xDrive - yet another drive emulator

[alsp]

Hi Guys!

 

Created one more drive for 8-bit Atari - lets name it xDrive.

Goal is to create cheapiest and smallest drive emulator with wide range of functionality.

 

Hardware:

• Based on ESP32-C3 with Risc-V processor;
• 4Mb Flash;
• 320K RAM;
• SD card;
• WiFi/Bluetooth capable;
• Size: 40mm x 30mm x 13mm;
• No buttons at all;

Software:

• Refactored SDrive FW from SDrive² ported and working;
• Fujinet - ported - not enough RAM to work with FAT/WiFi/Bluetooth as-is - thinking what to do - optimize FW or create one more revision based on ESP32-S3;
• Updating thru USB;

 

HW will be fully opensource in 1 - 2 month - need to clean it up.

 

Some photos attached.

 

Any thoughts?

 

 

 

[ascrnet]

The project looks nice, but it would be the same as the other devices like sdrive, sdrive-max, SDrive-Simple-II, SDRIVE MINI.

 

I wonder as they all use the same firmware there are several details in the emulation or you solved them ?

[woj]

50 minutes ago, ascrnet said:

there are several details in the emulation

Can you give some (all?) concrete examples? I am nearing having the complete base code for my device and could use something to make it better / different 😉 

[ascrnet]

3 hours ago, woj said:

Can you give some (all?) concrete examples? I am nearing having the complete base code for my device and could use something to make it better / different 😉 

The enhanced density (1040 sectors) used by DOS 2.5 is not implemented, only the simple density (720 sectors) works correctly, that's what I remember for the moment, the other points you can read in the corresponding threads of each device. 😉

[TGB1718]

Hard to see from your photo's, is it a "through" port to allow other devices on the SIO bus.

 

Will it work with other devices on the bus i.e. some S-Drive MAX need a small modification to allow this. 

[alsp]

16 hours ago, ascrnet said:

The project looks nice, but it would be the same as the other devices like sdrive, sdrive-max, SDrive-Simple-II, SDRIVE MINI.

 

I wonder as they all use the same firmware there are several details in the emulation or you solved them ?

FW is fully refactored - i.e. almost written from scratch , but bugs can exists of course 😃

 

3 hours ago, TGB1718 said:

Hard to see from your photo's, is it a "through" port to allow other devices on the SIO bus.

 

Will it work with other devices on the bus i.e. some S-Drive MAX need a small modification to allow this. 

Board itself support pass-thru, but case on the photos - not. Plan is to make both variants - simple and pass-thru

[ascrnet]

7 hours ago, alsp said:

FW is fully refactored - i.e. almost written from scratch , but bugs can exists of course 😃

Perfect. 😉

 

Tell us what devices will it emulate: floppy disk drives, tape decks, modems, printers?

[alsp]

1 hour ago, ascrnet said:

Perfect. 😉

 

Tell us what devices will it emulate: floppy disk drives, tape decks, modems, printers?

For now floppies, includes atx and tapes, but for the tapes configuration tool not yet finished - only manual config file editing.

[sanny]

Nice. I'm definitely interested since it uses a RISC-V 🙂