Floppy replacement - USB to FDD?

[danbeaver]

Indeed, worth every cent, I have one in my a500. :cool:

The HxC or the Chinese USB device for industrial machines (looms and tool & die)?

[djos]

HxC, those Chinese things are unlikely to work very well in an Amiga IMO!

[Iggy]

Personally, and yes I know I've posted this before, but I like this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Amiga-500-1000-2000-3000-Floppy-Simulator-w-MPDOS-Pro-/321096932559?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEWNX%3AIT&nma=true&si=pc2nIpO7tYFg8ECsklzbxndzDd8%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

[Jeff_HxC]

Indeed, worth every cent, I have one in my a500. :cool:

The HxC or the Chinese USB device for industrial machines (looms and tool & die)?

HxC, those Chinese things are unlikely to work very well in an Amiga IMO!

But the HxC is not only Amiga ! :
http://hxc2001.com/showroom/index.html#IndusRetroFit

[djos]

I'm well aware of that.

[Coolhand]

http://coolhandtech.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/cheapo-amiga-floppy-emulator-inbound.html

Despite the nay-saying, A guy in France named "HM" has made this work and shared the solution, great stuff!

[Chartus]

I ordered one of the Gotek USB floppy emulators from china and it should arrive in a few days.  It doesn't work out of the box, but you can flash it with new software to make it work with the Amiga.  Everyone is using USB adapters to do the flashing and sometimes having problems.

Can I use the COM ports that are on the MB to do the flashing or does it have to be a USB adapter?  I think it would work because the USB is just emulating a COM port right?

[desiv]

Can I use the COM ports that are on the MB to do the flashing or does it have to be a USB adapter?  I think it would work because the USB is just emulating a COM port right?

Nope, you need the adapter because these devices aren't RS232 serial, they are TTL serial.
The big difference I believe is voltage..

Good thing is that the TTL USB adapters are so inexpensive.
Mine was $2 shipped from China.  Yeah, it took a few weeks, but got it yesterday.
Got my Gotek 2 days ago.

You do have to attach the TTL device to the GOTEK for programming.
I did this by soldering in 4 header pins (2 for a jumper for "programming mode" and 2 for send receive.
The USB/TTL adapter I got had header plugs already on it, so I didn't have to crimp them or anything.
(Some people just soldered the cable to the Gotek and then removed it after, but it's really not hard to solder header pins.  Even I can do it. ;-)  And they are cheap..)

Once i did that (I did have to disconnect/reconnect power to the GOTEK to get my PC to see it), it was just running a program to FLASH the image to it.

Then I took a USB drive I had lying around, copied the "selector.adf" that is provided to it, and then a few ADFs.

When I hooked it up to my Amiga last night, I just swapped my floppy drive for this device, powered on, and the selector.adf ran and let me select which ADF I wanted in which "slot" for the GOTEK.  When I selected save and reset, the Amiga restarted and the GOTEK went to slot 1.
Booted up and there was Tetris..
Then I hit the button on the Gotek to select slot 2, restarted the Amiga and Workbench loaded.

Slowly mind you.  This is Amiga floppy speeds only.  ;-)

Fun little device..

Yeah, it's nowhere near as nice as an HxC, but it was $20 and I got to use a soldering iron for something easy.  ;-)  Right in my wheelhouse..

It will be interesting to see how the firmware develops...  What features are possible (DF0 AND DF1 would be nice.. ;-), etc...

But for the money, this is a fun little project.

Also, now that some of us have the TTL devices, if someone doesn't want to hassle with the flashing, I'm sure we could help out.
Of course, it's better to have the flash ability yourself, for firmware updates (there has already been 1 of those).

desiv
FYI, I got this adapter: http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-USB-to-TTL-Serial-Cable-Adapter-Chipset-PL2303HX-Cable-Computer-Cable-/121278772203?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c3cc733eb

[Chartus]

That's no fun.  I was looking forward to resurrecting one of my old computers to use the serial port.  I was going to see if Win 7 would run on it.  Oh well... I guess I will go and check the bay for one of those USB cables.

I am also impressed with those HXC floppy devices.  The only thing that I didn't like was they can't use ADF files.  That is why I am going for the Gotek .

[desiv]

At this time, I'm still recommending the HxC for end users..
It's much more complete...

That said, I am having a lot of fun with the GOTEK solution.
I get to do just a tiny bit of soldering.  (4 header pins to the board)
Some firmware flashing..  It's fun..

I got it working, but it's only the 2nd firmware release..
It apparently can't do kickstart images (so no A1000's) yet..

I haven't even tried to see if it supports saving...
(I didn't really think of it till now)....

My plan is to eventually hook it up to my Amiga 1000, but I want to put in a switch that toggles between it in the internal floppy, so I can use either (not on the fly, but if i want to boot from real floppies).

Should be fun.. ;-)

Good luck..

desiv

[Chartus]

They can read and write from what I have read.  In my opinion it seems like a simpler solution than the Hxc.  A  USB stick is better than an Sd card and no need to run a program to make the Amiga software compatible with it.  I just ordered the USB TTL serial cable today so I can flash it.  Just my luck that it arrived this afternoon.  Two or three more weeks to wait.

I agree that the Hxc is a more polished solution but in my case the inability of it to use ADF's was a deal breaker.  If it could do that I would be using one already.

It will be interesting to see how far they can push these  Gotek units.

[Furvert]

I agree that the Hxc is a more polished solution but in my case the inability of it to use ADF's was a deal breaker.  If it could do that I would be using one already.

Not sure where you saw that they don't use ADF's. According to:

http://hxc2001.free.fr/floppy_drive_emulator/

It handles that fine. The usb version has no write support but the SD card does..SDHC Card supported up to 32GB. I don't think I have that many floppies in the bigass totes I have.

I dropped the other link as it seems that whole page is just trolling.

[djos]

Definitely a case of rubbishing other products to push their own wheelbarrow!

[desiv]

Not sure where you saw that they don't use ADF's. According to:

I think what they were talking about is the ability to just put ADFs on the SD Card and read them, which I don't believe the HxC does..
I believe (I don't own one) that you have to convert the ADFs (or IPFs and some other formats) to the HxC format.
Although I hear there is a batch conversion type of tool to make it easier...

desiv

[kickstart]

http://cortexamigafloppydrive.wordpress.com/

[danbeaver]

Is it really that simple?  A 20 buck Gotek USB device off ichyBay plus a $4 buck USB-to-UART device, solder a few pins, download a couple of things, and then in 30 minutes, boom a replacement drive that holds a ton of ADF's?

I am afraid to say that to settle my interest in the topic, I did just that.  But now the case is being painted to a nice Amiga beige and drying.

P.S., it may have been less than 30 minutes