How to setup and use a GOTEK for MS-DOS

[@SpectraPrime]

So glad you made this, practically impossible to find any decent info for using this on a pc.

[@kwanchan6745]

I just managed to get a new gotek fully working with an amstrad ppc640...its on the supported list, but the documentation is a little terse in the end, in the FF.CFG I specified "interface = shugart" rather than the more common sense "ibmpc" to overcome the problem with disk changes not being detected under "ibmpc" on the ppc I left "host = pc-dos" Once working I moved it from drive B: to drive A: which needed me to move jumper from D1 to D0 now the fun of loading my USB stick with text adventure games like "lurking horror"...and getting a second drive to work with amiga/atari st/bbc micro

[@TheRetroRoadshow]

This video was SO HELPFUL to me as I tried to get some games installed on a trash-picked 486 via a newly-purchased Gotek last night. Thank you!!

[@RetroTechTime]

You are so welcome, I am glad it helped.

[@luna-hw9li]

Thanks! My Gotek did not work and the display was also wrong. Creating a proper FF.CFG as you described was the solution.

[@10swatkins]

THANK YOU! I've been trying to make my modified Gotek work for a week now... FINALLY a simple set of instructions for make a disk image and how to transfer files!!! THANKS!

[@RetroTechTime]

You are welcome! Thank you for watching!

[@dimitrisdk6]

I would like to thank you for the help!!! Finally my GOTEK is running as drive B: in my AMSTRAD 1512dd (memory upgrade to 640). It is so easy now to test millions of files….. THANK YOU!!! 👏👏👏👏🙏🙏🙏

[@michael.losangeles]

Thank you so much! I was struggling with my Gotek. But your tutorial was exactly what I needed! Everything working as intended! Big Thanks!

[@NaderGator]

for jumpers you only need DS1 for the PC .. for other systems use Motor & DS0

[@Evilslayer73]

So i dont need a jumper on JC?

[@angrydove4067]

Thanks for the video, I didn't know how to flip the display over.

[@tasossophos7029]

I am trying to install this Gotek in a IBM PS/2 type 8525, without much success I would say. First I have noticed that in yor zip file there is no FlashFloppy to run, but the USB_Floppy_Emulator_1.40i. I download FlashFloppy ver 3.42 from the site however there no obvious way on how to install it. Am I missing something very essential here? Your help will be appreciated.

[@jamesdecross1035]

Starts at 0:50

[@IHSisable]

does this also work on an instrument that needs MS-Dos floppies

[@RetroTechTime]

I believe it should as long as the firmware of the instrument supports it. I know some people that use them with Yamaha keyboards. I hope that answers your question. Thank you for watching.

[@theretrogeek2281]

Hello my gotek isn’t getting detected,can you install this if you already have a floppy drive? As drive B? Would I need to change anything in bios?

[@footfiles]

I use Minitool Partition Wizard which formats in Fat, Fat16, Fat32, etc.. Quick and easy.

[@PauloSilva-ll4vs]

Very very confuse, because the cdio.iso has 534MB and you generate only 4 img of 1.44MB, What is the magic? and how to do that?

[@gnokketto7423]

thanks for video but what firmware was installed on your floppy ? for flash floppy is the same ?

[@alain99v6]

can a gotek like this works on a very primitive ibm pc clone that only support 360K floppy ?

[@RetroTechTime]

Yes, let me look for some info on it and I will get it to you. Thank you for watching!

[@fakeduck4474]

Where do you get the ff.cfg??

[@ThermalLance-hg4rd]

It's in the description. There's a link to the files used in the episode.

[@souzsifu]

im struggling trying to figure this out on a mac. is it even possible?

[@manuell3505]

I was trying a SD2IDE card on a 486, but no luck. I can succesfully BIOS autodetect and run fdisk and format c: but after reboot, nothing is seen. System hangs on harddisk detection. Thinking about buying a Gotek drive, but is it bound to the 1.44 MB size limit?

[@killer2600]

It's bound to behaving as a floppy drive and all the standards there-of. It's connected to the floppy drive cable/connector so the limitation of acting as a floppy drive is a firm physical limit.

[@manuell3505]

@@killer2600 It must depend on the controller. They are all the same Chinese boards that exist for years. Possibly, it lacks the bus frequency to communicate using the data-cable. But they have spi output for external displays so they are pretty advanced. Maybe a future version...

[@njspencer79]

The key to your 486 is to set a decently large size type 45 or 46. Use IBM Ontrack overlay. It will handle the rest. You can mount the SD on Linux using a loop volume and offset 64512. You can copy whatever to the drive. I know it is a year later. Hopefully that helps someone.

[@manuell3505]

@@njspencer79 The BIOS has a list of known disks of which nothing works. Type 48 and 49 are drives with custom C/H/S fields. I took over the values from another computer (P75) on which this card works but it doesn't on this computer. What overlay do I need? Is it a bootdisk?

[@njspencer79]

​@@manuell3505 Yes. Phil computer lab has them. Ontrack a couple versions are there. You pick a preset value in BIOS doesn't matter. Don't try to match the values. Just enough for first megabytes. I use like 45 or something. You write ontrack to disk. Boot with that disk. You setup partition via the disk. You will need offset I give above for Linux to mount that SD. I dunno about Windows. This is a software solution be inserting a bootloader and shifting the disk mapping. Hence the offset. It works great w/ large disks on older machines. With the caveat of an extra step to mount of a modern machine.

[@damson3413]

it's not the drive, it's the format gui which microsoft has barely changed since dave implemented it in windows 95.

[@ion-shivs]

I assume the computer you installed this in was your Tandy 2500 RSX. I'm about to install a GoTek (I will be getting the older version without the OLED screen.) into my Tandy 2500 SX/33, and wanted to make sure there aren't any connection issues when plugging it into the motherboard. I assume it's a normal floppy connection. (And not some weird format like the Tandy 1000's had, with power going through the ribbon cable.)

[@ion-shivs]

I got mine installed and working. I needed to set my jumpers the same way you did, so your video was informative for me. Thanks!

[@8bitwidgets]

There are a LOT of gotek drives out there for sale that seem to be configured for everything but MS-DOS. is this because Goteks are defaultly configured to work with MS-DOS/Windows? I know they have to be configured / firmware flashed to work with a lot of other devices out there, i just figured i'd have come across gotek for windows and it does seem like in my many years of seeing goteks, it seems like amiga's were the biggest users of this and a number of MIDI synths / samplers that could use a floppy drive..

[@killer2600]

I think by default GoTek targets this as a IBM PC floppy drive replacement but the market that buys these in mass are the people who have floppy drives in everything but an IBM PC. PC users have been able to upgrade to modern storage as PC's have evolved but these other products that use floppy drives haven't had that luxury; so this meshing of new solid-state usb drives with old floppy based hardware is a golden ticket to those users. That's my perspective of it.

[@8bitwidgets]

@@killer2600 OK thanks for that. It certainly makes sense that PC floppy as default makes sense given they would be the single biggest floppy drive platform of all time. sure other systems might have needed 3.5" floppies exclusively for storage, but in terms of sheer numbers of devices that had 3.5" drives, had to be PC. It's just been in my experience i've only had gotek for non PC devices so that's great to hear really. I'd like to enhance my vintage pcs with goteks as the 3.5" drives fail rather than moving to the next old PC floppy that will fail eventually.

[@Comm0ut]

Useful video. Please consider not using music in future videos as it is not useful content and rather distracting, but thank you for posting!

[@RetroTechTime]

Thank you Comm0ut for the feedback. I appreciate it and agree, I need to dial things in a bit more.

[@ForgottenMachines]

@CommOut I guess it's a personal preference thing. I kind of like the music, I don't think it's too loud or distracting, but makes the silent parts a bit easier to watch.

[@CaspianYuichiro]

Another solution to allow fat 32 is a smaller USB drive

[@RetroTechTime]

Good point Natani, I have had issues finding smaller USB drives in my area but you are exactly right. Thank you for watching!

[@elamriti]

i have the same gotek as you exept for the older screen does not work on my 286 keep gettin do error

[@tcpbox]

This song in the back is the worst thing in this vdeo.

[@elamriti]

i think the gotek i bought is for the amiga