FlashFloppy - new firmware for Gotek drives, open source

[Keir]

Originally Posted by Higgy

Kaffer - I was thinking about the 3rd button. I think a well organised USB stick will be very useful for no config mode. Especially for Amstrad CPC and other platforms without selector software.

Can you have 'double press/click' on the 3rd button? Selecting a file by staying on the file for a second feels ok, or a single press. But I think exiting a directory is more of an issue. Say for example a games directory 'S' (always lots of games with S) to exit the directory you have to scroll all the way back/forward to .. for 'up a directory'. Having a dedicated button I think will improve the User Experience.

Haven't fully thought out subfolder support, but probably pressing both up&down buttons will move to first item in current folder, and in a subfolder that would quite naturally be '..' anyway.

[utri007]

So third button works already?

[Higgy]

Up&down together sounds good.
Having all the functionality with a standard Gotek sounds best, although for those who don't mind some soldering a dedicated button would be handy.

A have a question - when adding additional ADF's to Akira's pack the files are not added in alphabetical order in the Selector program. I know FAT Sorter can fix this, but it would have to be run each time filex are added to the USB stick and users might not be aware of this issue.
Sorry but I don't know the limitations of why this happens, but could it be fixed so files are shown alphabetically in Selector and no config mode?

Utri007 - I don't believe FlashFloppy has 3rd button yet. HxC has it implemented.

[wmsteele]

Originally Posted by FutureComet

this is really an awesome firmware, thanks for this.

I am using it in Slot mode, but it is no fun to populate
the slots with the selector software (AUTOBOOT.HFE)
So i made a small GUI Tool for the Windows version of
the file selector.

download here:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/0pe6babv5o..._0100.zip?dl=1


Maybe someone will find this useful...
please let me know any comments

Amazing, many thanks, works perfectly

[Keir]

Originally Posted by Higgy

A have a question - when adding additional ADF's to Akira's pack the files are not added in alphabetical order in the Selector program. I know FAT Sorter can fix this, but it would have to be run each time filex are added to the USB stick and users might not be aware of this issue.
Sorry but I don't know the limitations of why this happens, but could it be fixed so files are shown alphabetically in Selector and no config mode?

The limitation is simply that selector and firmware step back and forth between entries in the FAT directory list, and so observe the order of that list (which tends to have new stuff placed at the end). Presenting a sorted list would need to read entire directory list (including long names up to 255 chars each) into RAM, then sort. That's a potential latency issue to read everything up front and possibly a RAM capacity issue too. Not so bad if directories are moderate length I guess.

I don't know... FAT sorting is pretty well known and lots of solutions for it exist for any host OS you care to mention. I can't call this one a high priority tbh.

[esel]

Thx for this great piece of Software works really good.

Only 2 thinks i am missing:

Ejecting the disk ( Pressing both bottons for 2 Secs. sound good )
Possible to access the usb stick via Workbanch so i can use my amiga to
copy the ADF files.

[Keir]

Originally Posted by esel

Possible to access the usb stick via Workbanch so i can use my amiga to
copy the ADF files.

I thought this software existed already but I can find no trace of it so I must assume it doesn't. This would indeed be nice to have, but I'm unlikely to do it myself, or at least not in the immediate future. It needs an Amiga block driver written for accessing the Gotek in direct-access mode.

[demolition]

Originally Posted by kaffer

I thought this software existed already but I can find no trace of it so I must assume it doesn't. This would indeed be nice to have, but I'm unlikely to do it myself, or at least not in the immediate future. It needs an Amiga block driver written for accessing the Gotek in direct-access mode.

I guess the speed would still be limited to standard floppy drive speed since the interface cannot go any faster, i.e. ~22kB/s? It could still be a nice feature to have though.

[Keir]

Originally Posted by demolition

I guess the speed would still be limited to standard floppy drive speed since the interface cannot go any faster, i.e. ~22kB/s? It could still be a nice feature to have though.

Yes in that region, it wouldn't be fast haha.

[Daedalus]

*Ponders feasibility of clockport interface for Gotek*

Hmmm... Not being that familiar with the Gotek, is there a simple-ish direct access mode other than USB or the floppy interface? Or can the floppy interface be driven much more quickly? If that was the case, it might be possible to multiplex the clockport onto it for much faster direct access from the OS... Or is that too crazy an idea to ever work?

I need more sleep

[Keir]

Originally Posted by Daedalus

*Ponders feasibility of clockport interface for Gotek*

Hmmm... Not being that familiar with the Gotek, is there a simple-ish direct access mode other than USB or the floppy interface? Or can the floppy interface be driven much more quickly? If that was the case, it might be possible to multiplex the clockport onto it for much faster direct access from the OS... Or is that too crazy an idea to ever work?

I need more sleep

If you want to put the Gotek into a special mode, many of the I/Os could be clocked quite a bit faster than floppy interface speeds. However most/all are connected on the Amiga side to Paula (fixed-rate interface) or CIAs (which are clocked slow). Pushing parallel data down you could probably achieve a couple Mbps maybe, via normal Amiga floppy I/Os?

[Keir]

Just released v0.6.0a: https://github.com/keirf/FlashFloppy/releases

* PC Interface support (not applicable to Amiga) -- simply place a jumper at position JC to configure PC interface (DSKCHG at pin 34, no signal at pin 2).
(Note: 1.44MB (HD) image support is not yet reliable).

* Kingstener: Narrow OLED font, allowing entire display to be visible through the Gotek's 3-digit display cutout without needing to cut/file it wider.

* OLED reliability fixes.

[Daedalus]

Originally Posted by kaffer

If you want to put the Gotek into a special mode, many of the I/Os could be clocked quite a bit faster than floppy interface speeds. However most/all are connected on the Amiga side to Paula (fixed-rate interface) or CIAs (which are clocked slow). Pushing parallel data down you could probably achieve a couple Mbps maybe, via normal Amiga floppy I/Os?

I was thinking more of switching the data lines through a multiplexer to the clock port, bypassing Paula and the CIAs altogether and using that for transfers. There'd be a bit of glue logic involved but nothing too crazy I wouldn't think. Bit-banging the CIAs might get you a reasonable throughput, but I can't imagine that playing well with trackdisk.device.

[Keir]

Originally Posted by Daedalus

I was thinking more of switching the data lines through a multiplexer to the clock port, bypassing Paula and the CIAs altogether and using that for transfers. There'd be a bit of glue logic involved but nothing too crazy I wouldn't think. Bit-banging the CIAs might get you a reasonable throughput, but I can't imagine that playing well with trackdisk.device.

Then the limitation will not be the firmware or the MCU, but limitations at the Amiga end and/or the bandwidth limitation of I/O lines with 1k passive pullups.

The MCU could easily do serial communication at a few dozen MHz if the lines were totem pole (which they're not, of course).

[Amiga1992]

Well I know nobody gave a shit about my SWOS report and didn't test shit :P so I went and did some tests myself.

I can confirm there is an issue, but I cannot confirm if it is FlashFloppy-exclusive. It could be a general Gotek issue.
On my A600 with ACA620, I get the horizontal lines whenever the ACA is not disabled. As soon as I disable the ACA or disconnect the Gotek's data cable, the lines are gone.

Later if I find some time I will try to flash the Gotek with Cortex again and see if this still happens.
Anybody with an ACA620 can test this? Especially if you still have Gotek with teh Cortex firmware.
If it is a processor issue, a stock A1200 should show the same behavior. This does not happen on my A600 with the ACA disabled or my A500.
Maybe it's the Chip RAM access speed? How would the two be related anyway?

I tried to take some photos and marked with a red arrow the areas where lines appear:
https://1drv.ms/f/s!AmC92RL7QVtHsJRyKhr80b0nCjeInA

Did the best I could, was hard to sync to 50Hz with my phone. Video just didn't work but I might try again with my proper camera.
(And no, my monitor isn't broken)

To test, you only need SWOS and having a Gotek connected. You can use the WHDLoad version which loads faster to test it. The lines will appear too, whether you used the Gotek to load the game or not.
As long as Gotek + ACA are plugged in on my system, the issue is shon.

Ah also, yes, my A600 is recapped and I am using a picoPSU with plenty of wattage for power.

[Higgy]

I gave a shit. Post #283.
Although it turned into a small mission of finding an actual version which would boot.
I did not quite realise the horiz lines were just when playing a match. I will look again once I have done my house chores!!
Update: House jobs done And SWOS testing done. Seems fine on both A500 (512mb expansion) and A1200 '030 via Floppy & WHDLoad.

[Amiga1992]

Originally Posted by Higgy

I gave a shit. Post #283.

HAha I know you did, I was joking, but you just had issues with the game loading at all.

I need someone with an ACA620 to test this out. I haven't tried on my A1200 but I am guessing the issue will not show up.
I'm just very lazy to open up all these machines :P But will probably give the A1200 a try today and I expect it not to show the issue. This COULD be an ACA620 issue for all I know.

[supaduper]

Originally Posted by Akira

HAha I know you did, I was joking, but you just had issues with the game loading at all.

I need someone with an ACA620 to test this out. I haven't tried on my A1200 but I am guessing the issue will not show up.
I'm just very lazy to open up all these machines :P But will probably give the A1200 a try today and I expect it not to show the issue. This COULD be an ACA620 issue for all I know.

Just tried SWOS on My A1200 /030
No problems here mate no lines what so ever, so there is a little gremlin in your A600

[Amiga1992]

Originally Posted by supaduper

Just tried SWOS on My A1200 /030

Yeah, as I said, I need someone with an A600 + ACA620 to test. Tests on other setups are pointless, as I have done them myself too, I tested on A500 as well. I suggested A1200 but ONLY on the stock configuration, to see if it was an EC020 related issue. A 030 setup doesn't yield any usable results.

The gremlin could be the ACA. But is it the ACA's fault or the Gotek's fault that this happens? How to tell?

Until someone with an A600+ACA620 can test the same thing I am testing, I cannot say it is my machine. I highly doubt it is the computer though, as it works just great all the time and as I said, it has been recently serviced.

[supaduper]

Yeah I know buddy but you stated that you were going to try it on your A1200 so I thought I`d just try for ya