I've been testing the ZuluIDE for a week now and here's my 5 cents:

THE NEGATIVE:
- the device really doesn't like many images on a single SD card. The board itself takes minutes to come "online" in my case and my card has about 350 images.
- the web interface also conks out when you have a lot of images - the list to select from is simply broken and randomly starts halfway the list most of the time. It sometimes takes 4-5 refresh for the list to even appear and it takes several minutes for it to do so so you can waste a LOT of time this way.
- if you power the device using internal PC power, it has to start up each time you shut down the PC. When you have a lot of CD images this means it keeps taking a while before the CD drive becomes accessible.
--- it all boils down to the same one big negative: this device cannot handle a lot of images ergo you need to work with smaller SD cards with less images (100 tops) ergo you need to be able to access the SD card slot if you need more.

THE MEH:
- the web interface definitely needs more work - it works and is functional but it could be so much better. I know it's a work in progress and I'll keep a close eye on development
- no official interface available to operate the device besides the web interface

THE POSITIVE:
- when images are loaded, after testing some 70+ games in DOS 6.22, I found zero issues. CD audio always works, no hiccups in games, nothing. CD drive speed is akin to a 24x drive on the PC I tested (Pentium 120Hz) but I use a very long IDE cable which might impact speeds.
- the OAK driver and VIDECDD drivers both work perfectly
- the micro USB connector allows you to power the device without having to use the internal connector - this way you can keep it powered even when shutting down the PC.

TIPS FOR OTHERS:
- The board is best used externally for now - I used a 60cm IDE cable and slid it between the case and the lid + used a long CD audio cable so I can fully use it outside of my case + power it using micro USB cable.
- Keep each micro SD card to max 100 images to prevent it taking too long for the ZuluIDE to boot & to prevent the web interface from conking out

In the end, I'm glad I bought it but it does need more work & there needs to be an easier way to (a) swap SD cards and (b) swap images on the SD cards. The web interface is functional but flaky and the lack of an official control board hampers the usability for a regular retro user.

red_avatar wrote on 2025-03-31, 19:18:

I've been testing the ZuluIDE for a week now and here's my 5 cents: […]
Show full quote

I've been testing the ZuluIDE for a week now and here's my 5 cents:

THE NEGATIVE:
- the device really doesn't like many images on a single SD card. The board itself takes minutes to come "online" in my case and my card has about 350 images.
- the web interface also conks out when you have a lot of images - the list to select from is simply broken and randomly starts halfway the list most of the time. It sometimes takes 4-5 refresh for the list to even appear and it takes several minutes for it to do so so you can waste a LOT of time this way.
- if you power the device using internal PC power, it has to start up each time you shut down the PC. When you have a lot of CD images this means it keeps taking a while before the CD drive becomes accessible.
--- it all boils down to the same one big negative: this device cannot handle a lot of images ergo you need to work with smaller SD cards with less images (100 tops) ergo you need to be able to access the SD card slot if you need more.

THE MEH:
- the web interface definitely needs more work - it works and is functional but it could be so much better. I know it's a work in progress and I'll keep a close eye on development
- no official interface available to operate the device besides the web interface

THE POSITIVE:
- when images are loaded, after testing some 70+ games in DOS 6.22, I found zero issues. CD audio always works, no hiccups in games, nothing. CD drive speed is akin to a 24x drive on the PC I tested (Pentium 120Hz) but I use a very long IDE cable which might impact speeds.
- the OAK driver and VIDECDD drivers both work perfectly
- the micro USB connector allows you to power the device without having to use the internal connector - this way you can keep it powered even when shutting down the PC.

TIPS FOR OTHERS:
- The board is best used externally for now - I used a 60cm IDE cable and slid it between the case and the lid + used a long CD audio cable so I can fully use it outside of my case + power it using micro USB cable.
- Keep each micro SD card to max 100 images to prevent it taking too long for the ZuluIDE to boot & to prevent the web interface from conking out

In the end, I'm glad I bought it but it does need more work & there needs to be an easier way to (a) swap SD cards and (b) swap images on the SD cards. The web interface is functional but flaky and the lack of an official control board hampers the usability for a regular retro user.

Until we get the control board and a Gotek like drive bay the best way to use it is with a micro sd card extension and micro sd cards with max 20 images. You can route the extension cable easily through one of your external drive bay covers and the extension works flawlessly.

Lomdar67 wrote on 2025-03-31, 19:32:

red_avatar wrote on 2025-03-31, 19:18:

I've been testing the ZuluIDE for a week now and here's my 5 cents: […]
Show full quote

I've been testing the ZuluIDE for a week now and here's my 5 cents:

THE NEGATIVE:
- the device really doesn't like many images on a single SD card. The board itself takes minutes to come "online" in my case and my card has about 350 images.
- the web interface also conks out when you have a lot of images - the list to select from is simply broken and randomly starts halfway the list most of the time. It sometimes takes 4-5 refresh for the list to even appear and it takes several minutes for it to do so so you can waste a LOT of time this way.
- if you power the device using internal PC power, it has to start up each time you shut down the PC. When you have a lot of CD images this means it keeps taking a while before the CD drive becomes accessible.
--- it all boils down to the same one big negative: this device cannot handle a lot of images ergo you need to work with smaller SD cards with less images (100 tops) ergo you need to be able to access the SD card slot if you need more.

THE MEH:
- the web interface definitely needs more work - it works and is functional but it could be so much better. I know it's a work in progress and I'll keep a close eye on development
- no official interface available to operate the device besides the web interface

THE POSITIVE:
- when images are loaded, after testing some 70+ games in DOS 6.22, I found zero issues. CD audio always works, no hiccups in games, nothing. CD drive speed is akin to a 24x drive on the PC I tested (Pentium 120Hz) but I use a very long IDE cable which might impact speeds.
- the OAK driver and VIDECDD drivers both work perfectly
- the micro USB connector allows you to power the device without having to use the internal connector - this way you can keep it powered even when shutting down the PC.

TIPS FOR OTHERS:
- The board is best used externally for now - I used a 60cm IDE cable and slid it between the case and the lid + used a long CD audio cable so I can fully use it outside of my case + power it using micro USB cable.
- Keep each micro SD card to max 100 images to prevent it taking too long for the ZuluIDE to boot & to prevent the web interface from conking out

In the end, I'm glad I bought it but it does need more work & there needs to be an easier way to (a) swap SD cards and (b) swap images on the SD cards. The web interface is functional but flaky and the lack of an official control board hampers the usability for a regular retro user.

Until we get the control board and a Gotek like drive bay the best way to use it is with a micro sd card extension and micro sd cards with max 20 images. You can route the extension cable easily through one of your external drive bay covers and the extension works flawlessly.

I considered this but I couldn't get it to hot swap SD cards so it means having to turn off the PC every time + I'm reading a lot of bad stuff about these extension devices - there's a lot of junk among them and some can damage the micro SD port which would be an expensive thing to happen. Also, 20 images is a bit on the low side - 100 images it seems to handle without too much hassle.

Also, I dunno if it's the micro SD card or what but I find that FATex reads a lot faster than FAT32? Both are high end Sandisk micro SD cards (512GB for the Steam Deck so really fast ones). I'm going to test with FATex on slower 64GB cards and see how nice it works with 100 images max per card.

red_avatar wrote on 2025-03-31, 19:59:

I'm reading a lot of bad stuff about these extension devices - there's a lot of junk among them and some can damage the micro SD port which would be an expensive thing to happen.

In my opinion, that’s not correct. You only insert the extension once, and from then on, the original SD card slot isn’t used directly anymore. So in fact, I believe the extension actually protects the slot by preventing further mechanical stress.

mbalmer wrote on 2025-03-29, 19:49:

Lomdar67 wrote on 2025-03-24, 19:38:

mbalmer wrote on 2025-03-23, 23:28:

The Qwiic connectors aren't populated on there by default because you could add a right-angle one or a straight-down one, but if desired, I could do a little searching and make a revised BOM/CPL file pairing that has one of the connectors populated.

Yes please , that would be quite nice.

Here are revised BOM and CPL (positioning) files that includes the Qwiic connectors mounted to J6 and J7. This adds about $2 to the total cost for a run of 5 boards for a total of about $24 before shipping.

Thanks a lot for the detailed guide! I’ve ordered five units and am curious to see how it turns out. Shipping to Europe via DHL was quite expensive and significantly increased the customs fees, so in the end the order would have cost over $20 more than expected. That’s definitely something to keep in mind when ordering.

If everything works out and someone in Germany is interested in getting one, feel free to reach out – I actually only need one and could pass on the other four at cost price plus packaging and shipping.

mbalmer wrote on 2025-03-23, 23:28:

I just gave it a quick run-down on JLC, and 5 boards is about $2.10 for the unpopulated board, and adding the parts brings the cost of a run of 5 to about $19. See screenshot below.

The nice thing about this is that you don't have to source the parts, JLC does it for you and they put them on for you too.

The Qwiic connectors aren't populated on there by default because you could add a right-angle one or a straight-down one, but if desired, I could do a little searching and make a revised BOM/CPL file pairing that has one of the connectors populated.

Have a question for you: Which exact rotary encoder are you using?

I received my built boards and they work fine except the rotary encoder direction is backwards (i know some have the CLK/DAT pins reversed) and takes 4 detent clicks before the encoder registers a movement. I.e selecting different images in the menu I have to make 4 detents before it goes to the next image.

Is this something that's configurable or a specific rotary encoder is required?

Lomdar67 wrote on 2025-04-01, 02:40:

If everything works out and someone in Germany is interested in getting one, feel free to reach out – I actually only need one and could pass on the other four at cost price plus packaging and shipping.

I'm living in Germany and I would be very interested in getting one!

Thgill wrote on 2025-04-01, 02:43:

Have a question for you: Which exact rotary encoder are you using?

I received my built boards and they work fine except the rotary encoder direction is backwards (i know some have the CLK/DAT pins reversed) and takes 4 detent clicks before the encoder registers a movement. I.e selecting different images in the menu I have to make 4 detents before it goes to the next image.

Is this something that's configurable or a specific rotary encoder is required?

The kind of encoders that have been on the boards we've made previously are similar to these, which use a "channel A/channel B" with a center common pin, so a standard quadrature setup.

As to the multiple detent-clicks before it registers, that's something I'm aware of and it's something I've seen in my own device -- I have a sneaky suspicion that it's related to a combination of debouncing as well as the basic reference circuit being a little more stringent than it may actually need to be. While I didn't design the original circuit that this is modeled on, it's on my list of things to look at as I work on doing the layout for a fully-integrated board that's screwed down to the front bezel as opposed to simply gluing parts in place.

red_avatar wrote:

I considered this but I couldn't get it to hot swap SD cards so it means having to turn off the PC every time ...

That's unexpected. Hot-swapping SD cards is absolutely something it should be doing without issue, and unless your PC is exceptionally fast at booting up or you like to skip over the POST test every time, you shouldn't have any issue with powering it solely from the PC's power supply, completely aside from what you mentioned about SD cards with large numbers of disk images on them.

As to the access time issue with large numbers of images, once you get past a certain threshold of filenames in a single folder (usually starting around 128 or 256, depending on the host controller) it starts introducing significantly longer wait times as it has to sift through things to build the directory listing. It's likely a filesystem issue and it's also a known problem across virtually any device using an SD card and a microcontroller to access it. It happens on the Pi1541 (the Commodore 64 1541 floppy emulator), and it happens on the Floppy Emu (an FPGA-based device to stand in for Apple II floppy drives). That said, there may be another issue causing this, so it might be of benefit to reach out to support@zuluide.com and have some debug logs handy to see if it can be traced down.

As for the hot-swap issue... definitely contact support. That is not something that should be happening (unless it's somehow related to the filesystem issue above) because I hot-swap SD cards all the time and don't have a problem.

I would test that problem myself, but ... I literally don't have an SD card big enough 🤣

Lomdar67 wrote:

In my opinion, that’s not correct. You only insert the extension once, and from then on, the original SD card slot isn’t used directly anymore.

That's correct, that the extension does provide some benefit against mechanical stress, however, the issues I've run into tend to be noise-related. There's no additional filtering of any kind that happens from the extension all the way to the socket, and sometimes, the flat ribbon cable proves more effective as an antenna than as a data line, and so you get data transmission errors. It's been years since I used one, though, so maybe they've improved since.

This product sounds really nice. Thank you to everyone who worked hard to develop it and to continue supporting it.

With that said, the product clearly still has a lot of issues that need to be ironed out, which would be okay at a lower price but currently the price is just too high. For those of us in the 3rd world, it’s just not financially viable.

I honestly believe that lowering the price would result in more sales and help to better establish the product as a “must have” for retro enthusiasts. (Like the Gotek drives)

I really would like to have one (or more) of these devices.
Will be keeping an eye on this for sure.

byte_76 wrote on 2025-04-02, 06:21:

This product sounds really nice. Thank you to everyone who worked hard to develop it and to continue supporting it. […]
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This product sounds really nice. Thank you to everyone who worked hard to develop it and to continue supporting it.

With that said, the product clearly still has a lot of issues that need to be ironed out, which would be okay at a lower price but currently the price is just too high. For those of us in the 3rd world, it’s just not financially viable.

I honestly believe that lowering the price would result in more sales and help to better establish the product as a “must have” for retro enthusiasts. (Like the Gotek drives)

I really would like to have one (or more) of these devices.
Will be keeping an eye on this for sure.

It still feels very "proof of concept". I'm excited to see a future revision where the device is more practical to use day to day.

mbalmer wrote on 2025-04-02, 05:26:

That's unexpected. Hot-swapping SD cards is absolutely something it should be doing without issue, and unless your PC is excepti […]
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red_avatar wrote:

I considered this but I couldn't get it to hot swap SD cards so it means having to turn off the PC every time ...

That's unexpected. Hot-swapping SD cards is absolutely something it should be doing without issue, and unless your PC is exceptionally fast at booting up or you like to skip over the POST test every time, you shouldn't have any issue with powering it solely from the PC's power supply, completely aside from what you mentioned about SD cards with large numbers of disk images on them.

As to the access time issue with large numbers of images, once you get past a certain threshold of filenames in a single folder (usually starting around 128 or 256, depending on the host controller) it starts introducing significantly longer wait times as it has to sift through things to build the directory listing. It's likely a filesystem issue and it's also a known problem across virtually any device using an SD card and a microcontroller to access it. It happens on the Pi1541 (the Commodore 64 1541 floppy emulator), and it happens on the Floppy Emu (an FPGA-based device to stand in for Apple II floppy drives). That said, there may be another issue causing this, so it might be of benefit to reach out to support@zuluide.com and have some debug logs handy to see if it can be traced down.

As for the hot-swap issue... definitely contact support. That is not something that should be happening (unless it's somehow related to the filesystem issue above) because I hot-swap SD cards all the time and don't have a problem.

I would test that problem myself, but ... I literally don't have an SD card big enough 🤣

I discovered that the hot swap issue is also related to the amount of images on the SD card. I use 64GB cards now and split my images across 3 of them (for now) - 100-120 images each - and now everything works smoothly. I think with too many images the device simply gets overloaded to the point where you have to unplug it to manually make it reboot because it seems to hang on trying to read the new SD card. It might be a good idea to warn buyers not to add too many images (the size doesn't matter either, it's the amount it has to index). I hope you can add support in time for more images but for now it works by keeping the limit into account.

I 3D printed a small magnetic micro SD card holder to hang on the side of the case which leaves the SD cards within easy reach and it works. I'm also planning to create my own 3D enclosure using eSun kakhi filament which perfectly matches the beige used in PC case. I'll hold off trying an micro SD card extender for now.

Have somebody tested how big the ISO can be to still read by MSCDEX. Do 8GB DVD size work and maybe even beyond?

red_avatar wrote on 2025-04-02, 12:51:

I discovered that the hot swap issue is also related to the amount of images on the SD card. I use 64GB cards now and split my images across 3 of them (for now) - 100-120 images each - and now everything works smoothly. I think with too many images the device simply gets overloaded to the point where you have to unplug it to manually make it reboot because it seems to hang on trying to read the new SD card. It might be a good idea to warn buyers not to add too many images (the size doesn't matter either, it's the amount it has to index). I hope you can add support in time for more images but for now it works by keeping the limit into account.

The issue of file indexing is one that's been around for quite awhile and it's not clear how or even if that can be fixed -- it's simply a limitation of how FAT32 (and by extension, exFAT) works.

Cyberdyne wrote:

Have somebody tested how big the ISO can be to still read by MSCDEX. Do 8GB DVD size work and maybe even beyond?

As far as I've tested with images, it's really more on the filesystem limitations of the host computer, but MSCDEX seems to read some of the larger (as in, bigger than CD-sized) images without issue. I haven't tested anything as big as a DVD-DL (8GB) but I've definitely worked with multi-gigabyte images without a problem.

I know for a fact that a full 8.5GB DVD-DL in real hardware works well with MSCDEX. (Classic ISO9660 has no real limitations 8.8TB!!!) I just wondered how much can the theoretical limit will be. I would look to ZuluIDE if you can make like a mega ISO to like put all "available" games and programs in it 😏

I have only question. This emulator write data? Or read only images? is it then possible to emulate writing data as if the sd card were a cd-rw? Thanks

mbalmer wrote on 2025-04-02, 17:37:

The issue of file indexing is one that's been around for quite awhile and it's not clear how or even if that can be fixed -- it' […]
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red_avatar wrote on 2025-04-02, 12:51:

I discovered that the hot swap issue is also related to the amount of images on the SD card. I use 64GB cards now and split my images across 3 of them (for now) - 100-120 images each - and now everything works smoothly. I think with too many images the device simply gets overloaded to the point where you have to unplug it to manually make it reboot because it seems to hang on trying to read the new SD card. It might be a good idea to warn buyers not to add too many images (the size doesn't matter either, it's the amount it has to index). I hope you can add support in time for more images but for now it works by keeping the limit into account.

The issue of file indexing is one that's been around for quite awhile and it's not clear how or even if that can be fixed -- it's simply a limitation of how FAT32 (and by extension, exFAT) works.

Cyberdyne wrote:

Have somebody tested how big the ISO can be to still read by MSCDEX. Do 8GB DVD size work and maybe even beyond?

As far as I've tested with images, it's really more on the filesystem limitations of the host computer, but MSCDEX seems to read some of the larger (as in, bigger than CD-sized) images without issue. I haven't tested anything as big as a DVD-DL (8GB) but I've definitely worked with multi-gigabyte images without a problem.

I believe what we really need is the ability to freely combine files and folders. To achieve that, we would probably need a different solution for handling .bin/.cue files. The fact that this is technically possible can be seen in other ODE solutions. As far as file management is concerned, this is currently the biggest issue.

Cyberdyne wrote on 2025-04-02, 20:27:

I know for a fact that a full 8.5GB DVD-DL in real hardware works well with MSCDEX. (Classic ISO9660 has no real limitations 8.8TB!!!) I just wondered how much can the theoretical limit will be. I would look to ZuluIDE if you can make like a mega ISO to like put all "available" games and programs in it 😏

I tried something like that, with limited success. Check this out:
https://github.com/ZuluIDE/ZuluIDE-firmware/discussions/156

mbalmer wrote on 2025-04-02, 17:37:

The issue of file indexing is one that's been around for quite awhile and it's not clear how or even if that can be fixed -- it's simply a limitation of how FAT32 (and by extension, exFAT) works.

If the file indexing is an issue, then there's probably other ways to tackle the problem as others have hinted at.

One thing I neglected to mention which is a big annoyance with lots of images, is the lack of folder support and adding that functionality would fix two issues at once - it would cause fewer images per folder to index AND would give categories. If you can set it to only index the active folder (which it does right now = the root folder) and find a way to easily swap to sub-folders (the web interface is an option there I presume) then you're set.

mbalmer wrote on 2025-03-21, 18:02:

Assembly Details The M2 x 4 self-tapping screws are to secure the OLED display down to the bezel. Don't overtighten! It's pretty […]
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Assembly Details
The M2 x 4 self-tapping screws are to secure the OLED display down to the bezel. Don't overtighten! It's pretty easy to poke through the front of the bezel with these, but finding self-tapping M2 screws shorter than this is pretty tough 🤣

The attachment IMG_0798.jpg is no longer available

See the wiki for details about the LED pin header.

Probably an oversight on my side, but I can't find any information what OLED display you designed this for.

Lomdar67 wrote on 2025-04-10, 06:42:

Probably an oversight on my side, but I can't find any information what OLED display you designed this for.

Oh, oops. The OLED is a standard 0.96" 128x64 I2C module using an SSD1306; the same kind that you can find on Amazon. Here's a link to one possibility: https://www.amazon.com/Hosyond-Display-Self-L … y/dp/B09T6SJBV5