Knit and Sew

Turn your computer into a Brother FB100

 
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Brother FB100 Emulator is a program that provides all functions of a Brother FB100 floppy disk drive. Brother FB100 Emulator requires a Brotherlink 1 USB or Brotherlink 5 USB to connect your knitting machine or PPD to your computer.



The theory behind Brother FB100 Emulator is rather simple. A Brother Pattern Disk is a floppy containing 80 Kilobyte data. The knitting machine can read this floppy and most knitting machines can also write the floppy when the Brother FB100 floppy disk drive is hooked up to the knitting machine.

The idea is that, using the Brotherlink 1 USB or a Brotherlink 5 USB and Brother FB100 Emulator, your computer replaces the Brother FB100 floppy disk drive. When you start the emulation, you load a Brother Pattern Disk file stored on your computer. When you stop the emulation, you are invited to save the Brother Pattern Disk file on your computer in case of changes.

Cables
BL1USBBrotherlink 1 USB
BL5USBBrotherlink 5 USB

Supported Knitting Machines
KH-940KH-950iKH-965iKH-970KH-930KH-930M

Supported PPDs
PPD-100PPD-110PPD-120/KC-IIIPPD-35

Software
FB100 Emulator FB100 Emulator Documentation

32 bit Operating Systems
Windows 2000Windows XPWindows 2003Windows VistaWindows 2008Windows 7Windows 8 & 8.1Windows 10
64 bit Operating Systems
Windows XP x64Windows Vista x64Windows 7 x64Windows 8 & 8.1 x64Windows 10 x64Windows 11 x64
Windows 2003 x64Windows 2008 x64Windows 2008 R2 x64Windows 2012 x64Windows 2012 R2 x64Windows 2016 x64Windows 2019 x64Windows 2022 x64

Questions and Answers:
Q:Does the FB100 Emulator use the floppy drive of the computer?
A:No. The data that is stored on a floppy by the FB100 is now stored on your computer in a file.
Q:How do I convert FB100 floppies to FB100 Emulator files?
A:Use BL7USB + FB100 Utility and an FB100 to read the floppies and store the contents on your computer.
Q:Can I load my floppies via the machine too?
A:Yes, but this can be very laborious (40 tracks for a KH930 floppy, or design by design for a KH965i)
Q:Do I need DesignaKnit for FB100 Emulator?
A:No.
Q:How do I view/print the patterns in a Brother Pattern Disk File?
A:Use FB100 Utility, the driver program for BL7USB, and press No Port in the Configuration dialog.
Q:How do I get FB100 Utility?
A:You can download FB100 Utility here
Q:Can I create new Brother Pattern Disk files?
A:Yes, FB100 Emulator provides a function to create a new, not formatted Brother Pattern disk file.
 

Last Modification: April 19, 2022 (c) Copyright 2000-2022, Jos Timmermans