Does FF always need emulator software?

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stevehdj
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Mar 20, 2022 10:49 pm

Does FF always need emulator software?

Post by stevehdj »

I have a Roland AT80SL organ with a gotek FF USB Drive (firmware 3.28) installed that is working fine with emulator software that produces and saves .hfe images to the USB stick. However in reading some of the info on the site I came across the following -

"Floppy Emulation from USB stick partitions

(Firmware v3.5.1.1a or above required)" The HxC firmware for Gotek is able to emulate floppy disks directly from the USB Stick FAT12 partitions. "

Does this mean that if I upgrade to V3.5.1 I would no longer need the emulator software that prepares .hfe files and can copy native Roland files directly from PC to the USB stick and does it only work when drive is formatted to FAT12? It would be great if this is the case and would save step of copy/paste/save hfe type files. I would also assume I would be limited to 1.44 mb partitions as that is what the Roland expects to see.

Thanks for any info passed along.

Jeff
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Re: Does FF always need emulator software?

Post by Jeff »

Yes the latest HxC Firmwares are able to directly mount partitions :

https://hxc2001.com/docs/gotek-floppy-e ... ition.html

To install the HxC firmware :

https://hxc2001.com/store/

https://hxc2001.com/docs/gotek-floppy-e ... ick-method

stevehdj
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Mar 20, 2022 10:49 pm

Re: Does FF always need emulator software?

Post by stevehdj »

Thank you for reply, As I have firmware 3.28 am I able to then use this feature as I find the following that states firmware 3.2.1 or above?? Ithought I saw that 3.5.1 or more was required somewhere else on the website. Also I assume I use a GPT type preformatted file that can be found in the imageless mode folder in the firmware zip files and will this method allow multiple folders or partiions. Thanks for your support

Floppy Emulation from USB stick folder

(Firmware v3.2.1.1a or above required)

This feature allows you to directly put your files in a stick’s folder and mount this folder as a FAT/DOS floppy disk !

You can use it with any machine compatible with the FAT file system (PC, Atari ST, lots of keyboards/samplers and CNC machines…).
Preparation

To use this feature, copy an empty/preformatted DOS IMG image to the stick path "/mount/emptyfat.img" This image can be a 720KB or 1.44MB blank DOS image or any other FAT compatible blank image. You can use the HxC Floppy Emulator software Disk Browser to create it or take the ones present in the firmware archive.

Once you select a "mount source" folder on the emulator, the emptyfat.img file is duplicated to a "MOUNTED.IMG" file. Then all files/subfolders present into the selected folder are added into this duplicated image.
Note
The emptyfat.img remains untouched.

Your "mount sources" / root folders should have the extension ".mnt" to be mounted by the emulator :

Example: "myvirtualdisk.mnt"

This new feature can be used with the "normal"/direct browsing (OLED/LCD screen usage) and indexed modes. For the indexed mode just put the DSKAXXXX prefix in the mount point folder name.

Example: "DSKA0000_MyMidiFiles.mnt"
Note
The image duplication and files copy operations can take some seconds.

stevehdj
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Mar 20, 2022 10:49 pm

Re: Does FF always need emulator software?

Post by stevehdj »

Hi I have tried to follow on line instructions for creating usb stick for image less mode. Attached is picture of the usb directory. On the gotek oled display I can read the folder and file names that are under the myfloppydisk.mnt but can only load style files from the At Disk1 image file onto the Roland AT80S organ. I cannot read same style files that are contained within the ATsytledisk01 folder. I am sure I am doing something wrong when creating USB stick but have not been able to figure it out. Any suggestions is helpful. I was wondering if anyone is selling premade usb sticks that would have partions set up and then we would only need to transfer our files to them. Just occured to me is a gotek with flash floppy firmware working same as one with Hcx firmware. maybe that is a reason why not working as I would hope

thanks
Steve
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Jeff
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Re: Does FF always need emulator software?

Post by Jeff »


SimplePuss
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Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2022 11:02 am

Re: Does FF always need emulator software?

Post by SimplePuss »

stevehdj wrote:
Tue Mar 22, 2022 7:14 pm
Hi I have tried to follow on line instructions for creating usb stick for image less mode. Attached is picture of the usb directory. On the gotek oled display I can read the folder and file names that are under the myfloppydisk.mnt but can only load style files from the At Disk1 image file onto the Roland AT80S organ. I cannot read same style files that are contained within the ATsytledisk01 folder. I am sure I am doing something wrong when creating USB stick but have not been able to figure it out. Any suggestions is helpful. I was wondering if anyone is selling premade usb sticks that would have partions set up and then we would only need to transfer our files to them. Just occured to me is a gotek with flash floppy firmware working same as one with Hcx firmware. maybe that is a reason why not working as I would hope

thanks
Steve
See my post of 12-06-22. Style files will load, but there is no need to put them into a "folder" on the flash drive. Each individual floppy disk as supplied by the organs' manufacturers have several files on them in the disk's root. The organ will list all the files automatically.

For example, you have 30 songs [10 Rock n Roll] and [5 Classical] and [15 Jazz]. Each group has a virtual floppy. You have 57 Registrations [12 Theatre & Pipe Organ] and [24 Orchestral] and [5 Latin] and [16 String] etc etc. That would be 7 virtual floppies in total. Each time you select one of them, the organ will list the contents from which you will make a selection from the touch screen. Further, you can format, the virtual floppies using the organ's disk utilities. The organ does not support directories or sub-directories which would be pretty worthless anyway.

Hope this helps

sharase
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Feb 15, 2023 11:01 am

Re: Does FF always need emulator software?

Post by sharase »

stevehdj wrote:
Mon Mar 21, 2022 1:54 am
I have a Roland AT80SL organ with a gotek FF USB Drive (firmware 3.28) installed that is working fine with emulator software that produces and saves .hfe images to the USB stick. However in reading some of the info on the site I came across the following -

"Floppy Emulation from USB stick partitions

(Firmware v3.5.1.1a or above required)" The HxC firmware for Gotek is able to emulate floppy disks directly from the USB Stick FAT12 partitions. "

Does this mean that if I upgrade to V3.5.1 I would no longer need the emulator software that prepares .hfe files and can copy native Roland files directly from PC to the USB stick and does it only work when drive is formatted to FAT12? It would be great if this is the case and would save step of copy/paste/save hfe type files. subway surfers I would also assume I would be limited to 1.44 mb partitions as that is what the Roland expects to see.

Thanks for any info passed along.
Yes, upgrading to firmware version 3.5.1.1a or above on your Gotek floppy drive would allow you to directly emulate floppy disks from the USB stick's FAT12 partitions. This means that you would no longer need emulator software to produce and save .hfe files to the USB stick. Instead, you could copy native Roland files directly from your PC to the USB stick and use them directly on the organ.

This feature does indeed only work when the USB stick is formatted to the FAT12 file system. You would be limited to 1.44 MB partitions, as that is the standard size for floppy disks that your Roland organ expects to see.

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