FlashFloppy - new firmware for Gotek drives, open source

[demolition]

Originally Posted by SunSpire

No point in playing the 11-disk version of Monkey Island 2, for instance, when there is whdload for that :P

Swapping disks in that game was one of the fun parts of playing it. I remember with fondness losing hours of play time because a disk has a read error in the middle of the game. Or not. I'm sure the buttons on my Gotek would be worn out by the time I had played through MI2 if I wanted to do it like that..

[Keir]

Originally Posted by SunSpire

I noticed that when navigating through disk images quickly, the autoscroll on the OLED display does not reset from its previous scroll position and so the beginning of the next floppy image's description is positioned in the middle rather than at the beginning of the text). Can this be fixed / prevented with the config file?

That was deliberate, to allow you to see for example the disk numbers across a set of TOSEC-named image files, without needing to wait for the scroll to come round on each one.

It *could* be configurable, or outright changed, if noone likes it.

[SunSpire]

Sounds like a useful idea but I would have to do more testing to see whether I actually like it or not, as well as trying out different scroll speeds and autoselect delays via config. I guess the real starting point should be a good selection of adf files, with no duplicates, and shorter file names. The TOSEC files in particular are extensively long, not that I fancy renaming them all one by one

[SunSpire]

Last night I have written a small guide that explains a possible solution for installing a Gotek floppy drive internally with additional navigation buttons and OLED screen, in a non-destructive way that leaves the Amiga case wholly unharmed.

Maybe it will be useful to some people, so I wanted to share it

[Higgy]

Originally Posted by kaffer

That was deliberate, to allow you to see for example the disk numbers across a set of TOSEC-named image files, without needing to wait for the scroll to come round on each one.

It *could* be configurable, or outright changed, if noone likes it.

I noticed this. The main thing is the timing so that it scrolls back around to the beginning, and your eyes/brain have enough time to process - is this the correct disk, or do I need to move to the next disk before it is mounted and starts loading.
The eyes/brain processing time might be longer for some of us

Anyone have a good scroll speed number for the LCD? The default value (200?) is great OLED but difficult to read on LCD.

[Keir]

Originally Posted by Higgy

I noticed this. The main thing is the timing so that it scrolls back around to the beginning, and your eyes/brain have enough time to process - is this the correct disk, or do I need to move to the next disk before it is mounted and starts loading.
The eyes/brain processing time might be longer for some of us

Anyone have a good scroll speed number for the LCD? The default value (200?) is great OLED but difficult to read on LCD.

The defaults are absolutely tuned for OLED. The fast scroll during navigation will certainly be unreadable on LCD -- too blurry.

The behaviour of scroll during navigation was tuned up by me during implementation, but I hardly used it extensively. Feedback on what does and doesn't work is important for fine tuning the UI further.

[Amiga1992]

Originally Posted by SunSpire

Last night I have written a small guide that explains a possible solution for installing a Gotek floppy drive internally with additional navigation buttons and OLED screen, in a non-destructive way that leaves the Amiga case wholly unharmed.

Good guide! Although I'd hate the wobbliness of the screen.
You could make a 3D printed "case" for it that latches onto the Amiga's grills. That would look a little bit better!

[Keir]

Originally Posted by Akira

Good guide! Although I'd hate the wobbliness of the screen.
You could make a 3D printed "case" for it that latches onto the Amiga's grills. That would look a little bit better!

There are some existing designs...

500: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2745049/#files

1200: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2701629

[Amiga1992]

Originally Posted by kaffer

There are some existing designs...

500: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2745049/#files

1200: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2701629

Oh yeah that second one is exactly what I was thinking! But maybe flatter/lower profile, so it looks kinda like what he did, but secured.
[edit] I see the second link has a low profile box

[SunSpire]

Yeah, the case / enclosure I would like to use needs to be extremely small and flat, anything else sticks out like a sore thumb Also because the hard-plastic dust cover still needs to fit on top of it all. I might have to check if the local electronics trader has a 3D printing facility, then try one of the designs from the links or come up with my own - until I can afford it however I'll be fiddling around with papercraft models

EDIT: hmm I just noticed something. The European Amiga 1200 model has two blank keys on the keyboard. Could they be utilized to control a Gotek? :P

[Sinphaltimus]

Originally Posted by SunSpire

Yeah, the case / enclosure I would like to use needs to be extremely small and flat, anything else sticks out like a sore thumb Also because the hard-plastic dust cover still needs to fit on top of it all. I might have to check if the local electronics trader has a 3D printing facility, then try one of the designs from the links or come up with my own - until I can afford it however I'll be fiddling around with papercraft models

EDIT: hmm I just noticed something. The European Amiga 1200 model has two blank keys on the keyboard. Could they be utilized to control a Gotek? :P

Bob Kruijer‎ of the Commodore Amiga group on facebook posted pictures of a non destructive solution he implemented to use the Shift key on the keyboard as an internal mounting plate for the oled. It looks pretty slick. he popped off the original key and replaced it with a 3d printed one specific for the task. So original condition restoration is easy.

I attached a cropped screenshot.

I imagine you could do something to make the unused keys work as GoTek buttons.

[Amiga1992]

Originally Posted by SunSpire

The European Amiga 1200 model has two blank keys on the keyboard.

Not all euro Amigas have those keys blank. The German layout has characters on them. Also they are functional on most keymaps.

Originally Posted by Sinphaltimus

Bob Kruijer‎ of the Commodore Amiga group on facebook posted pictures of a non destructive solution.

[edit] oh he 3D printed a key.

Anyway that modification looks gaudy as eff and turns that shift key useless for its actual function. Feels destructive to me.

[Supamax]

Originally Posted by SunSpire

Last night I have written a small guide that explains a possible solution for installing a Gotek floppy drive internally with additional navigation buttons and OLED screen, in a non-destructive way that leaves the Amiga case wholly unharmed.

Maybe it will be useful to some people, so I wanted to share it

Very nice!

I was also wondering: would it be possible to have a wirelessly connected OLED display?
A transmitter module located inside the Amiga, and a receiver module (along with the OLED display itself) mounted in a nice plastic little box with batteries inside.
Perhaps online (eBay etc.) can be found the necessary modules (for example, Raspberry wifi modules)...

[SunSpire]

Akira: if the modified shift key had a matching color to the rest of the keys, it might actually look decent. But I would not want to swap a perfectly fine key cap with a 3D printed custom one. And where would the cables go?
Not all Amigas have the blank keys, that's true. But assigning them as next / prev function keys would be a super cool feature to have for Amiga owners who do have them

kaffer: The designs on Thingiverse are going in the right direction, but even the smallest low profile case still seems rather big, why not have something that is barely larger than the OLED itself and wraps tightly around it?

Supamax: I had thought about this before, too. At some point I tried repurposing an old Creative Labs remote control and infrared receiver to see if anything useful could be done with it, but didn't manage to get it responding to anything.

RasPi wifi modules seems like the way to go, do you have any experience with them? ... Also, are we hijacking the thread? *innocent look*

[hiroshima]

Hi guys,

New member here. I just entered this great Community because I need your help.

I have an Amiga 500 rev. 6a Kickstart 1.3 with mem exp in the trapdoor.

I want to use a Gotek floppy emu so I flashed it with F-F v0.9.16a using USB A-A method.

Then I formatted a 32Gb pen drive with FAT32 and transfered HXCSDFE.CFG, AUTOBOOT.HFE and a couple of .ADF.

After that I properly installed the Gotek inside the Amiga using a straight ribbon cable.

When I turn on the PC, on Gotek's 7-seg display appears "F-F" and soon after 000 BUT, after this, the Amiga keeps asking me to insert WB disk....

I tried a couple of pen drives and flashed two times the F-F firmware, same problem! Autoboot.HFE simply doesn't load.

I hope someone can help me to figure out what's wrong.....

Sorry for my poor English.


Kindly,

Mauro

[hiroshima]

Hi guys,

Quick update: it seems to me that nobody on the Net tells that the ribbon cable on Gotek's side MUST be connected with PIN 1 on floppy's PIN 34.

This way I solved the problem.

So, for everyone that have similar problems, this could be one of the solutions.

Kindly,

Mauro

[Keir]

Originally Posted by hiroshima

Hi guys,

Quick update: it seems to me that nobody on the Net tells that the ribbon cable on Gotek's side MUST be connected with PIN 1 on floppy's PIN 34.

This way I solved the problem.

So, for everyone that have similar problems, this could be one of the solutions.

Only true if connected wrong way round at the motherboard. Which it is on some but not all Amigas. If the green LED is permanently lit then this is usually the problem.

The other gotcha is to make sure S0 is jumpered at the rear of the Gotek, not S1. And no other jumpers!

[hiroshima]

Originally Posted by kaffer

Only true if connected wrong way round at the motherboard. Which it is on some but not all Amigas. If the green LED is permanently lit then this is usually the problem.

The other gotcha is to make sure S0 is jumpered at the rear of the Gotek, not S1. And no other jumpers!

Hi kaffer,

Awesome piece of software your F-F!

Anyway, motherboard side, I just followed the orientation of the original floppy drive cable.

And yes, on the Gotek the only jumper is S0.

M.

[BarryB]

Updated to 0.9.16a but those +3 DSK images still won't load so not obviously supported yet! BUT, I converted them all to standard HFE images with HxC and they all now load, actually never thought about doing that before

[Keir]

Originally Posted by BarryB

Updated to 0.9.16a but those +3 DSK images still won't load so not obviously supported yet! BUT, I converted them all to standard HFE images with HxC and they all now load, actually never thought about doing that before

Been busy stomping bugs and filling out support for various sector-image formats requested by users. But EDSK support *will* be improved.