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I have decided to replace the HxC I installed five years ago with a Gotek.
If you want to install a Gotek in your EII, go to this post and see how I did all the cabling and mounted a 5.25” adapter. Pretend that the HxC is a Gotek, then use the installation instructions and configuration from this post!
Background
I decided to replace the HxC Floppy Emulator with a Gotek Floppy Emulator running FlashFloppy! The primary reason was that I needed the HxC’s more advanced jumper settings in another project. After the swap was done, I realized the Gotek was a great replacement and actually suited me and the EII better. More on that later…
About the Gotek
A stock Gotek only emulates a PC floppy. By flashing it with a custom firmware like FlashFloppy or HxC, it can support other formats. The Gotek is also easy to mod with an OLED display and potentiometer! It’s available on eBay or in stores that sell stuff for vintage computers.
HxC confusion
Yes, the HxC was originally just a hardware floppy emulator running the HxC firmware (doh). That firmware has been ported to work on Gotek, that’s why a Gotek can run HxC. So the HxC software nowadays works on non HxC hardware as well.
My Gotek
I bought mine from Amiga Kit in the UK, but there are other vendors. I added the optional OLED display and potentiometer options. Those two mods are a must! There’s also a speaker mod available, but I skipped that – when it comes to sound – only the real deal is good enough!
It came pre-flashed with FlashFloppy 2.13. I recommend buying a pre-flashed Gotek unless you really want to flash it via serial yourself. As soon as the Gotek has the FlashFloppy firmware, it can be updated with USB.
Installation
It’s as simple as installing an HxC. A tip for opening up the EII, is to place it on two boxes like I did. This gives access to the screws on the bottom.
The Gotek fits perfectly in the adapter (no new holes had to be drilled, like I had to on the HxC).
![Gotek Floppy Emulator Jumper Settings Gotek Floppy Emulator Jumper Settings](/uploads/1/1/8/5/118524877/167385455.jpg)
The jumper was set to S0 equivalent to the HxC’s ID0A.
Gotek configuration
When I researched EII + Gotek + FlashFloppy, I was worried that it wouldn’t work when I found this issue. It seemed like the issues has been resolved though. I got the config from the same thread, FF.CFG.zip
Below is a condensed version to show the settings that I use:
I haven’t checked if the secondary 5.25” drive still works, but I can’t see why it wouldn’t. To be honest, I don’t remember if I checked if it worked with the HxC.
Gotek FlashFloppy Firmware update to 2.14
During the installation/testing I used a semi-old SanDisk Cruzer 8GB USB 2 stick. It did however stick out a bit too much, so I got a SanDisk Ultra Fit 16GB USB 3.1 instead, that is way more compact. Unfortunately the Gotek didn’t seem to discover the Ultra Fit stick.
A quick browse of the FlashFloppy changelog revealed that problems with Ultra Fit sticks were fixed in 2.14, so I took good old Cruzer stick and updated the Gotek from 2.13 to 2.14. After the quick update, the Ultra Fit was recognized.
Conclusions – pros and cons
To me, we have a clear winner, and that’s the Gotek. The Gotek has none of the annoyances I had with HxC – the bad screen, the awkward navigation and the 90’s style Java configuration software.
The OLED screen is fantastic – clear and redraws quickly! Smaller than the HxC, but that’s not a problem to me. It’s also a lot easier to see what’s a file and what’s a directory. Also, unsupported files and system files, like .DS_Store and Thumbs.db from the computer, are not displayed!
Gotek Floppy Emulator Software Download
Combining the OLED with the potentiometer makes navigation quick. Another thing that’s quicker, is the fact that it’s a USB pen drive and not SD card – I no more need to find that SD card reader. One could have objections to the fact that the pen drive sticks out a bit, but there are very compact models available, if sticking out is a problem.
The FlashFloppy configuration is file based, just edit the FF.CFG file in your favorite editor (mine is VS Code). HxC’s config file is binary and must be edited with the HxC software.
Another thing – HxC is really mature by now, but it also costs money. FlashFloppy seems to work just as well for the EII, and it’s free!
Here’s a summary of the pros of each floppy emulator.
HxC
+ SD card doesn’t stick out
+ Large screen (but bad screen quality)
+ More hardware jumpers
+ Proven
Gotek with FlashFloppy
+ USB stick doesn’t require SD card reader in computer
+ Cheaper hardware
+ Much clearer (but smaller) screen
+ Faster navigation with potentiometer
+ Directories are easily identified
+ OS system files are not displayed
+ Open source and free
+ Config can be done in a text editor
This is a step by step guide how to install the cheap USB Floppy emulator GOTEK to ENSONIQ VFX SD. Its rather easy when you know how ?
We will flash 3rd party firmware into the Gotek drive and then we create a disk image for the USB stick. You should be able to solder a header into the PCB using soldering iron.
What you need:
- Gotek USB Floppy emulator (ebay)
- Jumper and 3 & 5 pin headers
- PL2303HX USB To RS232 TTL Adapter with some wires (ebay)
- Pay the Frenchman a tenner here and get your programming password.
- Soldering iron
The link above points to the french guy Jean-François del Nero. He did a great programing job, but his blog is a mayhem. Some pages are French, some English. There are loads of duplicate files… To dig the info you need is a PITA. You need this ZIP only, it contains all necessary files.
Now, disassemble your GOTEK, and prepare your board. Solder the headers into programming port:
Like this:
Install your PL2303HX programmer. Plug it to your PC. It should download the drivers automatically (I use W7). Note the COM port number.
Once it is working, pull it out from USB and connect it to the GOTEK board like this:
- GND to GND
- 5V to 5V
- RX to TX
- TX to RX
- put jumper across BOOT0 and VCC3.3
You do not connect programmer’s 3.3V anywhere. Just leave it. Now plug everything to USB port on your PC
Run the FLASHER, (file SecSerialBridge.exe) and try to open your COM port. Then enter your account info and click Connect. The program should say Device Detected:
As you can see I have zero units left as I paid only for one unit. If you have everything ready, make sure your SKYPE won’t fuck up your programming process by ringing, close it down and press PROGRAM. The GOTEK should be programmed within few minutes.
At this point the hard bit is over. I should have menitoned that this was only a BOOT LOADER, and now we have to upload the FIRMWARE.
Note: Before you install GOTEK into the instrument, you should install jumpers to S0 and MO positions. I don’t think it’s necessary but It works for me and I haven’t tried it without them. I’m too lazy to open the lid again…
Disconnect the programmer and install the GOTEK into your instrument. After power on, it should say Ldr (the instrument’s display should stay dark). Format your USB stick (everything but NTFS I think) and unpack the file HXCFEUSB_V3_0_33_12a.UPD from that ZIP into the root of the USB stick. Then insert it into GOTEK – it shoud do nice sneak animation on display. Once it is finished it should say hXc and your Ensoniq should initialize. To manually flash another firmware, just press and hold both GOTEK buttons while power on. It should say Ldr and you’re ready to flash.
Create your USB Floppy bank by unpacking content of this zip file to your USB. There is 100 images already formatted for instant use.
![Gotek Gotek](/uploads/1/1/8/5/118524877/762190271.png)
It seems like Ensoniq VFX SD uses the same format as COMODORE AMIGA, 820KB DS DD, which is the reason why it refuses every PC floppy. If you want to create your own images using the program from Jeff, here is a RAW IMAGE SETTINGS for the IPFConverter program, which is also part of the ZIP file:
This is working for me, hope it will work for you!
Peace.
2017/12/07 EDIT: I’m looking for the original disk images.
If you want to share them, please leave the comment.
Gotek Floppy Emulator Jumper Settings Android
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