[Coco] Gotek floppy emulator

[Bill Pierce]

Frank, I see a problem right off with this unit...
It uses 1.44meg HD, 512 byte sectors at 500kbps...
The Coco uses 720k DD, 256 byte sectors...
There's no mention of being able to set the unit for the older 720k drives. IIRC, even on the real drives of that type, you had to modify them physically to make them work if they did not have jumpers. I doubt this usit could be modified in that way.
It's the very reason we can't use the real drives on the "newer" computers to read/write coco disks. The controller chipset was different for those drives and no longer supported 720k or 256 byte sectors.
If there's a 720k version of this, then GREAT!

Looking a little further on that site, I found this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA3XT1DB1480&cm_re=usb_floppy_drive_emulator-_-9SIA3XT1DB1480-_-Product

It says "72k" but reading the specs, it says "720k" (typo?). This seems to be more what's needed :-)

All the rest on NewEgg seem to be 1.44 meg units.

 

 


Bill Pierce
"Charlie stole the handle, and the train it won't stop going, no way to slow down!" - Ian Anderson - Jethro Tull

 

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-----Original Message-----
From: Francis Swygert <farna at att.net>
To: coco <coco at maltedmedia.com>
Sent: Sun, Feb 14, 2016 10:37 am
Subject: [Coco] Gotek floppy emulator

Someone mentioned more info on this product. Here is a great article! Not computer related, used on some sort of copier that used a 3/5" floppy, but the Gotek is designed to directly replace any 3.5" floppy drive -- physically and electronically. It has that USB stick sticking out the end or it would be perfect! An SD card would be less intrusive (extrusive in this case?), but the USB is probably cheaper to implement. The thing sells for as little as $15, but with shipping from China. NewEgg sells it for $24.19 plus shipping (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=1B0-001Y-00007).Reviews are mixed. The software sucks, and it's not easy to switch between floppy images. It seems to work a lot like HDBDOS under DECB. 100 floppy images are created on the USB stick. The USB stick has to be set up on a Windows computer. You don't have to install the drive, but you can't just pull it from the box and set it up on an old computer. The docs say it emulates a 720K floppy. It's a near perfect floppy emulator though. On a CoCo it would act just like plugging in a 720K floppy -- DECB would only use 35 or 40 tracks (or use 35/40 on both "sides" in a single image with something like ADOS). While that leaves a lot of wasted space on the USB stick, who cares? USB sticks are cheap, and your data is safe! Everyone says the software is anything but intuitive, but with a little work it's not terribly difficult to get set up... if you have a little technical experience. Most CoCo people do, at least if they've been using the CoCo for a while. If not, there are plenty on here to help. Sounds like someone needs to re-write the Windows software for it, or write some Linux programming/setup software. Has to be for a computer with USB memory stick accessibility. Should be possible to write something for the CoCo with something like the Cloud 9 SuperIDE and a CF card USB host adapter. I couldn't find any new, but only spent a little time searching. Something like this: Add a USB port to your handheld--SolarExpress Single Port USB Host! | Smartphone & Pocket PC magazine.  It would work, but finding one might be a bit of a challenge. Found a couple used ones though. Searching for "CF to USB" or "USB to CF" gets the same results -- card readers that plus into a USB port, not the other way around! I found a site with the CFU2 (http://www.ratocsystems.com/english/products/CFU2U.html), but it has been discontinued. The review above was in 2010... six years ago is a long time in computer technology!|   ||   |  |   |   |   |   |   || Add a USB port to your handheld--SolarExpress Single Por...There are a few truly amazing "gadgets for your gadgets", but finding one that is actually useful is another matter. The SolarExpress single port USB host card is o... ||  || View on www.smartphonema... | Preview by Yahoo ||  ||   | Frank Swygert Fix-It-Frank Handyman Service 803-604-6548-- Coco mailing listCoco at maltedmedia.comhttps://pairlist5.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/coco