java screenshot of reader software

Hi,

looks great :>

im about to write a small article about it on amigaweb, do you have anything spesific you think i should add?

-mike

Thanks Mike. I’d appreciate it if you’d post a link here so I could read the write-up.

Some features and short term design goals:

*free, free, free
*open source
*Creates standard .adf images of unprotected amiga disks
*platform independent: Released code will be Java. With support for linux and Mac OS X in both hardware(FTDI USB chip drivers support right now) and software(Java with RXTX serial that already supports both)
*runs on current Windows OSs: I see no problem with 2000/XP/2003 support, Vista whenever I get around to upgrading and testing it 🙂
*uses $5.00 regular PC floppy and drive cables. no modifications, no special amiga drives, cables, or connectors
*Prototype board is $10.00 WITH the SX controller
*USB connectivity: no reliance on serial ports, parallel ports, or the normal associated hardware/OS abstraction/protection issues to deal with
*Current ongoing 2007 project: nothing is stale, outdated, and so on.
*ground-up amateur project. I’m definitely NOT an expert, but what I lack in expertise I make up in hard work and refusal to quit.(although I did feel like that many times!!)

I have physically cabled the board for WRITING amiga floppies, so that is definitely a LONG TERM goal. First things first, I want to be able to get a reliable solid fast reading performance working 100%, and then writing is the next logical step.

Java GUI’s are easy enough to move around and modify, so I’m not sweating the lack of a “write button” etc etc.

Note that it is not practical at this point to build it unless you have access to SX programmer, can get samples/buy Ramtron FRAM, etc. I need to make more progress before I’m willing to put together a parts list, schematic, etc. The SX code base is in DIRE need of cleaning up, and won’t be put up in its entirety until I do so. That is the next step after writing/debugging the Java.

Nice, sounds good. Hope you get it working, Writing to the floppy might be a tough nut tho, i know some pc floppy drives can be modified to work with the Amiga atleast.

I’ll prolly write the article a bit later, but the adders is https://amigaweb.net

Good luck with development.

-Mike

Looks good to me. This is a project I’m looking forward to building and using. Once you have a schematic up, perhaps someone can design a PC layout for it. That will probably make it smaller and more accessible for others to replicate.

I’ve put up a list of all the CAD software I’ve ever heard of that still seems to be actively supported.

I like using Protel.

I just installed gEDA and plan to play with it for a while.

—
David Cary