Just Fitted HxC to my EII - Very Impressed!!

[HideawayStudio]

It's been some time since I've been this impressed with a retrofit....

I've just fitted an HxC Floppy Disk Drive Emulator (3.5" form factor SDcard version) to my old Emulator II and it's utterly brilliant!!

Installation is pretty simple.  You need the 3.5" form factor SDcard version of the Rev.F HxC available here:

http://lotharek.pl/product.php?pid=42

You also need a black 5.25 to 3.5" drive bay adaptor and a 34 way IDC socket suitable for a 3.5" drive.

And a suitable 3.5" floppy drive power Y-lead eg:

http://compare.ebay.co.uk/like/290736168104?var=lv&ltyp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar&adtype=pla

Basically you remove the top 5.25" drive.  Fit the 34 way IDC plug to the existing ribbon cable.  Fit the HxC in the drive bay adaptor and screw it in place of the original floppy drive.   Make sure the HxC is set to ID0A & B and set the jumper on the remaining 5.25" drive to drive 2.  Plug the power into the Y-lead to both drives.

Format an SDcard in FAT32 on your PC, run the HxCFloppyEmulator program to generate a config file and download the EOS file image for a blank disk with OS from the EMXP website - emuiios31.hfe and copy it to the SDcard.

You can insert the card into the HxC and the EII will boot up off of it.   You can configure the drive to boot from the floppy image of your choice.

The really cool aspect of this retrofit is that it supports both read and write which means you can load up your favourite floppies on the remaining floppy drive and copy them over to disk images on the HxC.

I've spent this afternoon doing just this and now I can take the SDcard out, place it in my PC, and simply copy all of the virtual disks over to back them up - Brilliant!!





The more of us who fit this upgrade and the more of us can exchange and share samples via the internet!

[esynthesist]

It's a good thing that Lotharek finally made a standard 3.5" version of the HxC available.
This makes installation in our E-Mu vintage gear much more easy.
Looks really cool.
I think I will order a few of these too (but I already have a stock of RevC internal and external ones... that's the price I have to pay for being an early adaptor  )

I was wondering: isn't Lotharek also providing a black front label instead of a white (or silver) one ?
Wouldn't that look even better on the Emulator-II ?
Or is this just a matter of taste...

[sfbaytech]

I just got one in and it came with both silver and black stick-on front plates.

[seamonkey]

Awesome! wonder how this would work with the HD+ model.

[80sboy]

Works great with the +HD model. I also just left both stickers off and it gives it a nice clean industrial look. No reason to put them on if you don't like the look of them.

[antoni]

great job..I just buy device from lotarek,now i waiting for sd fat32 card. my question is how set jumper seting? my top drive is PANASONIC JU475 2AEG tanks for help

[logiclust]

don't have an answer for you, but i'm looking to do this swap once i take my eii apart to clean/fix. any tips on where to get the sled and adaptor these days?

[dfiorucci]

Very Cool,
What is the load time from the Hxc and how many banks can you fit on the SD card?
Thanks,
Dana

[gertie]

unfortunately the hxca lso emulates the floppy load times, so just as quick as the floppy it has replaced

you can put as many images as you like on the sd, i think they go up to 32 gb