The Sinclair QL Forum

Does anyone have a spare Q-FLP upgrade ROM for the MicroP disk interface? A user has contacted me, who has one of these interfaces, but it still uses the old FDK1_ to access the disk drive.

Realistically we need someone who is in touch with Tony Tebby to ask him to release the upgrade ROM as freeware if possible.

RWAP wrote:Does anyone have a spare Q-FLP upgrade ROM for the MicroP disk interface? A user has contacted me, who has one of these interfaces, but it still uses the old FDK1_ to access the disk drive.

Realistically we need someone who is in touch with Tony Tebby to ask him to release the upgrade ROM as freeware if possible.

Hi Rich,

I have rom images of:

QFLP for Micro P Disc V1.24 1984
Micro P Ltd. Disk System 5.3E Monstrous firmware by Richard Miller - 1985

Which is probably on Dilwyn's web site.

I will programme 2 roms and send them to you, but I do not have a Micro P Interface, so they are untested.

The QFLP image is not on Dilwyn's site because the copyright still belongs to Tony Tebby - he has not made it freeware.

Whilst helping this user, we have made some interesting discoveries.

His interface has 5 jumpers rather than the 4 DIP switches shown in the manual on Dilwyn's site. Jumpers were set on J4 and J5 by default - and the interface formatted single density only - removing both jumpers gave double density, but I have the user to see if he can determine which jumper does this.

Unlike the normal FORMAT command you find on disk interfaces, FORMAT fdk1_ shows the number of usable/total sectors (eg 1434/1440 sectors). All of the other disk interfaces I have ever seen show the formatted / total sectors created - only the DIR command shows the usable/total sectors.

The user has now realised it is Jumper 4 which controls single/double density. I wonder what J5 does!

Oddly - both J4 and J5 have to be removed to provide double density access to disks - any other combination of the two jumpers gives single density format.

Hi Rich,

I will not send the eproms, if they are the wrong type.

Sorry to bring this one up from the dead again. I'm late to the party as usual.

Derek or Rich, can you send me the bin file for the QFLP upgrade ROM, if poss? I have the original box and manual, so must qualify as a legal owner (and I won't share it). Also, with respect to the 5 mysterious jumpers on the MicroPeripherals Disk Interface, this is what my manual, dated July 1985, says in that regard: Jumpers are numbered 1 to 5 from right to left.

If you read the binary file and with a hex editor change the FDK occurrences to FLP and write a new eprom maybe it's all you need to do
I think it'll work

lliont wrote: Sun Dec 10, 2023 1:21 pm If you read the binary file and with an hex editor change the FDK occurrences to FLP and write a new eprom maybe it's all you need to do
I think it'll work

Yeah, probably, but there is more to the QJUMP QFLP upgrade than that (e.g. TK2 extensions like wildcards) and I just want to have the original thing to go with the box as an option for my MicroP interface

Also, according to the QFLP manual, they recommend shorting pin 34 on the floppy connector (READY) with the ground on pin 33 - and reversing that if the original ROM is ever put back in. The manual also informs the user that EXECutable files are stored differently using the standard MicroP interface and that these files should be saved to mdv and then transferred back to floppy disk after the EPROM is replaced, or they won't work. Must be something to do with the headers I suppose.

Hi,

I had a look at the QJUMP FLP upgrade for MicroPeripherals Disk Interface. I can not find anything that is a an official QJUMP RM upgrade.

Though Rich may have a commercial upgrade. But maybe no, as QJUMP stopped trading and I do not know what happened to the asserts, maybe went to France with Tony Tebby.

I do not think it is as simple as changing FDK to FLP as the device names, there might be code upgrades. But it is certainly worth a try.

I bought this interface from Dennis Briggs in about 1988 at a QL show. He mentioned his stock of MP interfaces had been updated with the official upgrade from QJump. I also have a copy of the v1.23 ROM (8K), don't know the status...