Guide: FDS Swapper and Using Goteks the Smart and best way by your friend Cyo

[Cyothevile]

I spent a bit of time on and off making this project but it's now done.  My XVI can read any disc image on double goteks.  I'm posting this guide so I hope it can inspire others to revive their computers or even make something better than I have.  I sincerely hope this helps you.

Currently, my XVI has severe trouble reading floppy and before diving into FDD repairs I bought the excellent FDS Swapper board by my friend Michael.  You can look at his store here.

https://michael.booth.pm/


Keep an eye and subscribe for stock updates. It can be hard to get his stuff.  His Compact FDS board soldout in 1 hour.  With proxy services being slow it can be very difficult to get his PCB sets.

After following his instructions for installation you will no longer have a 37 pin port but a male 34 pin port.
Remember to set the PCB to HXC mode when you install it. This is required for goteks.  For FDX68 you would set it appropriately as such but that is not in the scope of this guide.

What I did next looked for a double floppy drive enclosure on yahoo that was a junk item in very poor operating condition.   I can't find the photos of the auction I took as it was a bit ago.  Fair warning that the capacitors were leaking very badly and I had to change all of them in the DC power module and clean the PCB since there was so much acid. I didn't take photos of that though. Be expected to do that.

Now examine the photo below.



This is the interface card for PC98. We don't need it so find some other use for it. Maybe the trash or something. You won't be needing it.  You can already see in the picture that I inserted the goteks already. My Goteks are using the free flashfloppy firmware.  Installing flashfloppy and modifying goteks are not within the scope of this guide.




Next, I disassembled it and spraypainted it black.  It was very yellow to include the metal and plastic.  I left the power button alone so it's still yellow.  There was also some other stuff such as drive select buttons? and some other LED having to do with the interface card for PC98.  Removed them.




So you need to find yourself a double floppy cable that specifically doesn't have a twist.  I kept having trouble for a while because I had a folded cable.  Don't make it complex.  Just try to get a straight, double floppy cable.  Set the jumpers on the GOTEKs also.  One should have a jumper at S0 for Drive 0.  The other for S1 for Drive 1.  So ultimately instead of having drives 2 & 3 externally....with FDS Swapper you are loading software externally.  You still need two discs inside the X68000 specifically for the eject signals and other proprietary signals that are started by having a physical disc in the drive.  You don't need to have any software on them either.

Now look below.  This is what we will have when closing the enclosure.



I have extended the cable and also I'm using the HXC specific cable (very small one at the end in the background) at the very end as in the instructions for FDS Swapper.  It also comes with the kit.  This is what connects to the back of X68000.



Here is the end result.  I added the sticker too. I think it looks good.



I can even load ping-ping type software that uses both drives as once such as Cotton and Lagoon.

The double gotek setup can also work for FDS swapper PCBs on other Japanese retro computers. 

Let me know if you build your own double goteks.  I want to see what everyone else does.

[hyrulebr]

Very nice!

Thanks for the guide.

[Cyothevile]

One more thing I forgot to mention.


It's also possible to use 5 inch drives or 3 inch drives to play games.

So if you do this, the application is exactly the same. You will still need discs inside the computer itself to send those proprietary signal to the computer. Then use your game copy or even your authentic discs on your external, DIY FDD
Box.

I might make a 5 inch drive box next with actual drives

[squeeb]

Nice guide, thanks.