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135 lines
6.5 KiB
Markdown
135 lines
6.5 KiB
Markdown
FluxEngine
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==========
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(If you're reading this on GitHub, the formatting's a bit messed up. [Try the
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version on cowlark.com instead.](http://cowlark.com/fluxengine/)
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What?
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-----
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The FluxEngine is a very cheap USB floppy disk interface capable of reading and
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writing exotic non-PC floppy disk formats. It allows you to use a conventional
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PC drive to accept Amiga disks, CLV Macintosh disks, bizarre 128-sector CP/M
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disks, and other weird and bizarre formats. (Although not all of these are
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supported yet. I could really use samples.)
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The hardware consists of a single, commodity part with a floppy drive
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connector soldered onto it. No ordering custom boards, no fiddly surface
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mount assembly, and no fuss: nineteen simpler solder joints and you're done.
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Don't believe me? Watch the demo reel!
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<div style="text-align: center">
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<iframe width="373" height="210" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/m_s1iw8eW7o" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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</div>
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**Important note.** On 2019-02-09 I did a hardware redesign and moved the pins on
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the board. Sorry for the inconvenience, but it means you don't have to modify
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the board any more to make it work. If you built the hardware prior to then,
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you'll need to adjust it.
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Where?
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------
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It's [open source on GitHub!](https://github.com/davidgiven/fluxengine)
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How?
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----
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This page was getting kinda unwieldy so I've broken it up. Please consult the
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following friendly articles:
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- [Frequently asked questions](doc/faq.md) ∾ but why...? ∾ does it...? ∾ can it...?
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- [How the FluxEngine works](doc/technical.md) ∾ nitty gritty of the
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sampler/sequencer hardware ∾ useful links on floppy drives ∾ why I'm not
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using an Arduino/STM32/ESP32/Raspberry Pi
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- [Making a FluxEngine](doc/building.md) ∾ what parts you need ∾ building it ∾
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setting up the toolchain ∾ compiling the firmware ∾ programming the board
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- [Using a FluxEngine](doc/using.md) ∾ what to do with your new hardware ∾
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flux files and image files ∾ knowing what you're doing
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- [Reading dubious disks](doc/problems.md) ∾ it's not an exact science ∾
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the sector map ∾ clock detection and the histogram ∾ tuning the clock ∾
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manual adjustment
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Supported disk formats
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----------------------
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The current support state is as follows.
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| Format | Read? | Write? | Notes |
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|:-----------------------------------------|:-----:|:------:|-------|
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| IBM PC compatible | 🦄 | | and compatibles (like the Atari ST) |
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| [Acorn ADFS](doc/disk-acornadfs.md) | 🦄 | | single- and double- sided |
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| [Acorn DFS](doc/disk-acorndfs.md) | 🦄 | | |
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| [AES Superplus / No Problem](doc/disk-aeslanier.md) | 🦖 | | hard sectors! and _very_ experimental |
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| [Ampro Little Board](doc/disk-ampro.md) | 🦖 | | |
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| [Apple II DOS 3.3](doc/disk-apple2.md) | 🦖 | | doesn't do logical sector remapping |
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| [Amiga](doc/disk-amiga.md) | 🦄 | | |
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| [Commodore 64 1541](doc/disk-c64.md) | 🦖 | | and probably the other GCR formats |
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| [Brother 120kB](doc/disk-brother.md) | 🦄 | | |
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| [Brother 240kB](doc/disk-brother.md) | 🦄 | 🦄 | |
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| [Macintosh 800kB](doc/disk-macintosh.md) | 🦖 | | and probably the 400kB too |
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| [TRS-80](doc/disk-trs80.md) | 🦖 | | a minor variation of the IBM scheme |
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| [Victor 9000](doc/disk-victor9k.md) | 🦖 | | experimental, probably buggy |
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{: .datatable }
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Dinosaurs (🦖) have yet to be observed in real life --- I've written the
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decoder based on Kryoflux (or other) dumps I've found. I don't (yet) have
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real, physical disks in my hand to test the capture process.
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Unicorns (🦄) are completely real --- this means that I've read actual,
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physical disks with these formats and so know they work.
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Notes:
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- IBM PC disks are the lowest-common-denominator standard. A number of other
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systems use this format in disguise (the Atari ST, late-era Apple
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machines, Acorn). FluxEngine supports both FM and MFM disks, although you
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have to tell it which one. If you have an unknown disk, try this; you may
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get something. Then [tell me about
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it](https://github.com/davidgiven/fluxengine/issues/new).
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- Not many formats support writing yet. That's because I need actual,
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physical hardware to test with in order to verify it works, and I only
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have a limited selection. (Plus a lot of the write code needs work.)
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There hasn't been a lot of demand for this yet; if you have a pressing
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need to write weird disks, [please
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ask](https://github.com/davidgiven/fluxengine/issues/new). I haven't
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implement write support for PC disks because they're boring and I'm lazy,
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and also because they vary so much that figuring out how to specify them
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is hard.
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If you have samples of weird disks, and want to send them to me --- either
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FluxEngine or Kryoflux dumps, or (even better) actually physically --- I can
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identify them and add support.
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Please note that at this point I am *not interested in copy protected disks*.
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It's not out of principle. It's just they'll drive me insane. FluxEngine will
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most likely be able to read the data fine, unless they're doing bizarre
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things like spiral tracks or partially encoded data, but let's stick with
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normal conventionally formatted disks for the time being!
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Who?
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----
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The FluxEngine was designed, built and written by me, David Given. You may
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contact me at dg@cowlark.com, or visit my website at http://www.cowlark.com.
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There may or may not be anything interesting there.
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License
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-------
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Everything here _except the contents of the `dep` directory_ is © 2019 David
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Given and is licensed under the MIT open source license. Please see
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[COPYING](COPYING) for the full text. The tl;dr is: you can do what you like
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with it provided you don't claim you wrote it.
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As an exception, `dep/fmt` contains a copy of [fmt](http://fmtlib.net),
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maintained by Victor Zverovich (`vitaut <https://github.com/vitaut>`_) and
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Jonathan Müller (`foonathan <https://github.com/foonathan>`_) with
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contributions from many other people. It is licensed under the terms of the
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BSD license. Please see the contents of the directory for the full text. |