Steve's H5 A3.14 Build (Chicken Pie edition)

[exxos]

I guess a 100mhz 030 should it theoretically exist could out perform a 8mhz blitter. Blitter can't access altram as its address bus is limited etc but I think its why anders created the blitfix program, idea being STram accesses are done with the blitter, and altram blitting is done with the CPU. With the CPU being 32bit it should fly. I can't remember if benchmarks were posted about all this., maybe..

[Steve]

@exxos Sorry to throw another little spanner into the works, but I just tested 1.44mb GAL mode and it doesn't work. Just get 'disk may be damaged'. I'm using a real 1.44mb drive from my TT. JP22 on 1+2, JP18&19 open. Would you have any tips on what I could look at for this? Cheers.

[exxos]

Only thing I can suggest is try a MPF920 drive as I have no idea what a TT drive is, nevermind tried one.

EDIT:

I assume you soldered the 16Mhz osc in place and you have 16Mhz on pin 1 of the GAL ? Also should be a clock output on pin 1 JP22.

[Steve]

Ok I'll check that. By the way the TT drive is an Epson SMD 340. I also have my old Falcon drive I can test which is an SMD 300. Your comment confuses me because it sounds like you think the TT used some crazy type of drive.... no just a regular high density drive.

[exxos]

I don't use any original drives anymore. They failing like mad and unreliable . Plus I have no idea how to wire them all to work with 720 & 1.44 floppies, you need the select wire. There are that many drive types / models out there with all sorts of odd stuff going on. It's why I just use the 920 drives. I know where I am with those and know how to mod them etc. They have never let me down and support extended formats. The H5 was designed for that drive. In theory any drive should work. But unless someone tries them all and documents them, then we don't know if there are any odd issues or not.

[Steve]

Ah okay, no problems. I'll try a few different drives and a Gotek before I do anything else.

[Steve]

Oki doki, I had a brand new (never been used) Sony mfp920 dated march 2006. Did the mods:

PXL_20220121_113525280.MP.jpg

PXL_20220121_115226165.jpg

Used that Chipquick smd flux that was recommended by @dalek and it was really good. No horrid rosin stickiness and cleaned up easily with IPA.

In the H5 I put it in 'force 1.44mb mode' and in 'GAL mode'. It read a 720k disk perfectly (which the Epson did not do) but struggling with 1.44mb disks, when I access them it seems ok but it won't format them, but I don't know if the disks are just dodgy to be honest. Also Emutos says single-sided/double-sided in the format options, I'm not sure if it has a double-sided-high-density option? (I assume I don't need to flip the ribbon cable or anything like that)

I'll try a Gotek next with a 1.44mb image and see how that goes.

[Steve]

Ok tried with my Gotek. 720k works but 1.44mb doesn't:

PXL_20220121_122404306.jpg

[Steve]

This is the jumper config I'm using:

PXL_20220121_122831527.jpg

I'll check the oscillator next.

[exxos]

I half recall there was possibly some discussions about the gotek and using it on the H5. Maybe someone else can remember. I do not own one personally, so never tried it.