The conventional way to use FreHD is to plug it in, prepare a hard disk image (or hard disk images) of your favourite Model III/4 operating system(s), partition it using the handy tools and instructions provided, and load it up with software. ![]() Why stick with plain old FreHD when you can have Autoboot FreHD! two virtual disk drives on a number of machines (including a TRS-80 I/III/4 or clone).a hard disk on a TRS-80 I/III/4 or clone and.I now had a duel purpose device which could emulate: If I was being fussy I would have also tried to put a switch out the back to toggle power between the FreHD and the HxC but either one is fine at idle while the other is being used. It was then just a matter of splicing in the 5 volt line to the FreHD and adding the hard disk cable out the back. FreHD mounted neatly above my HxC floppy emulator I secured the front of the card with Velcro and the back with a couple of sticky mounting feet. There was enough room in the case and the front opening to mount the card above the HxC unit. Earlier I've housed my HxC floppy drive emulator in an-ex SCSI tape cartridge case. Not only would it look cleaner, but it would prevent desk clutter. Much as I regard bare circuits as works of art and enjoy gazing upon them, I wanted to house my FreHD in a case with a 5 volt supply. By this time the ROM had been updated, Luckily a FreHD early-adopter/alpha-tester hardware enthusiast from Auckland, Andrew Quinn, was good enough to reprogram the chip as well as testing my newly-minted FreHD.Īfter receiving the FreHD back from Andrew along with some disk images for the SD card, I was ready to mount the unit in its own case. Other things just seem to get in the way and the yet-to-be assembled FreHD sat in a box quietly waiting for my attention.Ībout a month ago, I prioritised the project and assembled the kit (Image 1). And then the project stalled for about 6 months. Philip helped me construct a hard drive cable, something that wasn't in the kit. A trip to the local electronics store and Philip and I soon had all the necessary components. It arrived as a bare board with some of the harder components like the SD card holder and a few surface mount things already pre-soldered. I decided to order a kit and give my Model 4 a storage upgrade!įriend and Model III owner Philip Avery and I obtained two "B" kits from TRS-80 aficionado Ian Mavric. I'd never used a hard drive on a TRS-80 Model 4 before but felt it would be handy to have all my software in the one place. When I heard about the FreHD hard disk emulator project I was intrigued. These old hard drives are very rare and those that do exist are likely to be on their last legs. However the machines do have the ability to use an external hard drive given the right operating system. ![]() The TRS-80 Models III and 4 are natively floppy-driven meaning a certain amount of floppy shuffling is required to use them. Not only is it supremely retro-looking but it also runs most of that TRS-80 Model I software I cut teeth on back in the day. Terry Stewart's (Tezza's) Projects and Articles (Blog) Blog index and site links Pimping a TRS-80 Model 4 with a FreHD hard disk emulator
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