From b18c0d9b0c2db3aa8b5e852711475848dd9edaa3 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Stefan Koelle Date: Fri, 11 Sep 2026 23:59:55 +0200 Subject: [PATCH] Add Gotek floppy emulator page under Atari corner --- retro/gotek/index.njk | 40 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ retro/index.njk | 3 +++ 2 files changed, 43 insertions(+) create mode 100644 retro/gotek/index.njk diff --git a/retro/gotek/index.njk b/retro/gotek/index.njk new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9046887 --- /dev/null +++ b/retro/gotek/index.njk @@ -0,0 +1,40 @@ +--- +title: "Gotek Floppy Emulator: USB Stick Drive for the Atari ST" +section: "retro" +tags: "retro" +description: "Using cheap Gotek floppy emulator clones with HxC firmware to replace floppy drives with USB stick images on the Atari Mega ST." +layout: base.njk +parent: "/retro/" +--- +

Gotek Floppy Emulator: USB Stick Drive for the Atari ST

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Floppy drives and disks get unreliable after decades, so I picked up two cheap Gotek floppy emulator clones from AliExpress and followed the guides to bring USB stick disk images to the Atari. One is installed in my Mega ST 4 "Low", the other is still unbuilt.

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What a Gotek is

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A Gotek is a cheap floppy drive emulator sold by the Chinese company of the same name, available in many variants on AliExpress, eBay and Amazon for around 20 Euro. To the Atari it looks like a normal floppy drive, but the disk data actually lives as disk-image files on a USB stick. That makes it easy to archive and preserve many old disks in little space, and to exchange data with a modern PC.

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The HxC firmware upgrade

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On their own, stock Gotek drives are of limited use on the Atari. The trick is to flash them with Jean-François del Nero's HxC firmware, which dramatically expands their capabilities and makes them properly usable with the ST. Installing it involves flashing a new bootloader over a serial connection, then the firmware itself is loaded from the USB stick. The full steps are covered in the CHZ-Soft guide and the HxC overview on Jungsi's Corner.

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Modes and image formats

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The HxC firmware reads disk images in HFE format, a bit-for-bit copy of a disk's magnetisation that can even emulate unusual floppy formats. The emulator can run in several modes:

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Using the HxC software you can convert common Atari ST, MSA and other disk formats into HFE, create new images, and transfer files between the images and a PC. Always use double-density (DD) recording for the ST, and set the interface mode to Atari ST.

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Installation

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For the drive to work in the Atari, it has to be jumpered to drive select 0 (S0). Whether it runs as internal drive A: or external drive B:, the wiring inside a floppy station uses the usual power and data cables, though the data cable isn't keyed, so check pin 1. The front bezel of the floppy station may need cutting out to fit the emulator mechanically.

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My Setup

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One of the Gotek emulators is installed in my Mega ST 4 "Low" machine, giving it reliable disk-image storage on a USB stick alongside the Cloudy/Storm ST combo, the SidecarTridge and the Wi-Fi modem. The second Gotek is still unbuilt, waiting to go into another machine or to serve as a spare.

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Sources

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diff --git a/retro/index.njk b/retro/index.njk index 92b020a..1580743 100644 --- a/retro/index.njk +++ b/retro/index.njk @@ -22,6 +22,9 @@ sections: - title: "🌀 Storm ST & Cloudy ST" summary: "Adding 8 MB Alt-RAM and flashable TOS to the Mega ST, switching between EmuTOS and TOS 1.04." href: "/retro/storm-cloudy/" + - title: "💾 Gotek Floppy Emulator" + summary: "Replacing floppy drives with cheap Gotek emulators and HxC firmware, using USB stick disk images on the Mega ST 4 'Low'." + href: "/retro/gotek/" - title: "🧠 MonSTerBoard" summary: "How the MonSTerBoard turns the Mega ST 4 'High' into a workstation with 8 MB TT-RAM, dual IDE and flashable TOS." href: "/retro/monsterboard/"