FlashFloppy - new firmware for Gotek drives, open source

[Keir]

Originally Posted by bebek

You can see 2 4.7k resistors close to 16 pin of IC. These are pull ups for SDA/scl lines.

Hmmm you're right. I have a board just like that one and indeed the pullups are on board. I have another board, different layout, does not have them.

Guess the answer is to check resistance to Vcc before bothering to add pullups

[bebek]

Originally Posted by kaffer

Hmmm you're right. I have a board just like that one and indeed the pullups are on board. I have another board, different layout, does not have them.

Guess the answer is to check resistance to Vcc before bothering to add pullups

That is good then. I am trying to be as lazy as I can here

[Jackoland]

Quick question. Does the search function work on the adf selector.

Cheers
Rich

[SunSpire]

Hello EAB!

I decided to register and join your discussion about this exciting new firmware when I heard of it via the fb community a few days ago.

I have two Gotek drives (A500 and A1200) which both were running the Cortex 1.5a firmware until recently. The Cortex FW is known to not have proper write support as files tend to become corrupted most of the time. So I was hoping this would not be the case with the FlashFloppy FW.

However after flashing one of the drives with the FlashFloppy FW, both my tests, copying files in Amiga Workbench 1.3 as well as copying a whole disk onto a blank .adf file (created in WinUAE) via X-Copy failed, the copy process ended without any errors but as soon as I reboot the system, the blank .adf was corrupted and files changed / copied disappeared. I am using a 16GB FAT32 Intenso Rainbow Line USB stick.

I figured this is due to the fact that the firmware is so new and still in development, so I wanted to know if you experience similar errors?

I'm looking forward to how this develops over time! Great work so far!

Greetings from Germany,
SunSpire

[ch40s_engineer]

Hi guys, I hope my gotek drive arrives today. I will directly flash the new fw using the usb method and will do some testing myself. of course I will report back regarding the experience and compatibility.

greetings from Germany as well

[ch40s_engineer]

Hi guys,

I tried to test the fw, but had no luck with it. It flashed properly and verified the files on the device with no errors. After plugging it into the Amiga the boot sequence would take ages with the drive led on the Amiga on for about 5 seconds while the gotek shows "F-F". Then the drive goes to "000" and the floppy led on the Amiga lights up, but then nothing happens, no loader at all. I tried different versions of the "autoboot. hfe" and copied the cfg-file to the root as well. I tested different USB sticks and even different gotek drives with no success. Any leads?

[Keir]

Originally Posted by Jackoland

Quick question. Does the search function work on the adf selector.

Well functionally it is the same as the HxC selector because... well it *is* the HxC selector. So, yes, should work.

[Keir]

Originally Posted by ch40s_engineer

Hi guys,

I tried to test the fw, but had no luck with it. It flashed properly and verified the files on the device with no errors. After plugging it into the Amiga the boot sequence would take ages with the drive led on the Amiga on for about 5 seconds while the gotek shows "F-F". Then the drive goes to "000" and the floppy led on the Amiga lights up, but then nothing happens, no loader at all. I tried different versions of the "autoboot. hfe" and copied the cfg-file to the root as well. I tested different USB sticks and even different gotek drives with no success. Any leads?

What is the Amiga's configuration (particularly base model and any acceleration)? Five seconds displaying F-F would be unusual especially across more than one USB stick.

I assume this was plugged in as internal drive (DF0)? Any other drives in the system? Do you know what firmware version you flashed?

[Keir]

Originally Posted by SunSpire

Hello EAB!

I decided to register and join your discussion about this exciting new firmware when I heard of it via the fb community a few days ago.

I have two Gotek drives (A500 and A1200) which both were running the Cortex 1.5a firmware until recently. The Cortex FW is known to not have proper write support as files tend to become corrupted most of the time. So I was hoping this would not be the case with the FlashFloppy FW.

However after flashing one of the drives with the FlashFloppy FW, both my tests, copying files in Amiga Workbench 1.3 as well as copying a whole disk onto a blank .adf file (created in WinUAE) via X-Copy failed, the copy process ended without any errors but as soon as I reboot the system, the blank .adf was corrupted and files changed / copied disappeared. I am using a 16GB FAT32 Intenso Rainbow Line USB stick.

I figured this is due to the fact that the firmware is so new and still in development, so I wanted to know if you experience similar errors?

I'm looking forward to how this develops over time! Great work so far!

Greetings from Germany,
SunSpire

Have you tried another USB stick? I had reports and observed myself that ADF write could be reliable, but write reliability does depend somewhat on USB stick performance at the moment. I have plans how to improve it quite a bit.

What was the X-Copy mode? Did it verify track-by-track as it writes? Did it fail during the copy, or silently produce a corrupt copy?

[ch40s_engineer]

thanks for the help. I figured it out now, wasn't a problem with the firmware. my amiga decided to refuse any kind of floppy drive now...even the original floppy doesn't work anymore. I found out because I swapped the Amiga and on my other one it works flawlessly. tested a few games, works very well right now!

[Keir]

Originally Posted by ch40s_engineer

thanks for the help. I figured it out now, wasn't a problem with the firmware. my amiga decided to refuse any kind of floppy drive now...even the original floppy doesn't work anymore. I found out because I swapped the Amiga and on my other one it works flawlessly. tested a few games, works very well right now!

Pleased to hear it does work for you

[ch40s_engineer]

it is, very well. been using your systest for a while now. great work btw.

[SvladJelly]

I have a SFR1M44-U100 Revision SFRC922C that this isn't working with. In fact, I can't get the Gotek to work with my A1200 at all. Have the S0 pin jumpered, and tried three different usb keys, nothing.

Flashed the firmware successfully, and have autoboot.hfe along with selector.adf in the root of my drive, and it just boots to desktop. (No DF0 showing on the desktop either.)

My cables are all connected properly as well. This pcb has a slightly different layout than the other revisions...

These are the switched up soldering points for the SFRC922C:
http://www.cartoonmonkey.com/gotek/unnamed.jpg

Helllpp!

[ch40s_engineer]

have you tried to run a verification after flashing the fw? what does the led display say?

[SvladJelly]

Verification passes, and the led briefly flashes "F-F" then "000" - and nothing. Just a normal boot to WB.

[Keir]

Originally Posted by SvladJelly

Verification passes, and the led briefly flashes "F-F" then "000" - and nothing. Just a normal boot to WB.

Could it be an Escom 1200 board with their floppy mod? Is it a Rev 2B board?

Try flashing Cortex fw and see if that works in the exact same setup.

[SunSpire]

Originally Posted by kaffer

Have you tried another USB stick? I had reports and observed myself that ADF write could be reliable, but write reliability does depend somewhat on USB stick performance at the moment. I have plans how to improve it quite a bit.

What was the X-Copy mode? Did it verify track-by-track as it writes? Did it fail during the copy, or silently produce a corrupt copy?

I have tried another USB stick now (1GB, unbranded) and got the same results. The procedure was as follows:

• Formatted USB stick to FAT32 in Win7 x64
• Copied HXCSDFE.CFG and AUTOBOOT.HFE to USB stick's root (from this link)
• Created blank.adf with WinUAE 3.4.0 (it was pre-formatted with bootblock and FFS file system) and copied to USB stick

• Copied X-Copy (1993)(Cachet).adf to USB stick and booted it on a 1MB A500 machine with Kick 1.3
• "Killsys" command in X-Copy, then used DOSCOPY option to clone X-Copy itself, whole disk read in one session
• Wrote disk to blank.adf without any errors

However, after it finished copying I clicked DISKINFO and it would still show up as BLANK, 99% empty. Rebooting the system from this disk does nothing, the hand appears.


Likewise, copying files to a blank disk in Workbench seems to work fine, then after reboot the disk shows up as corrupted NDOS.


Sadly I don't have any more USB sticks lying around currently, but I might go buy some more on monday. Any suggestions which particular model / brand I should get? Anyone else experiencing this?

[Keir]

Originally Posted by SunSpire

I have tried another USB stick now (1GB, unbranded) and got the same results. The procedure was as follows:

• Formatted USB stick to FAT32 in Win7 x64
• Copied HXCSDFE.CFG and AUTOBOOT.HFE to USB stick's root (from this link)
• Created blank.adf with WinUAE 3.4.0 (it was pre-formatted with bootblock and FFS file system) and copied to USB stick

• Copied X-Copy (1993)(Cachet).adf to USB stick and booted it on a 1MB A500 machine with Kick 1.3
• "Killsys" command in X-Copy, then used DOSCOPY option to clone X-Copy itself, whole disk read in one session
• Wrote disk to blank.adf without any errors

However, after it finished copying I clicked DISKINFO and it would still show up as BLANK, 99% empty. Rebooting the system from this disk does nothing, the hand appears.


Likewise, copying files to a blank disk in Workbench seems to work fine, then after reboot the disk shows up as corrupted NDOS.


Sadly I don't have any more USB sticks lying around currently, but I might go buy some more on monday. Any suggestions which particular model / brand I should get? Anyone else experiencing this?

I like the Lexar USB3 Jump Drives, I tested S45 and S75 in 32GB size.

Thanks for your repro steps, I will try them myself, will be around a week's time however.

EDIT: Given Higgy's repro below, seems little point in you trying other USB sticks. Wait for me to investigate.

[Higgy]

I have tried the above steps on 2 USB sticks and get the same (1mb A500).

The X-Copy has a menu list to select programmes via F keys (stored in Bootblock?), that did seem to manage to get copied!

Is it that Track 0,0 can only be copied? If you 'verify' during formatting it fails after 0,0.

It seems the BootBlock is the area currently you can only write to.

[Keir]

Originally Posted by Higgy

I have tried the above steps on 2 USB sticks and get the same (1mb A500).

The X-Copy has a menu list to select programmes via F keys (stored in Bootblock?), that did seem to manage to get copied!

Is it that Track 0,0 can only be copied? If you 'verify' during formatting it fails after 0,0.

It seems the BootBlock is the area currently you can only write to.

Thanks for the report. I will confirm and fix this before the next release.

I assume this was latest v0.2.1a firmware?