[Techtoolslist] Gotek w/ FlashFloppy and github service disk problems

[Tony Jones]

On Wed, Jul 22, 2020 at 7:58 AM Tim Matthews <trmatthe at gmail.com> wrote:

>
> I wanted to report back to say this is now working fine, and give a few
> tips for anyone trying this in the future.
>

Excellent!!  Well done.

>
> 1. Having the drive type set to Sony in firmware, *or* having pin14 in the
> floppy cable grounded is crucial (you can also have both setup if you're
> not sure what your firmware value is). There is mention of this on the
> various web pages, and in Tony's emails, but I missed it and that's what
> held me up. The Gotek just will not work without this. If the Gotek shows a
> few tracks of activity at each boot attempt, you've missed this setting ;)
>

I think I've mentioned the reasons before but if not ... again ....  it is
because the Fluke
floppy is close to Shugart spec but not identical.   The Fluke uses pin 14
for DR1
diskchange (CHG1) but this has a totally different meaning in the Shugart
spec.

The disk change detection on the Fluke (raises an interrupt via DTI02) but
I've yet to
find a case where it's used.  For installation there is always a "press a
key" manual
prompt that is used.

There is a procedure in the 9100FT service manual to verify that disc
change detection
is working (Check Disk Change Operation 4-75).  It works if you have a
Canon floppy
(and set the firmware accordingly) but if you have a Sony it appears the
disk change
feature doesn't work.

So the solution is to either set the floppy type to Sony (which disables
the disk change detection),
create a modified floppy cable so the Fluke sees pin 14 grounded,  or
connect pin 14 on the Fluke side
to pin 2 on the Gotek side (/DCD per Shugart spec) and specify pin02=nchg
in FF.cfg

The only other odd floppy trivia I've learned is that if you have a dual
floppy (9105) model,  the drives are switched differently on the side
DR1/DR2 but also have different jumper wires soldered onto the pcb,  so if
you part out a 9105 and want to use the DR2 floppy drive on say a 9100 (as
DR1) you'll have to modify the jumper wiring .... but as Tim said,  it's
way easier to use a Gotek.

I do recommend modifying the Gotek to use the OLED display,  you have to
hack the case but being able to see what image file is very nice.   I also
did the stepper 'sound' mod though next time I'd something louder,  the
cheap piezo sounders are not that loud.

Tony