Industrial Solutions

The ipcas Floppy Emulator V3 operates with file system-independent disk images.
Which file system is contained in the image is practically irrelevant.
The console application FEI-Tool allows the access to files on a ipcas Floppy-Emulator image. The tool is available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.

Handling with console applications allows easy automation of workflows, eg using a batch or shell script.

In daily use, a console application under Windows is not always practical.

Now, there is a graphical user interface for the ipcas Floppy Emulator V3 FEI-Tool. With the program FEI-Tool GUI, the console application FEI-Tool can be used by mouse click.

The FEI-Tool GUI is included in the USB-Stick Software Pack and can be downloaded at product page or in the support area.

Guest Post from a satisfied customer of Southern Germany:
(Translated, original post in german language >>)

Floppy Disk Drive retrofitting: USB Floppy Emulator for KETRON SD 5 In older keyboards – e.g. in my KETRON SD 5, the input device is a floppy drive und the internal RAM memory is supplied with information by a floppy disk. I would never replace my KETRON SD 5 with a modern keyboard however; the reason is the good quality.

With the IPCAS USB floppy emulator for USB pen drives, the known disadvantages …

• Sensitive to mechanical wear and tear
• Problems with dust, oil and other adverse environmental conditions
• Malfunction due to permanent mechanical load
• Low memory capacity

… of conventional floppy disks, which anyway are hardly to buy, can be totally attributed to the past.

Most salient features:

• The old floppy disk drive is replaced 1:1. The connections are identical, so no further changes have to be made.
• The USB Stick at the USB Floppy Emulator replaces the old diskette entirely. USB memory components have long life spans and high capacities.
• The new USB floppy drives and USB memory components are practically immune to impacts from magnetic fields, dust or shock.
• The contents on 100 floppies can easily be placed on one single USB Stick. That saves a lot of time and costs!

To replace the equipment I’m proceeds as follows:

1. Opening the keyboard (screws located on the bottom)
2. Slide back the panel of the keyboard
3. Removal of the floppy disk drive (FDD)
4. Detach of the data cable from the floppy drive controller
5. Inserting a floppy controller computer cable to the floppy connector
6. Connect this cable and the power supply cable (4-pin.) to the emulator.

Now the keyboard will switch on and the floppy drive (with inserted USB flash drive) are energize and the keyboard reports: not formatted.
After that, the format command must be executed according to the display information.
Then the emulator should set to 01 (with the Up button). The UP switching and formatting and will resist until 99.

If the formatting performs, you play the songs on the respective place (00-99), then – start playing – as usual.
When the formatting is completed, copy the songs on the respective place (00-99). Afterwards, as usual, start the playback.

More information on the ipcas UBS Floppy Emulator solutions >>

The USB Input Device is now also available with DIN rail clamp.

The small-sized device with its extended temperature range (-40° to +70° Celsius) and simple DIN rail mounting application enables flexible use in practically any location.

The USB Input Device has been specially designed for industrial use and is ideally suitable for the data acquisition and evaluation of digital input signals. Besides, temperature sensors and meters with S0 interfaces (e.g. utility meters for power, gas, and water) can be immediately connected.

More information on the USB Input Device >>

Data Sheet / Manual The manual and datasheet of the Floppy Emulator V3 have been improved. Now both are available for download in the support area and on the product page.

FEI-Tool (Floppy Emulator Image Tool)

For access to floppy emulator images on PC/Mac, the FEI-Tool is required.

In order to achieve maximum operating system compatibility, now the Floppy Emulator Image Tool (FEI-Tool) is available for all major operating systems: Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.
The console application FEI-Tool allows access to files in a Floppy Emulator Image (FEI) as created or changed by the ipcas Floppy Emulator V3.
The Floppy Emulator V3 itself works operating system independent.
In addition there is a Pre-Formatted 1.44 MB DOS Floppy-Image in the support area.

Floppy Emulator V3 product page >>
Floppy Emulator V3 – Support and Downlaod area >>

The ipcas FloppyEmulator V3 supports nearly all disk formats. Also special Formats like CP/M, DEC Rainbow, extended DOS or Stäubli JC3/4/5 are supported.
The parameterization and configuration is complete without jumper.

More information about the FloppyEmulator V3 >>

The configuration tool for products of the ipEther232 family has been thoroughly revised and is now available for download on the respective product websites and in the support section.

Certified Windows drivers enable the installation under

• Windows XP with ServicePack 3 (32-Bit)
• Windows Server 2003/Vista/7/Server2008 (32-Bit and 64-Bit)
• Windows Server 2008 R2 (64-Bit)

Apart from some corrections, the main focus was to improve and enhance the 64-bit driver for ipEther232.

The configuration tool is available for the following products:

ipEther232 – Virtual COM port
ipEther232.Modem – Ethernet Modem
ipEther232.PPP – PPP – Gateway
ipEther232.IO – I/O Data logger / Event logger
ipNTP – NTP time server

Our parent company, Data Respons is presenting medical IT solutions, embedded IT products and implemented project solutions at Stand 229, Hall 9.

Besides Medical Panel PC’s and Displays you will also find the fanless Medical Box PC and the Panasonic Toughbook H1 among the special highlights.

Medical Toughbook
The Toughbook H1 ensures that caregivers have all the tools they need in a single mobile clinical assistant (MCA). This medical touchscreen device has hot-swappable twin batteries and is IP65 certifed. In addition to a camera on the back, this compact device has RFID and a barcode scanner on the bottom.

Medical Box-PC
The Medical Box-PC is a Intel® Core™ i7 Fanless System with FireWire (IEEE 1394b), eSATA, HDMI, VGA, DVI, USB, 2x GbE LAN, RS232/422/485 and more interfaces.
If that’s not enough, the Medical PC can expand via PCI respectively PCIe.

Visit the Data Respons at stand 229 in hall 9, it’s worth it.
Today is the last day of embedded world 2011.