Gotek Q&A

[rubber_jonnie]

I use the GoEx from Centuriontech. Definitely the best looking Gotek for STs

https://centuriontech.eu/product/goex4st/

I was after some of these, but sadly they were out of stock for a while so I didn't bother in the end.

[alexh]

I was after some of these, but sadly they were out of stock for a while so I didn't bother in the end.

Looks in stock now.

CenturionTech batch build, you register interest in items "out-of-stock" and when there is enough interest he builds a new batch. No one registers interest, no more batches.

I recommend using the Atari ST "Floppy Manager" program where you use the host screen, keyboard and mouse to select the floppy disk image queue, but if you like the "old" technique of jog-dial and OLED there is a really nice ST OLED.

https://centuriontech.eu/product/091-oled-module/

[ijor]

What i want to be able to do, is to use the ST files, or whatever other formats it can mount to use something like fastcopy to create proper floppies. I do own a greaseweazle, and have been doing it that way. but it can be cludgy at times. especially when dealing with STX files. needing to convert them and it being a bit flaky.

Not sure this is the best method. Besides the STX conversion limitations, you won't be able to write back most copy protected images using ST hardware. That has nothing to do with the conversion, or the image format. Even if you would use an original physical disk, you still won't be able to copy it (that's precisely why they are copy protected), except perhaps for the earlier US releases that used very simple copy protection techniques. Not on a plain ST without a hardware copier.

STX is a "lossy" flux format intended for emulators.

I don't think that's an accurate term. I wouldn't call the STX format as "lossy", and certainly that is not the problem. The problem is that STX images describe the disk at a higher level, which was needed for emulation at the time. When I created the format, a typical PC wasn't powerful enough to emulate a disk image at the direct flux transition level. Not in real time.

[rubber_jonnie]

I was after some of these, but sadly they were out of stock for a while so I didn't bother in the end.

Looks in stock now.

CenturionTech batch build, you register interest in items "out-of-stock" and when there is enough interest he builds a new batch. No one registers interest, no more batches.

I recommend using the Atari ST "Floppy Manager" program where you use the host screen, keyboard and mouse to select the floppy disk image queue, but if you like the "old" technique of jog-dial and OLED there is a really nice ST OLED.

https://centuriontech.eu/product/091-oled-module/

Yeah, I do like them, just not really needing any right now, though I am thinking of a Mega ST project that might benefit from one.

[alexh]

STX is a "lossy" flux format intended for emulators.

I don't think that's an accurate term. I wouldn't call the STX format as "lossy".

I know. I just couldn't think of the right words which is why I put it in quotes. I just knew it meant there was not always enough information to write back to disks, but enough to be read in emulators.

[Cerberus73]

What i want to be able to do, is to use the ST files, or whatever other formats it can mount to use something like fastcopy to create proper floppies. I do own a greaseweazle, and have been doing it that way. but it can be cludgy at times. especially when dealing with STX files. needing to convert them and it being a bit flaky.

Not sure this is the best method. Besides the STX conversion limitations, you won't be able to write back most copy protected images using ST hardware. That has nothing to do with the conversion, or the image format. Even if you would use an original physical disk, you still won't be able to copy it (that's precisely why they are copy protected), except perhaps for the earlier US releases that used very simple copy protection techniques. Not on a plain ST without a hardware copier.

STX is a "lossy" flux format intended for emulators.

I don't think that's an accurate term. I wouldn't call the STX format as "lossy", and certainly that is not the problem. The problem is that STX images describe the disk at a higher level, which was needed for emulation at the time. When I created the format, a typical PC wasn't powerful enough to emulate a disk image at the direct flux transition level. Not in real time.

This is why i was using the greaseweazle, it seems to have no problem with copying "protected" disks on every format I muck around with (ST, BBC, Amstrad CPC, +3 speccy, C64, Vic-20) its just a bit of a pain to faff around with at times. finding the right setting, and basically having to fire up the PC to do it in the first place.. yeah I'm a lazy bugger. figured if i could do it all on the ST itself it would remove one step at least.

[ijor]

I know. I just couldn't think of the right words which is why I put it in quotes. I just knew it meant there was not always enough information to write back to disks, but enough to be read in emulators.

It is more complicated than that. All the information is actually there, but it is extremely difficult to extract at the low level for writing back purposes. You can say that STX images describe the effect, and not the cause. This is much more convenient for emulators, and because the "common" Pasti imaging tool was running on standard ST hardware, that's the only level that you could practically record. For writing back, you need the cause, not the effect. And because of how the FDC works, it is extremely difficult to perform an accurate conversion that would work in every case. It is more difficult than the other way around, going from flux transition level (cause) to FDC high level (effect).

I've been meaning to develop a conversion tool for years, but not sure it's worth nowadays. Perhaps it is worth for a few rare cases that the only thing we have, and might have, are STX images. But I could much easily process specific cases than develop a generic tool.

[russellnash]

I don't use a Gotek very often but something I have experienced over the years is that disk images seem to become corrupted, or at least they no longer load correctly. If I have around 100 game menu disk images on the SD card or USB stick, many of them become unloadable within a short time. The time I used my Goex the most was playing Dragonflight and that game image became unloadable many times, sometimes much more quickly than others. I kept backing up my progress so that I could recopy it onto the SD card and reselect it in the boot menu. This happened on five different Goex and Gotek drives, any ST and any SD card. I meant to ask this some years ago, does anybody know why it happens?

[rubber_jonnie]

I don't use a Gotek very often but something I have experienced over the years is that disk images seem to become corrupted, or at least they no longer load correctly. If I have around 100 game menu disk images on the SD card or USB stick, many of them become unloadable within a short time. The time I used my Goex the most was playing Dragonflight and that game image became unloadable many times, sometimes much more quickly than others. I kept backing up my progress so that I could recopy it onto the SD card and reselect it in the boot menu. This happened on five different Goex and Gotek drives, any ST and any SD card. I meant to ask this some years ago, does anybody know why it happens?

I have had some unreliability using Goteks with my OSI600D, but thats'a weird old style machine that does some odd stuff, other than that my Goteks have been pretty solid.

[russellnash]

Thanks for the reply, I imagine it is a something that probably isn't very easy to explain or solve, and in most cases isn't that important because I am usually running everything from the Ultrasatan. I originally bought a Gotek because my first ST had a replacement floppy drive which was not at all reliable at detecting disk swaps, which the Gotek fixed immediately.