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800k floppy read-write with Greaseweazel + FluxEngine = Success!
- Thread starter Andrew
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I used what Greaseweazel project refers to as the F1 "direct-connection" board. It is a STM32F103C8T6 chip also known as bluepill. However, I was not able to source this blue pill board locally, so I used another one (no name) which has the same chip. The pinouts are located elsewhere on the board, but the functionality is the same.
I did not use the recommended firmware upgrade process (https://github.com/keirf/Greaseweazle/wiki/Firmware-Programming) because I did not have the special ST link programmer. However I was able to program it via a generic usb serial (3.3V) adapter I had, together with a programmer called STM32CubeProgrammer.
Also, through trial and error I found out that the latest g/w firmware 24 does not work with fluxengine, instead we need to use 2.2.
At this point I am trying to figure out how to write custom mini vmac images, as these do not have a header, and fluxengine is complaining about this. Diskcopy 4.2 images that I downloaded from the internet worked fine
I did not use the recommended firmware upgrade process (https://github.com/keirf/Greaseweazle/wiki/Firmware-Programming) because I did not have the special ST link programmer. However I was able to program it via a generic usb serial (3.3V) adapter I had, together with a programmer called STM32CubeProgrammer.
Also, through trial and error I found out that the latest g/w firmware 24 does not work with fluxengine, instead we need to use 2.2.
At this point I am trying to figure out how to write custom mini vmac images, as these do not have a header, and fluxengine is complaining about this. Diskcopy 4.2 images that I downloaded from the internet worked fine
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Well well well! I have about 50 of these for a different project
(see sig) - Thanks for the tip, I'll be giving it a try.Yes, I know about your project and I am monitoring it. Good luck with thatWell well well! I have about 50 of these for a different project
Just want to say that's great! I've always known it to be "impossible" to write 800k floppies for Mac from anything but another Mac drive.
That's great. I hope you get good results. I found that the Mac drive is better at reading. E.g. when reading some disks with this setup I might get a few bad sectors, whereas the Mac drive can make an image just fine.
But nevertheless it gives more choices which is great.
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Oh, I was not aware of this - for connecting a mac floppy do you need a straight through cable or with the twist? how does power work?
Had good results reading 1.44 disks, but no 800k's have worked so far in fluxengine or gw - though I've only spent a few minutes on it so far.
Ahh! makes more sense
what command do you use to read 800k disks? Also I have a bunch of notes i'll post here later as setup is not "simple" - just a lot of things to setupAhh! makes more sense
It is the same command as 1.44MB disks. I think it reads the right format from the diskcopy header.
The command is
fluxengine write mac -i mac.diskcopy
and relevant information can be found here http://cowlark.com/fluxengine/doc/disk-macintosh.html
@erichelgeson The label on it says Sony, model: MPF820-E. I pulled it off of an old computer.
do you get an error? Do you have problem reading or writing?
do you get an error? Do you have problem reading or writing?
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I have a good 800k disk I formatted on my real mac and put a file or two on to test. I just get a bunch of failures to read tracks - same disk works fine in a real mac. Reading 1.44 disks are fine - recovered a few things already. Someone on the forum mentioned this model had issues with 800k disks too. The Sony & Samsung seem to be validated working.
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