OqtaDrive 的 5 年：通过互联网将 Microdrive 模拟连接至 Sinclair Network

OqtaDrive 的 5 年：通过互联网将 Microdrive 模拟连接至 Sinclair Network
5 years of OqtaDrive: Microdrive emulation to Sinclair Network over the internet

原始链接: https://oqtadrive.org/10.other/5-years/

OqtaDrive 是一个业余项目，允许 Arduino Nano 为带有 Interface 1 的 ZX Spectrum 和 QL 模拟八个 Sinclair Microdrive。Nano 通过串口将数据流传输到 PC 或 Raspberry Pi 守护进程，后者处理大部分功能。自 2021 年 alpha 发布以来，它增加了自动检测、与真实驱动器的兼容性、安装器、Web 界面、快照/TAP 加载、PCB 和外壳、Codeberg 托管、现成镜像、浏览器升级、机上控制、ZXDB 软件加载、卡带文件系统编辑以及 CP/M 支持。2024 年，OqtaDrive 还成为 Sinclair Network 的互联网网关，允许在极少硬件增加的情况下进行远程 LOAD/SAVE，并支持私有网络、游戏寻址、集线器聊天/回显以及稳定性修复。邀请用户制作一个，连接到集线器，并打个招呼。

OqtaDrive 是一个五年的项目，模拟 1980 年代 Sinclair Spectrum 和 QL 机器的 Sinclair Microdrives，并通过 WebSockets 传输 Sinclair Network，允许这些机器通过互联网通信。作者分享了里程碑、代码并邀请提问。在评论中，一位怀念 ZX81 的用户请求现代物理 Spectrum 或 USB 键盘的推荐。另一位用户建议了几个选项：构建套件或克隆如 Harlequin 或 Sizif 512，使用基于 FPGA 的设备如 N-Go，购买改进的克隆如 Spectrum Next，或使用基于 Arm/Linux 的兼容克隆如 The Spectrum。页面还包括标准 Hacker News 导航和 Y Combinator 申请通知。

原文

On 9 May 2021, I tagged release 0.1.0 of OqtaDrive, simply titled “first alpha release”. It was a hobby project that had sat on the shelf for a while, until discussions over at World of Spectrum revived it: an Arduino Nano pretending to be a bank of eight Sinclair Microdrives, for the ZX Spectrum with Interface 1 as well as the QL. Five years and 34 releases later, time for a look back.

Microdrives First

The core idea hasn’t changed since day one. The Nano is just a protocol converter. With only 2KB of RAM, it can’t hold a 144KB cartridge, so it continuously streams the data over a 1Mb/s serial link to a daemon written in Go, running on your PC or a RaspberryPi Zero. The daemon does the heavy lifting, and that’s where most new features landed (more about the beginnings).

2021 was about getting the basics solid: auto detection of Spectrum and QL, co-existing with real Microdrives, an installer, and a first web UI. Thanks to Tom Dalby open-sourcing Z80onMDR, snapshot files (and later TAP files) can be loaded directly into a virtual drive. Tom also designed several PCBs and 3D printed cases, from a tiny micro version to a standalone unit with a Pi on board. In October 2021, OqtaDrive went on display at the Vintage Computing Festival Berlin.

The following years brought the move to Codeberg, ready-made setup images, upgrades from the browser, controlling OqtaDrive from the Spectrum or QL itself, searching and loading software straight from ZXDB, a file system implementation for editing cartridges, and even CP/M support.

Then Came the Network

The Interface 1 and the QL don’t only talk to Microdrives. They also come with the Sinclair Network, a simple LAN from the early 80s. With release 0.7.0 in April 2024, OqtaDrive became an Internet gateway for it. Add one transistor and four resistors to the adapter, connect to a hub server, and a friend on the other side of the world can LOAD *"n";18 what you just sent with SAVE *"n";24. No modifications, no extra software on the vintage machine.

Since then, private on-demand networks were added, also a flat addressing scheme for network games, chat and echo services on the hub, and with 0.8.4, a major round of stability fixes under heavy load. Big thanks to Hans Kramp for finding that issue and relentlessly stress testing the fix!

Join In

If you have a Spectrum or QL, build an OqtaDrive, connect to the hub, and say hello in the chat.

Happy Micro driving!