Sharp X1 Notes


In the process of renovation and learning to use the X1, the following notes were made which could often take quite some time to locate on the web or deduce. They are here for reference if anyone else finds themselves with an X1 and no information on how to use!

Floppy Disk Notes

To create floppy disks for the X1 you need to be in posession of a Kryoflux or similar floppy disk interface board which has the ability to read/write various retro floppy formats.

On the web are various collections of X1 software which are either in D88 or 2D format. Assuming you have a Kryoflux board, the procedue for writing these images to floppy disk are as follows:

  1. Obtain the HxC 2001 Software Emulator and install onto a Windows PC.
  2. Connect the Kryoflux to one of the internal Sharp X1 floppy drives, leave the power cable connected to the X1 just connect the 34pin floppy IDC cable.
  3. D88 format images
    a. Start the HxC Software and Click on Load, select the <file>.d88 image you want to write, click on Open.
    b. Click on Export, select output directory, select Save Type as Kyroflux Raw Strea.
    c. Click Save and the d88 file will be converted.
    d. Copy the *.raw files to a Linux box (you can do this from a PC but as I havent tested it, I'll give linux details). There will be 80 files, 1 per track.
    e. On the Linux box, issue the command:
      o dtc -d0 -w -e39 -f<file prefix>
      o -d0 specifies to use Disk 0, change to 1 if you have connected to the 2nd drive in the X1.
      o <file prefix> is the first portion of the converted Raw file filename, ie. 1942_d88 for 1941 in D88 format.
    f. The disk will now be created.
  1. 2D format images
    a. Start the HxC Software and Click on Load Raw image, click on 'Load RAW file' and select the <file>.2D image you want to write. Adjust the settings as follows:
       Track Type: IBM MFM
       Number of Track: 40
       Number of side: 2
       Tracks of a side grouped in the file: unticked
       Bitrate: 25000
       Sector per track: 16
       Sector size: 256 bytes
       Reverse side: untick
       RPM: 300
       Sector ID start: 1
       Inter side sector numbering: unticked
       Interleave: 1
       Skew: 0
       Side based: unticked
       Total Sector: 1280
       Total Size: 327680
       Format value: 246
       Auto GAP3: ticked
       PRE_GAP length: 0
       click on Close.
    b. Click on Export, select output directory, select Save Type as Kyroflux Raw Strea.
    c. Click Save and the d88 file will be converted.
    d. Copy the *.raw files to a Linux box (you can do this from a PC but as I havent tested it, I'll give linux details). There will be 80 files, 1 per track.
    e. On the Linux box, issue the command:
      o dtc -d0 -w -e39 -f<file prefix>
      o -d0 specifies to use Disk 0, change to 1 if you have connected to the 2nd drive in the X1.
      o <file prefix> is the first portion of the converted Raw file filename, ie. 1942_d88 for 1941 in D88 format.
    f. The disk will now be created.

Using the HxC 2001 Floppy Emulator.

The HxC 2001 is a floppy drive emulator storing floppy disk images on an SD card.

In order to use with the Sharp X1 you either need to make up a 50 pin D-Sub male to 34pin IDC female connector or connect the emulator directly to the Sharp X1 motherboard using a 34pin female to 34pin female IDC floppy cable (the type seen in IBM PC machines.

  1. Prepare an SD card as FAT32 format (on your windows machine, go to Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> Dosk Management, locate your SD card and format it to FAT32 - see the web for more detailed instructions on creating a FAT32 SD card if your unsure.
  2. Using the HxC 2001 Emulator software on yout PC, you can either convert a file one at a time or use Batch Converter which is a lot quicker.
  3. D88 format images - One at a time
    a. Start the HxC Software and Click on Load, select the <file>.d88 image you want to write, click on Open.
    b. Click on Export, select the root of your SD card, select Save Type as 'HFE - SD HxC Floppy Emulator file format'
    c. Click Save and the d88 file will be converted.
  1. D88 format images - Batch convert a set of images.
    a. Start the HxC Software and Click on Batch Converter and set Target file format: 'HFE - SD HxC Floppy Emulator file format'
    b. In Source directory: select the directory where *.d88 images are stored. NB Make sure only D88 images are present, 2D or other images will crash the software.
    c. Leave 'Treat input files as RAW files' unticked.
    d. In Target directory: Enter the root of your SD card.
    e. Click Convert and all files will be converted and stored on the SD card.
  1. 2D format images - One at a time
    a. Start the HxC Software and Click on Load Raw image, click on 'Load RAW file' and select the <file>.2d image you want to convert.
    b. Set the configuration settings to:
       Track Type: IBM MFM
       Number of Track: 40
       Number of side: 2
       Tracks of a side grouped in the file: unticked
       Bitrate: 25000
       Sector per track: 16
       Sector size: 256 bytes
       Reverse side: untick
       RPM: 300
       Sector ID start: 1
       Inter side sector numbering: unticked
       Interleave: 1
       Skew: 0
       Side based: unticked
       Total Sector: 1280
       Total Size: 327680
       Format value: 246
       Auto GAP3: ticked
       PRE_GAP length: 0
       Click on Close.
    c. Click on Export, select the root of your SD card, select Save Type as 'HFE - SD HxC Floppy Emulator file format'
    d. Click Save and the d88 file will be converted.
  1. 2D format images - Batch convert a set of images.
    a. Start the HxC Software and Click on Batch Converter and set Target file format: 'HFE - SD HxC Floppy Emulator file format'
    b. In Source directory: select the directory where *.d88 images are stored. NB Make sure only D88 images are present, 2D or other images will crash the software.
    c. Select 'Treat input files as RAW files' as ticked, a new window will open.
    d. Set the configuration settings to:
       Track Type: IBM MFM
       Number of Track: 40
       Number of side: 2
       Tracks of a side grouped in the file: unticked
       Bitrate: 25000
       Sector per track: 16
       Sector size: 256 bytes
       Reverse side: untick
       RPM: 300
       Sector ID start: 1
       Inter side sector numbering: unticked
       Interleave: 1
       Skew: 0
       Side based: unticked
       Total Sector: 1280
       Total Size: 327680
       Format value: 246
       Auto GAP3: ticked
       PRE_GAP length: 0
       Click on Close.
    e. In Target directory: Enter the root of your SD card.
    f. Click Convert and all files will be converted and stored on the SD card.

Credits

Where I have used or based any component on a 3rd parties design I have included the original authors copyright notice within the headers or given due credit. All 3rd party software, to my knowledge and research, is open source and freely useable, if there is found to be any component with licensing restrictions, it will be removed from this repository and a suitable link/config provided.

Licenses

This design, hardware and software, is licensed under the GNU Public Licence v3.

The Gnu Public License v3

The source and binary files in this project marked as GPL v3 are free software: you can redistribute it and-or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

The source files are distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program. If not, see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/.