SmartDisk II: Settings reference

Open the settings from the main menu: Settings. The screen shows only the settings of the emulation that runs. A Disk II board does not show the 3.5 inch options, and so on. The Smartloader shows the settings of the emulation it loads. Pictures of the screen and its keys are in the OLED screens reference. How to use them day to day is in the usage guide.

1. How the Settings screen works

• Press ENTER on a check box to switch it. The board saves the change on the SD card.
• Takes effect says when the board uses the new value. At once means now. Next start means after you restart the board (power it off and on, or change the emulation type).
• Some items ask first. The first ENTER shows a question in the footer line. A second ENTER on the same item does it. UP, DOWN or RET cancel the question.
• Defaults are what the board uses when nothing was saved yet, and after Clear prefs.
• The three boot modes are a radio group: choosing one clears the other two.

HD20 emulation (Macintosh): upcoming. It is not available in this firmware yet. The Emulation type list ends with an entry named HD20 (Mac). Do not choose it: the board does not exchange anything with a Macintosh in that mode yet.

What each option does

Title on the OLED	What it does	Values, default
Boot last image	At power up, mounts the last image you mounted and shows its image page. With no last image you see the empty drive page. If the image is refused, you see MOUNT FAILED.	radio. Default: this one
Boot last dir	At power up, mounts nothing and opens the file manager in the last folder you used. The drive stays empty until you choose an image.	radio
Boot favorites	At power up, mounts nothing and opens the Favorites list. The drive stays empty until you choose one.	radio
Emulation type	Opens the list of emulations: Disk II, Smartport HD, Smartloader, Disk 3.5 (and HD20 (Mac), which is upcoming). ENTER on a type checks it and saves it. RET then restarts the board at once if the type is not the one that runs.	Default: Disk II
Boot Img Index	The SmartPort partition (1 to 4) that boots first. A star marks it on the SmartPort screen. First to boot in the partition menu sets the same value.	1 to 4, ENTER goes round. Default: 1
Sound effect	Key click, track and block clicks, the insert, eject and failure sounds.	on / off. Default: off
Screen saver	The display goes off after 30 seconds without a key. Any key wakes it, and that key does nothing else.	on / off. Default: off
Log to SD	Also writes the log of the board to SMARTDISK.LOG in the root of the card, so that you can send it back when something fails. The board writes only when the emulation is quiet. See section 7.	on / off. Default: off
WeakBit	Disk II read: imitates the weak bits of copy protected disks, which WOZ images carry. After a long run of zero bits the board returns bits taken from a fixed pseudo random pattern.	on / off. Default: off
SP resync 2 edges	SmartPort: changes how the board follows the data the Apple II sends. It resynchronises on both edges of the signal instead of one.	on / off. Default: off
5.25 write	Disk II: lets the Apple II write to the mounted image. Off: the image looks write protected (WP:Y on the image page).	on / off. Default: on
3.5 fast read	3.5 inch drive: sends sectors as the computer asks instead of waiting for the disk to turn. It is faster and does not keep the timing of a real drive. It switches itself off while a MOOF image is mounted. Not shown when 3.5 Mac host is on.	on / off. Default: off
3.5 fast seek	3.5 inch drive: reports a head move as done at once and loads the track when the head stops. Not shown when 3.5 Mac host is on, because that mode always works this way.	on / off. Default: off
3.5 trace log	3.5 inch drive, a diagnostic: prints the dialogue between the computer and the drive in the log (and in SMARTDISK.LOG when Log to SD is on). Not for everyday use.	on / off. Default: off
3.5 write	3.5 inch drive: lets the computer write to the image. Off: the disk looks write protected. A locked 2MG image or a read only file stays protected whatever you choose. A Macintosh needs it on to Initialize or to save.	on / off. Default: off
3.5 Mac host	3.5 inch drive: the board is plugged into a Macintosh (the external floppy port, through a DB-19 cable) instead of an Apple II or IIgs. See the 3.5 inch page.	on / off. Default: off
3.5 SuperDrive	Only with 3.5 Mac host on. Experimental. The drive tells the Macintosh it is a SuperDrive (a 1.44 MB drive) for any disk. It is meant for 1440K images on Macintosh models whose ROM supports a SuperDrive. The board mounts a 1440K image read only.	on / off. Default: off
Clear prefs	Deletes the saved settings and restarts the board. Everything returns to the defaults: the settings, the favorites, the last image and folder, the SmartPort volumes and the Smartloader’s last image. Your images stay.	action
Clear favorites	Empties the list of favorites.	action
Make filesystem	Erases the SD card and sets it up again (FAT32, 32 KB clusters). See section 6.	action
Autoboot last img	Smartloader only. On: the loader counts down at start and boots the last image. Off: the loader shows the file list at once, with no countdown. Shown last in the list.	on / off. Default: on

2. Disk II

The Disk II emulation runs when the saved emulation type is Disk II. The list has 12 items.

#	Title on the OLED	Asks first	Restarts the board	Takes effect
1	Boot last image	no	no	next start
2	Boot last dir	no	no	next start
3	Boot favorites	no	no	next start
4	Emulation type	no	yes, when you press RET after choosing another type	at the restart
5	Sound effect	no	no	at once
6	Screen saver	no	no	at once
7	Log to SD	no	no	at once
8	WeakBit	no	no	at once
9	5.25 write	no	no	at once
10	Clear prefs	yes: ENTER: clear+reset	yes	at the restart (footer Resetting...)
11	Clear favorites	yes: ENTER: clear favs	no	at once (footer Favorites cleared)
12	Make filesystem	yes: its own question	yes, after the result screen	at once

3. SmartPort HD

The SmartPort emulation runs when the saved emulation type is Smartport HD. The boot modes do not apply: the SmartPort screen always opens first, and the partitions come from your saved settings. The list has 9 items.

#	Title on the OLED	Asks first	Restarts the board	Takes effect
1	Emulation type	no	yes, when you press RET after choosing another type	at the restart
2	Boot Img Index	no	no	at once
3	Sound effect	no	no	at once
4	Screen saver	no	no	at once
5	Log to SD	no	no	at once
6	SP resync 2 edges	no	no	next start of the SmartPort emulation
7	Clear prefs	yes: ENTER: clear+reset	yes	at the restart
8	Clear favorites	yes: ENTER: clear favs	no	at once
9	Make filesystem	yes: its own question	yes, after the result screen	at once

4. Smartloader

The Smartloader is the Disk II drive presenting a loader disk to the Apple II (the Smartloader page). The Settings screen shows the options of the emulation it loads. You choose that emulation from the Apple II side: Disk II, SmartPort and, on a IIgs, the 3.5 inch drive. The boot modes are not shown. When the Smartloader hands over to the emulation it loaded, the menus change to those of that emulation at once, and the tables of sections 2, 3 or 5 apply.

The boot mode you saved still has one effect here: with Boot last dir saved, the file manager on the Apple II side opens in the last folder instead of the root.

Autoboot last img is the last item of every Smartloader list. It is on by default. It works as described in section 1: off means no countdown at start.

4.1 Smartloader loading Disk II images (9 items)

#	Title on the OLED	Asks first	Restarts the board	Takes effect
1	Emulation type	no	yes, when you press RET after choosing another type	at the restart
2	Sound effect	no	no	at once
3	Screen saver	no	no	at once
4	Log to SD	no	no	at once
5	WeakBit	no	no	at once
6	Clear prefs	yes	yes	at the restart
7	Clear favorites	yes	no	at once
8	Make filesystem	yes: its own question	yes, after the result screen	at once
9	Autoboot last img	no	no	at once

4.2 Smartloader loading SmartPort images (10 items)

#	Title on the OLED	Asks first	Restarts the board	Takes effect
1	Emulation type	no	yes, when you press RET after choosing another type	at the restart
2	Boot Img Index	no	no	at once
3	Sound effect	no	no	at once
4	Screen saver	no	no	at once
5	Log to SD	no	no	at once
6	SP resync 2 edges	no	no	next start of the SmartPort emulation (also when the Smartloader hands over to SmartPort)
7	Clear prefs	yes	yes	at the restart
8	Clear favorites	yes	no	at once
9	Make filesystem	yes: its own question	yes, after the result screen	at once
10	Autoboot last img	no	no	at once

4.3 Smartloader loading 3.5 inch images (8 items)

No option of the 3.5 inch drive is shown while the Smartloader runs. They appear when it hands over to the 3.5 inch emulation.

#	Title on the OLED	Asks first	Restarts the board	Takes effect
1	Emulation type	no	yes, when you press RET after choosing another type	at the restart
2	Sound effect	no	no	at once
3	Screen saver	no	no	at once
4	Log to SD	no	no	at once
5	Clear prefs	yes	yes	at the restart
6	Clear favorites	yes	no	at once
7	Make filesystem	yes: its own question	yes, after the result screen	at once
8	Autoboot last img	no	no	at once

4.4 The Settings page on the Apple II

The Smartloader shows the same options on the Apple II screen. Choose SETTINGS in the main menu of the loader. How to use the page is in the usage guide.

The page lists the options of the emulation the loader works with, in the order of the OLED, with the same values. It leaves out Emulation type, Clear prefs and Make filesystem. Use the keys of the board for those. The labels are the OLED titles in capitals, followed by the value (ON, OFF, a number, or GO for an action).

Option on the Apple II	Disk II target	SmartPort target	3.5 inch target	What Return does
BOOT IMG INDEX	–	yes	–	goes to the next number, 1 to 4, then back to 1
SOUND EFFECT	yes	yes	yes	switches ON / OFF
SCREEN SAVER	yes	yes	yes	switches ON / OFF
LOG TO SD	yes	yes	yes	switches ON / OFF
WEAKBIT	yes	–	–	switches ON / OFF
SP RESYNC 2 EDGES	–	yes	–	switches ON / OFF
CLEAR FAVORITES	yes	yes	yes	asks first: the value shows SURE?. A second Return does it and shows DONE
AUTO-BOOT LAST	yes	yes	yes	switches ON / OFF
<- BACK TO MAIN	yes	yes	yes	goes back to the main menu

• The OLED and the Apple II share the same values. A change on one side shows on the other.
• The cursor stays on the row you changed.
• If an option needs the board to restart, the loader shows RESTARTING and restarts the Apple II after the board is back. None of the options on this page needs it at the moment.

5. 3.5 inch drive

The 3.5 inch drive emulation runs when the saved emulation type is Disk 3.5. It serves an Apple II or IIgs, or a Macintosh when 3.5 Mac host is on.

5.1 On an Apple II or IIgs (15 items)

#	Title on the OLED	Asks first	Restarts the board	Takes effect
1	Boot last image	no	no	next start
2	Boot last dir	no	no	next start
3	Boot favorites	no	no	next start
4	Emulation type	no	yes, when you press RET after choosing another type	at the restart
5	Sound effect	no	no	at once
6	Screen saver	no	no	at once
7	Log to SD	no	no	at once
8	3.5 fast read	no	no	at once
9	3.5 fast seek	no	no	at once
10	3.5 trace log	no	no	at once
11	3.5 write	no	no	at once
12	3.5 Mac host	yes: ENTER: host+reset	yes	at the restart
13	Clear prefs	yes: ENTER: clear+reset	yes	at the restart
14	Clear favorites	yes: ENTER: clear favs	no	at once
15	Make filesystem	yes: its own question	yes, after the result screen	at once

5.2 With the Macintosh host on (14 items)

3.5 Mac host is on and the board has restarted. 3.5 fast read and 3.5 fast seek are not shown: the ROM of a Macintosh checks the speed of the disk, so fast read is off and every head step is reported done at once. Writing needs 3.5 write on.

#	Title on the OLED	Asks first	Restarts the board	Takes effect
1	Boot last image	no	no	next start
2	Boot last dir	no	no	next start
3	Boot favorites	no	no	next start
4	Emulation type	no	yes, when you press RET after choosing another type	at the restart
5	Sound effect	no	no	at once
6	Screen saver	no	no	at once
7	Log to SD	no	no	at once
8	3.5 trace log	no	no	at once
9	3.5 write	no	no	at once
10	3.5 Mac host	yes: ENTER: host+reset	yes	at the restart
11	3.5 SuperDrive (experimental)	yes: ENTER: drive+reset	yes	at the restart
12	Clear prefs	yes: ENTER: clear+reset	yes	at the restart
13	Clear favorites	yes: ENTER: clear favs	no	at once
14	Make filesystem	yes: its own question	yes, after the result screen	at once

6. The three buttons at the foot of the list: Clear prefs, Clear favorites, Make filesystem

These three are in every emulation, in this order, after the other options.

Item	How it asks	What you lose	What you keep
Clear prefs	ENTER: clear+reset, then a second ENTER	all the saved settings, the favorites, the last image and folder, the SmartPort volumes, the Smartloader’s last image	the images and every other file on the card
Clear favorites	ENTER: clear favs, then a second ENTER	the list of favorites	everything else
Make filesystem	the question Erase the SDCARD? (YES / NO, NO by default) and a result screen	everything on the card, images included	nothing: the card is partitioned and formatted again (FAT32, 32 KB clusters), see SD card preparation

Make filesystem ends on a result screen (Result: OK or Result: ERROR with the reason) that waits for ENTER and then restarts the board. A card smaller than 64 MB, a write protected card or a card that does not answer ends with an error. The screens are in the OLED screens reference.

7. Log to SD

When you switch Log to SD on, the board also writes its log to SMARTDISK.LOG in the root of the card. Use it when something fails and you want to send the log. Each run starts with a line like this one, where NN is the build number:

---- SmartDisk II vX.YY.NN, run started ----

How big it gets. The file grows up to 256 KB. Then the board renames it SMARTDISK.OLD (the older SMARTDISK.OLD is deleted) and starts a new SMARTDISK.LOG. The two files hold 512 KB at most. The board keeps the log from power up, so the start of the boot is in the file when the setting was saved on.

When it writes. The board never writes in the way of the computer. It writes only when the setting is on, the card is free, and the emulation is quiet.

Emulation	What “quiet” means
Disk II	no track waits to be written and the Apple II has been off the drive for 200 ms. With no image mounted the board may write
3.5 inch drive	the computer is not using the drive and has been away for 200 ms, and no write waits for the card
SmartPort	no command is running and the bus has been silent for 200 ms

Lost text. While the computer is busy, the log waits in a small memory of 2 KB (about 20 lines). If that memory fills before the board can write, the new text is dropped. The next write puts a line like this in the file:

---- 640 bytes of log lost: the ring was full ----

The number is an example. It tells you that the file has a gap of that many bytes at that place. A busy computer (a long copy, a boot from a 3.5 inch image) can make such gaps. A quiet board does not.

The memory line. Once a minute the log holds a line about the memory the board uses:

mem: heap peak N of M bytes, stack peak N of 4096 bytes

With Log to SD on, this line is in the file. It shows how close the board came to the end of its memory.

3.5 trace log adds the dialogue between the 3.5 inch drive and its computer to this log. Switch both on when you report a 3.5 inch problem (troubleshooting, FAQ and the log).

8. The saved settings file

Where. The board keeps your settings in /sdiskConfig.json, in the root of the SD card. It is one JSON text of about 1 to 3 KB. The board creates it when you save the first setting. A missing file means every default. You can read it on a computer. Edit it only with the board off, and keep the values as JSON numbers ("soundEffect":1, not "1"): the board does not read a number written as text.

The keys.

Key	Type	Holds	Written when	Default when missing
currentPath	text	the folder last listed in the file manager (“” is the root)	each time you list another folder	“”
lastFile	text	the full path of the last image mounted by the Disk II or the 3.5 inch drive	at each mount. Emptied when you delete that file	none
bootMode	number	0 last image, 1 last dir, 2 favorites	Settings	0
emulationType	number	0 Disk II, 1 SmartPort HD, 2 Smartloader, 3 Disk 3.5	Emulation type	0
bootImageIndex	number	SmartPort boot partition, 1 to 4	Settings, First to boot	1
soundEffect	number	0 / 1	Settings	0
screenSaver	number	0 / 1	Settings	0
logToSd	number	0 / 1	Settings	0
weakBit	number	0 / 1	Settings	0
smartportResync	number	0 / 1	Settings	0
disk2Write	number	0 / 1	Settings	1
disk35FastRead, disk35FastSeek, disk35Trace, disk35Write, disk35Host, disk35SuperDrive	numbers	0 / 1 each	Settings	0
smartloaderAutoBoot	number	0 / 1: Autoboot last img	Settings, on the OLED or on the Apple II	1
smartport_vol00 to smartport_vol03	text	the image of each SmartPort partition (“” is empty)	when you answer YES to a mount in SmartPort. Emptied by Unmount image, and when an image is refused at start	“” (empty partition)
smartloaderEmulationType	number	the Smartloader’s target: 0 Disk II, 1 SmartPort, 3 3.5 inch	when you change it on the Apple II	0
smartloaderLastBootImage	text	the last image booted by the Smartloader	when the Smartloader boots an image	none
smartloaderLastBootEmulationType	number	the target that image was booted under (the last image is offered for that target only)	with the image	none
favorites	list of {"filename": path}	the favorites, at most 10	when you add, remove or clear one	empty list

Saving. The board saves a change as soon as the emulation allows it. Several changes made together make one write of the whole file.

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