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Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →You can encode pixel art as magnetic transition timing on a floppy track, then view it as a timing diagram in compatible disk-analysis software. It is not printed visibly on the disk, and the resulting track is not ordinary floppy data. The simplest route is pbm2track, an experimental tool that converts a monochrome bitmap into a raw-flux stream.
What “printing” pixel art on a floppy means
A floppy stores information as magnetic changes along its tracks. pbm2track maps positions in a monochrome image to the timing between those changes. When compatible software visualizes the track timing, the pattern can resemble the bitmap. The plastic disk itself does not show the picture to the naked eye.
Hackaday reports recognizable results in floppy graphical views and on actual floppy media, but a successful physical result is not assured. The project maintainer, dbalsom, warns that the output is “total gibberish” to a floppy disk controller: it is an art experiment, not a conventional readable file or dependable storage format. See the pbm2track project README and Hackaday’s coverage.
What you need and which result to expect
- For a visualization: a monochrome image in PBM format,
pbm2track, and a compatible tool to display the resulting flux timing. A physical floppy is not necessary just to inspect the generated stream. - For an experiment on real media: a physical floppy and a writing setup that supports raw flux. Generic USB floppy drives should not be assumed to support this. The project README reports a result using Greaseweazle 1.4, but that example does not establish compatibility for other drives or setups.
- If you want a normally readable disk: this method is the wrong fit. Hackaday describes PNG2disk as a separate approach that encodes images on readable disks and can leave space for a filesystem; it is not the same as
pbm2track. Read Hackaday’s PNG2disk coverage.
How to generate and view the image
1. Prepare a monochrome PBM
Convert or draw the pixel art as a black-and-white PBM bitmap. The README accepts P1 (ASCII) and P4 (binary) PBM formats. A monochrome source suits the tool’s mapping of image columns to transition timing.
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2. Choose track parameters and export a raw stream
Run pbm2track with a sample count, minimum and maximum transition times, and an output filename identifying the track and head. The project README gives this example:
pbm2track --samples 54700 --min 2.0 --max 5.0 image.pbm track00.0.rawThis is an example configuration, not a guarantee that a particular disk, drive, or writer will accept the result. The sample count affects horizontal resolution and track length; the transition-time range sets the vertical range represented in the timing visualization.
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3. Open the stream in a timing visualizer
The README names HxC, AppleSauce, and FluxFox as tools that can display timing diagrams. In HxC, use Stream View, not Track View. The goal is to inspect the flux timing pattern, rather than open the stream as a conventional disk image.
4. Treat a physical write as experimental
If you want to try writing the stream to media, first confirm that your hardware and software support raw-flux writing, then follow that writer’s documentation and verify the result. The pbm2track README does not guarantee physical writing will work. It also recommends setting added jitter to zero, because the write process itself introduces jitter.
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Timing and media constraints for real floppies
The pbm2track README provides implementation guidance for fitting a stream onto real media. These figures are maintainer recommendations, not universal guarantees for every disk or drive:
| Media or drive guidance | Project README recommendation |
|---|---|
| High-density media | Avoid transitions shorter than 2.0 microseconds. |
| Double-density media | Avoid transitions shorter than 4.0 microseconds. |
| Most floppy drives at 300 RPM | Keep the track to 200 ms or less. |
| High-density 5.25-inch drives and some high-density 3.5-inch drives at 360 RPM | Keep the track to 166 ms or less. |
Longer maximum transition times make the track longer. Media density, drive rotation speed, writer software, and raw-flux hardware all affect whether a physical attempt works. The example command’s 2.0-to-5.0-microsecond range should therefore be treated as an input example, not a universal setting.
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How the bitmap becomes a timing pattern
The utility samples the PBM column by column. For each sampled column, it selects a visible pixel, and that pixel’s vertical position determines a transition-time value. Random jitter thickens the rendered “fluxcels”; the --seed option lets you make runs repeatable. Changing the sample count changes horizontal detail and track length, while changing the minimum and maximum transition times changes the visual timing range.
Do not confuse this with writing a normal disk image
A raw-flux artwork stream and an ordinary sector-based disk image are different things. Debian’s manual describes writing a conventional disk image as a raw sector copy rather than copying the image file onto a disk, and advises enabling the write-protect tab afterward. That advice concerns conventional disk images; it is not a procedure for writing pbm2track flux streams. See the Debian manual.
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