Gotek Setup

[scottinNH]

So do I have this correct -- when shopping for a Gotek floppy emu, there's just no way to know in advance whether this is a "bare/factory" drive or whether it's unlocked/has-ST-firmware? 

 

But if you pay say $29 on Amazon, that's a good price for a factory drive (?)... then you go to another website to buy firmware for it?

 

A lot of the confusion about this device could be lifted if just one of the US-based retro vendors decided to carry it as a one-stop item.

Edited March 16, 2022 by scottinNH

[+Stephen]

Wait - you're saying if I buy a Gotek, it won't just be plug&play for the ST?  Why is this?  The HxC floppy emulators are just plug&play for anything using a 34-pin floppy connector.

 

I'm having a really hard time finding something to fit the 520STFM I have.  It's a very old model, has what I believe is referred to as the "long button" cutout in the case (slanted sides).  I have a 3D printer so I can print out the bezel and drive tray if the STLs are available.  But I'd also be willing to pay for a complete floppy emulator with OLED display and the proper bezel.  Anywhere I look is either out of stock, or has the wrong style floppy bezel.

 

At this point, I am about ready to just modify the machine to use the HxC emulator I already have as an external drive.

[snarkdluG]

35 minutes ago, scottinNH said:

But if you pay say $29 on Amazon, that's a good price for a factory drive (?)... then you go to another website to buy firmware for it?

You only need to get the hardware. There is firmware that are free, and that is what most people use. 

[scottinNH]

3 hours ago, snarkdluG said:

You only need to get the hardware. There is firmware that are free, and that is what most people use. 

THANKS!  So the FlashFloppy repo... that's analogous to the HXc firmware that I (had) thought was required?

[bfollowell]

10 hours ago, scottinNH said:

THANKS!  So the FlashFloppy repo... that's analogous to the HXc firmware that I (had) thought was required?

 

HxC can certainly be used, and I preferred that, but you have to pay for it. There is a free alternative called FalshFloppy that many, probably most users user and it works perfectly well. At the time, I preferred HxC because it was used on other devices and because it worked with many STX files, where, at least at the time, FlashFloppy did not. I'm not certain that is the case any longer.

 

Also, if you buy a standard, run-of-the-mill Gotek off of ebay or Amazon, or AliExpress, you're going to need to set it up for the Atari ST. It will require a little bit of very basic soldering and flashing of the firmware. I found nothing about this hard at all, but not everyone has my skills. You need to judge your skill level for yourself. There are certainly many YouTube videos detailing what to do and how to do it. You may wish to watch some of those before starting.

 

[youxia]

Unless you're on a really tight budget, I'd advise to spend a bit more and get a) a drive which is already flashed with FF (or even HxC) and confirmed to work on ST  b) get a more advanced Gotek, the one with oled display and rotary knob. The latter makes using it much, much easier and less of a chore, especially with a lot of games.

[ijor]

I just find out that due to chip shortage, most new Gotek units use a different MCU chip. They use an ARTERY AT32F415, instead of an STM32F105. Seems they are mostly compatible and they are already supported by both FlashFloppy and HxC2001. But it has less RAM and some limitations. Also the initial firmware setup is slightly different.

 

Edited March 17, 2022 by ijor

[eightbit]

15 hours ago, ijor said:

I just find out that due to chip shortage, most new Gotek units use a different MCU chip. They use an ARTERY AT32F415, instead of an STM32F105. Seems they are mostly compatible and they are already supported by both FlashFloppy and HxC2001. But it has less RAM and some limitations. Also the initial firmware setup is slightly different.

 

 

 

I was about to mention this. I posted about it and a link on how to flash the new Goteks back in November:

 

 

 

That said, I have flashed a few of those very $29 Amazon Goteks without issue using the Artery tool, a USB Male-Male cable and a paperclip to jump them into the mode. Super easy. You do not need to solder ANYTHING to flash these goteks in any way. Same holds true for the previous models. Again, you just need a male to male USB cable and a paperclip. You will have it flashed to FF firmware in less than five minutes. From there it will be compatible with the ST (and all of the others FF supports of course). You may have to move a jumper on the board to accommodate specific computers, but you do not need to do anything intense to flash these. The sellers on ebay are making some cash for sure selling these pre-flashed.

 

Here's the type of cable you will need along with that $29 Gotek (and you need a paperclip and a download of the latest FF firmware):

 

https://www.amazon.com/Monoprice-1-5ft-24AWG-Cable-Plated/dp/B009GUXG92

 

 

Not too long ago these Goteks were $11.99 on Amazon so those ebay sellers were REALLY making some cash selling them pre-flashed at like $50 and up a pop. I purchased a few at the $11.99 pricetag at the time and flashed those too but just gave them away to friends as gifts. Now they are $29 each. Still better than buying from some ebay seller in my honest opinion. It's a lot more than the $11.99 I was used to but I guess that is where we stand with chip shortages, etc. Hopefully they do not increase beyond that.

 

As for the less ram/limitations, I don't see any difference at all. Maybe I am not using some "advanced features" that I am not aware of, but just using them to read and write to floppy images across various floppy types that FF supports I have zero issues. I have one of these in my new 486 build and have used it to install DOS, Windows and various games from disk images just fine as well as back up real disks from a floppy to a blank image. 

 

These new Goteks are not compatible with the rotary selector if you wanted to add one as mentioned in a previous post, but I personally never used it. I just used the bootable on screen HxC file selector. I added an OLED display to one once as well but ehh...eyecandy. I prefer the old school number LEDs.

 

I mean, I guess the rotary would be beneficial if you were putting dozens of games on it all at once and wanted to see what you had, but I never did that either. I'd mount a few floppies in the first few slots, save, reboot and play games. If I wanted more, move back to position 000 and reboot...mount some different crap...rinse and repeat. It's not really all that inconvenient.

 

And, as a little tip, if you always keep a blank st image in slot 001 you can leave it there and select it when you want ST to boot to GEM (or to a HDD and then GEM) and it will boot a whole lot faster since it does not have to go through its whole "looking for a disk" sequence when you turn the computer on

 

 

 

Edited March 18, 2022 by eightbit

[ijor]

37 minutes ago, eightbit said:

As for the less ram/limitations, I don't see any difference at all.

There are issues and limitations, but don't take my word. Please see what both, Keir Fraser (FlashFloppy developer) and Jean del Nero (HxC developer) comment. They even say they expect more issues that they still haven't found. But yes, for a basic usage it does work fine.

Edited March 18, 2022 by ijor

[eightbit]

Just now, ijor said:

There are issues and limitations, but don't take my word. Please see what both, Keir Fraser (FlashFloppy developer) and Jean del Nero (HxC developer) comment. They even say they expect more issues that they still haven't found. But yes, for a basic usage it does work fine.

 

Yeah, I would imagine some limitation exists. But for using it on ST, Amiga, and PC (those are the three I have extensively) they work exactly the same as the previous Gotek incarnation as far as I can tell.

 

[ijor]

13 minutes ago, eightbit said:

Yeah, I would imagine some limitation exists. But for using it on ST, Amiga, and PC (those are the three I have extensively) they work exactly the same as the previous Gotek incarnation as far as I can tell.

The issues do happen on the ST, among other platforms. But as I said already, for basic usage there is no problem (or at least, it seems so). The issues start, i.e., when you use copy protected images that require strict timing. There are also issues related to writing, but again, only in some situations.

[eightbit]

52 minutes ago, ijor said:

The issues do happen on the ST, among other platforms. But as I said already, for basic usage there is no problem (or at least, it seems so). The issues start, i.e., when you use copy protected images that require strict timing. There are also issues related to writing, but again, only in some situations.

 

Very rare and unique circumstances then (using .stx images) for the average user that is going for one of these in the first place.

 

I never had a need to use any images other than the usual .ST and .ADF TOSEC images and they all work fine. In my personal experience I have never found an .stx image that was unique where an .st image counterpart did not exist without the copy protection scheme. And, there are much fewer .stx copy protected images dumped vs. what you find in the normal .st format. I guess .stx copy protected images have their place in the world to keep a 1:1 copy of the original copy protected disk but I really see no sense in it other than to archive an exact replica WITH the vendor's implemented disk copy protection.

 

Don't get me wrong, I see the importance. But is it that important to the general user that just wants to play games? Most of us I think would be using this to play cracked games and take advantage of the trainers and check out the cool group intros! 

 

Anyway as for writing/formatting .st and .adf images I have had no issue. Formatting, copying files, moving them from a PC to the host system...fine. Formatting and copying to IBM images, the same. no issue at all.

 

And on the PC side .IMA and .IMG floppy images and there they work fine as well. I did notice that there is a change to IBM "JC" mode on these however. With previous Gotek models you could just close the "JC" jumper pin and it would work. Well, on these new models the pin is there but there is no "JC" printed on the PCB. Closing it does not work. So, you have to have a ff.cfg file always on the USB in order to use it on the PC with the interface = jc value set under drive emulation:

 

https://github.com/keirf/FlashFloppy/blob/master/examples/FF.CFG

 

Took me a few minutes to realize that when I set it up for a PC not used to that, but it works nonetheless as long as the cfg file is present.

 

On other computers (ST and Amiga) it works the same as the previous model. I have tested these new models quite extensively over the last four months so I am confident to say that if you are using them with the "normal" disk images you find in TOSEC collections and so on for at least Atari ST, Amiga and IBM PC you are not going to have any issue at all. 

 

 

Edited March 18, 2022 by eightbit