By popular demand, I’ve added a new feature to the Apple II firmware for the Floppy Emu disk emulator: auto-mounting of the previous floppy disk image. If you turn off the computer while a disk image is inserted in the emulated floppy drive, the next time you turn the computer on, Floppy Emu will skip the menus and immediately load that same floppy disk image. This is a nice time saver if you tend to use the same disk image every time, but it’s buried in a sub-sub-directory on your SD card. It also makes it possible for an Apple IIc, IIc+, or IIgs to cold boot directly from a floppy disk image. Previously it was necessary to select the desired disk image from the Floppy Emu menu, then soft-reset the computer by pressing control-apple-reset.

apple-II-0.1P-F8 – Apple II, for Model B
apple-II-0.1P-F6 – Apple II, for Model A

I welcome your feedback on this change. While the convenience is undeniable, I’m not completely sure I like the new behavior. After the power is turned on, if the Floppy Emu is going to auto-mount a disk image, there’s a very short window of time during which it can be done. In order to auto-mount the floppy image quickly enough for the computer to boot from it, the Floppy Emu must skip the normal self test (smiley face logo) and version info screen (diagnostic info, and emulation mode selection). This may be a little confusing for people who are looking to verify their current firmware settings, or change the emulation mode. They can eject the auto-mounted disk to restore the normal startup screen flow. What do you think?