Does anyone use the optional modes of the Hyper-XF?

[+Larry]

Having had the CSS XF Enhancer drive out recently got me thinking about its lack of UltraSpeed. So I wonder if the Hyper-XF would work with the Enhancer? That would be a nice feature to add (although it still is lacking in some ways compared to a Happy 1050 or now the Mega-Speedy). So sometime fairly soon, I'll get that Enhancer drive out again and put in a Hyper-XF rom and see.

 

That in turn made me think about the other modes available for the Hyper-XF, such as partitions. Some look like they would be more useful on 720K drive than on a 360K, but I was wondering if anyone uses any of these other modes. Of course, some of these features are somewhat passe' with the advent of hard drives and big images, but it sure was neat in it's time. And if you have a regular XF-551, the Hyper-XF is a really neat, easy upgrade.

 

-Larry

 

 

[flashjazzcat]

Wasn't there some particular custom OS which availed itself of the Hyper-XF partitioning feature, or did I just imagine that?

[+Larry]

Qmeg?

Larry

[flashjazzcat]

Qmeg?

Yep - that rings a bell.

[+CharlieChaplin]

Well,

 

I have two 3,5" XF drives with Hyper-XF and two 5,25" XF drives with Hyper-XF...

 

To tell the truth, I rarely use the 5,25" XF-drives (instead I regularly use the 1050s), but when I do, I just use them like a 1050 with 90k/130k/180k and flippies and no partitions nor double-sided 360k format.

 

With the 3,5" XF I almost always use partitions A, B, C and D and rarely use double-sided 360k or 720k format (and I never use the multi-format where the Hyper-XF acts as four drives). With the partitions I always put one bootable/self-executable program onto one partition.

 

Its similar with my SIO2SD and SIO2PC, nowadays I put merely one bootable/self-executable program (demo, tool, game, etc.) onto one ATR image. I avoid creating 16MB Images with Subdirs and most of all I avoid creating disk-images where I have to load the programs manually, e.g. by typing in its name.

[1050]

I've never used the partitions mode, seems like it was written just for 720K and one game. My issue is that when trying to format the back side of a standard 360K disk, the drive goes AWOL about the time it is supposed to be doing the back side - I figure it's changed it's drive number via the partitioning code and can not continue. BUT this may be due to black box running interference as it does on SIO communications. For whatever reason I don't seem able to use Hyper-XF here so I don't. Was hoping to read all about how to get it done at this site some fine day, but I appear to be the only one with this problem. Rarely can I even get the boot screen for the Hyper, lacking even that regularly, how much success could I expect?

[+Larry]

I have two Hyper-XF 720K drives, and I surely love the UltraSpeed without having to install a CSS mod. But I've never used the Hyper-XF rom with a 360K mech. I'll see how it behaves when I get around to trying this out. I've always had the opinion that an XF551 was good for upgrading to 720K, and not too much else, (especially when using the 360K mode). They are nice an quiet, and excluding the pcb and power connector, I've never had any operational issues with them.

 

-Larry

[_The Doctor__]

I used the high speed skews and the double sided double density all the time and the 720k 3.5 mod at full capacity. I always liked the XF especially modded... I never had all those problem everyone goes on about with them. But I have had to solder and repair other peoples XF's