Atari External Gotek Floppy Cable??

[GrandviewCoin]

So I am trying to bring a 520STm back to life and want to use a Gotek as a external drive..

 

I have seen on Amibay a guy called a.mi.goun selling the cables I think I need.

 

Problem is you can't register on there at all right now.

 

Any idea on how to make my own? I've looked and have seen some confusing info.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Dan

 

 

[bfollowell]

Hmmmm. I think most people would install the Gotek into a SF314 or SF354 shell and then hook that up to the ST normally. I haven't seen any information concerning how to create a cable like this though, so I'm not sure where to refer you to for making your own.

 

Why can't you register on Amibay? I clicked register and the registration process started. I didn't go all the way through and submit it though. Does it fail at some point after you submit it?

 

[GrandviewCoin]

It does fail after you enter all your info in..

 

I hadn't thought about using a existing 354 shell..

[Ute]

I bought a drive cable from Best, cut it in half and made two cables like the one pictured. It was a little time consuming figuring out which wires needed to connect up to the ribbon cable, but it is totally possible.

 

How much is the cable? If it's less than $20 I would just buy it instead of making it myself again.

 

Don't forget you need to an external power supply as well - 2nd picture.

[Ute]

This is the other one I made.

[hobbyhands]

That is just what I am looking to do. I can see how getting the correct pin outs would take time. I just bought a 520st myself and want to add a gotek. Hello fellow Utah person!

[Ute]

Sent you a PM.

[zezba9000]

Can you share the wiring needed?

What 14 din pins match the 34 pin floppy?

[zezba9000]

I'm kinda fuzzy if I'm missing something with this info I've gathered in the image.

 

[TGB1718]

From the photo, it looks like on the Gotek the even pins 2,4,6,8 etc are along the top looking at the orientation you have in your photo's,

Pin 2 being on the left hand side, so the lower row will be the odd's starting at pin 1 on the left.

 

So Atari Socket -> Ribbon Cable

1 read ->>>> >>>>    30

2 Side Select >>>>>   32

3 Ground>>>>>>>>   any odd pin

4 Index >>>>>>>>    8

5 Drive 0 select >>>   14

6 Drive 1 select >>>   12

7 Ground >>>>>>>   any odd pin

8 Motor on >>>>>>   16

9 Direction >>>>>>   18

10 Step >>>>>>>>   20

11 Write Data >>>>   22

12 Write Gate >>>>   24

13 Track 0 >>>>>>   26

14 Write Protect >>>  28

 

If using ribbon cable (try get an old PC floppy cable) there will be a Blue or Red wire on one side

this is to mark Pin 1 of the cable so its easy to work out which way round it goes.

 

Sorry, can't help on the jumpers as I don't have a Gotec

 

Hope that helps

[zezba9000]

On 8/1/2020 at 1:08 PM, TGB1718 said:

From the photo, it looks like on the Gotek the even pins 2,4,6,8 etc are along the top looking at the orientation you have in your photo's,

Pin 2 being on the left hand side, so the lower row will be the odd's starting at pin 1 on the left.

 

So Atari Socket -> Ribbon Cable

1 read ->>>> >>>>    30

2 Side Select >>>>>   32

3 Ground>>>>>>>>   any odd pin

4 Index >>>>>>>>    8

5 Drive 0 select >>>   14

6 Drive 1 select >>>   12

7 Ground >>>>>>>   any odd pin

8 Motor on >>>>>>   16

9 Direction >>>>>>   18

10 Step >>>>>>>>   20

11 Write Data >>>>   22

12 Write Gate >>>>   24

13 Track 0 >>>>>>   26

14 Write Protect >>>  28

 

If using ribbon cable (try get an old PC floppy cable) there will be a Blue or Red wire on one side

this is to mark Pin 1 of the cable so its easy to work out which way round it goes.

 

Sorry, can't help on the jumpers as I don't have a Gotec

 

Hope that helps

I'm told M0 isn't needed (not sure if its a problem when its on or not). Only S0 is needed.

If I can't get a cable from here: http://www.amibay.com/showthread.php?100832-Gotek-External-ROUND-Floppy-cables-for-ATARI-ST/

I will go through the work of making a new cable.

[Ute]

If I remember right, one side of the pins are ground - Odd pins IIRC, the rest just need to be matched up as TGB1718  suggested.

 

Attached are diagrams I used to make them.

 

 

 

 

Connector2.tiffRibbon2.tiffRibbon1.tiffDin.tiffConnector1.tiff

Edited August 3, 2020 by Ute
Spelling

[zezba9000]

Ok finally got back to Atari ST520.

 

So I can get the computer to see a drive is connected but it can't read the drive & the drive green read LED is always on.

[zezba9000]

This is how the cable is wired. Is anything wrong?

[TGB1718]

15 hours ago, zezba9000 said:

So I can get the computer to see a drive is connected but it can't read the drive & the drive green read LED is always on.

If you've wired correctly and the green LED is always on is usually indicating the cable is on the wrong way round

[zezba9000]

3 hours ago, TGB1718 said:

If you've wired correctly and the green LED is always on is usually indicating the cable is on the wrong way round

No thats not it. Upside down the green read LED is always on even when the computer isn't (I even tried mirroring the 14pin din cable).

I labeled both the adapters as facing forward (as in you looking at the face that plugs into a device port). Do I have something mirrored wrong?

 

If I get this working I'm sharing what the actual wiring is that doesn't leave anything to question. IDK why all the images on the web leave huge amounts to question of what is forward for a cable and direct mappings like my image shows. Really wish someone would map their existing cable with real images. This seems like such a critical cable to have to have a working ST520 that only supports external drives I'm surprised there isn't more on it.

Edited September 27, 2020 by zezba9000

[TGB1718]

I'm pretty sure that the STE diagram will show the correct wiring as it has an internal floppy and

the wiring to the external plug is shown, you may just have to ensure the drive select is correct.

Edited September 27, 2020 by TGB1718
ADDED iMAGE

[zezba9000]

I have already wired it like that. Thats the same as the images @Ute sent but it doesn't work or I'm missing something.

I need to see a physical picture of what pins are what on a working cable for GoTek. Something maybe with gnd pins or cable mirroring is wrong idk. A real picture gives a lot more info about expected arrangements.

 

I'm trying to get one of these cables: http://www.amibay.com/showthread.php?100832-Gotek-External-ROUND-Floppy-cables-for-ATARI-ST

But I would like to make my existing cable work as well and backup this information.

[TGB1718]

The only thing I can suggest at this point is to use a Multimeter, open up the ST and with both turned off, continuity check between

the Gotec and the appropriate point inside your ST, remember the drive select and side select come from the sound chip I believe pins 19,20 and 21

 

[zezba9000]

I am going to just get a cable from: amibay.com

Then I can validate wires. So well see how that goes however long it takes to get one.

 

My Atari ST520 was fully restored. I don't think anything is wrong with it.

For now though going to get ULTRASATAN external HD / SD drive. Probably better option anyway.

[zezba9000]

So think something might be wrong with my Gotek.

Tried the Gotek in a Atari ST 1040 and it didn't work.

Tried to flash the STM32 and the Win32 flasher says it can't recognize the device.

Tried to flash with stm32flasher CLI tool and it says "Failed to init device"

[zezba9000]

So got cable finally.  Also figured out how to flash new Gotek models shown here: https://github.com/keirf/FlashFloppy/issues/232

 

So there is a Gotek (FDD-UDD U144K) I flashed booting off an external floppy cable on an Atari ST 520.

I'm post a some pictures of cable wiring later. To make it simple and avoid complications for others.

 

 

The issue I was having before was the pre-configured USB drive & Gotek combo off Ebay I had bought wasn't configured correct like it was supposed to really confusing me.

As I'm new to these I didn't know what to look for and expect.

[TGB1718]

Nice to see you got it going, I never managed to get my GOEX going, although they said send it back, the postage

cost just doesn't make it worth it, so just put it down to experience.

[zezba9000]

13 hours ago, TGB1718 said:

Nice to see you got it going, I never managed to get my GOEX going, although they said send it back, the postage

cost just doesn't make it worth it, so just put it down to experience.

You can buy the Gotek drives I used for 20$ https://www.ebay.com/itm/SFR1M44-U100-Normal-Version-3-5-1-44MB-USB-SSD-Floppy-Drive-Emulator-Gotek/174409464532/

The method I show at the end of the GitHub page works 100% of the time it seems (You don't need to solder the new boards either). I would only use the new Gotek model with the ST-LinkV2 programmer as its less of a hassle.

[tocksin]

On 9/26/2020 at 7:59 PM, zezba9000 said:

This is how the cable is wired. Is anything wrong?

This pinout is slightly different from TGB1718's table.  The pin 5 is going to pin 12 instead (TGB1718 is going to pin 14).  I've done TGB1718's version myself and I'm having some problems.  Before I cut and splice and solder, can you verify which is the correct way?  Is your external Gotek working with pin 5 on the circular connector going to pin 12 on the rectangular one?

Edited September 17, 2021 by tocksin