I’m pleased to present the new firmware for my Rookie Drive NX storage cartridge. (v 20260211)
The old floppy disk emulator.
In this new version, the floppy disk emulator has been removed, but don’t worry, because the new USB floppy drive driver already includes a new floppy disk emulator. So what? I don’t understand anything!!! Let me explain:
USB FDD Driver 2.1.1 – New Floppy Disk Emulator
Konamiman has improved its USB floppy drive driver, and one of the improvements is the creation of an excellent floppy disk emulator. This emulator allows you to mount floppy disk images without having to type anything. Through a simple menu, you can select the disk image you want to use. Fantastic!!!
Another change that users will surely welcome is the addition of an activity LED in the latest Rookie Drive cartridges. Previously, this LED only worked under Nextor, which was, shall we say, somewhat absurd. This behavior has been modified, and now the LED illuminates according to the disk activity taking place.
New BASIC commands for the new floppy disk emulator (F1 or call USBHELP)
_USBRESET - Re-initialize device
FDD device only:
_USBERROR - Show last ASC/ASCQ error
Storage device only:
_USBMENU - Show file navigation menu
_USBCD - Show current dir
_USBCD("dir/dir") - Change dir, rel
_USBCD("/dir/dir") - Change dir, abs
_USBFILES - List files in curr dir
_USBMOUNT - Show mounted file name
_USBMOUNT("file.ext") - Mount file
_USBMOUNT(-1) - Unmount file
_USBMOUNT(0) - Mount default file
_USBMOUNT(n) - Mount nth file, 1-255
_USBMOUNTR(...) - Mount and reset
_USBFDDMODE(n) - n=0: normal, 1/2: force 1DD/2DD mode
Nextor, kernel 2.1.4, and improved driver
The latest version of the Nextor operating system kernel, 2.1.4 (also by Konamiman…), has been included. The corresponding driver has also been modified (but it was me!) to try and correct a minor issue, basically a design flaw. Previously, when booting Nextor from the diskROM (i.e., a USB drive), the system would boot fine, but once booted, there was no option to insert a USB drive and continue normally; it would throw an error. Now this has been fixed, so you can boot Nextor from the diskROM and then, if needed, connect a USB drive, which you can also replace with another at any time. Cool!
Bootloader, almost all new
Time to boot, there are changes here too; Until now, there was an automatic driver selection system: a floppy disk drive was detected, and the FDD USB driver was launched; otherwise, if the computer was an MSX1, the floppy disk emulator was launched; for all other cases, Nextor was used. This behavior was quite simplistic and confusing, since some MSX2 systems don’t have enough RAM (128KB) to run Nextor, making the cartridge experience rather disastrous. If we wanted to change this behavior at any time, we had to hold down a specific key every time we started the computer.
The new bootloader improves all this mess. Initially, it works “the same”—well, that’s not really an “improvement.” Let me explain: if we don’t configure it, the system behaves the same way, but if we want it to always act differently from the default, then we have this option: the CONFIG.USB file. You have to create this file manually. It’s a plain text file, placed in the root directory of the USB drive you’re going to use. These are the available options:
- 8 for 80 columns during boot (MSX2 or later only)
- T for Turbo Boost (only on computers with Turbo Boost, like Panasonic)
- V to change the VDP frequency (MSX2 or later only)
- N to force Nextor
- F to force FDD USB/DSK
- R to load a 32KB ROM into RAM
Example of the contents of the CONFIG.USB file:
8TF
In this example, the mode would be changed to 80 columns, turbo would be activated, and then the FDD USB/DSK driver would be forced to load.
Nothing complicated, just include the initials from the list. This simple system can be very useful. For example, if you have an MSX2 with 128KB of RAM, you can use one USB drive to run Nextor regularly, and another to run the floppy disk emulator with all your games in DSK format. Or if you have an MSX2 with 64KB of RAM, you can configure the USB drive to always boot the disk emulator.
Great, but what about the “R”? Well, by removing the old floppy disk emulator, the ability to load .ROM files into RAM (up to 32KB) was lost. To compensate for this, I created the “R” option. To use this option, you must place the .ROM files in a directory called “/ROMS”. Then, in the root directory, create a file named ROM.USB and enter the name of the file you want to load. Remember that the 8+3 naming convention is used; that is, the maximum length for the name is 8 characters and for the extension, 3 characters.
Get, flash, enjoy!
You can download this firmware version here: Firmware version 2026-02-11
To install the firmware, copy the RDFIRMA.ROM file to the root of the USB drive, connect it to the MSX, turn on the computer, and press CTRL-R during startup. The flashing tool will then appear (named “Rookie Drive Recovery”). Press F1 and then Y to confirm. Then wait for the process to finish.
Now all that’s left is to enjoy the cartridge. I hope you do!