Welcome to the forum @GaryFDes !
I have almost finished building my NABU FDC, and I’ll measure and create a 3D printable backplate, and some standoffs, when I do.
- Alex
- VCF East 2023 - April 14-16 - InfoAge Science and History Museums, Wall, NJ
- VCF Southwest 2023 - June 23 - 25 - Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center at University of Texas, Dallas, TX
- VCF Midwest 2023 - September 9, 10 - Elmhurst, IL
- VCF West 2023 - August 4, 5 (Dates Confirmed). More info to come
-
Please review our updated Terms and Rules here
The Official Nabu PC Floppy Disk Controller thread
- Thread starter snuci
- Start date
I have almost finished building my NABU FDC, and I’ll measure and create a 3D printable backplate, and some standoffs, when I do.
- Alex
Thanks. I just finished building mine. Some suggestions.
1) There is a file on Klyball’s web page about checking your power. Very important! I was lucky that I only had to jumper across from -12 to the pin that was not connected and then swap the wires.
2) You have to switch over to an 8K ROM. This means cutting the 4K trace and jumper using the 8K trace.
3) More of a suggestion. It was easier for me to use an AT28C64 I had lying around. Probably cheaper for people too.
4) I found the best ROM was the NabuPC-U53-8k-90022900-RevGv13CF-Ben.bin. The other ones I could no longer do the cable boot. I only tried four of them though. Maybe someone can say more about the other files.
snuci
Veteran Member
After trying a couple at Digikey, these are the ones that fit properly. https://www.digikey.ca/en/products/detail/essentra-components/DLSP-1-30M-01/3811816
Klyball made some. I am sure he will post them shortly. They work well.
I've used NabuPC-U53-8K-90037150-Ver-29-Leo-1.bin for everything as I believe that is the latest and I've done all my testing with this ROM.
Of course, if @ajacocks does some 3d designing, the more the merrier
Hope this helps.
twolazy
Veteran Member
Thanks for the heads up! Pulled the trigger and got one. Very happy I was patient and didnt order one without a keyboard!There are more NABUs with keyboards available, at the original price:
Z80 - NABU PC & Keyboard - Vintage New Old Stock (Retro 80's) | eBay
Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Z80 - NABU PC & Keyboard - Vintage New Old Stock (Retro 80's) at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!www.ebay.com
Klyball
Experienced Member
these standoff work with these back plate / use m3x16 for the board and the original backplate will self tap into them.
Klyball
Experienced Member
I am using rom14 4k it seems to have Harddisk, floppy and cable bootAfter trying a couple at Digikey, these are the ones that fit properly. https://www.digikey.ca/en/products/detail/essentra-components/DLSP-1-30M-01/3811816
Klyball made some. I am sure he will post them shortly. They work well.
I've used NabuPC-U53-8K-90037150-Ver-29-Leo-1.bin for everything as I believe that is the latest and I've done all my testing with this ROM.
Of course, if @ajacocks does some 3d designing, the more the merrier
Hope this helps.
FYI, the M4 x 30mm 3D printed standoff, from here:
grabcad.com
...worked really well, along with an M4x8mm screw.
- Alex
Free CAD Designs, Files & 3D Models | The GrabCAD Community Library
The GrabCAD Library offers millions of free CAD designs, CAD files, and 3D models. Join the GrabCAD Community today to gain access and download!
grabcad.com
...worked really well, along with an M4x8mm screw.
- Alex
Been playing around with the disk controller and now I am using the NabuPC-U53-8K-90037150-Ver-29-Leo-1.bin 8k ROM. Unfortunately, I can no longer use the Chat or CPM site from NABU RetroNET. Is anyone else having this problem?
I can use the standard downloads using the NABU Internet adapter but not Cloud COM.
Am I going to have to go back to 4k ROMs in order to use it?
I can use the standard downloads using the NABU Internet adapter but not Cloud COM.
Am I going to have to go back to 4k ROMs in order to use it?
Wormetti
Experienced Member
Homebrew needs to be modified to work with other rom versions. The loader required needs to promoted more and made easier, so more developers use it. Until that happens there are 2 roms you can use that should run everything:
ONABU supports floppy, homebrew and the cycles (NABU channel) http://6.buric.co/nabu/opennabu/
labomb patched nabupc-u53-ver14-2732-patched.bin to work with everything. https://gtamp.com/nabu/nabupc-u53-ver14-2732-patched.bin
ONABU supports floppy, homebrew and the cycles (NABU channel) http://6.buric.co/nabu/opennabu/
labomb patched nabupc-u53-ver14-2732-patched.bin to work with everything. https://gtamp.com/nabu/nabupc-u53-ver14-2732-patched.bin
Last edited:
twolazy
Veteran Member
ty worm! I just got mine a week or so ago , and lost with the seperation of projects. I want a real floppy drive, but mass torage as well, plus NABU channel... Waiting on the 2 projects to intersect. Upside didn't have the fan paint issue.
Just to add, my patched ROM that @Wormetti mentions above won't require the 8k jumper mod (not that it's difficult), it's still just a 4k ROM.
That said, it's probably inevitable that someone will come up with something that will mandate an 8k ROM at some point.
As others have said homebrew currently does not work with offical roms other then the 4k reva rom. This is because all other roms load at address 240d, whereas the reva one uses 140d. This has been known about for some time, but very few homebrew developers have done anything about it. I released a small loader that could be used with assembly homebrew sometime back that had a small position independent relocation code to basically copy the homebrew to a known address and run it from there. This is basically what the official main menu code does and why it works on all rom versions. Recently I have been playing around with creating a modified nabu_crt0.asm file for use with z88dk that will allow C based homebrew to do the same thing. I have a test version of the snake game and the hello world example from nabulib that both seem to work on all rom versions. So hopefully i can get that released soon.
I do not have a 4K chip but I have an AT28C64B pins 28 and 26 tied together and set pin 2 to ground (pin 14) and it works like a 4K chip.
I have tried the nabupc-u53-ver14-2732-patched.bin but it puts a weird character on the main screen to the left of the load floppy prompt and then does not let me load CPM anymore from the GOTEKs I am using.
I have not tried the opennabu because I have not seen anything about which one to use. There are several on the download site. I could go by date but what does the "a" at the end mean? Is there any site that is explains what they are?
How are people getting files to their CPM disks? All I have so far is what I have made and what is on the vintagecomputer.ca download location. I have the last two chips coming in for the serial card so I assume I can transfer files using that technique. Is anyone able to copy the files to an image and then to an HFE file?
Gary
I have tried the nabupc-u53-ver14-2732-patched.bin but it puts a weird character on the main screen to the left of the load floppy prompt and then does not let me load CPM anymore from the GOTEKs I am using.
I have not tried the opennabu because I have not seen anything about which one to use. There are several on the download site. I could go by date but what does the "a" at the end mean? Is there any site that is explains what they are?
How are people getting files to their CPM disks? All I have so far is what I have made and what is on the vintagecomputer.ca download location. I have the last two chips coming in for the serial card so I assume I can transfer files using that technique. Is anyone able to copy the files to an image and then to an HFE file?
Gary
The patched iteration is exactly the same as the stock v14 rom with the exception of the load addressing. I know of a few folks who are using it with no issues, and of course it works fine on mame as well. I suspect there is something unique with your configuration.
Gary
Do you mean 28 and 27? 26 is NC and 27 is /WE which you want high, i.e. connect to 28.
Greg
Labomb,
I found the problem and without more testing I cannot say that the problem with booting from the ROM you gave is a problem with the ROM.
I have two gotec drives. It seems that the flashfloppy version starts up much faster then the other nonflashfloppy version does and as such if I make the flashfloppy version of the gotek I do not have a problem with the ROM version you sent out. I can even run cloud CPM.
With only a floppy drive attached, no cloud, I still see the artifact that I have never seen before to the left of the insert text. See the picture.
Everything seems to work so far.
I found the problem and without more testing I cannot say that the problem with booting from the ROM you gave is a problem with the ROM.
I have two gotec drives. It seems that the flashfloppy version starts up much faster then the other nonflashfloppy version does and as such if I make the flashfloppy version of the gotek I do not have a problem with the ROM version you sent out. I can even run cloud CPM.
With only a floppy drive attached, no cloud, I still see the artifact that I have never seen before to the left of the insert text. See the picture.
Everything seems to work so far.
Greg,
No, I think you have the pins wrong when converting from a AT28C64.
Take a look at the pin out of the AT28C64:
Now to convert this to a 2732:
Pin 24 on the 2732 (VCC) is pin 26 on the AT28C64B. So when the 4K rom is selected on the motherboard you need to supply pin 28 on the AT28C64B with what the motherboard is supplying to what it thinks is pin 24 on a 2732. This is pin 26 on the AT28C64B. Since pin 26 is not connected to anything in the chip you are just running from the location of pin 24 of the 2732 to the real VCC of the AT28C64B.
Get it? It works fine and is what the converters do with a conversion board.
Of course, you cannot let the last address float but that is why I tie it low saying to use the lower memory 4K on the chip. But I think you already knew that. I am just including the description for completeness.
Takes two wires. On small and one long and you have a 4K ROM chip substitute.
Gary
No, I think you have the pins wrong when converting from a AT28C64.
Take a look at the pin out of the AT28C64:
Now to convert this to a 2732:
Pin 24 on the 2732 (VCC) is pin 26 on the AT28C64B. So when the 4K rom is selected on the motherboard you need to supply pin 28 on the AT28C64B with what the motherboard is supplying to what it thinks is pin 24 on a 2732. This is pin 26 on the AT28C64B. Since pin 26 is not connected to anything in the chip you are just running from the location of pin 24 of the 2732 to the real VCC of the AT28C64B.
Get it? It works fine and is what the converters do with a conversion board.
Of course, you cannot let the last address float but that is why I tie it low saying to use the lower memory 4K on the chip. But I think you already knew that. I am just including the description for completeness.
Takes two wires. On small and one long and you have a 4K ROM chip substitute.
Gary
So now that I am using effectively the nabupc-u53-ver14-2732-patched.bin I ask again how people are getting CPM files to their disk drives?
Since I can now use Cloud CPM while also having the drives I see now that Cloud CPM does not see a real A: or real B: drive. Looks like that needs more work.
I can save to a real A: from Nabu Basic. I can use the Nabu filer to whatever drive I choose. Seems like the editor is no longer in the Nabu interface anymore so I cannot check that. I get a bong and some text saying optional component (or something like that) if I try to load the Nabu editor. Maybe in the future the editor will be added back?
Anyway, still fun playing with real drives and now playing with Cloud CPM.
Thanks again labomb.
Gary
Since I can now use Cloud CPM while also having the drives I see now that Cloud CPM does not see a real A: or real B: drive. Looks like that needs more work.
I can save to a real A: from Nabu Basic. I can use the Nabu filer to whatever drive I choose. Seems like the editor is no longer in the Nabu interface anymore so I cannot check that. I get a bong and some text saying optional component (or something like that) if I try to load the Nabu editor. Maybe in the future the editor will be added back?
Anyway, still fun playing with real drives and now playing with Cloud CPM.
Thanks again labomb.
Gary
Wormetti
Experienced Member
I think most people would use cpmtools to write to a disk image and then write that image to a disk or convert it to a format that your gotek firmware can read. Some might also use 22disk if they have an old DOS machine with a floppy drive/gotek.
My bad. Right, My logic fail to realize that the 4KB to 8KB jumps from 24 pins to 28 pins per the JEDEC standard which I know but somehow zoned out during the reply.
Greg