Open source floppy emulator?

[cb meeks]

I'm aware of the CFFA and FloppyEMU. Both appear to be great products but I can't swing the money for either of them at the moment.

I have a ton of Arduino's, micro-controllers, chips, wire, etc. And, I'm pretty good with a soldering iron.

So my question is, is there an open source project that will allow me to easily get disk images over to my IIc/IIe?

ADTPro is great but I'd like something that doesn't require me to be connected to my main PC.

Thanks for any suggestions.

[f***@hotmail.com]

If you have a Raspberry Pi laying around...
http://ivanx.com/rasppleii/

[cb meeks]

Post by f***@hotmail.com
If you have a Raspberry Pi laying around...
http://ivanx.com/rasppleii/

That's really cool. I'll have to read up on that.

I saw something a while back about using a RPi with an Apple II. But it seemed that the A2 was basically just a keyboard for an Apple II emulator. Do you know if that's the case here?

Thanks!

[Scott Alfter]

Post by cb meeks

Post by f***@hotmail.com
If you have a Raspberry Pi laying around...
http://ivanx.com/rasppleii/

That's really cool. I'll have to read up on that.
I saw something a while back about using a RPi with an Apple II. But it
seemed that the A2 was basically just a keyboard for an Apple II
emulator. Do you know if that's the case here?

That's the Apple II Pi, which is basically a 6551 (same chip as on the Super
Serial Card) with a connector to hold a Raspberry Pi. I built my own
workalike, or you could use a Super Serial Card and a level converter
(something like http://amzn.to/2DSyctB) if you want to keep your Raspberry
Pi outside.

_/_
/ v \ Scott Alfter (remove the obvious to send mail)
(IIGS( https://alfter.us/ Top-posting!
\_^_/ >What's the most annoying thing on Usenet?

[John Brooks]

Post by cb meeks
I'm aware of the CFFA and FloppyEMU. Both appear to be great products but I can't swing the money for either of them at the moment.
I have a ton of Arduino's, micro-controllers, chips, wire, etc. And, I'm pretty good with a soldering iron.
So my question is, is there an open source project that will allow me to easily get disk images over to my IIc/IIe?
ADTPro is great but I'd like something that doesn't require me to be connected to my main PC.
Thanks for any suggestions.

You might look at Terence Boldt's "Serial Virtual Drive" using a PI or Arduino as a HD. (select src or download bin files from the menu at left of the web page):
https://web.archive.org/web/20170629123057/http://apple2.boldt.ca/?page=terserialdrive

Another option is Boldt's ProDOS ROM drive:
https://web.archive.org/web/20170629123022/http://apple2.boldt.ca/?page=terromdrive

-JB
@JBrooksBSI

[David Schmidt]

Post by John Brooks

Post by cb meeks
I'm aware of the CFFA and FloppyEMU. Both appear to be great products but I can't swing the money for either of them at the moment.
I have a ton of Arduino's, micro-controllers, chips, wire, etc. And, I'm pretty good with a soldering iron.
So my question is, is there an open source project that will allow me to easily get disk images over to my IIc/IIe?
ADTPro is great but I'd like something that doesn't require me to be connected to my main PC.
Thanks for any suggestions.

https://web.archive.org/web/20170629123057/http://apple2.boldt.ca/?page=terserialdrive

ADTPro's serial (and Ethernet) virtual drive is based on Terrence's
great work. And using a Pi is also a known solution (see
http://ivanx.com/a2server/), but I think these solutions are not what
the OP was after - trying to eliminate a "host" of any sort.

[cb meeks]

Post by David Schmidt
ADTPro's serial (and Ethernet) virtual drive is based on Terrence's
great work. And using a Pi is also a known solution (see
http://ivanx.com/a2server/), but I think these solutions are not what
the OP was after - trying to eliminate a "host" of any sort.

I didn't do a good job explaining what I was after. A RPi solution might work in a pinch but you're right...I'd like something that didn't require a host. Something that the A2 thought was an external floppy drive.

Something similar to the SD2IEC for the C64.

Thanks!

[David Schmidt]

Post by cb meeks

Post by David Schmidt
ADTPro's serial (and Ethernet) virtual drive is based on Terrence's
great work. And using a Pi is also a known solution (see
http://ivanx.com/a2server/), but I think these solutions are not what
the OP was after - trying to eliminate a "host" of any sort.

I didn't do a good job explaining what I was after. A RPi solution might work in a pinch but you're right...I'd like something that didn't require a host. Something that the A2 thought was an external floppy drive.

There is a related project from several years ago that was a
self-contained ADTPro server that could do bootstrapping as well as
virtual serial drive operations:

http://osgeld.a2hq.com/category/projects/pocket-serial-host/

It would definitely be an assemble-yourself thing, but he's got all the
project resources freely available. I have one of the units he sold -
maybe you could further his research while building something yourself.

[Nick Westgate]

Post by cb meeks
So my question is, is there an open source project that will allow me to easily get disk images over to my IIc/IIe?

I forget the status of Cedric Peltier's SPVHD:
http://pcedric3.free.fr/SmartportVHD/index.html

Would have been another good cheap option, not sure about open source though.

Cheers,
Nick.

[Steven Hirsch]

Post by Nick Westgate

Post by cb meeks
So my question is, is there an open source project that will allow me to easily get disk images over to my IIc/IIe?

http://pcedric3.free.fr/SmartportVHD/index.html
Would have been another good cheap option, not sure about open source though.

Antoine might know more, but I recall hearing about Cedric having health
issues. The SPVHD is terrific gadget. I purchased a board from him years ago
and built one up myself.

[Scott Alfter]

Post by cb meeks

Post by cb meeks
So my question is, is there an open source project that will allow me

to easily get disk images over to my IIc/IIe?
http://pcedric3.free.fr/SmartportVHD/index.html
Would have been another good cheap option, not sure about open source though.

It looks like this was supposed to be open-source, but nothing got released
through this page.

I tracked down source code for the microcontroller that was used and for the
manager program that runs on the Apple II:

http://mirrors.apple2.org.za/Apple%20II%20Documentation%20Project/Peripherals/Disk%20Drives/Peltier%20SmartPortVHD/

That leaves the wiring. The pictures at the first link indicate that the
device is just a Micropendous-A (an AVR microcontroller with a USB interface
on a stick) with some LEDs, buttons, and SmartPort connectors wired to it.
Micropendous was an open-hardware AVR development platform (similar in basic
concept to Arduino) that was originally hosted at Google Code; somebody
mirrored it to GitHub before Google Code shut down:

https://github.com/BackupGGCode/micropendous/

KiCad schematics and PCB layouts are included, so that just leaves the
wiring external to the board. Perhaps it could be sussed out by reading the
SPVHD firmware source code, but if someone has the build documentation for
the SPVHD hardware and would like to post it, that'd definitely be
high-speed.

From there, perhaps an updated design that rolls everything into one board
would be possible...maybe something resembling a dongle that can be inserted
into a SmartPort chain and had a USB port (or maybe an SD or MicroSD slot
instead).

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\_^_/ >What's the most annoying thing on Usenet?

[Scott Alfter]

Post by Scott Alfter
From there, perhaps an updated design that rolls everything into one board
would be possible...maybe something resembling a dongle that can be inserted
into a SmartPort chain and had a USB port (or maybe an SD or MicroSD slot
instead).

...toward which end both male and female DB-19 connectors would be needed.
I found small numbers of each here at about $7 each at the current exchange
rate:

http://www.exxoshost.co.uk/atari/

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/ v \ Scott Alfter (remove the obvious to send mail)
(IIGS( https://alfter.us/ Top-posting!
\_^_/ >What's the most annoying thing on Usenet?

[Steven Hirsch]

Post by Scott Alfter
KiCad schematics and PCB layouts are included, so that just leaves the
wiring external to the board. Perhaps it could be sussed out by reading the
SPVHD firmware source code, but if someone has the build documentation for
the SPVHD hardware and would like to post it, that'd definitely be
high-speed.

I have all the wiring, construction information and firmware. Please contact
me privately and I'll arrange to get it to you. I'd rather not release it
publicly before confirming that Cedric has in fact abandoned the project.

[Antoine Vignau]

Will you write to Cédric or do you want me to do?
av

[Steven Hirsch]

Post by Antoine Vignau
Will you write to Cédric or do you want me to do?

Hi, Antoine.

I think communication will be clearer if you spoke with him.

[Antoine Vignau]

OK, I'll do,
av

[Polymorph]

There is also this relatively new option:
https://github.com/freitz85/AppleIISd

and his blog on development of this card:
http://bluemeanie-retro.blogspot.com.au/

And his thread on AppleFritter:
http://www.applefritter.com/?q=content/building-my-own-sd-card-interface-apple-ii

Others have had their own boards made and have reported good results. I bought one of his card's and I'm still trying to get mine working, but it is a very inexpensive project. Definitely worth a look.

Cheers,
Mike

[Rob Justice]

Post by cb meeks
I'm aware of the CFFA and FloppyEMU. Both appear to be great products but I can't swing the money for either of them at the moment.
I have a ton of Arduino's, micro-controllers, chips, wire, etc. And, I'm pretty good with a soldering iron.
So my question is, is there an open source project that will allow me to easily get disk images over to my IIc/IIe?
ADTPro is great but I'd like something that doesn't require me to be connected to my main PC.
Thanks for any suggestions.

Maybe you could make one of these, or modify the software to use on an Arduino. The firmware is linked on the page. I think Koichi is ok as long as you do it all your self (ie no support). The only issue I see for running it on an Arduino is the increased clock speed used.

http://tulip-house.ddo.jp/DIGITAL/SDISK2/english.html

/Rob