forum.defence-force.org

Working Save game too.

Thanks! Great to hear that.

It is really cool game So, sorry delivery delayed again becouse , i'm busy

3,5 Floppy drive added to set

Nice and compact !

Mine arrived, and it is awesome. Going to have a great hack session on Oric this weekend .. nice one Zaxon!

Ok, last ordered 7 units is on the way. Ufff....

Some info. Power supply:

9 volt 1 amp or more , negative outside, plug 5.5/2.1

Switch on the back swap drive letter , i was do mistake on board so drive swap is possible beetwen A and C. (not B ) So..
Switch on the left, USB is drive A
Switch on the right USB drive is C

Red button is reset

Disk images need to be converted to HFE format . You can use this tool from Jeff ( HXC) https://hxc2001.com/download/floppy_dri ... r_soft.zip

Drive working under Flash Floppy firmware, https://github.com/keirf/FlashFloppy/wiki

Disk images need to be converted to HFE format . You can use this tool from Jeff ( HXC) https://hxc2001.com/download/floppy_dri ... r_soft.zip

Do you really need to convert .DSK images to .HFE format ?

FlashFloppy now accepts straight .DSK images, at least on Amstrad CPCs...

As my ATMOS is still under maintenance, I can't test if my .DSK game collection would run as is.

Has somebody tried it yet ?

On the other hand, the Cumana Reborn hacked with a nice red on black LCD and black FDC cable looks really great !

DSK files from Amstrad and ZX working ok with Flash Floppy , DSK files from ORIC not working for now. Conversion to HFE is still required.

Has anyone tried the "Pushing the envelope" demo?

When it loads from disk the sound glitches out.

This does not happen with a Cumulus.

I tried both an Oric 1 and an Atmos.

Some critical observations offered in support of this great device, after a couple of days of use ..

1) Is it just me, or does the Cumana Reborn seem to slow some titles down? I've got both Cumulus and Cumana Reborn devices locally, and games such as Krillys and Defender Force definitely feels slower when the CR is plugged in, compared to when its loading from the Cumulus. I need to look at this again from multiple angles in my next session - I have 6 other machines I can test with, in case that is also relevant. Could the Cumulus' buffer-amp be a factor?

2) DSK -> HFE conversion is a drag. I guess adding Oric .DSK support to FlashFloppy is low-hanging fruit. Anyone working on it? Got any ideas for where to start - is Cumana Reborn forked from FF upstream, or .. ? I'd be happy to help with this any way possible, I guess I will research it next Oric hack session I get ..

3) The LCD display angle is a bit difficult when looking at it on a desk - I've found the most usable configuration is with the front of the CR sitting on the back of the Atmos, makes it very easy to use when you are facing the LCD directly. Otherwise, I find the viewing angle of the LCD awkward. The knob and USB port are too close together - when I use a long USB Stick, I find my fingers getting stuck between the rotary dial and the stick. I would consider an angled LCD display for a future case revision, anyway.

4) This is probably more PEBCAK/ISRTFM, but is there a way to always load an image, say .. SED306.HFE .. on drive A-, while only mounting images with the dial on drive C- .. ? I'll RTFM ..

With new-found disk I/o power, Oric systems represent a whole new, interesting challenge in terms of basic admin/util/hacking configuration. Managing all these disks, and associated tooling, is an interesting new challenge .. Cumana Reborn is a simply delightful addition to the modern Oric user. I'm very grateful for the hard work to get this out there, zaxon!

freaktmp wrote: ↑Sun Feb 23, 2020 8:16 pm Has anyone tried the "Pushing the envelope" demo?

When it loads from disk the sound glitches out.

This does not happen with a Cumulus.

I tried both an Oric 1 and an Atmos.

The glitches are to be expected, that was the first version of the loading routines, and during loading the music does not play as fast. It does not happen (that much) with Cumulus or emulators because they don't really emulate the real timings.

Sorry for that!

Dbug wrote: ↑Sun Feb 23, 2020 10:03 pm The glitches are to be expected, that was the first version of the loading routines, and during loading the music does not play as fast. It does not happen (that much) with Cumulus or emulators because they don't really emulate the real timings.

Sorry for that!

As long as there is no problem with the Cumana Reborn, I'm happy!

ibisum wrote: ↑Sun Feb 23, 2020 9:12 pm 1) Is it just me, or does the Cumana Reborn seem to slow some titles down? I've got both Cumulus and Cumana Reborn devices locally, and games such as Krillys and Defender Force definitely feels slower when the CR is plugged in, compared to when its loading from the Cumulus. I need to look at this again from multiple angles in my next session - I have 6 other machines I can test with, in case that is also relevant. Could the Cumulus' buffer-amp be a factor?

It is perfectly possible. The Gotek inside Cumana Reborn emulates a floppy disc with all the delays and transmission timings. I guess you only save the mechanical delays (seek track and sector) and, of course, those due to reading or writing errors. You should expect similar loading times when compared to a real disk.

Cumulus, I think, takes some shortcuts and loading times are shorter.

I am not saying that is what is really happening, only that it is possible. I have Cumulus and a controller with a real floppy, and the latter takes longer to load things.

4) This is probably more PEBCAK/ISRTFM, but is there a way to always load an image, say .. SED306.HFE .. on drive A-, while only mounting images with the dial on drive C- .. ? I'll RTFM ..

I don't think so, for the same reason. The gotek inside the Cumana Reborn emulates a single floppy drive unit, and the image is the disc inside it. You need another gotek or a real disc to have two units. That being said, the unit I have in my Amiga can be configured to auto-mount a given image unless you select another one. I use the Amiga to select images and configure things (the firmware supports this by loading a small program at boot, in the Oric this is not -yet- possible), so I don't know the actual procedure, but I think all this is managed via config files. Have a look here.

freaktmp wrote: ↑Sun Feb 23, 2020 8:16 pm Has anyone tried the "Pushing the envelope" demo?

When it loads from disk the sound glitches out.

This does not happen with a Cumulus.

Yep. Those longer loading times with real floppies (and I guess Cumana Reborn too) result in some long pauses in the music and, thus, some glitches. They appear also with Cumulus, IIRC, but they are hardly noticed. In emulators you can't hear those. I think interrupts are disabled during certain sections in the loading process. If they take longer, music playing suffers. That is my guess, at least.

zaxon wrote: ↑Sun Feb 23, 2020 3:21 pm DSK files from Amstrad and ZX working ok with Flash Floppy , DSK files from ORIC not working for now. Conversion to HFE is still required.

According to this link:

https://github.com/keirf/FlashFloppy/issues/144

It seems that keirf has added support for Oric .DSK images.

It has to be definitely checked...

Cheers.