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Using the FluxEngine client software with GreaseWeazle hardware
The FluxEngine isn't the only project which does this; another one is the GreaseWeazle, a Blue Pill based completely open source solution. This requires more work to set up (or you can buy a prebuilt GreaseWeazle board), but provides completely open source hardware which doesn't require the use of the Cypress Windows-based tools that the FluxEngine does. Luckily, the FluxEngine software supports it out-of-the-box --- just plug it in and nearly everything should work.
I am aware that having software called FluxEngine and hardware called FluxEngine makes things complicated when you're not using the FluxEngine client software with a FluxEngine board, but I'm afraid it's too late to change that now. Sorry.
If you're using Windows
In order to access the GreaseWeazle from Windows, you need to install a WinUSB driver for it. You can do this with the Zadig program. Download it, plug in the GreaseWeazle, and run it; select Options, List All Devices, and then open the big dropdown box and select the GreaseWeazle. You should see something like this.
Ensure that the Driver boxes say usbser and WinUSB. Then press 'Replace
Driver'. Once done, the GreaseWeazle will be visible to the FluxEngine client.
Important note! Unfortunately, now, the original GreaseWeazle client won't
work --- you can't use both drivers at once. I'm working on this. To switch
back to the original driver, for using the GreaseWeazle client software
instead, open up Zadig again, go through the same process, but make sure the left Driver box says WinUSB and the right one says USB Serial (CDC). Now, when you press 'Replace Driver' the original driver will be restored.
What works
Supported features with the GreaseWeazle include:
- simple reading and writing of disks, seeking etc
- erasing disks
- determining disk rotation speed
What doesn't work
(I'm still working on this. If you have an urgent need for anything, please file an issue and I'll see what I can do.)
- voltage measurement
- hard sectored disks (you can still read these, but you can't use
--hard-sector-count).
Who to contact
I want to make it clear that the FluxEngine code is not supported by the GreaseWeazle team. If you have any problems, please contact me and not them.
In addition, the GreaseWeazle release cycle is not synchronised to the FluxEngine release cycle, so it's possible you'll have a version of the GreaseWeazle firmware which is not supported by FluxEngine. Hopefully, it'll detect this and complain. Again, file an issue and I'll look into it.