KryoFlux - USB Floppy Controller Beta Released

KryoFlux is an advanced software-programmable FDC (Floppy Disk Controller) system that runs on small and cheap ARM7-based devices and connects to a host PC over the ubiquitous USB connector. It reads (and in the future, will write) flux transitions from magnetic media (most commonly, floppy disks) at a very fine resolution. KryoFlux can read data with no regard for what disk format or copy protection a disk may contain, and it can also read disks originally written with different (and even varying) bit cell widths and drive speeds, with a normal fixed-speed drive.

KryoFlux is available for free for private non-commercial use. You will however need to build or buy a board based on our open hardware design.

KryoFlux supports dumping any floppy disk to ?stream files?, which contain the raw flux transition information. It supports output of a range of common ?sector dumps? (e.g. ADF) to allow you to use your dumped images right away in your favourite emulator.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjfT-F0GUl4
Info: http://softpres.org/glossary:kryoflux
Beta 2 Release News Item: http://kryoflux.org/news:2010-02-18

@fiath

Is that an Olimex dev board that I see there?

Nicely done. I'm not sure if I still have stuff on floppy disks that needs saving (transfered the important stuff to CD years ago), but I'm sure that others will.

Hans

@Hans

Yes, it certainly is! We use that and a Ukrainian design for development and testing. As you obviously know, they are all common off-the-shelf designs which can be used (some need some modifications though, so if anyone is interested in those they should contact us to get the exact models), but we have also made our own to try to only use the appropriate components and get the parts cost down as low as possible.

If people can build it themselves, the cost is just the parts - all our software is free for private non-commercial use.

MINI FAQ:

Q. Why is it free?
A. Because we are a non-profit preservation organisation, and our ultimate goal is not financial, but to save all these wonderful games before they are lost.

Q. Do I need a special drive?
A. No. Just a standard PC drive and floppy cable is required to dump any media for that drive.

Q. Does it work with 5 1/4" drives?
A. Yes. Check 1min 10secs into the YouTube trailer. :)

Q. Will it work on a laptop?
A. Yes. It uses standard USB. We have it running on an EeePC.

Q. Why can't I just use the floppy drive in my PC?
A. The floppy controller in the PC can only read the very strict format PC disks, and not very much of anything from other platforms. Not only that, but any copy protection on disks is hard to extract properly without a "low level" read - which you can't do through a PC's FDC. For various reasons, we would strongly argue that images of disks read through a PC floppy controller are unsuitable for preservation.

Q. Is it Windows only?
A. The software is currently in beta, and only runs on Windows (32 or 64-bit, Windows XP or greater). The source to the host software will be available after we go final, and we are then hoping to get it ported to as many platforms as possible. The code was written with portability in mind.

Q. Is it command-line only usage?
A. For the beta, yes. However, we are working on a graphical user interface which will likely be available when we go final.