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MZ-80b FI/O to HxC Cable

Posted: Wed May 05, 2021 12:50 pm
by arnuphis
Hello!

Does anyone have the pinouts for the 80b FI/O 37 pin DSub Connector? I want to connect up either a Gotek or HXC and need to make a cable.

If anyone has already done this then tips would be appreciated!

Thank you in advance.

Re: MZ-80b FI/O to HxC Cable

Posted: Thu May 06, 2021 12:30 pm
by psmart
I've done it for my MZ-80A using the schematics herehttps://original.sharpmz.org/mz-80a/dow ... i_diag.pdf and connect it with a Lotharek HxC Emulator. From memory I didnt make any special wiring just straight forward 34pin IDC connector to the 37pin plug wiring signal to signal.
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Re: MZ-80b FI/O to HxC Cable

Posted: Fri May 07, 2021 12:22 pm
by arnuphis
Thank you! Now where did you pick up the 5v from to power the HXC? Do you use a separate power supply or do you pull it from the 80A?

Re: MZ-80b FI/O to HxC Cable

Posted: Fri May 07, 2021 12:44 pm
by psmart
I use an external USB to 5V converter. Unless I hack the hardware, 5V isnt available from the MZ-80A. I'm also changing the HxC between machines so it keeps it simple.

When I first got the MZ80B and HxC 2 years back I was able to boot the SA-6510 from the HxC no problem. The MZ80B has an SFD-800 card in it and the 80A has an AFI card. The SFD card has a 34pin IDC connector so was a simple PC 34pin IDC floppy cable connection.

An issue you may be aware of is to use the HxC, you have to use the HxC 2000 software to convert the disk image into a Shugart HxC format to work.

The 37pin D-type plug is available from Farnell/RS.

Re: MZ-80b FI/O to HxC Cable

Posted: Fri May 07, 2021 3:28 pm
by arnuphis
Thank you for the help. I made up the cable. Just waiting on the HxC and FI/O card to arrive. I also have a Gotek. Have you tried one?

Re: MZ-80b FI/O to HxC Cable

Posted: Sat May 08, 2021 9:16 pm
by psmart
Not tried the Gotek, just Lotharek's HxC (SD CB - HXC Rev C BLACK CASE) and a dual Cumana 5.25 disk pack. The HxC is an older model and it works with the MZ-80A/MZ-800/MZ-80B and BBC Model B but not with my Sharp X1 which uses the same 37pin external D-SUB!!!

Re: MZ-80b FI/O to HxC Cable

Posted: Wed May 12, 2021 5:53 pm
by arnuphis
So while I wait for my HxC to arrive I downloaded the software and set to work on making some HFE images. Now the disk basic .dsk images give errors when I try to open them. Is there a tweak I need to use? the cp/m ones seem to work fine.

Re: MZ-80b FI/O to HxC Cable

Posted: Sat May 15, 2021 9:41 am
by psmart
I just use the HxCFloppyEmulator v2.2.2.1 windows based program, place all the Sharp disks I want into a sub-folder and use 'Batch converter targetting the HFE exported files to the SD card used in the Floppy Emulator. Admittedly I havent done it for 2 years (how long it's been since I used the MZ80B) but it is the same procedure and settings for the 80A/800.
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Re: MZ-80b FI/O to HxC Cable

Posted: Sat May 15, 2021 2:24 pm
by arnuphis
Many thanks! I will try it again. I was attempting to get a HxC Gotek working while I await my Lotharek HxC. On the cable wiring, I'm correct in thinking its a straight through connection. So Pin 1- Pin 1, Pin2 - Pin to etc. all the way to pin 34 of the IDE?

EDIT: NM I pulled up the 80B FI/O data sheet and see things like Index is on pin4 whereas its on pin 8 for the 34 pin IDE. Okay need to change a few things.

I tried the converter. I got 'zero files converted'. Do I need to change the .mzf suffix to .dsk?

Re: MZ-80b FI/O to HxC Cable

Posted: Sat May 15, 2021 4:50 pm
by psmart
I just checked the connections, assuming the IDC pinout is as per this link:http://www.hilmanind.com/pinouts/floppy.bak

34pin IDC 37pin D-SUB
1 NC
2 NC
3 NC
4 4
5 8
6 6
7 5
8 NC
9 9
10 10
11 11
12 12
13 13
14 14
15 15
16 16
17 NC
18 20
19 21
20 22
21 23
22 24
23 25
24 26
25 27
26 28
27 29
28 30
29 31
30 32
31 33
32 34
33 35
34 36

The MZF files are different to the DSK files, the former being the tape format used by Sharp, ie. a 128 byte header+data, the disk are different, they are in extended CPC (Amstrad) format, ie a dump of SA-6510 DSK:
0 45 58 54 45 4e 44 45 44 20 43 50 43 20 44 53 4b 20 46 69 6c 65 0d 0a 44 69 73 6b 2d 49 6e 66 6f 0d 0a 43 EXTENDED CPC DSK File..Disk-Info..C
23 50 44 52 65 61 64 20 76 33 2e 32 34 00 28 02 00 00 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 PDRead v3.24.(.....................
46 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 ...................................
69 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ...................................
8C 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ...................................
AF 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ...................................
D2 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ...................................
F5 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 54 72 61 63 6b 2d 49 6e 66 6f 0d 0a 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 11 4e e5 ...........Track-Info............N.
118 00 00 01 01 00 00 00 01 00 00 02 01 00 00 00 01 00 00 03 01 00 00 00 01 00 00 04 01 00 00 00 01 00 00 05 ...................................
13B 01 00 00 00 01 00 00 06 01 00 00 00 01 00 00 07 01 00 00 00 01 00 00 08 01 00 00 00 01 00 00 09 01 00 00 ...................................
15E 00 01 00 00 0a 01 00 00 00 01 00 00 0b 01 00 00 00 01 00 00 0c 01 00 00 00 01 00 00 0d 01 00 00 00 01 00 ...................................
181 00 0e 01 00 00 00 01 00 00 0f 01 00 00 00 01 00 00 10 01 00 00 00 01 00 00 11 01 20 20 00 01 00 00 00 00 ........................... ......
1A4 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ...................................
1C7 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ...................................

Hope this helps.