VOGONS


First post, by keenerb

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http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00C4PCK9S?d … lutyp_cxhsh_2_5

Basically I'm imagining you'd load up all your old floppy images into this and then select which one you want to present to the PC.

The reviews online and on Amazon seem to indicate that this is essentially compatible with 1.44mb floppy controllers.

I already placed an order, I hope it's bootable. Could be a great XT/early AT hard disk substitute.

Reply 1 of 6, by Jepael

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Looks like GOTEK clone. I think hobbyists also make their custom firmwares for this one, it has STM32 microcontroller in it.

Reply 2 of 6, by keenerb

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Interesting. I've done some quick looking around, and it seems like that custom firmware might even give it XT double-density drive compatibiliy without any need for additional floppy controllers...

Reply 3 of 6, by tayyare

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It's bootable and very useful, to emulate 1.44 MB disks. For 720KB disks, you need to modify the firmware as far as I know.

The software and documentation that came with it sucks in all accounts, though. You can use Ipcas software (up to 100 floppy partitions), third party batch files (1000 floppies), or the device itself (very slow - floppy speed) to format and populate your USB flash.

There are some very informative youtube videos about using Gotek drives. The one in the link is also Gotek, not Yooyoo or something (look at the photos, you will see the Gotek logo)

GA-6VTXE PIII 1.4+512MB
Geforce4 Ti 4200 64MB
Diamond Monster 3D 12MB SLI
SB AWE64 PNP+32MB
120GB IDE Samsung/80GB IDE Seagate/146GB SCSI Compaq/73GB SCSI IBM
Adaptec AHA29160
3com 3C905B-TX
Gotek+CF Reader
MSDOS 6.22+Win 3.11/95 OSR2.1/98SE/ME/2000

Reply 4 of 6, by hyoenmadan

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Yet another Gotek Clone ¬¬. At least it looks like the latest 3 8-LED panel solution.
If you will only occasional use it, just get latest stock firmware, you will fine with it. If you want to take advantage of every capability which this device provides, you will need buy HxC firmware and flash your Gotek with it. One of the most useful features is that HxC firmware will allow you to use floppy image files in your USB key, which you can manage using any file manager in your OS, instead funky partitions which the stock firmware uses and you need create with the unfriendly Gotek app. It also supports many copy protections types and non standard FS formats, useful for old booter games or *nix bootdisks.

Reply 5 of 6, by IT-Escapee

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I bought one of these. $29 on Amazon. Plugged in a USB stick that I formatted with 100 floppy partitions and started using it just like a real floppy drive.

Mine is a cheap Chinese clone of some other higher priced Chinese floppy emulator. It worked very well for what I needed it to do. I created a full set of restore floppies for an old AST Win95 machine, 96 floppies now on a USB stick. I've also downloaded and written floppy images directly to a USB stick and booted to DOS, have also installed old floppy programs from the emulator. It plugs in just like a real floppy drive, computer sees it as a real floppy drive. Very handy tool to have.

Reply 6 of 6, by keenerb

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It's working great. Thanks for the tips!