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'The Thing' - a FM Towns Marty FDD emulator

caius

caius

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Some years I made some work on the Fujitsu FM Towns Marty, a home video game console released in 1993 by Fujitsu, exclusively for the Japanese market.Specifically I found the way to use a FDD emulator (HxC or Gotek) with this console, you can read my past article here :

Using the HxC Floppy Emulator with a Fujitsu FM Towns Marty

At same time I also designed a simple adapter to connect an HxC floppy emulator (or a real 3-MODE floppy drive) to the FM Towns Marty :

20210527_222329.jpg

The adapter was really popular among enthusiasts (to the point that someone cloned it...) but it was not an immediate all-in-one solution.So, recently, I decided to design my own FDD emulator for the Marty console.I called it 'The Thing':

20210527_161233.jpg


20210527_161543.jpg

The emulator is based on the Gotek design and powered by the excellent FlashFloppy firmware so fully customizable and configurable (the settings can be specified in a configuration file called placed in the root folder or the USB drive).

Testing of the first prototype was successful, the emulator properly loads and format disk images :

View: https://youtu.be/O6JO2kBkhPI


View: https://youtu.be/g3OlmxAh3XI


Stay tuned for further update.
 
I've had the doc brown Marty ode in my closet for two years now. Need to source a console. Following this as I'm guessing I'll need a floppy emulator as well.
 
If we already have an HxC Floppy emulator setup, what would be the benefit of switching to this?
 
The only HxC floppy emulator is not enough for the Marty since you need also to adapt the floppy FFC cable of the Marty to the HxC connector.I made this adapter for first and sold many of them, it was so popular that some poor man ripped off my design (after he bought from me an adapter), now he sells this clone.
My 'The Thing" Marty FDD emulator is an all-in-one solution, just plug and play.I hope it's clear now :)
 
Last edited:
caius said:
Some years I made some work on the Fujitsu FM Towns Marty, a home video game console released in 1993 by Fujitsu, exclusively for the Japanese market.Specifically I found the way to use a FDD emulator (HxC or Gotek) with this console, you can read my past article here :

Using the HxC Floppy Emulator with a Fujitsu FM Towns Marty

At same time I also designed a simple adapter to connect an HxC floppy emulator (or a real 3-MODE floppy drive) to the FM Towns Marty :

20210527_222329.jpg

The adapter was really popular among enthusiasts (to the point that someone cloned it...) but it was not an immediate all-in-one solution.So, recently, I decided to design my own FDD emulator for the Marty console.I called it 'The Thing':

20210527_161233.jpg


20210527_161543.jpg

The emulator is based on the Gotek design and powered by the excellent FlashFloppy firmware so fully customizable and configurable (the settings can be specified in a configuration file called placed in the root folder or the USB drive).

Testing of the first prototype was successful, the emulator properly loads and format disk images :

View: https://youtu.be/O6JO2kBkhPI


View: https://youtu.be/g3OlmxAh3XI

Hi. I know this post is from years ago but I was just wondering if there is a way you can share with me the game image of your Columns game you are displaying when you tested your emulator? I have an hxc emulator and I am trying to add some games. Columns is one that the hxc floppy emulator can play as an hfe file. Please, let me know if you can help. Thanks in advance.
Stay tuned for further update.
Click to expand...
 
Wow, this Marty looks insane!
Any news about the RGB mod? There was some guy with a modded Marty he won in a german magazine.
Was fully RGB modded. He got it, blew up the PSU (did not use any converter) and did put it in his basement.
Would also love to see some Ram / CPU upgrades. Rumuder, Rumstorm would be nice on Marty <3
 
I still have a doc brown sitting in my closet. Don't even own the system. Made an effort to get one but was always out bid. One this comes out I'll have to give it another go!
 
'The Thing' , the FM Towns Marty FDD emulator, will be for sale very soon.I will do here a dedicated thread with pre-order list.Thanks for your intererest.
 
Hello Caius. Great work here and also I enjoy watching your short repair videos on youtube. You posed a lot yesterday!

Would you consider enabling comments on your videos as it would be great to be able to read.
 
I just got an FM Towns Marty with a broken floppy drive.

If I plugged a USB floppy drive into the FDD Emulator, could I read floppies again? I have a handful of games with the floppies.
 
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