Using a floppy emulator with FM TOWNS 20F

[Cyothevile]

Hi friends,

Lurked for about a month here. The pointers regarding the TDK PSU helped revive my first FM Towns that was left for dead and revived

On topic though I am wanting to replace my floppy drives with either GOTEK or HXC floppy emulators...likely GOTEK with custom firmware though. The issue is that the Fujitsu drives are 34 pin with no power input section like the 4 pin Berg style connector.

Upon disassembly of my Fujitsu drive I found it corroded quite badly hence why they aren't even powering on. The pin out for even pins match the typical shugart BUS pin out for a floppy drive. The odd pins should all be grounds but I found pin 3 isn't connected and pins 7, 9 and 11 are connected but not to ground.

Would it be right to assume pins 7, 9 and 11 are the 5V pins? If this is correct I can design a PCB in kiCAD and have an adaptor available to use a GOTEK or HXC.

[Cyothevile]

I have created a PCB and sent it to fabrication. I measured with calipers to ensure it's a slide-on fit. Once it arrives and I can confirm it works I will post it to the forum. It will be open source.

[Cyothevile]

Update: got PCB from fabrication and it seems I need to make a size adjustment as expected. The correct and working PCB should be in my hand in 4-5 weeks.

BOM will be about $5 for one unit. However shipping from JLC and parts distributor increase the cost beyond that just fyi.

[Cyothevile]

So far revised PCB is working as TownsOS is recognizing the floppy drive. I will perform a bit of software testing.

[Lo-Res]

So far revised PCB is working as TownsOS is recognizing the floppy drive. I will perform a bit of software testing.

That is very cool.  Where do you install the adapter PCB? In a 20F model I'm assuming its the same as my CX20 and the floppy drives slide in place onto a connector of the riser card inside.  I don't see how you can get the floppy drive back into place with an adapter.  Would love to see some pics

[Cyothevile]

So far revised PCB is working as TownsOS is recognizing the floppy drive. I will perform a bit of software testing.

That is very cool.  Where do you install the adapter PCB? In a 20F model I'm assuming its the same as my CX20 and the floppy drives slide in place onto a connector of the riser card inside.  I don't see how you can get the floppy drive back into place with an adapter.  Would love to see some pics

It isn't working with flash floppy firmware unfortunately. One person I know made a perf board adaptor for his CX20 and he uses HXC firmware. So I guess this weekend I will try to flash HXC on that gotek and see how it goes.
As I said the computer can definitely detect a floppy drive but reads it as empty according to my tester. My fresh arrives from proxy Friday and I'll test this weekend to see if flash floppy is compatible or not

[Cyothevile]

I have to do another physical revision of the adaptor. Currently you must physically press down on the adaptor to connect it into computer backplane. It needs to come down by perhaps 2-4mm. I will keep everyone informed once it is finalized

[Cyothevile]

http://imgur.com/a/sLUDyKe

This is currently what I have. My 20F died again because that TDK power supply is a big meme. Anyway, the GOTEK powers up in my UX20 but none of the images are loading. When UX20 is in TownsOS I keep getting "drive not ready" message on the screen. I do have the second drive totally out of the computer and that could be a factor. Currently trying to have flashfloppy firmware. It worked fine without any CFG file for the fresh that I have.
GOTEK can be screwed into the floppy drive cradle with original holes totally fine. Final revision will have a power connector on the right side I promise. Solder less solution is preffered

I also have an issue currently with the attachment board being too high to simply slide into the backplane on the computer. I think an additional socket below the GOTEK side connector might offset this.

I'm very welcome to any suggestions to get this bad boy running. Imagine tower and U* models with dual floppy emulator!

[Cyothevile]

Update is that my PCB does work...still has sizing problem but hopefully in 2 weeks I'll have final revision in my hand that is plug and play. I know exactly what to fix

Gotek must send ready signal to pin34 or the PC won't think the floppy emulator is ready. Keep a jumper on J5 and JA. The gotek stock out of packaging has this configuration.

 If it is drive 0 then you must have jumper on S0. If it is replacing drive 1, you must have jumper on S1.

[Cyothevile]

My new adaptor is complete and I now have dual floppy emulator in my CX20.
I would like to do a production run of these to recoup my cost before releasing it as I fried two gotek in this process of trial and error haha.

I will post price later. I am thinking selling as set of two connectors for $30 shipped in USA? After holiday I will follow up. I was able to boot premium 2 and Dr. Stop which are dual floppy games

[Cyothevile]

I have open sourced the adaptor to include bill of materials.

https://github.com/cyo-the-vile/FM-TOWNS-GOTEK-ADAPTOR


I should also have a distributor selling some adaptors on eBay soon and I would encourage buying those from him

[Cyothevile]

Also as new owner of HR100 it appears HG/hr Towns need my adaptor to use GOTEK or different 3 mode floppy drive.

[incrediblehark]

I'm a little late to this, but do you still have some of these finished adapters available? I have 2 working FDD in my towns but would be nice to have a backup plan or to go all emulated drives whenever I am able to order a wizard

[Cyothevile]

I'm a little late to this, but do you still have some of these finished adapters available? I have 2 working FDD in my towns but would be nice to have a backup plan or to go all emulated drives whenever I am able to order a wizard

Yes they work very well with wizard. I have given some to testers and they praise it.

Unfortunately I don't have anymore connectors or PCB. Specifically the connectors are expensive. If you want to wait a bit I can order some. I want to try to add some holes+pegs so it isn't a pain in the ass to insert in the tower like it currently is. Painful but works very well.

My very good friend tested them with tower ODE. BGM audio CD that I dumped and floppy emulator running at exact same time. It is a big hit.



Anyway let me know.

[hyrulebr]

Unfortunately I don't have anymore connectors or PCB. Specifically the connectors are expensive. If you want to wait a bit I can order some. I want to try to add some holes+pegs so it isn't a pain in the ass to insert in the tower like it currently is. Painful but works very well.

How much will cost a pair of mounted pcbs? I'm interested too (for using with a model 2).

Did you created something for Fresh Fm Towns or it doesn't need these adapters?

[Cyothevile]

Unfortunately I don't have anymore connectors or PCB. Specifically the connectors are expensive. If you want to wait a bit I can order some. I want to try to add some holes+pegs so it isn't a pain in the ass to insert in the tower like it currently is. Painful but works very well.

How much will cost a pair of mounted pcbs? I'm interested too (for using with a model 2).

Did you created something for Fresh Fm Towns or it doesn't need these adapters?

Maybe $60 shipped in USA. Like I said buying the connectors is actually costly. The distributor charge a lot for no damn reason. I guess I'll do another run of these connector.

What model Fresh do you own? Is it EA type? MA? ME? Specifically how many expansion slot is it in the back?

[incrediblehark]

Thanks for the quick reply! Yes I am interested and have no problem waiting, and will definitely buy a set from you when the time comes. I still don't know when wizard will be available to order, but it would be nice to do it all at once in my tower. Then I'll have my internal battery fixed as well and be able to run turbo mode (if it makes any difference)

[hyrulebr]

Unfortunately I don't have anymore connectors or PCB. Specifically the connectors are expensive. If you want to wait a bit I can order some. I want to try to add some holes+pegs so it isn't a pain in the ass to insert in the tower like it currently is. Painful but works very well.

How much will cost a pair of mounted pcbs? I'm interested too (for using with a model 2).

Did you created something for Fresh Fm Towns or it doesn't need these adapters?

Maybe $60 shipped in USA. Like I said buying the connectors is actually costly. The distributor charge a lot for no damn reason. I guess I'll do another run of these connector.

What model Fresh do you own? Is it EA type? MA? ME? Specifically how many expansion slot is it in the back?

It's a Fresh FT with 3 expansion slots in the back. but have one floppy drive in the front behing a movable door (can be expanded to 2 drives).

Did you get flashfloppy firmware working in towns?

[Cyothevile]

Unfortunately I don't have anymore connectors or PCB. Specifically the connectors are expensive. If you want to wait a bit I can order some. I want to try to add some holes+pegs so it isn't a pain in the ass to insert in the tower like it currently is. Painful but works very well.

How much will cost a pair of mounted pcbs? I'm interested too (for using with a model 2).

Did you created something for Fresh Fm Towns or it doesn't need these adapters?

Maybe $60 shipped in USA. Like I said buying the connectors is actually costly. The distributor charge a lot for no damn reason. I guess I'll do another run of these connector.

What model Fresh do you own? Is it EA type? MA? ME? Specifically how many expansion slot is it in the back?

It's a Fresh FT with 3 expansion slots in the back. but have one floppy drive in the front behing a movable door (can be expanded to 2 drives).

Did you get flashfloppy firmware working in towns?

Ok that one is easy. That is an EA type fresh. You can directly plug a gotek in safely no issue. My S12 fresh has double gotek with flash floppy working perfectly. However they're the one with STM32 MCU. Flash floppy for the new artery MCU is still WIP but it worked on another computer I did it on.
HXC firmware for artery MCU goteks is perfect but that is to be expected for firmware you purchase. If I were you, I would use flash floppy first and specifically only use BIN/HDM files. If you have trouble switch to HXC firmware. Pony up and buy the firmware it isn't that expensive.

Basically to summarize, all tower model, all UX/UG/UR, HG/HR I can 100% confirm need my floppy adaptor to use a different 3mode drive or gotek. The other 4 slot white desktops I have no data on those and would love some input. This forums seem to be a one way street which is pretty obvious.
The EA fresh doesn't require any special adaptor. It's plug and play for gotek.

[Jehuty]

Hello Cyo,

thanks for the PCB to use the Gotek in grey Tower Modells. I use this in a CX20, but run into problems with my B drive.

I use the Gotek as A-Drive and a physical Drive as B. But as soon as i mount a image in the Gotek my B-Drive thinks it is no Disk inserted. The mounted image in Gotek is working. When i unmount the image / pull the USB stick my B-Drive works again. Image mount - B-Drive empty.

Could you help me ? tryd different interface options but nothing helps.

It is a Gotek with latest HxC Firmware.

[Jehuty]

tried something - it seem to work under TownsOS 2.1 but not under 1.1