- After some hours of coding the the Gotek firmware can now be replaced by an Amiga compatible firmware. This firmware allows to load any ADF file present on the USB key and play it on the Amiga! A special boot ADF file allows to select the game or demo to start. The Gotek Floppy emulator working on an Amiga 600 running the State Of The Art Demo.
- Apr 24, 2018 But then the Gotek floppy emulator came on the market, a cheap and cheerful piece of hardware from the Far East. This originally emulated just PC-style floppies. Some Amiga users worked out how to flash the firmware to expand it to work with the Commodore Amiga computer (and named the revised firmware Cortex).
New website/server online ! : https://hxc2001.com
- Some floppy disk drive retrofit examples -
Gotek HxC Floppy Emulator firmware manual - Firmware update. No entry point (→no software flashed). HxC Floppy Emulator project.
Introduction
Floppy disks have disappeared from the market since many years now, but surprisly the machines needed them still largely being used in various domains : Video games, Retro computing, Music, CNC machines (manufacturing/industrial process)... Early 2000s an alternative to the floppy disks was needed for these machines because the floppy support in PC machines started to disappear and the floppy disks reliability and quality was getting worse and worse.
I personnally started this project in 2006 to revive my Atari ST & Amiga machines and make them easier to use in the incoming world without floppy disks and floppy drives. The project have grown with the various support requests received during all these years. It now supports hundreds of machines and floppy formats. See the showroom to have a preview of the currently supported machines.
The HxC Floppy Emulator project main idea is to completely replace the floppy disk drive by an electronic device. This electronic device emulate the floppy disk drive behavior and functionnalities. The HxC Floppy emulators are designed to be very versatile and to support a large variety of computers / keyboards / samplers / CNC machines at a reasonable price. The HxC Floppy Emulators support most existing floppy formats.
Today the HxC Floppy Emulator is a well established floppy disk drive replacement solution present into the retro-computing domain, Music domain and industrial domain.
See the showroom to have a preview of supported machines.
The HxC project currently offers different floppy emulation hardware and software solutions :
| - A SDCARD version which allows to emulate floppy disks which images are stored in a SDCARD. For more information on this interface, go to the 'SD HxC Floppy Drive Emulator' part. |
| - A USB version which allows to connect the floppy disk drive interface of the computer to a PC via a USB cable. For more information on this interface, go to the 'USB HxC Floppy Drive Emulator' part. |
| - An advanced firmware for the Gotek floppy emulators. For more information on this firmware, go to the 'HxC Firmware for Gotek Floppy Emulator' part. |
Supported Machines
In the table below, you can find a preview list of supported machines and floppy file images.
For a more complete list, please visit the HxC Floppy Emulators compatibility table.
Note : Some computers/hardwares are probably missing in these lists.
If you have tested the HxC Floppy Emulator successfully with another hardware or if you want a new file/hardware support, don't hesitate to contact us.
| Supported Computer/Hardware | Supported File Formats | Notes |
| Atari ST (STE/STF/Falcon...) | *.ST | 9,10,11 and 18 (1.44MB) sectors/track format supported. |
| *.DIM | ||
| *.MSA | ||
| *.STT | Steem Imager file format. | |
| *.IPF | ||
| *.STX / Pasti | ||
| 'Non images' files. | The HxC Floppy Emulator software allows to create an virtual FAT12 (Atari ST/ MS DOS) floppy disk containing files present in a PC folder. | |
| *.IMA Hard Disk Image | Hard disk drive emulation done by the HxCMount driver. More details on : https://hxcmount.atomas.com/ | |
| Amiga (500/600/1000/1200...) | *.ADF | |
| UAE / Extended ADF | New and old version supported. | |
| *.ADZ | Based on the zlib. | |
| *.DMS | Based on xdms. | |
| *.IPF | 26/03/2008 > New software and CPLD core -> Full support of protected floppies image. Variable bitrate and flakeys bits protection are now supported. | |
| 'Non images' files. | The HxC Floppy Emulator software allows to create an virtual AmigaDOS floppy disk containing files present in a PC folder. | |
| Amstrad CPC6128/CPC6128+ | *.DSK | |
| *.DSK (extended) | ||
| *.IPF | ||
| Sinclair ZX Spectrum +3 | DSK and Extended DSK | |
| TRD (BetaDisk) | ||
| SCL (BetaDisk) | ||
| *.FDI | ||
| *.IPF | ||
| MSX2 | *.DSK | Caution : Some MSX2 computers use a non-standard floppy connector pinout. Please check that the computer pinout is compatible with the HxC Floppy Emulator or use an adaptator. |
| Thomson TO8D MO5 + CD90-640 | *.SAP | Based on Libsap. |
| *.FD | FD files can be loaded with the raw image loader (in the gui software) with these parameters : MFM-256bytes/sector or FM-128bytes/sector, 16 sectors/tracks, 2 or 1 sides. | |
| Oric+MicroDisk | *.DSK | Oric & MicroDisc support tested at the Infoticaires 2008 convention party |
| C64 + 1581 | *.D81 | |
| Dragon 32/64 | *.VDK Dragon 32/64 disk image | |
| Sam Coupé | *.MGT | |
| *.SAD | ||
| TI99/4A | TI99 PC99 | MFM & FM tracks supported. |
| TI99 V9T9 (*.V9T9 / *.PC99) | ||
| TRS-80 | *.JV1 | |
| *.JV3 | JV3 support done by Gustavo E. A. P. A. Batista. Thanks to him. Video demo JV3 write support done by David Barr. Thanks to him too ! :) And another video here ! | |
| *.JVC | Jeff Vavasour Color Computer Disk Image | |
| *.DMK | ||
| Acorn A3000 | *.ADF | |
| Acorn BBC | *.SSD | |
| *.DSD | ||
| *.ADL | ||
| ACT/Apricot | ACT Apricot disk image | |
| Robotron KC 85/X | *.TD0 | |
| Kaypro 4-84 | *.IMD | |
| RML 380Z/480Z | *.IMG | More details on the forum |
| CamputerLynx | *.LDF | Tests on the real hardware done . |
| PC-6601/PC6601SR | *.D88 | |
| PC88 | *.D88 | |
| x68000 | *.HDM | 360RPM, 500Kb/s, 8 1024Bytes sectors, 2 sides, 77 tracks floppy format. |
| *.XDF | ||
| FM Town II | *.D88 *.BIN (raw image) | |
| Super Wildcard DX-SWC3201 | *.SMC | Create a MS-DOS FAT12 floppy disk containing the SMC Super NES / Super Famicon ROM file. |
| PC | *.IMG/*.IMA/*.IMZ | 720kB and 1.44MB floppy image files supported |
| Korg DSS-1 Keyboard | *.DSK (CopyQM) | Note : Here a demo : http://www.reflexmusic.de/DSS-1/ |
| Korg Is40 Keyboard | *.IMG/*.IMA/*.IMZ MS DOS Floppy disk image | |
| Ensoniq EPS Keyboard | *.EDE *.GKH | Video demo. |
| Ensoniq SD-1 Keyboard | *.EDV | Note : The floppy file image must have the *.EDV extension |
| Ensoniq Mirage Sampler | *.EDM | Note : The floppy file image must have the *.EDM extension |
| Ensoniq ASR-10 | *.EDA | |
| Ensoniq SQ-80 | *.EDS | |
| Ensoniq TS-10 | *.EDT | |
| Kurzweil K2000 | *.KRZ | |
| Oberheim DPX1 Sampler | *.DPX | Video demo. |
| Emax & Emax II Sampler | *.EM1 & *.EM2 | Note : The operating system image (emaxos.emx) must be present in the same folder than the bank files. |
| Prophet 2000 & 2002 | *.IMG | |
| E-mu Emulator | *.EMUFD | |
| E-mu Emulator II | *.EMUIIFD | |
| *.EII | Note : The operating system image (emuiios.emuiifd) must be present in the same folder than the bank files. Credits & Thanks: E-mu Emulator I & II support was possible thanks to Jan Kiefer who supply all necessary materials and supports, to the Software Preservation Society team for the reverse engineering of the EmuII Floppy disk format, and to Kris Van de Cappelle (EMXP developer) for the tests and EmuII technicals informations. | |
| E-mu SP1200 | *.SP1200FD | Video demo. Thanks to rosefloyd for the tests on the SP1200 hardware! |
| Yamaha Clavinova CVP-83S | *.IMG/*.IMA/*.IMZ MS DOS Floppy disk image | Note: The virtual floppy disk image can be generated from midi files with the software. |
| Yamaha TX16W | Raw sector images/Floppy dump | More details on the forum |
| Roland G800 | *.IMG/*.IMA/*.IMZ MS DOS Floppy disk image | Note: The virtual floppy disk image can be generated from midi files with the software. Video demo. |
| Roland W-30 | *.TD0 Floppy Disk Dump | |
| Roland S-330 | *.TD0 Floppy Disk Dump | |
| Roland S-50 | *.IMG/ raw sector images | |
| Roland MV 30 | Floppy Disk Dump | |
| Roland MC 300 | Floppy Disk Dump | |
| Akai S900/S950 Sampler | *.IMG/ raw sector images | Video demo |
| Akai S01 | Raw sector images/Floppy dump | More details on the forum |
| Akai ASQ-10 | Raw sector images/Floppy dump | |
| Akai MPC60 MKII | Raw sector images/Floppy dump. | More details on the forum |
| Akai MPC2000 | Raw sector images/Floppy dump. | More details on the forum Video demo |
| JB-Lighting Licon | *.IMG/*.IMA/*.IMZ MS DOS Floppy disk image | Note: The virtual floppy disk image can be generated from files with the software. |
| ALESIS DataDisk | Raw sector images/Floppy dump. | More details on the forum. |
| TD0 Teledisk format | *.TD0 | Teledisk file format: Normal and advanced compression supported. |
| IMD file format | *.IMD | ImageDisk File format Note: supported modes: MFM & FM. |
| MFM file format | *.MFM | Internal format of the software: contains encoded tracks. |
| AFI file format | *.AFI | Advanced floppy image: Contains Track data, variable bitrate, flakey bits informations. |
| HFE file format | *.HFE | File format used by the SD HxC Floppy Emulator |
| VTR file format | *.VTR | File format used by the VTrucco Floppy Emulator (variant of the SD HxC Floppy Emulator) |
Note : Since the above table is becoming too long, the full compatibility table has now its own page. Please have a look :
HxC Floppy Emulators supported machines / compatibility table.
To download the software please go to the software section.
SD HxC Floppy Emulators
You can found details about these floppy emulators into this pdf : SDCard_HxC_Floppy_Emulator_Product_Brief.pdf Hardware/software specifications Floppy interface: HE10 34 pins floppy connector Power supply User Interface SDCard support SDCard Filesystem Read / Write support Floppy bitrate supported RPM Tracks / Side Additionnal features |
SD HxC Floppy Emulator Mechanical drawing (Rev B/C): |
Firmware : Please go to the download section to get the latest version. |
Host control/File selector tool (Atari ST, Amstrad CPC, Amiga) : With the HxC File selector the host computer can access directly to the SDCard to select files images and change the SDCard HxC Floppy Emulator settings. The LCD screen and the buttons are becoming optional / useless. You can even remove the LCD screen to put the SD HxC Floppy Emulator inside the Amiga/Atari/CPC computer without case modification. Atari ST, Amstrad CPC and Amiga versions of this tool are currently available. Videos-demo of the HxC File Selector : Note : Please go to the download section to get the latest version. |
USB HxC Floppy Emulator
USB HxC Floppy Emulator hardware main features
- Read only Floppy emulator (SD,DD,HD & ED mode) To see the list of computer tested with it, please go to this List |
All necessary informations to build your own USB HxC Floppy Emulator are available here. The main part of the USB HxC Floppy Emulator is a MAX EPM7128S CPLD from Altera with 128 Macrocell. This chip is connected to a 32KB SRAM memory buffer and a FT245 from FTDI for the USB communication. |
Warning : Do not disconnect the floppy ribbon while the USB is connected ! This may damage the emulator and your equipements. Always disconnect the USB cable before connect/disconnect the floppy ribbon. |
USB HxC Floppy Emulator's schematic
Gotek Floppy Emulator Software Machine
USB HxC Floppy Emulator CPLD
The bitstream to use to program the CPLD is available here. To program this chip you can use Quartus II and an Altera compatible JTAG probe (The ByteBlaster for example). The programmer software can be downloaded from the Altera/Intel website. Once programmed the CPLD got this pinout -> The VHDL sources are available here : VHDL USB HxC Floppy Emulator sources |
How to build the USB HxC Floppy Emulator ?
There are two differents USB HxC Floppy Emulator PCBs : - An 'homebrew' version (Rev B). This is a one layer 'Do It Yourself' PCB. - A 'Production' version (Rev C). This is a two layers PCB. I recommend this version since it have a better layout. Regarding the features of the board there are no differences between these two boards. If you don't want build it, this board is also available to purchase. Have a look to the sale points section. |
HxC Floppy Emulator software
This software act as the floppy server with the USB HxC Floppy Emulator. Notes: - Supported operating systems : - The USB HxC Floppy Emulator support is based on the FTDI D2XX Direct Drivers. The lastest software sources codes can be donwloaded on the SourceForge project page : Note : Please go to the download section to get the latest software version. |
Download
Here you can find the up-to-date softwares, firmwares and documentations :
Last update : February 25, 2021
Gotek Floppy Emulator Software Macbook
Devices list :
Download : SD HxC Floppy Emulators
SD HxC Floppy Emulators firmwares
> SD HxCFloppyEmulator firmware upgradev1.8.7.1 (please have a look to the release notes for the latest changes)
Slim SD HxC Floppy Emulators firmwares
> Slim SD HxCFloppyEmulator firmware upgrade v2.1.2.40 (please have a look to the release notes for the latest changes)
Softwares and tools
> HxCFloppyEmulator software v2.5.6.6 (please have a look to the release notes for the latest changes)
> Softwares and Libraries sources can be found on SourceForge and GitHub:
Gotek Floppy Emulator Software Macro
Documentations
Documentations (developer)
Other
Download : USB Stick STM32 HxC Floppy Emulator (aka HxC Firmware for Gotek !)
The following elements allow you to program the low cost Gotek USB Floppy Emulator with the HxC bootloader & Firmwares.
To purchase the firmware : https://hxc2001.com/store/
USB HxC Floppy Emulators firmware for Gotek
> USB STM32 HxCFloppyEmulator firmware upgradev3.5.2.5a(HFE + HFEv3 + ADF + ST + IMG + (E)DSK file and many others format support)
Please have a look to the release notes for the latest changes
Softwares and tools
> HxCFloppyEmulator software v2.5.6.6 (please have a look to the release notes for the latest changes)
> Softwares and Libraries sources can be found on SourceForge and GitHub:
Download : USB HxC Floppy Emulator
Driver :
Softwares and tools
> HxCFloppyEmulator software v2.5.6.6 (please have a look to the release notes for the latest changes)
> Softwares and Libraries sources can be found on SourceForge and GitHub:
Other
Download : Hardware download
You can find into the following archives all the hardware informations to build / repair an HxC Floppy Emulator :
Points of Sale
The USB HxC Floppy emulator and SD HxC Floppy Emulator are produced and sold by Lotharek.
Lotharek online shop:
https://lotharek.pl/
SD HxC Floppy Emulator REV F 3'1/2 Form factor/cased (HE10 34 pins interface)
Rev F (white case) |
Slim SD HxC Floppy Emulator
Slim Rev A Cased (HE10 34pins) |
SD HxC Floppy Emulator REV C (HE10 34 pins interface
Rev C cased (white) |
USB HxC Floppy Emulator
Rev D USB cased |
USB Stick STM32 HxC Floppy Emulator (HxC Firmware for Gotek) Store
Third party tools
WinImage (shareware) : a Windows program to create/modify dos/fat12 files images.
https://www.winimage.com/
ImageDisk : A DOS software to read/write floppy disk.
http://dunfield.classiccmp.org/img/index.htm
OmniFlop : a Windows program to read almost any kind of non standard floppy disk.
http://www.shlock.co.uk/Utils/OmniFlop/OmniFlop.htm
VFD - Virtual Floppy Drive : a Windows Floppy disk drive emulator : This software is able to mount an .IMG file as a floppy disk drive under windows.
http://vfd.sourceforge.net/
Videos / pictures
All pictures / videos of the project can be found on this page!
Contributors
| Jean-François DEL NERO (Jeff) | Project Initiator - Main project developper/maintainer. |
| Gregory ESTRADE (Torlus) | Forum hosting, FAT32 support of the SD HxC Floppy Emulator. |
| Christophe ESC. (Giants) | Manufacturing of the First USB HxC Floppy Emulator batch. |
| Przemyslaw Krawczyk (Lotharek) | Manufacturing and selling facilities. |
| Arnaud STORQ (Norecess) | Amstrad CPC file selector optimization and support. |
| Gustavo E. A. P. A. Batista | TRS-80 JV3 support implementation. |
| David Barr | TRS-80 JV3 write support implementation. |
| Michael Gibs (gibs) | Some incredible promotionals videos ;-) |
| Kris VC (Esynthesist) | Providing a great help for the E-mu Emulator I & II support. (Technical informations and tests). |
| The Software Preservation Society Team | Providing the first E-mu Emulator I & II floppy disk dump and E-mu track format. |
| Joseph REDON (Namida) | NEC PC88 support tests. |
| Alex Mena | x68000 support tests. |
| Petari | Atari ST ST/MSA/STT support tests. |
| Jan Kiefer | E-mu Emulator II tests. |
| Rosefloyd (One MPC Two DJ'S) | E-mu SP1200 tests and some demos videos. |
And thanks to all others project contributors !: Bugs reports, new ideas submiters, code contributors, spreading the word about the project !
I wanted to post a more in depth instructions for those using this on there mpc 2000 or 2000 xl , it could also probably work for other mpc in general , I spent days trying to figure out how to use this drive it came with zero instructions most videos I felt people were more so showing off that they got it to work and really didnt explain. More than a few articles and forum posts I saw that people using certain programs on there pc could only truly get there usb drive to partition too 100 1.44mb. I found out a hybrid solution using a free program , and a tendak usb floppy drive. Both Gotek and Tendak drive were just under 50$ us.(using windows)
1.)Turn off power to mpc and open it up basic screw setup get the backing and control panel board off mpc and gently remove hard drive, detach the cables and put gotek drive in place attach the two cables, put everythig back on mpc .
2.)Download version 1.40i from the free software company called IPCAS http://www.ipcas.com/support/usb-floppy ... nload.html, this is the program you will use to format one of your usb with this . Here is the quick steps to use the disk emulator program after instalation I do believe there youtube videos showing how to.
a.)Put in usb flash drive ,open program top left corner you will see the drive you plugged in go to the drive and right click format, keep in mind this will erase anything previous on that flash drive.There will be a window prompt pop up make sure you set the partition to 100 it will break the drive into 100 1.44mb folders essentially and make sure you click the dos option this will add a dos prompt to each folder you only need it in one but it makes it easier and you can always delete with a click in the folder. hit format it will ask you if your sure or not just dot it, and your usb is now partioned in a way your mpc can understand.
b.)On the right of the screen you will now see or should now see the 100 partitions click on the very first partition this will be the very first file your gotek drive will read to the mpc, you will see the three dos boot files you need this for the boot up part.
c.)Plug in Tendak usb floppy drive on my computer the drive read was A, insert your boot floppy I have 1.72 and it will read it like any other hard drive open the drive folder and you should see three files for the OS boot up , highlight those files and drag them in the first folder in your ipcas program, unplug usb plug into gotek drive power it up to show that it works and will boot from the first partition on that storage device.
What few have explained about the GOTEK drive is that there are two buttons that serve functions of scrolling through the partitions inside of mpc or what ever compatible and when the usb is unplugged it also has a few functions because of its internal memory its to set read or writing modes that allow it to be transported info from pc to mpc etc, that part is tricky and where I think should be written about or explained more . So the concept is that you really dont need to format usb on pc the idea is that it formats from the GOTEK drive itself and partitions to 1000 on its own which is amazing considering it eliminates the need for possible faulty drives or disks. The only problem I ran into is that when you go through the partition process it wipes the OS so you need to find a way to boot mpc after you partition gotek drive if that makes sense. So I figured I would make two compatible forms of using usb drive with mpc 2000.
2.)Now that you have a 100 partitioned boot drive , you can now setup and partition the second usb.
a.)plug in second usb into the gotek drive make sure that it isnt turned on and hold in the two buttons on the drive and power on machine you will see it start to count up once you see that let go it will go up to 998 or so once its done creating your 1000 partitions you will notice now that after you power off it will give you a disk error message or something. power machine back off, you second usb is now successfully partioned and formated to use fully on your mpc......but now you notice there is no OS boot on the new second usb.
b.)plug second drive into pc you will notice it will be name fl000 or something like that and it will seem that the whole drive is the size of a floppy disk that is just the first partition on your gotek drive the pc is registering , no problem though go into the ipcas program make sure usb one is plugged in your pc and open up the first folder like before and you just highlight and copy the files in the floder including the mpc ones and drag them into your second usb drive, you now have a dos boot mpc OS file in the first partition on your usb so you can now plug in mpc power up you now have your boot and a thousand partition usb.
The first usb I use as a back up boot and a way that is easy for me to drag files from old disks to add to and from my pc to the mpc and the second drive is for my main stand in drive I hope this rant made sense to you this method works great for me and I think allot out there searching could be helped .