New Floppy Emulator Does Not Seem To Work

[Skeezix]

I installed a floppy emulator (it says "GOTEK" on the front of it) and turned on my PSR 2000. A green LED comes on and the numbers are "000" and are shown in RED. I thought that they should show up in GREEN.

So on the computer I copy some styles to a USB stick, plug the stick into  the emulator, turn the PSR on, press "D", and then press the NEXT button until "FLOPPY" appears.

The PSR asks if I want to format the disk and if I select "YES" a LED on the stick flashes for 2 or 3 minutes and the PSR says "NOW FORMATTING". The LED on the stick stops flashing but nothing else happens.

When I press one of the emulators buttons, the stick flashes briefly and then the PSR reads "NO FLOPPY DISK".

I received absolutely no instructions with the emulator. What did I do wrong here?

[Bruce Breen]

Hi,

I Googled "Gotek floppy emulator manual" and found their website.
Apparentally their SFR1M44-U100K unit is the one to use on Yamaha keyboards...(what is your model number?).
The PDF is attached in case you can use it...

And here is the link to their website.
http://www.gotekemulator.com/Product.asp?small=2
(this page will show their musical equipment emulators, and if you click on the word "downloads" at the top of the page it will take you to all the PDF's for their products. )

Good luck!

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[Skeezix]

I have a PSR 2000. I also found the same model emulator that I bought back in 2012 in a box in the garage. I put it there because I had problems getting the emulator to work.

I read tonight several statements on the internet that reversing the ribbon cable to the emulator so that the red stripe is at pin 32 instead of pin 1 makes the emulator work. Having been in the electronics industry since 1966 I'm a bit leary to try that. I suppose I could get out the earlier emulator and work with it a bit.

Hopefully somebody here can tell me exactly what they did to get the emulator to work on their PSR 2000.

[Dick Rector]

The usb should be formatted with the sofware coming with the emulator and NOT as  normal formatting. It will never work without that special software. It formats your usb in 100 virtual floppies.
I have been using an Gotek emulator (bit older model) on a PSR2000 for 10 years now almost every day without a problem.

[Skeezix]

I just checked the emulator that I bought in 2012 and the sticker on it reads "SFR1M44-U100". No"A" after the 100. I also had a look under the hood of the one I just bought. Nowhere is there any sticker or other marking stating the model number. I have a hunch that the "A" is a revision to the model #.

The two differ in many ways. The older one has more components on its PCBA, has a 2-digit display, has only one jumper on it (that is connected to only one pin), has a different green LED setup, has a red push-push button on it below the green LED, and came in a cream-colored case.

The newer one has fewer components on its PCBA, a PCBA that differs from the one in the older emulator, has a 3-digit display, has two jumpers on it (one across S1 and one across J5 and JA), has no red button on it, and it came in a black case.

It would be nice to know just where to put the jumpers on the new emulator.

No instructions and no software disk came with either emulator.

I looked on the internet but couldn't find any software that might be usable, and I don't recall anybody else on this forum stating he or she had to do anything with the emulator other than connect it and use it. From what I gather, you must format the USB stick on a PC and when you do you will then have either 100 (old one) or 1000 (new one) "FDs" on it. I formatted my stick to FAT32.

In any event, perhaps somebody else could chime in with a handy hint?

[zofman]

Well, here is a great place to start your quest.

https://github.com/keirf/FlashFloppy/wiki/Hardware-Mods

Right column, all kinds of stuff to read.

Good luck!


( mine is underway and i am going to hardware mod it with oled and rotary encoder  to be used in my ancient MSX)

[zofman]

Well, i am not going to shout like Roy, but help instead.

Maybe you like to have a look at this youtube tutorial
Its about how to handle the usbstick using software on a pc.

https://youtu.be/taFP1J_lZBI

Good luck
Jan

[Skeezix]

Thank you for the information. Two things:

1. I opened the link you provided and viewed the video. The video talks about downloading USB Floppy Format Tool for the USB Floppy Emulation V2, revision 1.40i". It also says this is available at ipcas.com but when I go there all I get is a "Problem Loading Page, Unable to connect" message. I also tried "ipcas.de" but no luck there either. I did this using first Firefox and then using Internet Explorer, so I assume that the company is no longer in business???

I also opened the PDF that one you attached to your reply. It talked about connecting the emulator to the computer's USB port and partition "it" to 100 floppies. I don't know what that was all about, so I just ignored it.

Anyway, I did manage to download version 1.2, of the USB Floppy Format Tool for the USB but I can't recall from where. When I unzipped version 1.2 and looked at its files I did not see any EXE or MSI or other installation files, so I was not able to install the Floppy Format Tool. Where can I download version 1.4i?

2. So I went ahead and used the Self Format function of the emulator. I inserted the stick into an unpowered PSR2000, then held the emulator's 2 buttons down while I turned the PSR on. The emulator quickly flashed a sequence of U01, then 126, then F01, repeated that a few times, and then flashed 00 thru 10. That took maybe 5 to 10 seconds.

I continued to hold the 2 buttons down. The emulator continued flashing the sequence several more times, then flashed 00 through 10, then again flashed the sequence several more times. After holding the 2 buttons down for 3 minutes I managed to get the emulator to flash 00 through 36 during one of the sequences. Then I released the 2 buttons and the emulator displayed 000.

Next, I pressed "D" on the PSR, then NEXT until the Floppy tab was highlighted. The PSR display was blank, but at least the PSR did not display DISK ERROR!

So I removed the stick from the PSR and stuck it into my Windows 10 computer to have a look at what was on it. The only thing that was on the stick was SYSTEM VOLUME INFORMATION. I was expecting to see several folders, but there weren't any.

Then I  copied 1.2MB worth of STY files from the computer to the root level of the stick and put the stick back into the PSR. The emulator displayed 000. The PSR first displayed CHECKING, then displayed a P1 tab and all of the 1.2MB worth of styles that I had copied to the stick. So far, so good.

When I selected 001 on the stick, the PSR again displayed CHECKING, then it displayed the P1 tab, but no styles. It did this all the way up to 73, and at 74 it asked me if I wanted to format the disk. I pressed "NO".

I don't know what to do now. I can't install the USB Floppy Format Tool. There are no folders on the stick. If I create them, I wouldn't know what to name them. I've spent several hours yesterday and today searching the links that folks here have provided but still have my problem. What should I do?

[zofman]

Hi Skeezix,

First of all, i do not own a gotek yet. But have read a lot and viewed several youtube videos.
I am going to use flashfloppy from github wiki in stead of the gotek firmware.
Maybe you should do that too. I think It gives more compatibility to other kind of equipment orher than a pc

Next thing i want to mention is that you can release the two buttens after startup. Keeping them pressed can result in discontinuing the format process
It wil format 1000 floppys at once if you have a usb stick larger than 2Gb.

On the github webpage you can see al the jumpersettings. There are several possibilities you can try.

The ipcas software is no longer free and is not easy to use. It also makes 100 floppys instead of 1000.
So i am looking into usable software, but i cant try it out  it because i dont own a gotek yet.
Here is a working link to the download of the 1.4 software you were looking for.
https://www.philscomputerlab.com/gotek-floppy-emulator.html#

Its a zip file you have to unzip to get to the exe file

Sorry i cant help you with that for now.

A pitty it isnt plug and play.

Hope to have helped a little,
Regards,
Jan

[Skeezix]

Thank you very much for providing the link to version 1.4 software. I downloaded it and will give it a try.

[Giorgio]

I have been using a generic floppy-usb converter several  years in my old Yamaha PSR 1000.
Maybe you like to have a look at this YouTube tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7i-xknNCgSI and install
V120_SFD software (run in Windows XP and Seven)and please read instructions pdf included in the zip archive.

Best regards.

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[Skeezix]

Okay, I've gone a few steps farther. Here is exactly what I did:

1.   Downloaded version 1.4 of the IPCAS USB Floppy Emulator installation file.

2.   Installed it without problems.

3.   Inserted USB stick into computer.

4.   Opened USB Floppy Manager. A window named Batch Manage Tool V1.40 - [H:] opened.

5.   Clicked USB Flash Drive > Format.

6.   Tried to make number of floppy disks 1000 instead of 100. The app would not let me do that so I left the value at 100.

7.   Made sure that Quick Format was unchecked, then clicked Begin To Format. Five to ten seconds later the format process completed without error.

8.   Closed the Format window by clicking the "X" at the upper right corner. The window closed and another window opened showing folders 000 through 099.

9.   At this point I was at the end of page 9 of the English manual that was included in version 1.4 and my screen looked like the one shown on page 9 of the manual.

10.   Tried to drag and drop 10 style files from the PC to the stick. The app would not let me do that, probably because they were .STY files and not .IMG files.

11.   In the Batch Manage tool, clicked Drive SN 000 and then clicked Single > Write Image File. A window opened to let me select an image file to copy. I have no image files on my computer, just style files, so I could not copy any to the stick.

12.   Searched the other items in the menu of Batch Manage Tool but did not find anything that looked like I could use it.

13.   Continued reading the manual starting at page 10, and tried to find an explanation of "Image File" but was not successful.

14.   Went to Windows Explorer and clicked on the USB stick icon (FLPPY0 (H:). The only file listed was System Volume Information.

How do I transfer my style files from the PC into the stick, and how do I format the stick so 1000 floppies appear instead of only 100 (not that I'll ever need 1000 floppies)?

[Dick Rector]

You transfer files USING the same (format)program and NOT direct transfer from the PC as I mentioned already.
I believe I have send you some time ago all the info I've send to hundreds of people explaining how to format and transfer files. Styles, midi's, voices or whatever are called images.
100 Virtual floppies is the norm (001 - 099) and not 1000 as far as I know but I'm talking about a program I have been using for 10 years. Each virtual floppie can take about 35 styles exactely as the old floppies did. That is 3500 styles. On your keyboardscreen all looks the same as before the only change is you push a button instead of changing a flop.

[Skeezix]

@Disk Rector
I appreciate your reply, but I still do not understand, and I apologize for that.

You wrote:
"The usb should be formatted with the sofware coming with the emulator and NOT as  normal formatting. It will never work without that special software. It formats your usb in 100 virtual floppies.
I have been using an Gotek emulator (bit older model) on a PSR2000 for 10 years now almost every day without a problem."

You also wrote:
"Styles, midi's, voices or whatever are called images. 100 Virtual floppies is the norm (001 - 099) and not 1000 as far as I know but I'm talking about a program I have been using for 10 years."

I received my emulator a couple of days ago. It has three 7-segment digit displays instead of only two, and the literature claims the emulator can handle up to 1000 virtual floppies instead of the 100 floppies that were previously available.

@Zofman:

You wrote:
"Next thing i want to mention is that you can release the two buttens after startup. Keeping them pressed can result in discontinuing the format process. It wil format 1000 floppys at once if you have a usb stick larger than 2Gb."

Thank you for telling me about when I can release the two buttons after startup. I didn't know that. Now I can (and did) format my stick via the emulator.

I'm using a 32GB stick so the formatting process should be able to create 1000 virtual floppies. But it only creates 100 virtual floppies. I don't see how I can copy other files (Voice, etc.) into virtual floppy 001, virtual floppy 002, and so on, because when I insert the stick into the PC the only place I can copy files to is to the root level. There are no folders on the stick to copy the other files into. I can only copy files to the root of the stick.

I hope I made myself a bit clearer.

[Dick Rector]

You have to install that specific software on your pc. Open it and from THERE follow the instructions and you can copy to the virtual floppies. If you do it direct from your pc it find only the root directory and that's no good on your keyboard. Must admit the instructions are a bit clumsy translation from Chinese.

I attached the instructions I wrote LONG ago but I still think they are relevant. Maybe they are a bit different than your software.
Hope this helps you, don't give up.

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[zofman]

Hi Skeezix,
The reason you can only format 100 floppys is in the type of the drive

You probably use the SFR1M44-U100 without the (k) at the end.
And as Dick said: you can best transfer files with specific software

Keep going, your almost there!
Jan

[Skeezix]

@Zofman wrote:
"Maybe you like to have a look at this youtube tutorial
Its about how to handle the usbstick using software on a pc.

https://youtu.be/taFP1J_lZBI"

I watched the tutorial. The guy was using version 1.4, so I downloaded and installed version 1.4. After using its Batch Management Tool V1.40 to format the USB stick, I saw that the Tool displayed 100 "images" just like in the tutorial. Then, like the tutorial described, I selected 000 and then clicked File > Format, and the app formatted the entire stick again, just like in the tutorial, and displayed "Format completed".

Then I followed the tutorial to transfer a file to the stick. When the guy right-clicked virtual floppy 000 and then clicked Open, his Windows Explorer opened and displayed the contents of FLPPY00,which of course was empty. Then he could navigate to somewhere on his hard drive and drag a file and drop it into the Batch Manage Tool's window. He then clicked Save and then showed that file was indeed saved in the virtual floppy.

When I double-click file 000, my Windows Explorer opens and displays the Documents window and its contents. And when I attempt to drag any file on my hard drive and then drop it into the Batch Manage Tool V1.40 window all I got was the old "Can't do that" icon. That's where I get stuck.

Do you have any suggestions?

[zofman]

Hi skeezix,

The guy in the video is quit fast and the video a little blurry
What i see is that he doesnt drag and drop between the software and explorer.
He opens the floppy by right clicking in management tool en chooses : open.
Then an explorer window opens. Then he drags the files from the harddrive to the opend explorer window.
Maybe that is what went wrong in your case?

Jan

[Skeezix]

No, I don't think so.

I am opening the virtual floppy by right clicking one of the images in the Batch Manage Tool and then clicking Open, just like in the video. That causes Windows Explorer to open my Documents folder and not the virtual disk folder.

I don't know why it opens my documents folder instead of the virtual disk folder.

BTW I'm running Windows 10.

[zofman]

Hi Skeezix,
The only thing i can think of is that you can open the management tool as administrator.
I will install the software myself later today and try to find out what goes wrong.

Regards,
Jan

Update: i found out that the name of the file should be in the old dos format
8 characters filename . 3 characters filetype.

"Jeff_Wayne_war_of_the_worlds.mid"  would not copy ( no such file)  but "war.mid"  copieed qiut fast.
Dont forget to save in de management tool before ending the copy procedure

[Skeezix]

Thank you, I really appreciate your help.

I installed versions 1.20 and 1.40i on a computer running under Vista.

Two different computers with two different operating systems, each with version 1.2 and 1.40i on them. I started each program with Run as Adminstrator enabled.

When running v1.40i, right-click on virtual floppy 000, and then click open, I do not get a Documents window like I do on the Win10 system, I get a window showing virtual floppy files, and it is empty. But when I drag a file into that virtual floppy 000 window from Windows Explorer, I get the circle with a slash through it.

I'm ready to throw in the towel.

[zofman]

Hi Skeezix,
Strange.... i installed first time in Windows 10 and after renaming the files it copieed fine.
The only thing i can think of now is that the usbstick is formatted incorrectly.
The usb stick should initially be formatted in Fat32.

I hear that when the gotek drive is flashed with flashfloppy everything is more compatible.
You can even sort files and make directories.
But that wil take al little bit of technical skills and patience.

This is what i am going to do. I will let you know if this is as easy as it seems and if it is more workable.
I already made a usb A to A cable and downloaded the firmware flasher.
Read the github site if you are interested.

Keep the faith...
Jan

[Skeezix]

What do you mean by "...after renaming the files" ?

I formatted 2 different USB sticks - one is a 32GB stick and the other is a 128GB stick. Both were formatted in the FAT32 format.

I formatted each of them on the emulator by holding the 2 buttons down while I turn the PSR on. The emulator displays "126", then "F01", and then it begins formatting the stick, ending when the display reads "209". When I insert the sticks into the PC and look at them with FlashFloppy 1.20 or 1.40i, I can see 100 virtual disks; however, when I insert the sticks into the Win10 computer and look at them with WinExplorer, I see that they are both named "FLPPY0", their capacities are 1.38 MB, and there are no files on them.

Then I formatted them with my Win10 computer. When I look at them with FlashFloppy 1.20 or 1.40i, I get an error and the apps cannot read them. When I look at them with WinExplorer, I see that the sticks are named "USB Drive (H:) and their capacities are 28GB or 115GB depending upon which stick is in the computer.

In any event, I cannot drag files from WinExplorer into the stick.

Does this help you?

[tyrosaurus]

Hi Skeezix,

You can't add files directly to the program window!  That is why you are getting the 'no entry' sign as soon as you drag a file over it!

The program uses a temporary folder (which it refers to as the 'Upload' folder).  All transfers to and from a virtual floppy must be done using the program via this folder.    You can modify the contents of the Upload folder and this can then be transferred to one of the virtual floppies by using the 'Save' option in the program.

The path of this Upload folder is set in the 'Set' window of the program, and by default is set to the same folder that the program is installed in.   If you don't specify a different location to install the program into, it will be installed into the 'Program files (x86)' folder on the C: drive.

If you don't change the location of the Upload folder, when you open a virtual floppy using the program (double click on it in the list), Windows 7 and 10 open Explorer at the 'My Documents' folder.  I'm not sure why but it may be because administrator rights are needed to modify things in the Program files (x86) folder.

However, if you change the location of the Upload file in the program's 'Set' window, so that it is in a location that does not require admin. rights, the program opens Explorer at the actual Upload folder for that virtual floppy, and you can then add styles etc. to this folder.  I changed the location/name of the Upload file in the program 'Set' window to 'C:\Users\Ian\Documents\GOTEK DISC' and this worked fine.  I tried the Desktop too and this also worked.

So I suggest that you open the 'Set' option in the program (by clicking 'Option' in the menu bar and selecting 'Set'), and check the current location of the Upload file.  If it is in Program files (x86) change it to a non system location.

Now select one of the virtual floppies from the list and open it by double clicking on it.  This should open Explorer at the Upload folder for that floppy.  Add some files to it, but be aware that if they are from a folder on the C: drive, Windows (correctly) considers the Upload folder to be on the same drive as the folder from where you are getting the files from, and simple dragging of files will move them to the upload folder rather than copying them!  You might be better using copy/paste until you see what is going on. As well as creating the copy, this will leave the file in the original folder!

Once you have copied enough files into the Upload folder, return to the program window and 'Save' the contents of the Upload folder to the virtual floppy.  You can do this by right clicking on the floppy in the list and click 'Save' (there are another couple of ways too using the menu items and icons).  It is only at this point that the content is added to the virtual floppy, and if you watch the 'Used' column in the floppy list you should see it increase for that floppy.

You should now be able to close the program, safely eject the USB from the computer and try it in your emulator.  I don't have an emulator so I haven't been able to do this!  I actually formatted a USB using the program to test it out.

Note that there are some instructional PDF files in the folder that the program installed into, including English and German versions of the User Guide which covers the device and program.  These are worth a look at.

Regarding how Windows displays the USB in Explorer once it has been formatted with virtual floppies, it knows nothing about the multiple virtual floppy format, so will only show the USB drive as being a single floppy sized (1.4 MB) removable drive.  It is actually showing the contents of virtual floppy000.

Regards

Ian   

[Skeezix]

I was wondering what the purpose of "Set" was.

Thank you for the time you took to write your explanation. Right now the Little Lady has me doing the routine Spring chores, so I won't be able to work with the PSR for a couple more days.

Thanks again for your well-written and informative "tutorial". 

[Skeezix]

After reading the procedure posted by Tyrosaurus I think I am on my way. I was able to format a USB stick and copy files to it using FlashFloppy Version 1.40i. 

Two things:

1. How do I delete the files that are on a virtual floppy so I can copy different files to it?

2. How do I save the files that are on a virtual floppy to another folder on my system?

I would like to thank everyone who replied to this post subject.

[zofman]

Hi Skeezix,

My Gotek arrived the day before yesterday.
So i started to hard-mod it by adding an oled screen and a rotary button.
next thing was to add it to my old MSX
Everything went smoothly.
Then on the softwareside it became difficult
i Flashed flashfloppy to the gotek and adjusted the ff.cfg file. but i could not read/write seperate files.
I could only use Image files on my 32gb usbstick witch was not partitioned to be multiple floppies.
I use the usb stick just as is. in fat 32 and then it workes like a charm like that.
With te rotary button i select the image file of the floppy and then i boot my msx.
I can even use folders and subfolders.
i had al lot of imagefiles already made by others but now i am looking for software to make imagefiles from my personal msx flopies
maybe this is what you can do too with your Yamaha floppies.

@tyrosaurus: great tutorial! but i dont have the need to do it like you discribed. But stil, very clear written!


Jan

[Skeezix]

I would still like to know if and how I can delete one or more files that are on a virtual floppy so I can copy different files to it?

[tyrosaurus]

Hi Skeezix,

Have you tried opening the software with a USB 'virtual floppy' stick connected, selecting the virtual floppy that you want to manage, open it in the temporary folder (for example by double clicking on the virtual floppy in the list), and then deleting the files from this folder?

If I do this, then back in the program save that virtual floppy (for example by right clicking and selecting 'save'), the space used on that 'floppy' reduces, and if I open the same floppy again, the contents reflect the change that I made.   If I eject the USB and close the program, then reconnect it and open the program, when I check the virtual floppy that I changed, the files that I deleted from the temporary folder are no longer there.

Obviously since I haven't got an emulator, I can't check to see what the keyboard sees when the USB is connected to the emulator, but from what I can see from the computer, using the program to open one of the virtual floppies in the temporary folder, and then managing the files in the temporary folder, before finally saving the virtual floppy seems to allow you to change what is on that virtual floppy.


Regards

Ian

[Skeezix]

Yes, your method works fine.

I created a PDF that describes exactly how to use FlashFloppy version 1.40i with the PSR 1000/2000 and will post it with this reply.

Thank you for following up!

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