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Ant Goffart edited this page Jul 10, 2020 · 4 revisions

Welcome to the Greaseweazle-F7-Plus Wiki!

F7 Plus Board The F7 Plus is a variation of Keir Fraser's Greaseweazle F7 and uses the same firmware and software.

There are a number of differences from the original F7:

  • PCB 80mm x 50mm, KyroFlux form factor. Lead-free, RoHS compliant

  • Choice of full-size or micro USB-B connector.

  • USB ESD (electro-static discharge) protection.

  • Floppy Disk Drive control signal buffers.
    Some older drives, in particular 5.25" drives, can have low value pull-up resistors on their control signal lines. Driving these signals directly from the output pins of a 3.3V microcontroller can result in the signals not always reaching the required voltage levels for reliable operation. Adding buffers ensures the correct voltage levels can be achieved.

  • 12 Vdc power input (centre pin positive) and integrated 5V switching regulator.
    The integrated switching regulator can generate a 5V supply at up to 2A from the 12V input, allowing the use of a single 12V power supply. To do this link 5V to REG and power the FDD from the FDD power output connector.

    With a FDD that only requires a single 5V power supply, for example a 'modern' 3.5" drive, the 5V can be sourced from USB by linking 5V to USB. In this case no external power supply is needed. It is however recommended that an external 12V power supply is used since 5V supplied by USB can vary a lot from hub to hub, and may not be sufficient for the FDD.

    When using a floppy drive with its own power supply, both the 12Vdc input and FDD power output can be left unused, in this case the on-board buffers will need to be powered by linking 5V to USB.

  • Connections for external activity and 5V LEDs
    Two external LEDs can be connected, for example if the board is fitted in an enclosure. Almost any standard LEDs can be used. Series resistors are already fitted, and + indicates the LED anodes.

  • WR_PROT jumper link
    This jumper has the same effect as the write-protect tab on a physical floppy disk.
    Fitting the jumper marks the drive as being write-protected.

  • WR_GATE jumper link
    Removing this jumper link physically prevents anything from being written to the FDD by keeping the WR_GATE signal inactive. This can be an assurance when archiving valuable data.

  • BOOT jumper
    The BOOT jumper forces the microcontroller into its bootloader mode. This is not normally required as firmware updates can be done over USB using the python gw update command.

For more information:

Keir Fraser's original Greaseweazle wiki: https://github.com/keirf/Greaseweazle/wiki
Facebook Greaseweazle group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/greaseweazle

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