749 Comments so far

1. 
   Steve - April 1st, 2017 7:16 am

   Anonymous, if you give your name and email in the comment form, I can contact you directly to help. Your email isn’t displayed, only I will see it. It sounds like your bootloader isn’t starting when you hold PREV+SELECT and press and release RESET. Did you watch the video demo of the process steps? If it’s easier, you can also start the bootloader by holding PREV+SELECT while you first turn on the computer power, then you won’t have to bother with the RESET button.

2. 
   Mohamed Fahmy Hussein - April 1st, 2017 9:55 am

   Sorry that my message given just above appeared as Anonymous. Normally the concerned fields are filled when I open this emu site, but they disappeared this time when I submitted the previous message. Hope they appear now.

3. 
   Mohamed Fahmy Hussein - April 1st, 2017 11:32 am

   My error in the update was that I didn’t press the RESTART when still holding the PREV+SELECT pressed. Accordingly, I corrected that error and then the second part of the firmware update it worked fine, and to be sure I repeated the two updating parts and both worked fine.

   I opened the blank 1440 K blank disk in the Mac folder but Mac said it is not recognized, so I opened the 800 k blank disk and the Mac accepted it.

   I changed the name of that disk, and the new name appeared on Mac Finder, and I saved two files to that disk, and the two files appeared inside this disk in the Finder.

   I shut down the Mac and get the SD card out from the emu board and inserted it into the Windows laptop.

   I used the HFV_Explorer and went to the Mac blank disks. However, I find the 800 K blank disk as it was before doing any file copying to it.

   I was all the time believing the blank disk will work as if it is a volume and I’ll find inside it the two copied files.

   My ultimate target is to use the emu to get some files from the Mac and copy them into a new Mac via sending the copied files to my son in the USA using my Windows laptop as attached files.

   Certainly, there is some gap my understanding of the correct procedure to follow in order to get the files of interest transferred using the emu SD and it blank disks. Am sure you have a solution for that.

4. 
   Mohamed Fahmy Hussein - April 3rd, 2017 7:00 am

   Am keen eager to forward a package of deep thanks to Mr. Steve Chamberlin for his “floppy-emu-board” and to thank him much more for the kind help and answers he has delivered to my questions on his bigmesswires.com site about the use of that nice “emu board”. In addition, he was so kind to give several reply messages to my questions via email. It is time to say a great “THANK YOU” to this brilliant engineer who found and shared a great solution for a difficult problem facing the users of vintage Macintosh computers. Finally his kind continuous help and support have resulted in fully transferring two of my old files (20-27 years old) on my Mac SE to my Windows laptop, something which made their conversion to a modern Mac laptop and then to a modern Windows laptop (by my son on a new Mac laptop) possible. These two files now appear perfectly on my Windows laptop with all their original formatting and calculation functions as they were on my old Mac SE. This way, I can continue to make the same work for hundreds of my other old files stored since more than two decades on my Mac SE. For years, I was believing that my old Word and Excel files stored on my old Mac SE are dead and lost for ever as they cannot be recovered in anyway to a modern computer. Now, the solution is out therein. The transfer/conversion process needs patience but it is worth trying. For me, my old files are a real personal treasure as I used my Mac SE for >10 years as it was my unique computer between 1988 and 1998 (after one year of using Apple II-GS that was useless to me since it has never had MS-WORD and MS-Excel software applications). Thank you again Mr. Steve Chamberlin. You are simply great.

5. 
   Chris Hamilton - April 6th, 2017 7:55 pm

   the Floppy Emu Deluxe Bundle with Snow White Case is currently out of stock. Will they become available again? I wish to order! 🙂

6. 
   Steve - April 6th, 2017 8:32 pm

   I’ve temporarily run out the Snow White case, but expect to have more in about a week. The Frosted Ice case is still available.

7. 
   John - April 8th, 2017 2:21 pm

   I’ve run into a bug with FloppyEmu. I am using it with the Apple IIe PDS card. When I try to connect as a 3.5 800K drive, Apple IIe startup locks up. I’ve tried numerous power cycling and other things. The only thing that works is going back to 5.25 floppy mode. Any ideas?

8. 
   Steve - April 8th, 2017 3:25 pm

   The Macintosh LC Apple IIe PDS card isn’t officially supported, sorry. See the compatibility table above for details on supported computers and emulation modes. However, the Floppy Emu should function the same with the IIe PDS card as with a regular Apple IIe, in 5.25 inch floppy emulation mode. Smartport hard disk mode may also work, though I’ve never tried it myself (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRbNz5iL6UI). For 3.5 inch disks, the IIe PDS card requires a Unidisk 3.5 drive (A2M2053), but Floppy Emu emulates the Apple 3.5 Drive (A9M0106) commonly used with the Apple IIgs and IIc+.

9. 
   ComputerEase Georgia - April 27th, 2017 6:36 pm

   A fantastic device and a great contribution to retro-Apple freaks. Highly recommend it. While I miss the click and whir (and scary sounds) of the Disk ][, this is a definite upgrade from them. No more degrading floppy disks and no more finding places to store them.

10. 
    Jim Nelson - April 30th, 2017 8:12 pm

    OMG, take my money!

    Thanks for this. I was looking on how to do something similar with Arduino and/or run the disk drive from a PC or Arduino. The $139 bundle should let me do what I need…even copy images to the real FDD on the Apple //e. Worth it in time saved.

11. 
    Robert - May 25th, 2017 12:09 pm

    Hello, I don’t see several disk images in floppy emu. When I drag and drop new .image file to SD card Macintosh folder, it doesn’t appear in the list neither. How can I make my .image file visible and readible by FDDemu?
    Regards, Robert

12. 
    Steve - May 25th, 2017 1:05 pm

    What type of disk images are they? “.image” could mean a lot of different things. If they are DiskCopy 6.3 images, they won’t work – see the explanation in the instruction manual. The Floppy Emu LCD display will only show disk image files of types that it knows how to use.

13. 
    Mohamed Fahmy HUSSEIN - May 31st, 2017 3:15 pm

    https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1573471862695195&set=gm.1407664759299153&type=3&theater

14. 
    Don Gilman - June 10th, 2017 8:57 am

    Steve

    You\’ve done a huge service to all of us, thank you!

    Suggestion… On the instructions consider putting a little flow chart in there so customers can more quickly understand if Apple // – good to go … Mac or Lisa – must do a little software assembly…

    Also.. I have a use case that needs some expert help. On a 1 or drive Mac.. what is the most effective way to transfer the contents of dozens of 400 and 800k disks to the SD card? Is there a utility on the Vintage Apple SD card that will emulate a hard disk? On a SE II the best I can do is create a new boot floppy and use the blank 800k SD card to copy one disk a time.. then copy the contents on another machine. Of course I have to reboot the Mac along the way.

    Please, there must be a better way!

    Thanks!

    Don

15. 
    Don Gilman - June 10th, 2017 4:32 pm

    And there is – it helps the read BOTH manuals!

    the longer manual http://www.bigmessowires.com/femu-instructions.pdf give specifics on setting up the Floppy EMU to be become not a \”floppy\” but a 20Mb HDD.

    Thanks Steve!

16. 
    Nicolas Pariente - July 11th, 2017 7:03 am

    Hello,

    Is it possible to use the floppy emu for both an Apple IIe and a Macintosh SE without changing the firmware all the time ?

    Thank you,
    Nicolas

17. 
    Steve - July 11th, 2017 9:45 am

    No, the on-board CPLD chip needs to be configured differently for Apple II emulation vs Mac/Lisa emulation, so each requires a different firmware.

18. 
    Joshua Bell - July 30th, 2017 9:54 am

    Feature Request: Allow naming the smartport files with “SMART#” as the prefix rather than the whole filename (not counting extension). Use case: in an emulator like Virtual II you can mount “Games.2mg” and “Utilities.2mg”, but when you copy that to your SD card you need to rename them “smart0.2mg” and “smart1.2mg”… and then try and remember which is which if you later try and sync the images. If the files could be named “smart0 – Games.2mg” and “smart1 – Utilities.2mg” that’d be swell. Regardless, keep up the awesome!

19. 
    William Bonner - August 11th, 2017 9:52 pm

    Great Website! So easy to navigate, well laid out. You’re the best, thanks for adding the Liron Support! 😀

20. 
    john hill - August 22nd, 2017 8:39 pm

    Hi
    Will it work with this
    performa 580cd specs

    The Apple Macintosh Performa 580CD features a 33 MHz 68LC040 processor, 5 MB or 8 MB of RAM, either a 250 MB or 500 MB hard drive, and a 2X CD-ROM drive in a relatively compact all-in-one case with a 14″ color display.
    regards
    john hill

21. 
    stynx - September 21st, 2017 11:21 am

    Is the vTech/Laser Universal Disk Controller (UDC) supported? I have read that the UDC supports smart port devices like the Chinook smart port HD (20mb). I have 3 cards (2 with ASIC and one TTL) and I am willing to lend one card for testing. I have only seem smart port support mentioned together with the ASIC based design.

    -Jonas

22. 
    Steve - September 21st, 2017 12:23 pm

    I don’t have a UDC, but I’ve been told it doesn’t work with Floppy Emu’s smartport mode.

23. 
    steveh - September 21st, 2017 11:31 am

    There are a couple of different firmware versions floating around for the Laser UDC. The more recent one should support SmartPort devices.

24. 
    steveh - October 15th, 2017 9:17 am

    Just curious: Where is the Rev A manual? I cannot find a link, but the current (Rev B) documentation tells me that’s the appropriate one for my unit.

25. 
    stynx - October 15th, 2017 9:23 am

    This is something I scanned myself: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5SAWSGa49rLb21GYm5zMFIzYUk
    I don’t know if it helps, though

26. 
    steveh - October 15th, 2017 10:18 am

    Thanks, but that’s a scan of the UDC manual. I’m looking for the FloppyEmu Rev A manual.

27. 
    john hill - October 15th, 2017 1:03 pm

    Hi
    It doesnt seem to work with a
    performa 580cd

    specs

    The Apple Macintosh Performa 580CD features a 33 MHz 68LC040 processor, 5 MB or 8 MB of RAM, either a 250 MB or 500 MB hard drive, and a 2X CD-ROM drive in a relatively compact all-in-one case with a 14″ color display.
    regards
    john hill

28. 
    Steve Chamberlin - October 16th, 2017 5:49 am

    John, please send me an email with the details of what’s happening on your performa. Steveh, is there any specific info you need? I can get a copy of the old manual for you, but I’m traveling now and can’t get it immediately.

29. 
    steveh - October 16th, 2017 5:58 am

    Hi, Steve. Nothing specific at the moment, but I realized I do not have the Rev. A manual and would like to get a copy for completeness’ sake. I’d appreciate your making it available when convenient – no hurry.

30. 
    Steve - October 16th, 2017 9:11 pm

    An older version of the manual with info on both Model A and Model B is at http://www.bigmessowires.com/femu-instructions-old.pdf

31. 
    Nicolas - December 13th, 2017 9:46 am

    Hello Steve,

    I am using FloppyEMU with my Apple IIC in smartport mode.
    How can I remove the writeprotection of the \”hard drive\” provided ? (it also shows a locker on the lcd screen)
    Thank you,
    Nicolas

32. 
    Steve - December 13th, 2017 10:08 am

    The smart0.po example disk image is not meant to be writeable. It’s stored in a truncated form where the empty regions of the disk are omitted from the disk image, so there’s no place to store additional data. If you use one of the other smartport example files, or create a new one with Ciderpress or one of the other tools described in the manual, then you can read and write to the disk.

33. 
    Nicolas - December 14th, 2017 12:16 am

    Thank you Steve. I got the point.
    Do you know where I can get the largest possible blank image for Apple iic (Prodos, not GSOS) ?
    Thanks again for the fast response 🙂

34. 
    Steve - December 14th, 2017 10:37 am

    ProDOS supports disks up to 32MB, and Cidepress can make a blank disk image. See section 8.3 in the manual for info on working with disk images.

35. 
    Matt - December 25th, 2017 10:50 am

    I have a little problem with my floppy emu for the Macintosh. I am not able to access the system folder to start the finder or change the default settings for the mouse speed. That makes it really difficult to play games which require a mouse. Never the less, i am able to access the games folder and start the games. What could be wrong?

    https://youtu.be/4tKkQjqaKwU

    Another problem is, after starting the HD 20 mode does the Emu display show:

    “Next: Set Startup Disk”

    What does this mean and how do I set up a startup disk?

36. 
    Steve - December 25th, 2017 3:39 pm

    > I am not able to access the system folder to start the finder or change the default settings for the mouse speed.

    Mouse speed in the classic Macintosh OS is set using the General or Mouse control panel, which you’ll find in the Apple menu.

    > “Next: Set Startup Disk” What does this mean and how do I set up a startup disk?

    Press the NEXT button on the Emu board, to select a startup disk image from the menu.

37. 
    Matt - December 26th, 2017 12:40 pm

    > I am not able to access the system folder to start the finder or change the default settings for the mouse speed.

    “Mouse speed in the classic Macintosh OS is set using the General or Mouse control panel, which you’ll find in the Apple menu.”

    My control panel in the apple menu shows only: Desktop Pattern, Insert Point Blinking, Menu Blinking, Time, Speaker Volume and Ram Cache. There is no Mouse Speed Adjustment. Finder Version 6.1.8, System 6.0.8 I am using the HD Emulation and the software from your sd card.

    > “Next: Set Startup Disk” What does this mean and how do I set up a startup disk?

    “Press the NEXT button on the Emu board, to select a startup disk image from the menu.”

    Why do I need to select a startup disk image, when the Mac has already booted up? Whould that startup disk be used for the next boot up?

38. 
    Steve - December 26th, 2017 1:12 pm

    If a particular disk image doesn’t have the Mouse control panel in its System folder, then you won’t see it listed. You can copy it from another System 6 disk into your disk image’s System folder. The Vintage Apple Software Collection SD card has a copy of the full System 6.0.8 installer, which includes all the extras and accessories. Details on usage of Classic Mac OS control panels is unfortunately outside the scope of the tech support I can give, but 68kmla.org is a good resource for general Classic Mac OS-related questions.

    The NEXT button is used to select a disk image for Mac HD20 (hard disk) mode. The selected image will be used after the next reboot.

39. 
    Walter - January 18th, 2018 12:44 pm

    Hi Steve,

    I have two questions for you.

    1) Can this run protected disk files, or is it like other solutions not able to?

    2) What is the difference (in essence) between this solution and the CFFA 3000 adapter card? Anything this would bring to the table the other doesn’t or viceversa?

    Thanks!!

40. 
    Steve - January 18th, 2018 1:18 pm

    Floppy Emu isn’t a cracking tool and doesn’t have any special anti-copy-protection features, but you’ll find most common Apple II software is already available in a cracked version. You’ll have to draw your own conclusions about the the CFFA3000, but it’s a different kind of device (internal card vs external disk replacement, etc).

41. 
    Walter - January 18th, 2018 3:32 pm

    Hi again, thanks for replying!

    I didn’t mean as a hacking/copy removal tool, what I meant was some disks came with copy protection, and a “normal” disk drive reads them just fine, so I wanted to know if this also reads those fine (images of disks that are not cracked but have protection) or if it also cannot like seceral other disk drive replacement solutions for different machines.

    Also after reading some I guess this also has the pro that you can use it on computers that have external port only for drives and you cannot use a card in a slot

42. 
    Keenan Wojdyla - January 18th, 2018 6:54 pm

    I recently got a floppy emu and its pretty great! For transferring all 5.25 inch disk images for apple ii. The problem is that I can’t seem to use any 3.5 inch images or hard disk images. I already updated the firmware just wondering if there is another solution. I Have a iigs and I kinda need 3.5 files for that. Thanks for any help I can get.

43. 
    Steve - January 19th, 2018 9:11 am

    Have you read the Emulation Modes section in the manual? https://www.bigmessowires.com/femu-instructions.pdf You can use the Contact link at the top-right of this page for customer support.

44. 
    Jean-Denis Scott - January 20th, 2018 2:12 pm

    Hi. Just got my Floppy Emu. Love it.

    However, after having used it without any glitches on a SE with System 6, I’m stuck in an endless loop when I try to use it on my Plus w/System 7.1.

    When I reset the Floppy Emu, It keeps asking me to select a startup disk. Then, it asks me to reboot my Mac.

    I don’t want to use an image as a startup disk. The Mac is already booted, I just want to select an image to access its content.

    Thank you for your help!

45. 
    Steve - January 20th, 2018 5:43 pm

    It sounds like you’re using HD20 hard disk mode. You should never need to reset the Emu during normal use, except when changing emulation modes or the hard disk image. Can you take a video of what you’re seeing and send it to me using the Contact link at the top-right of this page?

46. 
    Stefano Canali - January 29th, 2018 8:20 am

    Thanks SO MUCH for the update. Page bookmarked and I will visit periodically in the next days.
    Cheers!

47. 
    Chad A - February 5th, 2018 2:07 pm

    I am looking at using the Floppy Emu to connect to a Mac SE (not the SE/30 model). I don’t have a Windows PC, but have many generations of Macs available. Can I connect the SD card up to a Mac running macOS Sierra to access the SD card to read and write files and then connect back up to the Mac SE? My primary goal is to extract some files stored on the Mac SE, but I’d also like to try and put some new software on the Mac SE, as well. This Mac SE has the 800K floppy drive, so it doesn’t work with the 1.4MB HD disks.

48. 
    Steve - February 5th, 2018 4:35 pm

    Please see section 8.3 of the manual for info on working with disk images. http://www.bigmessowires.com/femu-instructions.pdf When viewed on a modern Mac or PC system, the SD card will appear to contain disk images, not individual vintage-format files.

49. 
    Gary Hughes - February 12th, 2018 2:48 pm

    Just got the EMU today for my Apple llc with 255 Rom. Dosen’t Boot up, I know I’m probably doin something wrong but I can’t find the Answer.

50. 
    Fabricio - February 16th, 2018 4:18 pm

    \o/ Whoa!! Thank you, Steve!! Order just placed, #2277!

51. 
    Marcin - February 21st, 2018 10:43 am

    Hi Steve, great product. I was using it for a month with Apple //c and Apple //e but now want to move to GS. I have 3,5\” A9M0106 drive – if I understand correctly – FloppyEMU B will work thru daisy chain after floppy drive but not directly? I have both ROM1 and ROM3 Apple IIGS.

52. 
    Steve - February 21st, 2018 4:56 pm

    For information on Apple II daisy chaining, please see section 6.1. the manual. Floppy Emu can be connected directly to an Apple IIGS or chained after another drive. It does not have a daisy-chain output.

53. 
    Heny - February 24th, 2018 7:48 am

    Great little device.
    Two features that are screaming out to be implemented:
    1. The ability to mount more than one disk image at a time – this might require an extra wire in 5.25″ disk mode while being used in older style Disk II control cards, but not on the DB-19 controllers or smart ports
    2. The ability to read / write 800K 3.5″ floppy disk images while in smart-port mode – this could increase the speed immensely.

    Otherwise I love this device.

54. 
    Steve - February 24th, 2018 10:05 am

    Dual disk emulation would be very nice for some Apple IIs, but isn’t possible with the current design, nor with the Macintosh or Lisa. Unidisk 3.5 mode (in the latest firmware) supports 800K 3.5 inch disk images on the Smartport.

55. 
    Michael - February 26th, 2018 9:08 pm

    I ordered your deluxe model B kit for my original 512k Mac and I’m struggling to get anything to load from the emu. It just gives an error message when trying to load any 400k program via the external floppy port. So far I have a hundred and fifty dollar paper weight with a cool clear case… Please help!

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