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Author Topic: Dual floppy with a regular DF0 and a Gotek (with switch)  (Read 11490 times)

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Offline superfrog76Topic starter

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Dual floppy with a regular DF0 and a Gotek (with switch)
« on: October 02, 2018, 05:01:56 AM »
Hi all,

I have finally got a Gotek; now I am planning to install it but I don't want to loose the regular DF0, since I still run some floppy on my system.
I have a 1200 motherboard in a HTPC case; so I would like to set up both the Gotek and the DF0.

I did get a cable with 2 connectors but sadly it is a regular PC connector, so the cable has the cable twist. I want to use either drive, not both of them at the same time, so I did research a bit and I heard that it is possible to do so, by adding a switch on few pins on the cable.

Now, I have no idea how to do this...I have the 2 drives and the cable, but not sure how to "untwist" the cable, so the pins will be the same (it is a ribbon cable,  I don't have a crimper so I can't add the connector just on top of the cable; which means that I need to cut some of the wires and attach them again using the iron probably), and the second question would be how to add a switch, so I can cycle between the regular floppy drive and the Gotek drive, without switch connector.

I know that the fastest way would be to just disconnect the connector every time I need to swap drive; but the case is closed and the monitor is on top of the case, so every time I would like to swap I would need to take off the monitor, the case cover and swap the drive...a lot of work to be honest, if I can avoid it :)

I assume someone else did install a Gotek and the regular floppy already; so I am curious to know how did you do it. Thanks
 

Offline wbrejnia

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Re: Dual floppy with a regular DF0 and a Gotek (with switch)
« Reply #1 on: October 03, 2018, 06:34:05 AM »
HI there.

I may be able to help you.  But hang in there.  I'm getting setup.

I just dug out my Amiga from Storage and will be rebuilding it from Scratch, possibly on this old Thread that I started last year.

https://forum.amiga.org/index.php?topic=71885.msg840460#new

IN that Photo which I just put up today you see my setup.

It has a Gotek on DF1:      Floppy on DF0;

Both above are on a single Ribbon Cable coming from Mother Board.
The cable is Straight to Gotek, but between the Gotek and Floppy 3 of the Ribbon Cable wires are twisted and reversed (I'll get you a closeup photo)

Also I noticed on the Gotek I put a Sticker that Selects that Gotek is DF1:  (Using a JUMPER)
There is no jumper for DF0:

Stay tuned.

I may have documented that in my Thread, but that's a lot of unrelated reading.

Right now I have my own problem.   My floppies have gotten so old they Don't boot Workbench.
 

Offline wbrejnia

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Re: Dual floppy with a regular DF0 and a Gotek (with switch)
« Reply #2 on: October 03, 2018, 06:39:22 AM »
I just read your post again.

and you say.
I want to use either drive, not both of them at the same time

Not sure why you want things to work that way.

Do you want to boot from Gotek Sometimes, and sometimes from Floppy?  (So basically you want to allow both GOTEK/FLOPPY to be df0:)..with a Switch or something like that.
 

Offline wbrejnia

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Re: Dual floppy with a regular DF0 and a Gotek (with switch)
« Reply #3 on: October 03, 2018, 07:07:32 AM »
What Kickstart ROM are you using?

Did some digging thru my old thread and played around with my Amiga.

I have all 4 Roms on a switcher KS1.2 1.3 2 3.1

This only worked on KS3.1 for me.

http://wiki.amigaos.net/wiki/AmigaOS_Manual:_Early_Startup


When you power up the Amiga, it will take you to a EARLY STARUP MENU (if you hold BOTH MOUSE BUTTONS)....Before Booting of a Floppy.

From there you can select which drive to boot from  DF0: DF1, so if you get your GOTEK working as DF1: and   Floppy on DF0:  you may be able to boot from Either without any fancy cabling and switch.
« Last Edit: October 03, 2018, 07:10:25 AM by wbrejnia »
 

Offline wbrejnia

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Re: Dual floppy with a regular DF0 and a Gotek (with switch)
« Reply #4 on: October 03, 2018, 07:21:24 AM »
And I just got to Early Startup Menu with Kickstart 2.0 ROM

Booted off DF0:  (Floppy)

Then Also Booted off DF1:  (Gotek)

Appears no such menu in Kickstart 1.2 and 1.3
 

Offline wbrejnia

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Re: Dual floppy with a regular DF0 and a Gotek (with switch)
« Reply #5 on: October 03, 2018, 07:35:50 AM »
And now this is interesting.

I found out with my Setup, if I have a FLOPPY in the DF0: drive it boot from it.

If I take Floppy out, it boots from the GOTEK

Doesn't matter which KICKSTART ROM I use (not need to go to Early Startup Menu).

One comment.  I converted the FIRMWARE on my GOTEK to HXC (which is a great upgrade.  Many feature more than Gotek Provides like booting directly off of ADF files on the USB Stick)
 

Offline superfrog76Topic starter

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Re: Dual floppy with a regular DF0 and a Gotek (with switch)
« Reply #6 on: October 04, 2018, 05:35:56 PM »
Thanks a lot for the reply!

So fundamentally I wanted to have both as DF0: since many floppy won't boot from DF1, at least from what I recall (haven't touch the Amiga for ages). If there is a way to boot directly from DF1 as if it was DF0; I am just fine having both drives on the regular twisted cable, and set the jumpers as you did mention earlier in the post.

But if that is not possible, I would like to have the option to be able to boot from either, without the need to open the case and swap cables; possibly with a switch (although I still need to turn off the Amiga of course, does not feel right to hot swap on a 1991 computer to be honest).

I am on 3.1 KS, and I use 3.1 as Workbench (the enhanced version from Bloodwich, it has a ton of nice things already set up like MUI and such)

Thanks again!
 

Offline wbrejnia

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Re: Dual floppy with a regular DF0 and a Gotek (with switch)
« Reply #7 on: October 05, 2018, 05:23:55 AM »
hmm.

I looked into what you want to do.   Have GOTEK and Floppy both DF0:  (choose one or other without opening case).

Never did that, but if I even needed it I'd figure out something.

Wonder if it would work if you turn off power on the one you don't want.  Both setup on the cable as DF0: setup, but only one is powered up.
You would have a switch flipping the (+ Voltage) to one or the other.

Try that without a switch for now.   Hook up both and power one off.
 

Offline wbrejnia

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Re: Dual floppy with a regular DF0 and a Gotek (with switch)
« Reply #8 on: October 05, 2018, 05:29:45 AM »
Actually what I mentioned above won't work if you have the two drives on a Twisted Cable. (I think)

The cable if I remember correctly makes one DF0: and the other DF1:  (I think)

What I was thinking is if you had a TWO connectors crimped on the Same piece of the ribbon cable, before the Twist.

Not sure if there would be interference from the one powered off, but I think not.  It's just a ribbon BUS.
 

Offline wbrejnia

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Re: Dual floppy with a regular DF0 and a Gotek (with switch)
« Reply #9 on: October 05, 2018, 05:39:32 AM »
Hey,

I just tested my idea.  (With GOTEK and FLOPPY Drive on the Ribbon Cable with TWIST)  No changes.

0) I changed the JUMPER on the GOTEK to be DF0:

1) I pulled the power off the GOTEK and left Floppy POWER UP and  [ALL I could see the FLOPPY as DF0:]
2) I pulled the power OFF the FLOPPY but had POWER on the Gotek [All I could see was GOTEK as DF0:] 

Each try (1) & (2) of course needed a reboot.

So just build a switch to flip flop power between the two.

I would leave both GROUNDED, and Switch The (+Volt wire) with a SPDT switch.

The switch on long enough (3 wires) would go outside your case.

You just have to look up the Floppy Drive Connector Pinouts for which is the Postive Voltage Wire.

Wally
« Last Edit: October 05, 2018, 05:44:29 AM by wbrejnia »
 

Offline superfrog76Topic starter

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Re: Dual floppy with a regular DF0 and a Gotek (with switch)
« Reply #10 on: October 07, 2018, 11:03:23 PM »
Fantastic!

So they can be both connected as DF0 even if the cable is twisted; and all that it takes is to switch power?

I can easily do a Y cable with a switch to route power; that is brilliant. Thanks again for your help! I hope you did turn off the Amiga before switch power; not sure that the power rail on the floppy has any sort of voltage regulator or fuse to avoid to blow up the floppy; when powering it up. The gotek should be more lenient on that, since it is newer tech compared to a floppy drive :)
 

Offline wbrejnia

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Re: Dual floppy with a regular DF0 and a Gotek (with switch)
« Reply #11 on: October 11, 2018, 05:20:29 AM »
Yes, I did power down between Unit Swaps. (That's what I meant by Reboot).

I don't want to Fry anything on this ancient piece of HW.  Even bought and use Ground Straps for any fooling around inside the A2000.

Good luck, and let me know if you get it working.
 

Offline desiv

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Re: Dual floppy with a regular DF0 and a Gotek (with switch)
« Reply #12 on: October 12, 2018, 02:45:15 AM »
I did this same thing, but instead of using the power line, I just put the switch on DS0.
Both the drive and the Gotek were always powered on, but the switch controlled which one was the active drive.
Worked great, but my cable w/ the switch was UGLY.
I've been meaning to do that again possibly, but I have to figure out where I would put my Gotek. (In my A1000)
Although my Amiga 1000 internal floppy is really unhappy.  So I'll also need to sort that.
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?p=946881&highlight=switch#post946881
(Note: ignore my comment in that post about the Gotek supporting a Kickstart, as it does that fine.  I had a bad image/transfer at the time.)
Amiga 1200 w/ ACA1230/28 - 4G CF, MAS Player, ext floppy, and 1084S.
Amiga 500 w/ 2M CHIP and 8M FAST RAM, DCTV, AEHD floppy, and 1084S.
Amiga 1000 w/ 4M FAST RAM, DUAL CF hard drives, external floppy.
 

Offline wbrejnia

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Re: Dual floppy with a regular DF0 and a Gotek (with switch)
« Reply #13 on: October 14, 2018, 06:11:01 AM »
Interesting thought.  Thanks.

I may go that way, but will have to think about how I want to do that.

I have a similar issue with some of my other Amiga Periperals.

They have Jumpers that I need to switch to make things work.

I am thinking of using an Ardiuno CPU Controller and some simple Relays, and then just step thru the various combos of Jumper, Gotek vs Floppy setups.
 

Offline Ral-Clan

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Re: Dual floppy with a regular DF0 and a Gotek (with switch)
« Reply #14 on: October 14, 2018, 04:22:40 PM »
I'm kind of wanting to do the same thing in an A2000 (have a Gotek but also have the ability to boot from the real floppy too).
With an A2000, which has provision for two floppy drives internally, would this be any easier?

I'm just thinking, maybe I should just put the Gotek as DF1: (drive 2) and use the early startup menu in KS3.1 to boot from DF1:
That would be just as good as making some hardware switch, no?
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