+wood_jl Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 I see a message about these on here once in a while, but I'm curious as to why I never see any apparent interest in this device here. They appear to have "finalized" a nice design, and they are taking pre-orders for them. They're not exactly "cheap" but I didn't think Sdrive NUXX or the 1541 Ultimate were either. 60-Euro is around $100 Yankee. Pre-ordering is on Ebay, and it looks like our pal Lotharek is making them! (click to enlarge) eBay Auction -- Item Number: 180479359777 (scroll down for pics on the listing, showing one sitting in 1040ST bay) What's still on my wish list is a form factor that would have replicated a 3.5" floppy mechanism. Since the device has no case and it looks like it requires power (in the form of the floppy power connector) it would have been nice to have one with the buttons/LCD/slot on the faceplate of something that would slip into a floppy drive case. I wouldn't feel bad cutting out the face of an SF354 case to accomodate this, and it would solve the case problem. You can read more about this on the HxC forum: http://www.torlus.com/floppy/forum/viewforum.php?f=2&sid=71e749509eb01a26728961e848e72163 It would just be nice to hear some opinions of Atari users here. This device works with Amiga too, and a whole host of other machines. Definitely cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff_HxC2001 Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 (edited) So i will post the "official" announcement : !!!! SDCard HxC Floppy Emulator Preordering open !!!! Preordering of the Floppy emulator are open here : eBay Auction -- Item Number: 180479359777 You can found some details about this board here (please carefully read it) : http://hxc2001.free.fr/floppy_drive_emulator/SDCard_HxC_Floppy_Emulator.pdf For more informations, software update and firmware update : Project website : http://hxc2001.free.fr/floppy_drive_emulator Project Forum : http://www.torlus.com/floppy/forum Official seller : http://www.mmj.pl/~lotharek/atari/ Some youtube videos showing the device in action: Jeff / HxC2001 Edited March 12, 2010 by Jeff_HxC2001 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+wood_jl Posted March 12, 2010 Author Share Posted March 12, 2010 I decided to bite the bullet and pre-order 2 of these things - in a "get it while you can" sort of move. I have neither ST nor Amiga right now, but it's kind of on my long-term radar to acquire both, although I'm not in a hurry. I have it in my head to look for a nice 520STm (no internal drive) and a cable from the ST's round floppy port to a ribbon floppy connector. I guess I'd have to say I have the most silly nostalgia for the old model without the internal drive since I was so excited to get it in 1985. It seems like I remember seeing such cables in the 80s for plugging in "your own" external drives....but it may have been the old (huge) edge-card type connector that the 5.25" drives had. I suppose one could just remove the internal floppy from STfm-series (or Amiga) and run the ribbon cable out the floppy disk slot....a somewhat less-elegant solution. Have to do some reading about Amigas as I know nothing but gravitate toward the 500 model. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desiv Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 They look nice. This gives me pause: SDCard HxC Floppy Emulator : Read only for Amiga and Read/Write for other system (PC,Atari...) So, I think I'll hold out a bit and let you early adopters work out the issues/expand the features. Then you can sell me yours for twice what you paid on 'e-bait'. :-) desiv Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff_HxC2001 Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 They look nice. This gives me pause: SDCard HxC Floppy Emulator : Read only for Amiga and Read/Write for other system (PC,Atari...) So, I think I'll hold out a bit and let you early adopters work out the issues/expand the features. Then you can sell me yours for twice what you paid on 'e-bait'. :-) desiv Sorry but this cannot be changed, and the Amiga is not the main target computer of this emulator... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desiv Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 (edited) Sorry but this cannot be changed, and the Amiga is not the main target computer of this emulator... Yep, and the PC floppy drive will never be able to read an Amiga format floppy... :-) If it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen; but I've seen too many "never's" happen in retro. desiv Edited March 12, 2010 by desiv Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff_HxC2001 Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 Sorry but this cannot be changed, and the Amiga is not the main target computer of this emulator... Yep, and the PC floppy drive will never be able to read an Amiga format floppy... :-) If it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen; but I've seen too many "never's" happen in retro. desiv Sorry but the problem is mathematical : Amiga Write = 12500 byte once (a full track each time), PIC ram =3900 bytes 12500-3900=8600bytes missing in this emulator to support amiga write... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desiv Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 Sorry but the problem is mathematical : Amiga Write = 12500 byte once (a full track each time), PIC ram =3900 bytes 12500-3900=8600bytes missing in this emulator to support amiga write... The problem reading an Amiga floppy in a PC drive was math as well. Couldn't be done. Then someone found out a way using 2 drives to do it. All I'm saying is, I never say never.. :-) Maybe someone will figure out a way to have the Amiga not have to write a full track at a time??? desiv Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff_HxC2001 Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 (edited) Sorry but the problem is mathematical : Amiga Write = 12500 byte once (a full track each time), PIC ram =3900 bytes 12500-3900=8600bytes missing in this emulator to support amiga write... ... Maybe someone will figure out a way to have the Amiga not have to write a full track at a time??? ... yes , if you write a new driver able to write in ISO MFM, this should works... Edited March 12, 2010 by Jeff_HxC2001 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crash Posted March 13, 2010 Share Posted March 13, 2010 I'm definitely interested in one of these. Thanks for sharing the links! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jet-X Posted March 15, 2010 Share Posted March 15, 2010 ok - stupid question. I get that this device allows you to covert your disks to run off the SD card (using a PC). My question: does this function as a pseudo-hard drive, but run off the floppy drive port (and subsequent speeds)? In other words, can I load up 1GB worth of ST files/images, and select what to play off the SD card (albeit at floppy speeds)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mimo Posted March 15, 2010 Share Posted March 15, 2010 ok - stupid question. I get that this device allows you to covert your disks to run off the SD card (using a PC). My question: does this function as a pseudo-hard drive, but run off the floppy drive port (and subsequent speeds)? In other words, can I load up 1GB worth of ST files/images, and select what to play off the SD card (albeit at floppy speeds)? correct Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+wood_jl Posted March 18, 2010 Author Share Posted March 18, 2010 In case anyone has a pocket-full of money and is interested, Lotharek has started "another" batch of 50 of these on Ebay. The 100-unit lot sold out in about 5 days. eBay Auction -- Item Number: 180482035120 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted March 18, 2010 Share Posted March 18, 2010 In case anyone has a pocket-full of money and is interested, Lotharek has started "another" batch of 50 of these on Ebay. The 100-unit lot sold out in about 5 days. eBay Auction -- Item Number: 180482035120 There are 38 available as I type this. Ahh damn I just noticed that's 60 Pounds and not USD, so that's roughly $92 dollars, and with shipping it's almost $106. I would like to get my hands on one of these. ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cebus Capucinis Posted March 18, 2010 Share Posted March 18, 2010 Posting in here to remind myself to buy one of these! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shredder11 Posted March 18, 2010 Share Posted March 18, 2010 Now if only it had a bootup software file selector to browse which game you wanted, perhaps like on the ZX Spectrum DivIDE interface that has folders in alphabetical order etc. Are there plans to improve the way games are selected? Pressing on a button a zillion times and staring at a tiny LCD screen would be very unpleasant! Anyway this is a very nice product and a lot of hard work has gone into creating it, so well done and keep improving it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+wood_jl Posted March 18, 2010 Author Share Posted March 18, 2010 There are 38 available as I type this. Ahh damn I just noticed that's 60 Pounds and not USD, so that's roughly $92 dollars, and with shipping it's almost $106. I would like to get my hands on one of these. It's pretty expensive! I didn't want to do it, and not now, then I figured there's a likelihood I'll miss out and wish I'd done it later. I hate how you never now about these hobbiest enhancements! Like now, you can't get Ultrasatatan anymore.... Likewise for Sdrive Nuxx. Sure, you can build one yourself, but that's a bit involved for lots of people. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Stephen Posted March 21, 2010 Share Posted March 21, 2010 I've missed out on some cool stuff in the past, so I went ahead and ordered one of Lotharek's boards. This will go nicely with my UltraSatan 2 device. I'll have an ST that runs completely off of SD cards Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+wood_jl Posted March 21, 2010 Author Share Posted March 21, 2010 I've missed out on some cool stuff in the past, so I went ahead and ordered one of Lotharek's boards. This will go nicely with my UltraSatan 2 device. I'll have an ST that runs completely off of SD cards Exactly! Like how the window has closed on the Ultrasatan itself. These older systems - running off SD cards - reminds me of how Doc Brown retrofitted the DeLorean with "Mr. Fusion" in "Back to the Future" Who'd have thought? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atarian1 Posted March 22, 2010 Share Posted March 22, 2010 I don't think it's that expensive compared to other similar devices, right? The Ultrasatan was more expensive at around US$120. I mean, how much were you expecting to pay? $30? Come on, do we have to go through Econ 101 again? You know, small orders=higher prices. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff_HxC2001 Posted April 3, 2010 Share Posted April 3, 2010 Hi, Now you can found the video demo of the SD HxC Floppy Emulator "On System Disk Selector" program for Atari ST (alpha version) here : (for the moment it's slow, and not very pleasant, but this can be easily improve in the future ) There are also another preordering open (50 pieces): eBay Auction -- Item Number: 180489242672 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mimo Posted April 8, 2010 Share Posted April 8, 2010 Hi, Now you can found the video demo of the SD HxC Floppy Emulator "On System Disk Selector" program for Atari ST (alpha version) here : (for the moment it's slow, and not very pleasant, but this can be easily improve in the future ) That looks really nice, much better than scrolling through the LCD screen menu. Do you think this will work with the older larger stand alone HxC devices? Will it be done on the Amiga and others? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cebus Capucinis Posted April 8, 2010 Share Posted April 8, 2010 I ordered one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+wood_jl Posted April 8, 2010 Author Share Posted April 8, 2010 I ordered one! In most Utilitarian fashion, no less. I'm sure it will bring you happiness! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wongck Posted April 12, 2010 Share Posted April 12, 2010 ok - stupid question. I get that this device allows you to covert your disks to run off the SD card (using a PC). My question: does this function as a pseudo-hard drive, but run off the floppy drive port (and subsequent speeds)? In other words, can I load up 1GB worth of ST files/images, and select what to play off the SD card (albeit at floppy speeds)? correct No this is not a stupid question. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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