Dual floppy with a regular DF0 and a Gotek (with switch)

[wbrejnia]

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.

[wbrejnia]

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.

[wbrejnia]

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.

[wbrejnia]

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

[wbrejnia]

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)

[wbrejnia]

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.

[wbrejnia]

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.

[wbrejnia]

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

[wbrejnia]

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.

[wbrejnia]

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.

[wbrejnia]

Early Startup menu should work.   I will try that (maybe I already did).

If it does work, then the only reason it would fail is if the Software/GAME on the DF1: Gotek (fails) since it somehow only wants to be booted from DF0:

[wbrejnia]

Yes that will work.
I tested it.

The only thing that won't work is (some program/game) really wants the Floppy to be in DF0:

Then you will have to switch the two floppies around (GOTEK/Floppy) DF1: /DFO: