Its actually in the ini file although not very easy to find. Its the rom type that specifies what FDC controller to use. If you look in the machine editor under Tools, you'll get a better picture. If you look at for example the MSX2 National FS-5500 in the Memory tab, you'll find the FS5500DISK.rom and that the rom type is "National Disk Controller".

The port range for this controller is #7fc0 - #7fff, which are mirrored every 8 port.

I'm not sure about the LED though. I'll look into that.

To choose FDC, you simply use another rom mapper. But note that you most likely also need to change disk rom.

About the last question :

- if you add a disk rom to a machine without FDC, blueMSX uses his extended database to search for the FDC type and the checking is made by using sha1 values
- if you start a machine with FDC, the FDC type is indicated in the config.ini file of the concerned machine.

For example, for the National FS-5500, you can find this line in the config.ini file :

3 3 2 4 64 "Machines/MSX2 - National FS-5500/FS5500DISK.rom" ""

the 5th number (64) refers to the National FDC rom type

If you use the Machine editor, you can see that on a more visual way.

Ah, thanks, now I got it!
Is the list with the rom types/IDs (like 64=national disk controller) somewhere available?

Here's the list for the FDC rom types :

57 = TC8566AF
63 = Microsol
64 = MB8877A
65 = WD2793
67 = WD1793

Ok, this helps. Do you know, if there is a MSX2, which uses 67 (WD1793)? I couldn't find one yet.

No, only SVI-738. It's a MSX1 with the MSX2 VDP. Many fans have converted this machine to a real MSX2 and even a MSX2+, that's why the support of this FDC has some meaning.

Most of them in Finland, were this machine was very popular....; well, and not only in this country, my own brother has two of them!

I have 7-8 of them, so I can surely do some testing on them

Freak!

I am going to release another preview tonight.
Support of National FDC works at least in the emulator, but I wouldn't be surprised, if it doesn't work on a real machine because of timing problems and/or wrong motor on/off bits.
I still have problems with the microsol FDC implementation, maybe I set some bits (motor/side/drive selection) in the wrong way.
I also have no idea how to switch off the LED of the second philips disc drive. It only turns off, when I switch on the LED of the first disc drive. Very strange.

In any case I want to solve that later and concentrate on some other things. The new version has about 16K more memory free, so you have 52K available on a 128K machine
I will start with Toshiba FDC support soon, so that Panasonic users will be happy soon.

Great news! I'm anxiously awaiting the new release. (does it also include saving the configuration?)

Great news indeed! Really looks like things are coming together now. Guess it's time for all of us to start working on apps soon!

Quote:

does it also include saving the configuration?

ah, yes, that was what I forgot to ask. it works now, but I need to know one thing: how do I find out the drive letter, where a program was started from in Msx-Dos?

{mod: removed double post}

Quote:

Quote: does it also include saving the configuration? ah, yes, that was what I forgot to ask. it works now, but I need to know one thing: how do I find out the drive letter, where a program was started from in Msx-Dos?

from DOS2PROG.DOC


3.5 ENVIRONMENT STRINGS


MSX-DOS maintains a list of "environment strings" in it's data segment.
An environment string is a named item which has a value associated with it.
Both the name and the value are user-defined. Environment strings are
accessed at the function call level via the "Get Environment String"
(function 6BH), "Set Environment String" (function 6CH) and "Find Environment
String" (function 6DH) functions.

....

The PROGRAM environment string has several uses. The main use is that a
program can use it to load overlay files from the same directory as it was
loaded from. The last item in PROGRAM (ie. the actual program filename) is
replaced with the name of the overlay file, and then the new string can be
passed to any of the new MSX-DOS 2 functions that take ASCIIZ strings (such
as "Open File".

--------------------------------------

from DOS2FUNC.DOC

3.87 GET ENVIRONMENT ITEM (6BH)

Parameters: C = 6BH (_GENV)
HL = ASCIIZ name string
DE = Pointer to buffer for value
B = Size of buffer
Results: A = Error
DE = Preserved, buffer filled in if A=0



This function gets the current value of the environment item whose name is
passed in register HL. A ".IENV" error is returned if the name string is
invalid. If there is no environment item of that name then a null string will
be returned in the buffer. If there is an item of that name then its value
string will be copied to the buffer. If the buffer is too small then the
value string will be truncated with no terminating null and a ".ELONG" error
will be returned. A buffer 255 bytes will always be large enough since value
strings cannot be longer than this (including the terminating null).




3.88 SET ENVIRONMENT ITEM (6CH)

Parameters: C = 6CH (_SENV)
HL = ASCIIZ name string
DE = ASCIIZ value string
Results: A = Error



This function sets a new environment item. If the name string is invalid
then a ".IENV" error is returned, otherwise the value string is checked and a
".ELONG" error returned if it is longer than 255 characters, or a ".NORAM"
error if there is insufficient memory to store the new item. If all is well
then any old item of this name is deleted and the new item is added to the
beginning of the environment list. If the value string is null then the
environment item will be removed.












3.89 FIND ENVIRONMENT ITEM (6DH)

Parameters: C = 6DH (_FENV)
DE = Environment item number
HL = Pointer to buffer for name string
Results: A = Error
HL = Preserved, buffer filled in



This function is used to find out what environment items are currently
set. The item number in register DE identifies which item in the list is to
be found (the first item corresponds to DE=1). If there is an item number
<DE> then the name string of this item will be copied into the buffer pointed
to by HL. If the buffer is too small then the name will be truncated with no
terminating null, and a ".ELONG" error returned. A 255 byte buffer will never
be too small. If there is no item number <DE> then a null string will be
returned, since an item can never have a null name string.

Hi Sd-Snatcher, thanx for the infos. Should be a big help! I have to release it tomorrow, as one thing still makes problems.
Have a good night,
Prodatron