than one C64 Flight Simulator II disc I have handy, but it only runs on more recent models than my 1B.

Here is one for PCs http://www.smbaker.com/raspberry-pi-virtual-floppy-for-isa-p...

The problem with pi is non determinism, meaning you cant bitbang FM/MFM encoded data stream like the floppy drive. Smbakers project goes around this using dual port RAM implementing mechanism employed by for example 1995 DiskOnChip (m-systems, later Sandisk)

What about turning the Raspberry Pi in to a USB gadget?

https://www.adafruit.com/product/3945

Whats the definite Archwiki-like seminal source for all of this madness. I want to get out of my rabbithole!

Frickin' love FlashFloppy. It and a GoTek emulator let me quickly revive an old Amiga to working order.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com