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DivIDE: Difference between revisions
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[[Category:Hardware]] | [[Category:Hardware]] | ||
[[Category:Peripherals]] | [[Category:Peripherals]] | ||
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. CompactFlash cards are commonly used as the storage medium, as these | 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. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Digital Secure Digital] 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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* The '''DivIDE Plus''', developed by Jarek Adamski and Jurek Dudek, increases both the ROM and RAM to 512K, and adds an onboard CompactFlash connector and a pass-through edge connector. However, it is reported to have a number of hardware bugs - in particular, it places junk values on the I/O bus, causing incompatibility with software that uses IM2 mode without a full interrupt table. | * The '''DivIDE Plus''', developed by Jarek Adamski and Jurek Dudek, increases both the ROM and RAM to 512K, and adds an onboard CompactFlash connector and a pass-through edge connector. However, it is reported to have a number of hardware bugs - in particular, it places junk values on the I/O bus, causing incompatibility with software that uses IM2 mode without a full interrupt table. | ||
* The '''DivIDE 2k11''', produced by Lotharek, provides the same 8K ROM / 32K RAM configuration as the original model, but is re-implemented in CPLD and vertically mounted for a much smaller footprint. It has a CompactFlash slot on board, and no IDE connector. | * The '''DivIDE 2k11''', produced by Lotharek, provides the same 8K ROM / 32K RAM configuration as the original model, but is re-implemented in CPLD and vertically mounted for a much smaller footprint. It has a CompactFlash slot on board, and no IDE connector. | ||
* The '''DivMMC''', announced by Mario Prato of Apulia Group Retrocomputing in May 2013, provides two | * The '''DivMMC''', announced by Mario Prato of Apulia Group Retrocomputing in May 2013, provides two Secure Digital card slots. It differs from earlier DivIDE models in that since SD cards are not IDE devices firmware must use the SD protocol to access data - nevertheless, it is strongly inspired by the DivIDE hardware design, and runs a version of ESXDOS providing the same functionality (except where the application software relies on direct IDE access, such as audio/video players). Schematics are available on the [http://aticatac.altervista.org/portale/?q=node/12 DivMMC website]. | ||
* The '''DivMMC EnJoy!''' is an enhancement of the DivMMC by Ben Versteeg, adding a Kempston joystick interface. | * The '''DivMMC EnJoy!''' is an enhancement of the DivMMC by Ben Versteeg, adding a Kempston joystick interface. | ||
== Firmware == | == Firmware == | ||
At a hardware level, the DivIDE provides | At a hardware level, the DivIDE provides a 16 bit [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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). | ||