Q-emulator floppy problem

[roadrash]

Googling this issue of USB floppy drives versus Windows 11 gives contradicting results.

..................
Some USB floppy drives have no 'density' sensor. I have two USB floppy drives here, both basically work with HD disks on Windows 10 but trying to use a DD disk in one of them (the unbranded model number FD-05PUB one) causes untold problems. It tries and tries to read or write and only gives up after a long time, sometimes corrupting the floppy disc, presumably it assumes it's HD and can't tell the difference. The other, a Proxima Direct USFPI-ESV, handles both DD and HD discs.[/list]

Probably worth establishing if it's a DD or HD drive before anything else in case, like one of mine, it has no sensor.

I found this out the hard way, formatting DD discs on a DD drive on a QL, which in turn confused the USB floppy drive with no density sensor on the PC.

I checked my floppy drive, it is model number FD-05PUB, like yours...
So i will have to look around for another one. Perhaps I can use an old IDE floppydrive. Still have a load of them and connect it with some IDE-to-usb connectors i also have.

To be continued....

[dilwyn]

I can't remember if QemuLator supports forcing formatting floppy discs to specified densities by adding *D or *H to the FORMAT name parameter, e.g. to force formatting to double density if you have a spare DD disc you can try formatting: FORMAT "flp1_mydisk*D"

(I know the manual says it automatically detects the disc density, but I can't remember if *D or *H are supported).

Even then, if the drive has no density sensor it's probably doomed to fail anyway.

The only other way I suppose is to search online to find out more about the Windows 11 floppy drivers I've seen mentioned. It wasn't really clear if that referred to internal drives or USB drives, I didn't look into that side of it enough.

I must admit, my heart did fall a bit (rather like England football supporters) when I realised you had the same drive as I had problems with on Windows 10. That said, it might be the drive, nothing to do with Windows 11 perhaps?

[stevepoole]

Hi Folks,
I use a portable USB diskette drive with QPC2 on Windows 11, which can be a bit hair-raising when you plug it in.

For it to work normally, restart the PC, load QPC2 and type DIR flp1_. The motor whirrs for ages, then stops with 'not found'.

Unplug the drive, replug it, then insert a floppy and do a DIR again. It whirrs then clicks. Then LRUN whatever you want, when you want !

This took some twigging, but after a couple of minutes, you can transfer files to and from your QL. Regards, Steve.

[tofro]

(USB) floppy drives seem to be a hairy thing starting from Windows 7.

I have a Fuji USB drive that works well with both DD and HD disks when you configure it with a specific driver (namely "NEC USB Floppy Drive"). Using this driver it also works relatively flawlessly with QPC2, some very stubborn disks I have to format on the QL, but up to now I could eventually read and write every disk the QL could. Frequently, however, Windows 10 (7 did as well) tends to decide on its own that the NEC driver is not the right thing to use and simply replaces it with a driver named "Generic USB Floppy Disk" which doesn't work at all, and is very, very stubborn on that decision. When that happens, it costs me half an hour to totally uninstall the Floppy, re-boot, verify the wrong driver has not been re-installed on the new boot and manually find and install the proper driver, convincing Windows that this is the right thing to do. Having basically all of my QL and alikes equipped with SD card support and QXL.WIN images was actually a relief.

On another note there are "modern" USB floppy drives (mainly extremely cheap China imports, <10€) that advertise themselves as something like "1.44M USB Sticks" - Those won't work at all with QPC2 and will definitely not work with DD disks. They might possibly even corrupt QL disks

[roadrash]

Here's a short message after all the work i did to test after 2 days:

Windows 7 was no success. Same problems.
Then i found an old HP Vectra in my storage (1999). And also an origian Micro$oft Windows XP DVD-rom.
From other messages in this threat, i guess NEC is the best way to go. I found an old NEC ide-floppy in my stash.
The Vectra has USB on-board PLUS a n IDE floppy drive... So i can test now:

1. The onboard IDE floppy drive works like a charm. Absolutely no problems at all and works flawless, as if on the QL. So this is definitely the way to go. However: Q-emulator cannot use HD floppies with it, just DD. But Windows can.....

2. The USB external floppy drive (FD-05PUB) drive was also recognised by XP and also works with Q-Emulator, but.... very slow. but sometimes it works, sometimes not, like on later windows. It takes very long to wcopy or unzip, as it did on al the later Windoze boxes. (i tested 7, 8, 10 and 11). Put the disk in my QL: Same problems again: bad or changed medium.

unfortunately he IDE floppy drive cannot handle HD diskettes at all in Q-emulater.

So there is some testing ahead to do for me.
Greatfull that all you that helped me find the problem.

[desin]

why don't you use QPC2 ?

Greetings from Switzerland

Markus

[roadrash]

why don't you use QPC2 ?

Greetings from Switzerland

Markus

Thought about that. Will try. thanks

[roadrash]

Problem solved:

I ran into an old (2010) Dell Precision T3500 as a bargain.
Noticed it has a floppydrive IDE connector... Thumbs crossed...
Installed Windows XP pro x64
Then installed an old IDE NEC floppydrive from 2003.
Installed Q-emulator and all problems gone !

Thanks everybody for thinking with me in this matter.