Do you have a GoTek or Lotharek floppy emulator?

[Sinphaltimus]

Do you have a GoTek or Lotharek floppy emulator?

I'm asking because up until recently you were stuck using HFE formatted disk images.
But now we have 2 developers enhancing their firmware to support TI's DSK (v9t9 and in at least one case PC99) format.- HxC works on both devices and Flashfloppy works on GoTek. At least that's my assumption at the moment - could be wrong, maybe FF works on both also?

Anyway, Both developers of their respective firmware revisions have put links up for folks to test so if you want, come on over to the development subforum, do a quick catch up read, grab your new firmware and give it a go.

This is essentially going to put an end to converting all those wonderful dsk images to HFE. Now, you can just jam them all onto a single USB stick large enough to hold them all.
It also means saving from real iron to dsk that will immediately work in emulation.

 

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/276608-important-news-and-i-need-some-help/

Edited April 6, 2018 by Sinphaltimus

[Omega-TI]

Since the FG99 was released, I've actually used my Lotharek HxC very little. I might add that since converting a DSK image into HFE only takes a couple of seconds, I'm running with the mantra, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." It works for me "as-is", so I'm good with it. Also with TIPI, I figure I'll be using the P-Box even less than the little I already am.

[+Ksarul]

I'll have to do some Lotharek testing after I finish with the batch of SAMS cards I'm testing. . .

[RickyDean]

Yes as I get a little time this weekend, supposed to storm Saturday, I will try programming my one remaining unprogrammed Gotek and try it out on both that one and the HxC.

[+adamantyr]

I just got a Gotek drive, but was disappointed to learn it ONLY emulates a single drive, and apparently is tied to the original PC design, which means only DSK1 or DSK2. So I can't set it up as a 3rd drive on my system.

 

So far the Lotharek is proving to be a much better investment... Maybe I should get another.

[RickyDean]

Well in my finale configurations, I will have a tower housing a Rave Motherboard with a Geneve and TI mounted inside, to include a SCSI and HFDC, so I will have plenty of options there. I will have a PEB with a Geneve(or maybe another tower, as my PEB's are not in the greatest shape). I will have a stand alone TI with a Corcomp Disk Controller and a couple of TI's with CF7's so the goteks and the HxC's will be used. But yes, you can't have too many Lothareks.

[Sinphaltimus]

--- Ω --- : Freedom of choice - It rocks! I like to tweak things for better performance when it comes to milliseconds on the computer so for me, eliminating an additional step (although it may not take a lot of time) is one more step I never have to think about anymore. EDIT: I totally get you with the TiPi tho - I have removed my nanoPEB shortly after receiving mine. It's now in a box to be used solely for easy travel gigs.

 

Ksarul : Excellent, thank you!

RickyDean: Sweet! - sorry I keep missing you in 8Ball Pool - I hardly play and when I do I'm usually in tournament as i find it more cost effective on the returns. - You're final config sounds awesome, can't wait to see pics when ready.

adamantyr: Yeah, for me it came down to cost vs. features. I also wanted flexibility so when I did my 80-track mod to the FDC I put 80-track as DSK1 on GoTek, 80-track as DSK2 on 3.5"Floppy and 40-track as DSK3 external 5.25" inside of a CD-Rom case. I wouldn't be able to take advantage of real floppies if I went Lathorek, but choices are good. What did you spend on the GoTek? Maybe I'll take it off your hands, PM me. Been thinking about putting one in my W98 box.

Edited April 6, 2018 by Sinphaltimus

[Sinphaltimus]

--- Ω --- : Also, as an after thought too late to edit above - If the PEB TiPi acts the same as the SideCart TiPi then leaving the DSK assignments blank in TIPICFG allows any those DSK assignments to work elsewhere.
I did an unofficial and unsupported test with the sidecart version of TIPI. I plugged my sidecart TIPI into an unpopulated 32k sidecart (Unavailable) just for power and with an adaptor (Unavailable) I plugged my nanoPEB into my TIPI.
nanoPEB had all 3 DSK allocations perfectly functioning if I left the DSK configs blank in TIPICFG. If I assigned DSK1 in TIPICFG, then DSK1 worked on TIPI while DSK2 and 3 worked on the nano, etc.. So TIPI config took precedence.

I imagine the PEB version will act the same so adding a TIPI to a PEB will only expand it further without giving up any existing floppy disk functions AFAIK.

Pretty cool eh?

But let's not derail this topic any further (completely my fault by adding this entire reply) - just wanted to put this out there.

[RickyDean]

Here was some info disseminated some time ago concerning the use of the Gotek with Jeff's bootloader. http://atariage.com/forums/topic/223102-hxc-floppy-emulator-alternative-gotek/page-3

 

Look at post 52

[Jeff_HxC2001]

Here was some info disseminated some time ago concerning the use of the Gotek with Jeff's bootloader. http://atariage.com/forums/topic/223102-hxc-floppy-emulator-alternative-gotek/page-3

 

Look at post 52

 

Outdated. Now just go to http://hxc2001.com/store

 

Also please edit your old post to remove my email address. Thanks by advance.

[RickyDean]

 

Outdated. Now just go to http://hxc2001.com/store

 

Also please edit your old post to remove my email address. Thanks by advance.

Well I went to try to remove it and it seems like I can't, the edit link is gone. I will have to wait to see if someone else can give me guidance as to how to remove it now, or see if Albert is monitoring this and can remove the link. Sorry, we'll see what transpires.

[+9640News]

That link relates to the USB version. Anyone know anything about the SD card version?

[Jeff_HxC2001]

@Sinphaltimus : Direct use of DSK may generate more problems than it seems to solve :

- This "format" is ambigus and is prone to loading error due to possible bad disk layout identification.
- It can be formatted only with some restrictions (you must keep the same original disk format...)
- It doesn't store any copy protection information.
- It doesn't store any data integrity element (no crc!) -> Can be corrupted "silently" (something wrong happen during a write, but the bad crc is not stored into the image..).

No dsk/raw/img images are not so wonderful and all images should be in HFE now .

Anyway you have now the choice, but be aware about these possibles problems.

Edited April 6, 2018 by Jeff_HxC2001

[Jeff_HxC2001]

I wouldn't be able to take advantage of real floppies if I went Lathorek, but choices are good.

 

This is "Lotharek". And i don't understand why you "wouldn't be able to take advantage of real floppies if I went Lotharek" ? What do you mean ?

[Sinphaltimus]

 

This is "Lotharek". And i don't understand why you "wouldn't be able to take advantage of real floppies if I went Lotharek" ? What do you mean ?

Yeah, I keep misspelling it - sorry.

 

One thing some users report about Lotharek over Gotek is that Lotharek emulates DSK1 DSK2 and DSK3 on the TI system whereas GoTek can only do either DSK1 or DSK2 but definitely not more than one disk drive.

 

I have 2 physical disk drives in my TI's PEB plus one GoTek which is why GoTek makes sense to me.

The additional cost for the additional features of Lotharek would be of no benefit to me because If I utilize all three virtual floppy drives, then I cannot use my 2 real floppy drives. If I only had one physical floppy drive it might be OK sine I can emulate 2 more with Lathorek, but needing access to 2 physical floppy drives plus one virtual makes GoTek a better choice for me.

[Jeff_HxC2001]

... I can emulate 2 more with Lathorek, but needing access...

 

"Lotharek"

Edited April 6, 2018 by Jeff_HxC2001

[Opry99er]

Vic Steerup (CTIUG) has a Lotharek Rev F and a half height 5.25 floppy drive in his PEB. He has made a toggle switch that swaps the Lotharek and the floppy drive between DSK1 and DSK2. This allows him ultimate freedom in copying, saving, and using disks.

 

The Lotharek can be configured to function in a multitude of ways. It is extremely versatile.