Micro peripherals Drive controler?

[Dave]

Pin Dir Name Description
2 - unused Head Load (not used with the FZ-1)
4 out /BUSY drive lamp lights when low (same as /DS0)
6 out /DS3 Drive Select 3 (tied to Vcc)
8 out /INDEX Index Pulse
10 out /DS0 Drive Select 0
12 out /DS1 Drive Select 1
14 out /DS2 Drive Select 2
16 out /MOT Motor Enable
18 out /DIR Step Direction
20 out /STEP Step Pulse
22 out /WDATA Write Data
24 out /WGATE Write Enable
26 in /TRK00 Track 0
28 in /WPT Write Protect
30 in /RDATA Read Data
32 out /SIDE1 Head Select
34 in /READY low when FDD is available

As you can see, most of the signals are active low. Therefore, if the motor starts then stops spinning, you know the motor select line is good because to stop the motor requires Vcc.

[tofro]

All,
maybe I need to be more specific:

If a drive listens to both flp1_ and flp2_ (motor starts and all), this hints to the cable insofar as there could be a short between DS0 and DS1. Could also be inserted wrong way round (all odd pins are normally tied together to GND), but then I'd guess the drive would be running continuously.

Otherwise I'd suspect the controller.

Regards,
Tobias

[RWAP]

@ Tobias I can't really make any serious measuring since the only instrument I have is a multimeter, what I did was a simple continuity measurement to rule out shorts.
If I there is any measurement that I can do with a multimeter please tell me what to do.
@Rich I checked the pins on the QL side and there are no bend ones, please keep for me the MicroP Eprom , I will get it in a couple of days when I send you the order for the QL PSU, I might also need a disk drive I/F , do you have any available?
Tassos

That is fine - I have put the EPROM to one side.

Unfortunately, I do not have any disk interfaces (lots of people after them....)

[Dave]

Define 'lots'...

[RWAP]

10-20 people have asked in the last 12 months

[RWAP]

Build them and they will come - we need a disk interface with memory and Toolkit II, or preferably an SD / CF reader...

[Dave]

A CF reader is probably the easiest of those, because it can use existing drivers for the QubIDE.

However, a USB interface would open up a lot of opportunities for us. Ironically, using the GPIO pins of a Raspberry Pi might be one of the easier ways to implement meaningful USB on the QL, offloading the individual device drivers onto linux and just needing a unified Pidriver. I suspect the work done on the Romdisq drivers might be useful there...

[tofro]

A CF reader is probably the easiest of those, because it can use existing drivers for the QubIDE.

Agreed (well, if you happen to have a QubiDE or replacement )

However, a USB interface would open up a lot of opportunities for us. Ironically, using the GPIO pins of a Raspberry Pi might be one of the easier ways to implement meaningful USB on the QL, offloading the individual device drivers onto linux and just needing a unified Pidriver. I suspect the work done on the Romdisq drivers might be useful there...

I'm not sure if USB is a good idea for (any un-emulated) QL, once, because it needs constant attention from the CPU and second, stackable device drivers (I'm sure Adrian Ives will have an opinion on this)

QDOS is not very well suited for that. SMSQ/E might be better off, however.

(and I'm still very much a fan of SD cards, because they are unbeatably cheap and simple to adapt through a 3-wire interface)

Regards,
Tobias

[cybervet]

@ Dave
I checked with a multimeter the cable while I gave the "dir flp1_" command and the only thing that seems strange to me is that in pin 20 step there is only 5v no matter what . I would expect to give a step low during the command or am I totally wrong?
Tassos

[Dave]

Yes, that line should step low until it times out.