RespeQt SIO2PC + Real Drive (XF551)

[6BQ5]

It is possible to easily use the RespeQt SIO2PC system alongside a real drive? For example, could I set one to D1 and the other to D2? It seems other solutions like the SDrive-Mac and SIO2SD have issues working with real hardware.

 

Thanks!

[+DrVenkman]

It is possible to easily use the RespeQt SIO2PC system alongside a real drive? For example, could I set one to D1 and the other to D2? It seems other solutions like the SDrive-Mac and SIO2SD have issues working with real hardware.

 

Thanks!

Sure. RespeQt itself has no issues with that whatsoever. Just make sure that you don’t load a disk image into the drive slot you’re using for your physical drives and you’ll be fine as far as the software goes.

 

Now, having said that, there are some SIO2PC devices that don’t play well with other devices on the SIO chain, as users of the SDrive-MAX have found out. Most FTDI-based USB-to-serial devices don’t have a problem with it, but some other devices, and some obscure variants of the FTDI chipset, *do* have an issue, but it can usually be corrected with installation of a diode on the correct signal pin.

 

But RespeQt itself should be just fine with multiple devices.

[6BQ5]

Sure. RespeQt itself has no issues with that whatsoever. Just make sure that you don’t load a disk image into the drive slot you’re using for your physical drives and you’ll be fine as far as the software goes.

 

Now, having said that, there are some SIO2PC devices that don’t play well with other devices on the SIO chain, as users of the SDrive-MAX have found out. Most FTDI-based USB-to-serial devices don’t have a problem with it, but some other devices, and some obscure variants of the FTDI chipset, *do* have an issue, but it can usually be corrected with installation of a diode on the correct signal pin.

 

But RespeQt itself should be just fine with multiple devices.

 

Thanks for this, DrVenkman!

 

Is there a known-to-work combination of USB/SIO hardware I can buy to connect RespeQt to my SIO chain? I understand I need a USB->Serial cable and SIO->SIO cable. Both will need to be cut in half and one half from each would need to be connected together. Tx->Rx and Rx->Tx if I understand correctly. The tricky part is finding the USB->Serial cable with a good FTDI chipset as you mentioned above.

[+DrVenkman]

This inexpensive Sparkfun board works fantastically if you want to wire up a cable yourself.

 

https://www.sparkfun.com/products/12731

 

There may be alternate packaging/board designs that will work better for you, but I use this board regularly and it’s been flawless communicating with RespeQt running on my Raspberry Pi boards and my Windows machine.

[6BQ5]

Awesome!

 

So, one of these board plus one USB cable to get the connection to my Windows PC. What about the SIO end of this? Do I still have to chop a SIO cable in half to make some flying leads?

[+DrVenkman]

Awesome!

 

So, one of these board plus one USB cable to get the connection to my Windows PC. What about the SIO end of this? Do I still have to chop a SIO cable in half to make some flying leads?

 

Lotharek (in Poland) makes very nice SIO cables though shipping from Poland is slow and has gotten VERY expensive lately. There's fellow who posts occasionally in the main 8-bit forum whose username is Gavin-something who makes and sell them here in the US. There may be a few others as well - I gather the SIO plug has been 3D-modeled and the STL files posted on Thingaverse. So if you have access to 3D printer or are willing to pay to have it printed, you can buy plugs, buy the inserts (don't recall the exact model but they're commonly stocked items) and make your own cables.

[+Nezgar]

But RespeQt itself should be just fine with multiple devices.

When you have RespeQt running in conjunction with real disk drives, it will 'sniff' and show the SIO commands being sent to other drives/devices it's ignoring, which can provide some great insight to what's going on too.

[+DrVenkman]

When you have RespeQt running in conjunction with real disk drives, it will 'sniff' and show the SIO commands being sent to other drives/devices it's ignoring, which can provide some great insight to what's going on too.

That’s true. And the 4.3 development branch forked by ebiguy adds some more details including sector layouts, which is even more info. I have trouble running that branch on my RPiZeroW when loading ATX files, though my RPi3 handles it just fine.

[E474]

Hi,

 

If you are wiring up an sio2pi cable, you just need a 4x4 bidirectional logic level shifter, I used these: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4-x-4-channel-Bi-Directional-Logic-Level-Shifter-Converter-3-3V-5V-arduino-etc/192834501712- they are cheap enough that the envelope and stamp will probably cost more. You also need to factor in the cost of the SIO connector and cabling. You can use an old 40-pin IDE connector to connect to the Raspberry Pi GPIO pins.

[ascrnet]

https://www.sparkfun.com/products/12731

 

thanks for the information, you can say how you connected it to be compatible with D1 (sio2sd) and D2 (1050 o XF551)

 

regards

[rcamp48]

Well, I had some help the other night and when I get home I will make a good video showing just that, how to connect any disk drive to respeqt, I will try and describe the process until then in words, first of all when running Respeqt, you have to set up a Virtual Com Port on your PC. The easiest way is to download the drivers, I have already done that and will post them in this message. Then first install the drivers and REBOOT your computer, it will automatically set up a Virtual Com Port, if you are using a laptop and don't have any com ports then your USB hubs will be installed as com ports , but in Windows 7 Pro at least on my version, I could not find any real com ports.  After rebooting the com port will be automatically set for you.

 

Then you download and unzip Respeqt into a folder in your documentation folder, call it Respeqt. If you happen to have a 10502USB devioce , also download Kafar, and unzip it into a folder called Kafar in your in your documents folder. Windows 7 and above will automatically find drivers for that one too.... Kafar will allow you to read , but not write Atari 8 bit disks directly with your PC , the 10502USB device , and a short Micro USB cable plugged into your laptop or desktop. If you are using a laptop, I would suggest Kafar, as it does not need an Atari Computer, Respeqt , I am unsure on how to make it work just with a disk drive.

 

Now run Respeqt, and go to the Tools menu, easy to find. Click on Tools, then Options, and set your com port (Standard Serial Port) to what ever it told you when you rebooted.

Now click on the Emulation menu, for the 10502USB device from Lotharek, set the handshaking method to CTS, Port name to whatever it told you , if you are using a desktop and the port name is one of the reserved ones you have to change it so something higher that 4, and lastly set the complete error response delay to 1000 microseconds. I have been told that works good. Any ways hope that helps, oh ya don't forget to set drive one (your real drive as drive 1) and always write to slot 2 , format a disk and save it as an atr file , then when you are reading a disk, first mount that file in slot 2, and once you are done reading it, click on the mounted disk, and use Save as, save it with a descriptive file name, then unmount it , and it really does not matter if you mount the blank disk again as drive 2 , it will automatically format it. Ya , before doing anything use a good sector copier, there are a bunch of them, I recommend MyCopyr! I will upload an ATR with several sector copiers on it, along with some other useful files. Hope this helps out. I needed help and Nesgar was patient enough to guide me through it all, so I would like to return the favour for someone else. Russ

 

kafar.zip RespeQt.zip CDM21228_Setup.zip Sector Copier.zip