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DivIDE: Difference between revisions
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The '''DivIDE''' is an interface for connecting IDE mass storage devices to the ZX Spectrum. It has gained wide popularity amongst Spectrum users in the UK and Western/Central Europe, as a way to transfer and run emulator files seamlessly on the real hardware. [ | The '''DivIDE''' is an interface for connecting IDE mass storage devices to the ZX Spectrum. It has gained wide popularity amongst Spectrum users in the UK and Western/Central Europe, as a way to transfer and run emulator files seamlessly on the real hardware. [[:wikipedia:CompactFlash|CompactFlash]] cards are commonly used as the storage medium, as these can be used in "True IDE mode", and IDE-CF adapters are readily available. (The newer DivIDE variants have a CompactFlash connector on board.) IDE to [[:wikipedia:SD card|SD card]] adapters also exist, however SD cards have no native ATA mode therefore the adapter board is more complex. | ||
http://divide.cz/ is the official website of the DivIDE interface. The hardware design has been released as open source, allowing various third parties to produce their own batches of interfaces, as well as a number of updated models. | http://divide.cz/ is the official website of the DivIDE interface. The hardware design has been released as open source, allowing various third parties to produce their own batches of interfaces, as well as a number of updated models. | ||
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== Firmware == | == Firmware == | ||
At a hardware level, the DivIDE provides a 16 bit [ | At a hardware level, the DivIDE provides a 16 bit [[:wikipedia:Parallel_ATA|parallel ATA]] interface. Higher level capabilities (such as access to PC filesystems and loading emulator files) are handled in firmware written to the onboard Flash ROM - the DivIDE provides hooks into various points in the Spectrum ROM, such as the tape load/save routines, meaning that disk access can be closely integrated into Spectrum BASIC. There are a variety of firmware images available, offering different features: | ||
* [http://esxdos.org/ ESXDOS], by Phoenix, is an operating system providing read/write access to FAT16 and FAT32 filesystems, and the ability to load emulator snapshot / tape files, via extended BASIC syntax and a menu-driven file launcher. It also emulates the TR-DOS disk system (used by the majority of Russian software). | * [http://esxdos.org/ ESXDOS], by Phoenix, is an operating system providing read/write access to FAT16 and FAT32 filesystems, and the ability to load emulator snapshot / tape files, via extended BASIC syntax and a menu-driven file launcher. It also emulates the TR-DOS disk system (used by the majority of Russian software). | ||