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Some folks may want to use interfaces besides PC/Shugart ones. Together with https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_Floppy/pull/15 and a hand wired board I'm able to read flux from an Apple Disk ][
72 lines
3.3 KiB
Markdown
72 lines
3.3 KiB
Markdown
Using the FluxEngine client software with GreaseWeazle hardware
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===============================================================
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The FluxEngine isn't the only project which does this; another one is the
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[GreaseWeazle](https://github.com/keirf/Greaseweazle/wiki), a Blue Pill based
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completely open source solution. This requires more work to set up (or you can
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buy a prebuilt GreaseWeazle board), but provides completely open source
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hardware which doesn't require the use of the Cypress Windows-based tools that
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the FluxEngine does. Luckily, the FluxEngine software supports it almost
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out-of-the-box --- just plug it in and nearly everything should work. The
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FluxEngine software will autodetect it. If you have more than one device
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plugged in, use `--usb.serial=` to specify which one you want to use.
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I am aware that having _software_ called FluxEngine and _hardware_ called
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FluxEngine makes things complicated when you're not using the FluxEngine client
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software with a FluxEngine board, but I'm afraid it's too late to change that
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now. Sorry.
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**If you are using GreaseWeazle-compatible hardware** such as the
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[adafruit-floppy](https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_Floppy) project, then
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FluxEngine will still work; however, as the USB VID/PID won't be that of a real
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GreaseWeazle, the the FluxEngine client can't autodetect it. Instead, you'll
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need to specify the serial port manually with something like
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`--usb.greaseweazle.port=/dev/ttyACM0` or `--usb.greaseweazle.port=COM5`.
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**If you were using a previous version on Windows** you might have installed
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the WinUSB driver. That's no longer needed, and will in fact not work. You'll
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need to use Zadig to restore the old driver; to do this, make sure the left
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Driver box says `WinUSB` and the right one says `USB Serial (CDC)`. Then press
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`Replace Driver`. You won't need Zadig any more.
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What works
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----------
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Supported features with the GreaseWeazle include:
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- simple reading and writing of disks, seeking etc
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- erasing disks
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- determining disk rotation speed
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- Shugart and normal IBM buses (via
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`--usb.greaseweazle.bus_type=SHUGART` or `IBMPC`; the default is `IBMPC`)
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- Apple 5.25 floppy interfaces (via `--usb.greaseweazle.bus_type=APPLE2`)
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Which device types are supported depend on the hardware. Genuine Greaseweazle hardware supports SHUGART and IBMPC.
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APPLE2 is only supported with hand wiring and the Adafruit\_Floppy greaseweazle-compatible firmware.
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What doesn't work
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-----------------
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(I'm still working on this. If you have an urgent need for anything, please
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[file an issue](https://github.com/davidgiven/fluxengine/issues/new) and I'll
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see what I can do.)
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- voltage measurement
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- hard sectored disks (you can still read these, but you can't use
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`--fluxsource.drive.hard_sector_count`).
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Who to contact
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--------------
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I want to make it clear that the FluxEngine code is _not_ supported by the
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GreaseWeazle team. If you have any problems, please [contact
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me](https://github.com/davidgiven/fluxengine/issues/new) and not them.
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In addition, the GreaseWeazle release cycle is not synchronised to the
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FluxEngine release cycle, so it's possible you'll have a version of the
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GreaseWeazle firmware which is not supported by FluxEngine. Hopefully, it'll
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detect this and complain. Again, [file an
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issue](https://github.com/davidgiven/fluxengine/issues/new) and I'll look into
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it.
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