Closed X-Copy Dongle, or clone

Status
Not open for further replies.

rcade

Member
Rating - 100%
9   0   0
Joined
Jun 13, 2008
Posts
224
Country
United States
Region
Augusta, Georgia
Does anyone have a cheap X-Copy dongle (or clone) they want to sell?

I am in the US, although it shouldn't cost a ton to ship one here.
 
Most such dongles are passive devices which rewire 3 lines to "decouple" shared signals and rely on dedicated software (X-Copy) to control them properly.
You could craft yourself one by using two DB25 connectors trimmed down to 23 pins (it's not very hard).
If you have a generic external floppy with a typical 24-pin IDC header (23 used) you can perform the rewiring directly on the header of its adapter board (if you don't mind permanently fixing it for clone use) or maybe add some switches to toggle between straight-through and clone mode.

Amiga to Floppy PCB

Pin 1 to Pin 1: /RDY (Disk Ready)
2 [a] x 2 [-]
Pin 3 to Pin 3: GND (Ground)
Pin 4 to Pin 4: GND -//-
Pin 5 to Pin 5: GND -//-
Pin 6 to Pin 6: GND -//-
Pin 7 to Pin 7: GND -//-
Pin 8 to Pin 8: /MTRxD (Disk Motor Control)
9 x 9 [-]
Pin10 to Pin10: /DRES (disk reset - buffered version of system reset)
11 [c] x 11 [-]
Pin12 to Pin12: +5V (power)
Pin13 to Pin13: SIDE (side select - 0 = top, 1 = bottom)
Pin14 to Pin14: /WPRO (Disk write protected)
Pin15 to Pin15: /TK0 (head is over Track 0)
16 [-] x 16
17 [-] x 17 [a]
Pin18 to Pin18: /STEP (Pulse to step the heads)
Pin19 to Pin19: DIR (select direction to step the heads - 0 = inwards 1 = outwards)
Pin20 to Pin20: /SEL3 (3rd external floppy select) - unused
Pin21 to Pin21: /SEL1 (1st external floppy select)
22 [-] x 22 [c]
Pin23 to Pin23: +12v (power)

("x" implies a broken connection between that pair of same-numbered pins while the "a b c" markers indicate rewired pairs)

As seen, pins 16 and 17 (DKWE and DKWD respectively) are decoupled, so that DKWE can be independently controlled for the external drive by using the (now useless) SEL2 signal on the Amiga, and DKWD for the external drive mirrors in real time the (also decoupled) DKRD for the internal drive. This is more or less the clone mode trick - the raw bitstream as read on internal DKRD is mirrored in real-time on the external DKWD.
Finally the INDEX input of the external floppy (pin22) is wired to input signal CHNG (pin11 on the floppy connector) so the software can independently track revolutions of the external floppy.

Of course all this relies on the specific X-Copy software and obviously disallows any other external drives.
 
Last edited:
X Copy.JPGIs this what you are after?
 
Look there, it's very easy to make a copy using the right connector and wires, no PCB needed
"https://www.bigbookofamigahardware.com/bboah/product.aspx?id=1534"


 
This thread can be closed. I did end up making my own out of an old DB25 gender changer. I sawed off the end of the female side with a dremel, rerouted the lines, and pulled the pins and shield on the other side. It works.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom