Fairlight-CMI

I received my Rev F HxC and spent some quality time with it the past couple of weekends.

The short story is that I was able to get it to work with my IIx -- booting, reading, writing, formatting.  I just posted some pics and HxC disk images.

The slightly longer story is that I did have to experiment a bit to get it working.  It turns out that you need to swap the disk sides in the image.  There is an option to do that in the HxC tool, but I couldn't get it to work.  (I'll send an email to the author and ask about that).

I posted a profile (.fpf) file which you can use with the HxC tool to set up the disk parameters for the CMI (except for the side swapping).

I was mainly interested in turning my ImageDisk images into HxC images, so I used the IMDU tool to convert the .IMD images into raw binary images.

I wrote a quick little hack to flip the sides in those raw images -- I also posted the C code for that.  Hopefully we won't need that for long.

I also posted a few converted images.  I've only tested this with the Rev F HxC with the latest firmware.  You'll have to make a cable to connect the CMI's 8" drive cable to the HxC.

Joe



--- In Fairlight-CMI@yahoogroups.com, "Kirk Keyes" <Kirk@...> wrote:
>
> I've got a Rev C HxC and a Rev F HxC. The Rev C is in my Emulator II and it works brilliantly. I was going to swap it out with the Rev F HxC, and then take the Rev C and try to get it working in my IIx. 
> 
> I'm interested in hearing any progress in this respect as well!
> 
> Kirk
> 
> --- In Fairlight-CMI@yahoogroups.com, "tama_rat" <britt@> wrote:
> >
> > I just ordered one.  I'll try it and post the results.
> > 
> > BTW Peter W -- the SCSI connector SSD looks cool!
> > 
> > Joe
> > 
> > 
> > --- In Fairlight-CMI@yahoogroups.com, "Peter K." <synthserv@> wrote:
> > >
> > > Sorry, you are correct indeed. So, who wants to go first?  
> > > 
> > > Peter Kersten.
> > > 
> > > 
> > > From: WT 
> > > Sent: Thursday, August 09, 2012 12:12 PM
> > > To: Fairlight-CMI@yahoogroups.com 
> > > Subject: Re: [Fairlight-CMI] Re: "CMI Plug" 4 Gbyte bootable drive on a SCSI connector!
> > > 
> > > 
> > >   
> > > 
> > > Yes, but that is not a confirmation that it works. It is just his opinion.
> > > 
> > > WT
> > > 
> > >   ----- Original Message ----- 
> > >   From: Peter K. 
> > >   To: Fairlight-CMI@yahoogroups.com 
> > >   Sent: Thursday, August 09, 2012 12:08 PM
> > >   Subject: Re: [Fairlight-CMI] Re: "CMI Plug" 4 Gbyte bootable drive on a SCSI connector!
> > > 
> > > 
> > >     
> > > 
> > >   Jeff wrote:
> > > 
> > >   "Last time you asked was 2 years ago. Lots of things changed since that time. 
> > >   I don't see the reason why you can't write on the HxC with the CMI IIx."
> > > 
> > >   Source:
> > >   http://torlus.com/floppy/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=118&hilit=Fairlight&start=15
> > > 
> > >   He's adressing me there. I'm "FairlightIIx".
> > > 
> > > 
> > >   Regards,
> > > 
> > >   Peter Kersten.
> > > 
> > > 
> > > 
> > >   From: WT 
> > >   Sent: Thursday, August 09, 2012 11:45 AM
> > >   To: Fairlight-CMI@yahoogroups.com 
> > >   Subject: Re: [Fairlight-CMI] Re: "CMI Plug" 4 Gbyte bootable drive on a SCSI connector!
> > > 
> > > 
> > >     
> > > 
> > >   Peter,
> > > 
> > >   where do you find info on the HCX and if it works for writing to the SD Card ?
> > > 
> > >   WT
> > > 
> > >     ----- Original Message ----- 
> > >     From: Peter K. 
> > >     To: Fairlight-CMI@yahoogroups.com 
> > >     Sent: Thursday, August 09, 2012 10:41 AM
> > >     Subject: Re: [Fairlight-CMI] Re: "CMI Plug" 4 Gbyte bootable drive on a SCSI connector!
> > > 
> > > 
> > >       
> > > 
> > >     I'm not the Peter you ment, but I can answer this question: This is a replacement for a harddisk. A CMI IIx does not support a harddisk, so the answer is: no.
> > >     What you need is this: http://hxc2001.free.fr/floppy_drive_emulator/index.html#SDCARDFloppyemulator
> > > 
> > >     According to the latest news it should now be able to read AND write CMI images. Only problem is you need to make a sort of converter for the connector.
> > > 
> > >     Info: http://users.bart.nl/users/pb0aia/cm/8-525.html and http://nemesis.lonestar.org/computers/tandy/hardware/model16_6000/floppyfix.html
> > > 
> > >     Also you need a frontplate that can be placed in your mainframe and holds the new "drives". I.m thinking about removing one of the 8" drives and place 2 of the HxC's in that place..
> > > 
> > >     If anyone is planning to do this, please let us know. Perhaps we could save some work by working together.
> > > 
> > > 
> > >     Regards,
> > > 
> > > 
> > >     Peter Kersten.  
> > > 
> > > 
> > >     ---------------------------------------------------
> > >     Carpe Ductum ! - (Seize the tape !)
> > > 
> > > 
> > >     From: Howard Smith 
> > >     Sent: Wednesday, August 08, 2012 8:31 PM
> > >     To: Fairlight-CMI@yahoogroups.com 
> > >     Subject: [Fairlight-CMI] Re: "CMI Plug" 4 Gbyte bootable drive on a SCSI connector!
> > > 
> > > 
> > >       
> > >     Hi Peter
> > > 
> > >     How are you?
> > > 
> > >     This looks Wonderful - would it work with a llx?
> > > 
> > >     Many thanks
> > >     Howard
> > > 
> > >     --- In Fairlight-CMI@yahoogroups.com, "horiprod" <horizontal_productions@> wrote:
> > >     >
> > >     > Hi All. I thought you might be amused with a recent development of mine. It's a 4 Gbyte solid state drive mounted on a SCSI connector, from which it draws its power. You can think of it in the same way as a memory stick for computers. It has software partitions, so is bootable and very fast. The green LED is power, the red, "disk" access. Check the images I posted in the photos section. This is a prototype, I hope to have something more professional looking soon.
> > >     > 
> > >     > Regards, Peter Wielk in sunny Sydney
> > >     >
> > >
> >
>