Gotek or other floppy emulators?

[TroyWilkins]

Does anyone here have any experience with the Gotek or something along the same lines? I don't really want to use floppy disks, but would like to keep the A600s internal drive if at all possible and add an external floppy emulator that I can use with some sort of USB or SD card with ADFs on it.

If that's not possible, I would certainly consider replacing the A600s internal floppy with something, as long as I could easily restore it back to factory to use with the few disks I do have... Thanks in advance!

[idrougge]

You can use a Gotek externally, but on the A600, you can't use it as DF0: easily.

[Arnie]

There's 3 options. As idrougge mentioned, any external solution is going to be DF1:. Also using an external device renders the second emulated drive redundant on the HXC models.

Internal fitting:
The HXC slim and the Gotek are the easiest to mount internally, so you can use it as DF0:
The HXC rev C is the hardest (but not impossible) because of the 3 buttons and the LCD display.

External:
The Gotek (cheapest + USB) or the HXC rev F (most expensive + SD card) are the best options. You will need an old external floppy case or an alternate method of connecting to the external floppy port.

(You can use the cortex firmware or the HXC firmware for the Gotek)

[TroyWilkins]

Ok, so I may be better off just getting a Gotek and fitting it internally, and simply swapping it back for the internal drive when I want to use real floppy disks (not often at all)?

[Zetr0]

Okay.... I might be putting the cat amongst the pidgeon's here.

Unless you are going to keep your Amiga floppy based - there is very little use from one of these devices. I have a Gotek that I modded - plumbed it up to the Amiga, I used it only a handful of times - its quicker to pull out the CF card - plug into my PC - dump the file and plumb it back to the Amiga again - than sort out the boot selector to what ADFs you want to lock in.

I have had a Gotek for over a year - I simply don't use it.... the last was on the A2000 about January time. its been removed and put in a box since then.

The point really about these things is that you will simply end up not using floppy media once you have a hard disk. Don't get me wrong there might be a few weeks to a month transitional period - but after that you will use it less and less until not at all.

If I could humbly suggest to put your cash into a hard disk device solution you won't be disappointed =)


Now, the Gotek is probably the cheapest between the two, and if you don't mind a bit of hackery (and witch craft ) you can get this in an A600 with the original drive with a little switch that can swap / flip the Gotek and 3.5" Floppy drive from DF0 / DF1 to DF1 / DF0 respectively.

From that standpoint its nice for completeness - but to do a really good sympathetic mod does take some time and planning - and I wonder my good fellow, if it really is worth it.

[TroyWilkins]

I already have all the bits needed for a hard disk storage solution purchased and on their way to me, my friend, thank you so very much for your help in that regard

The reason I'm interested in one of these devices is because it's easy to get ADFs, and I've noticed that many of the games I'd like to play, and have the kids have a go at, while they may work with WHDLoad, they're going to require more RAM than they would if loading from Floppy. For example, the Settlers WHDLoad requires 5Mb fast RAM, while I could be wrong here, but I think it may load on a 2Mb or even 1Mb system from floppy.

I agree I'd rather not have to deal with floppy disks or floppy image files at all, but this seems like a good compromise for now, and heck, if in 6 months time, a year, I don't use the floppy emulator, oh well, it could still occasionally be handy.

[Zetr0]

Thats the exact reason I keep mine... One Day it may come in handy.

I think for long-term use, something like this is better served in say an modestly upgraded 1MB (CHIP) A500 - A very cheap method of getting a library of games at ones finger tips - I know a couple of people whom actually do this as opposed to buying hard-disk and RAM solutions for their Amiga 500. - but for about £45 (inc postage) one can get an 8MB FAST RAM upgrade with Compact Flash IDE.

So for me, since there is very little difference in price, I would normally plumb for the better upgrade - however since you already have that on the cards - then my friend this is about FUN - and yes the Gotek will give you a mild buzz for a little while

I keep meaning to post a schematic so A600/A1200 users can swap DF0/DF1 about internally and properly using a slightly modified internal cable amongst a couple of other little bits =)

[TroyWilkins]

Originally Posted by Zetr0

I keep meaning to post a schematic so A600/A1200 users can swap DF0/DF1 about internally and properly using a slightly modified internal cable amongst a couple of other little bits =)

Please do if you get a chance, I would really really appreciate it.

[Shatterhand]

I use my Gotek a lot (Again, thank you supaduper ) and I do have a CF card on my A600. But as I only have 2mb, I use it to play games that need more than 2mb to be played with WHDLoad.

But I use it externally with cables coming from the floppy hole. It looks kinda odd, but this way I didn't have to vandalize the case while still using it as DF0: (since using it as DF1: is basically useful for nothing )