The ToDo list

A project log for PFBDK - EPSP floppy drive emulator

There are multiple ways to add floppy-sized storage to the Epson PX-8 or PX-4 computers. PFBDK offers a cheap, easy D.I.Y. solution.

fjkraan • 12/10/2023 at 16:32•0 Comments

Create PX-8 management tools. And maybe later universal tools for both. The PX-8 has a weird architecture with a main CPU, slave CPU and sub-CPU, but in the end it is just an other BIOS call.

Modify the PFBDK firmware to be selectable for one or two disk terminals. Each terminal has one (PF-10) or two (TF-20, TF-15) disk drives. Now PFBDK claims all four disk drives. Unknown is how it responds to other functions than floppy related.

Modify the hardware for a second serial port to daisy-chain to another device. Useful when the actual video interface (Oval UD-80) becomes available. How the extra serial port is wired is visible in the PF-10 schema. The EPSP interface is an implementation of CP/M-NET, so historical relevant there too.

Change the program set to integrate the PFPW4 functionality into the PFMNT4 program.

The default configuration is having the four images D.IMG to G.IMG mounted. My idea/plan is to make a submit file changing this configuration on the default drive A:, but it didn't happen yet. The advantage is that no changes are needed to PFBDK and it uses standard CP/M tools.

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