Amiga 1200 - internal Gotek and Blackberry Trackball

[solarmon]

Just some Amiga 1200 case mods I did this weekend.

Decided to put a Gotek internally, with a view of being able to swap DF0 and DF1 between it and the internal standard floppy drive.

This is based on the mod outlined by this excellent guide:

https://www.ikod.se/amiga-1200-gotek/

I've only so far just mounted the Gotek internally for testing:







For easy Gotek navigation I've also added a Blackberry trackball for the above the disk and power LEDs:



EDIT NOTE: The trackball mount location also requires for the keyboard metal frame to be cut as there is interference with it.





(OLED display placement is not final - just for testing)

The OLED display has been mounted without any case modifications. This is an 2.23" (128x32) OLED display that conveniently comes apart and attaches together via a ribbon cable, which can be passed through the grill. But best of all, the metal screen housing fits perfectly between the grills - so no case mod is required!

[aeberbach]

That trackball mod is amazing! Are these things easy to buy/easy to use in place of a rotary encoder (or are they just a rotary encoder with an extra axis)?

[SpocksBeer]

Cool indeed - see easy enough to find:

http://www.icstation.com/icstation-b...13-p-5646.html

[solarmon]

Originally Posted by aeberbach

That trackball mod is amazing! Are these things easy to buy/easy to use in place of a rotary encoder (or are they just a rotary encoder with an extra axis)?

Yeah, they are cool - just a bit fragile in my experience, so they need to be handled with care. I don't know how much wear and tear it can take, but it can be relatively cheaply replaced if needed (albeit having to remove a load of hotglue, in my solution!)

They are similar to rotary encoders, not exactly the same - but both HxC (tested) and Flash Floppy (not tested) supports this type of encoder. You can wire it up to either use UP/DOWN or RIGHT/LEFT (or, I suppose, both) for navigation.

It has a push-to-make button when you push down on it so this can be wired for an EXTRA SELECT button on the Gotek.

The LED on it is RGB and I will be wiring it (with some additional bit of circuitry I still need to do) so that the Gotek power LED is connected to BLUE and the Gotek activity LED is connected to RED, which will actually make the trackball flash PURPLE!

Navigation is so much easier and nicer since you only need one finger/thumb! If you ever used an original Blackberry phone trackball (or on a Nexus One phone, or the scroll ball on an Apple Mighty Mouse) it feels exactly the same.

[demon-knight]

@solarmon where did you get the oled from, miles better than the smaller one I have on the gotek mini.

[solarmon]

Originally Posted by demon-knight

@solarmon where did you get the oled from, miles better than the smaller one I have on the gotek mini.

Yes, I find the 0.91" (128x32) and 0.96" (128x64) ones a bit too small for my liking. And, although I do like the retro look, the LCD ones have poor contrast and slow refresh rates.

I found this 2.23" (128x32) OLED screen on eBay:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-23-Whit...K/202340574210

There is also a bigger 2.42" (128x64) one, but I found the 2.23" one a better form factor, and it can be taken apart and separates via a detachable ribbon cable.

Note, that I have only tested this on HxC (worked with the Jeff the developer to get support on the beta custom firmware - see http://torlus.com/floppy/forum/viewt...hp?f=33&t=3602), and I'm not sure whether Flash Floppy supports it.

[demon-knight]

Sweet, just ordered a couple, nice clean mod

[solarmon]

I updated the original post to make it clear that the trackball mod also requires for the keyboard metal support to be cut:

[katarakt]

This trackball push-button, does it give some feedback with this push-to-select function? Does it have a microswitch for push function? ...if it's used for scrolling up/down it must be already pushed with a little bit force i think...so, does this work how it should ?

[solarmon]

Originally Posted by katarakt

This trackball push-button, does it give some feedback with this push-to-select function? Does it have a microswitch for push function? ...if it's used for scrolling up/down it must be already pushed with a little bit force i think...so, does this work how it should ?

The switch is a 'dome' type switch - so can feel a little tactile feedback when pressed.

The switch does not need to be pressed to move the trackball, it acts as the extra 'SELECT' switch for HxC or FlashFloppy.

As for the trackball itself, you don't need much to move it around. If you have ever used a Blackberry phone with a trackball it is the same; or the trackball in an Apple Magic mouse; or like (maybe not as smooth) a normal trackball mouse.

I had worked with developers of both HxC and FlashFloppy to reduce the jitteryness of the trackball - by adding some inertia so that it doesn't trigger so much when you touch it.

[solarmon]

A good tear down video of a Blackberry trackball can be found at:

[ Show youtube player ]

This is for an actual Blackberry phone, but it is essentially the same thing.

[Mikerochip]

Originally Posted by solarmon

I'm not sure whether Flash Floppy supports it.

It does, my one works fine on FF 3.1a.

[solarmon]

Originally Posted by Mikerochip

It does, my one works fine on FF 3.1a.

It didn't at the time of the original post! But indeed, it does now.

Here is my setup with the trackball directly installed directly in a Gotek drive case, with a 2.42" OLED screen, using FlashFloppy:

[katarakt]

Ok thanks for info

[katarakt]

Solarmon, can you post your FF config please? I have a "big" oled screen 128x64 but either it shows the upper 1 row or the lower 2 rows ...i can't get it to work with all three rows

[solarmon]

Originally Posted by katarakt

Solarmon, can you post your FF config please? I have a "big" oled screen 128x64 but either it shows the upper 1 row or the lower 2 rows ...i can't get it to work with all three rows

What OLED display do you have? Post a picture of the back of it.

And what version of FlashFloppy do you have installed? The FlashlFoppy release notes should tell you what configs to use for the feature. (Sorry, I haven't got the setup above to hand - it's all in pieces whilst I've been tinkering with various things!).

[katarakt]

FlashFloppy v3.2a
Nothing special in release notes.

[XsamX1987]

That is some Beautiful work truly.

Question So when you buy the screen Does it come with an accompanying board for the ribbon to attach to for wiring it to the Gotek?

[katarakt]

Picture No.2 added post before.

[solarmon]

@katarakt

OK. That looks like a 0.96" 128x64 OLED screen.

In your FF.cfg file (there should be an example in the examples folder of the FlashFloppy download) you should set the display-type to 'oled-128x64' and 'display-order' to 'default':

display-type = oled-128x64

display-order = default

The default should be a three line display. There are some info/hints in the FF.cfg file for what the other config options do.

Looks like you are using a trackball to so set:

rotary = trackball

Put this FF.cfg file in a folder call 'FF' on your USB memory stick.