What next? Newbie alert...

[ajk]

There are many models of PSU but if there are little circles on the bottom, those are probably the screw holes - they have cover plugs in them. You can carefully drill through.

[marm]

Originally Posted by ajk

There are many models of PSU but if there are little circles on the bottom, those are probably the screw holes - they have cover plugs in them. You can carefully drill through.

Thanks, just found this thread http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=70370

Maybe there are screws hiding - the little circles are there but it looks like one lump of plastic... I'll have a dig around and see.

[nogginthenog]

Could also be the connector inside the A500. A bit of wiggling could create dry joints. A bit of fresh solder will cure that.

[marm]

Got inside the PSU (made holes in the plugs, but didn't manage to get them out) and resoldered the joints near where the cable exits. Seems to be OK now.

Been having a play with Octamed. So far so good but I need to RTFM.

Played a bit of Dyna Blaster too.

Happy new year everyone!

[MikeyG]

Originally Posted by marm

Got inside the PSU (made holes in the plugs, but didn't manage to get them out) and resoldered the joints near where the cable exits. Seems to be OK now.

Been having a play with Octamed. So far so good but I need to RTFM.

Played a bit of Dyna Blaster too.

Happy new year everyone!

Happy New Year Marm!

Glad you sorted out the PSU and enjoying Octamed.
If you haven't found it already here is link to the manual
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=71186

[marm]

It was all going so swimmingly...Until all my disks went bad. Well, actually just the ones with music software on them. Seems my Soundtracker Pro and Octamed disks are now corrupt/unreadable... It's particularly frustrating because I've been spending all my spare time reading the Octamed manual

I'm yet to work out whether it's just dumb luck or whether it has something to do with one of my disk drives, or the magnets the kids got bought for Christmas.

I'm resisting the urge to give up and just use a sensible modern computer, but am keen to get my Gotek drive working. I've just ordered a USB A-A lead so I can flash it and am thinking it probably makes sense to stick it in the case for my second floppy drive, as DF1.

Assuming that works OK then I'll probably get one of these:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Boot-...8/122327373472

Presumably without the switch I can load software from the Gotek, but will I still need to boot Workbench from the internal floppy drive? Or will it boot from DF0?

Really stupid question, but can I save stuff on the Gotek? Can I write files to a "blank" ADF, or what?

Sorry guys...

[ajk]

With the switcher, you can boot from the external drive, since the Amiga will think it is the internal one. And yep you can also save using the USB drive, to any disk image which has space (can't exceed the capacity of the emulated floppy).

[MikeyG]

Sorry to hear your Octamed disk isn't working anymore. Thats a bummer

I'm planning to do similar thing with Gotek drive in an external case. Already flashed the Gotek using A-A lead. I used Flash Floppy 0.95. If you follow these videos you shouldn't go wrong.
[ Show youtube player ]
[ Show youtube player ]

[zardoz]

Do you need to flash the Gotek? Mine came with the Cortex core (from an Amiga reseller - I forget who) but worked out of the box as a drop in replacement for a floppy. Sounds like your floppy isn't in great nick - you could just swap it out but you may need to start cutting plastic :-0

Just put your adfs onto a USB thing, boot from a workbench adf, change to Octomed adf when its booted.

[marm]

Thanks guys. I'm inclined to think that the kids may have got their magnets a little close to the floppys. I think the drive itself is probably OK. Some gentle questioning resulted in slightly guilty looking faces. My fault for leaving the disks lying about... Actually I feel a little guilty too after MikeyG went to the trouble of sending me the disks. Sorry mate - still very much appreciated!

For the time being I'll wait patiently and try to read a bit more of the Octamed manual while the switch and required USB lead make their way to me. Possibly saved me from a world of pain down the road - if the disks were full of "work" it would have been a real gutter, and the Gotek option has to be a better bet long term.

Re flashing it, pretty sure I will have to - it's a generic drive so presumably the generic firmware is not going to work... I saw the Amiga ready drives on eBay but I am a cheapskate and I like to make life hard for myself.

[marm]

Well I just flashed the emulator. I followed the video below pretty much exactly:

[ Show youtube player ]

As per the video I used the cortex emulator which I downloaded from the link below

http://commodore.software/downloads/...software-v1-05

I'm a little confused about the difference between that and FlashFloppy, but I think I'm clearer about how you set it up using selector.adf - all the videos I've watched seem to use this method.

If I should have used Flash Floppy then please let me know why!

[ajk]

There are three different ways you can make the Gotek drive Amiga compatible. The first one was Hervé Messinger's effort at https://cortexamigafloppydrive.wordpress.com/. But it is no longer in active development (as far as I have understood).

The second one is FlashFloppy at https://github.com/keirf/FlashFloppy (and a discussion thread here at EAB). It is receiving updates constantly and offers extra features such as support for an LCD screen etc.

And then there is the HxC emulator at http://hxc2001.free.fr/floppy_drive_emulator/. It is a complete project with its own specific hardware, but the firmware is also available for purchase for use with the Gotek drives (http://hxc2001.com/store/). It is also an active project with many features.

[MikeyG]

In functionality I don't think there is much in it but someone might correct on that.
I've used Cortex Amiga Floppy in the past and it worked fine. Then my gotek got corrupt or just stopped working so I decided to get another and this time installed Flash Floppy as its newer and from what I've seen its basically same functionally.
If Cortex works for you then your fine. But if you find something isn't working correctly or start to have issue, have a look at Flash Floppy as what ajk said it is actively development and supported.

Have you managed to get Octamed running off the Gotek?

[marm]

Cool, thanks guys. The Gotek is neatly fitted in an external drive case so I'll leave it alone unless there's a problem.

Originally Posted by MikeyG

Have you managed to get Octamed running off the Gotek?

Not yet. Have copied the ADF over, I might have a go later today.

Did you lose your ADFs when the emulator packed up?

[MikeyG]

Originally Posted by marm

Did you lose your ADFs when the emulator packed up?

No didn't harm the usb stick at all. didn't have much on there anyway.

This time I'm going to use it externally and using DF0 selector which is available from someone in Ireland on Ebay. This tricks the amiga into thinking that external drive is DF0 and games boot.
Also waiting for a external floppy drive to arrive and gutting it out and placing the gotek inside that. Will be a tidy solution hopefully.

[marm]

Originally Posted by ajk

A floppy emulator like the Gotek is certainly the easiest way to interface with an A500. It can be made to replace the internal or external drive, or even a switcher can be built or bought: http://amigastore.eu/en/485-df0-selector.html

The A520 outputs composite, which is a pretty poor quality signal. Using the RGB output directly is much better, the image is crystal clear that way. But as the output is not standard VGA, you'll need to choose your monitor carefully. There is a compatibility list here: http://www.amibay.com/showthread.php?78792

I have the BenQ BL702A and it has served well.

Haven't done much with the Amiga recently, partly because setting it up means spreading it all over the living room to plug it in to the TV... Anyway have just picked up a very reasonably priced BL702A:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Benq-BL70...r/162859987755

Will register on AmiBay now so I can get an adapter. AJK: can you confirm if the BenQ has a VGA socket (not a trailing lead)? I guess if so the Amiga-VGA cable is neater than the adapter...

I also bought a "JERRY" USB mouse adapter so I can use a USB trackball. Did I already mention the Datel MIDI Master and Mastersound sampler... I need to stop buying crap for it and put it to use. Someone stop me before I order a Wicher 500i Ex accelerator...

[ajk]

@marm

Yes, it has an ordinary VGA socket. I made the cable myself by cutting a VGA cable in half and soldering a 23-pin connector on one end. Didn't even require the buffering circuitry, works great

[marm]

Originally Posted by ajk

@marm

Yes, it has an ordinary VGA socket. I made the cable myself by cutting a VGA cable in half and soldering a 23-pin connector on one end. Didn't even require the buffering circuitry, works great

Wow... maybe that's what I should do... Where did you get the 23 pin connector?

[ajk]

I have bought a few along the years from various places... there might be some for sale on Amibay actually. If you need but can't find one, drop me a PM and I'll dig into my parts bin

[marm]

Originally Posted by ajk

I have bought a few along the years from various places... there might be some for sale on Amibay actually. If you need but can't find one, drop me a PM and I'll dig into my parts bin

Thanks for the very kind offer, I'd got it in my head that they were impossible to find. But £2 inc postage on eBay seems alright. Unless I've just bought the wrong connector...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/362047168375

I'm being lazy, but have you got a link to a wiring diagram?