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Another Microdisc compatible.

Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2014 2:30 pm
by Silicebit.
Hello to all!

Yes, another floppy controller for Oric. :-)

Photos.
Controller1.
Controller1.
Controladora1.JPG (1.03 MiB) Viewed 28277 times
Controller2.
Controller2.
Controladora2.JPG (926.64 KiB) Viewed 28277 times
Controller3.
Controller3.
Controladora3.JPG (1.03 MiB) Viewed 28277 times
Controller working: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yamhTvf_wz8

Re: Another Microdisc compatible.

Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2014 2:45 pm
by coolman66
Is this board available to the ORIC enthousiast ,if so at what price ?

Re: Another Microdisc compatible.

Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2014 4:11 am
by coco.oric
It's a very compact one.
Good work ; it will be nice to have an idea of the cost of it.

Re: Another Microdisc compatible.

Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2014 12:08 pm
by Silicebit.
coolman66 wrote:Is this board available to the ORIC enthousiast ,if so at what price ?
Yes, there is five PCBs available for ORIC enthusiasts. Price for each PCB is six euro more shipping cost.
coco.oric wrote:It's a very compact one.
Good work ; it will be nice to have an idea of the cost of it.
Yes, it's very compact, only 100 x 150 mm. Price for a complete controller is 55 euro more shipping cost.

You also might want this:

AmpliBus photos.

Re: Another Microdisc compatible.

Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2014 4:34 pm
by jorodr
It's real the year of ORIC drives! :)
Congratulations!!! It's look really professional! I want one! :)

Re: Another Microdisc compatible.

Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2014 8:08 pm
by coolman66
Is that a PCB board ready to go !built up ? And be course I am not technical do I have to have the amplebus unit ?

Re: Another Microdisc compatible.

Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2014 1:51 pm
by coco.oric
Ok, fine. I could be interested by one disk controller, but i need an amplebus ?

Re: Another Microdisc compatible.

Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2014 11:04 am
by Silicebit.
coolman66 wrote:Is that a PCB board ready to go !built up ? And be course I am not technical do I have to have the amplebus unit ?
No, sorry, :-( the controller of photo is in hands of a happy owner now. I must build other.
coco.oric wrote:Ok, fine. I could be interested by one disk controller, but i need an amplebus ?
I tested the controller on my three Atmos, in two of them, the controller worked well without AmpliBus. With remaining, the Amplibus was necessary (aleatory errors). I think the AmpliBus is recommendable, and, only for five euro, who don't have one? :-D
Atmos with AmpliBus.
Atmos with AmpliBus.
Controladora6.JPG (1.21 MiB) Viewed 28110 times

Re: Another Microdisc compatible.

Posted: Fri May 23, 2014 9:38 pm
by Chema
I have one of see controllers (thanks Slicebit!!!) and tried it today.

It worked immediately after plugging it in. I seems to me it is more stable than the Cumulus, at least on my Oric, but of course needs real disks.

Also soon as I find out how to create real disks, I will test with the games I had issues with.

I had some pictures ready, but they are too big. Will reduce their size and port them ASAP.

I am really happy :) so many years crying for a controller, and now I have two alternative systems....

Edit: I hate to write posts with my iPad

Re: Another Microdisc compatible.

Posted: Mon May 26, 2014 8:11 pm
by Chema
Okay, here are the pictures. First the controller. I am using a PC PSU for powering it as well as the disk drive. The controller can also power the Oric itself.
IMG_0247.png
IMG_0247.png (220.81 KiB) Viewed 27783 times
It includes the Amplibus, as you can see in the following pic. The small button connected through a cable is the reset.
IMG_0249.png
IMG_0249.png (237.95 KiB) Viewed 27783 times
Okay, you turn power on, the Oric shows the screen filled with bars, you press the RESET in the controller and it shows the "insert system disk" message.
The drive turns its light on, waiting for a disk. I put in a disk and...
IMG_0256.png
IMG_0256.png (202.37 KiB) Viewed 27783 times
Everything works perfectly! No need for the smallest adjustment. No strange issues. So I am still some suspicious about the code inside the Cumulus...

Great, isn't it?

Re: Another Microdisc compatible.

Posted: Mon May 26, 2014 10:32 pm
by iss
Indeed! It's great to have reliable hardware.
After I recovered my cumulus still wondering how cumana, microdisc and bunch of native Pravetz-8D controllers are
working like charm with Pravetz-8D but cumulus doesn't.

Re: Another Microdisc compatible.

Posted: Tue May 27, 2014 7:21 am
by jorodr
If it's just copied the Microdisc schematics it's normal to press Reset button to wake the system. There's a little mistake on it. Even the original Microdisc don't reset the system without pressing the Reset button. Must change the resistor and the cpacitor of the reset part of the controller. Then the system will reset right after switch on the controller.

Re: Another Microdisc compatible.

Posted: Tue May 27, 2014 10:07 am
by Godzil
Chema wrote:Everything works perfectly! No need for the smallest adjustment. No strange issues. So I am still some suspicious about the code inside the Cumulus...
The problem is that the Cumulus use modern part and even if it was made to be compatible it's not the same thing as a microdisc.

The board you test here is a clone of the microdisc, using original parts, that is really different as signal timings, ripple effect, or anything nasty, level problems, and anything nasty that can happen with the cumulus have low chance to happen here.

Re: Another Microdisc compatible.

Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2014 6:55 am
by JonB
Hello Slicebit

When the reset bug is fixed, I would like to buy one of these controllers for my Atmos. Please PM me with availability. Can pay by PayPal. Postage to the UK, please.

:)

Regards

JonB

Re: Another Microdisc compatible.

Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2015 7:13 pm
by Chema
In case you don't know Silicebit is preparing a new batch of his Microdisc clone and Amplibus cards. If you don't have a disk unit for your Oric this is a good opportunity! Also if you want an Amplibus you can order it alone.

Have a look here (in Spanish: Google translator would do a nice job, if not ask here and I'll help):
http://www.retrowiki.es/fororw/viewtopi ... 5435c862ef