My latest project is an XT-class build in a modern looking case (Sergey’s Xi 8088) complete with LED fans, window in the side panel, etc.

Normally, I would try to source real floppy drives for a project like this. However, in this case, to make it more modern-looking, I’m going GOTEK+FlashFloppy.

My question is: let’s say I want to be able to use most kinds of DOS floppy images, including 5.25", 3.5", double density and high density. If I configure the GOTEK in the BIOS as a 1.44mb drive, would it also accept 720k images? Would it also take 360k or 1.2mb images or would I need a second GOTEK configured as a virtual 5.25" drive to cover all the bases?

  • Nathan ByrdMEnglish
    2•1 year ago

    It’s funny, I thought that would be a quick google search away, but I wasn’t able to find anything about that either. Unfortunately my Gotek is setup on a Compaq Portable 1 and I can’t use anything other than 360k floppies with it anyway, so I can’t test it out either. I would expect that it should “just work”, but can’t tell you for sure.

    However, besides just trying it out or if anyone else knows, a couple of other things that might help you:

    Dual drive support with a single Gotek (very much a WIP, but looks like it’s partially done): https://kivijakola.fi/projektit/2023/02/26/gotek-flashdisk-dual-drive-support/

    Making a DOS image from Linux: https://askubuntu.com/questions/484308/create-floppy-images - my thought here is that you could make a dos 1.44mb image, mount it and a smaller 360k or whatever image, and then copy the contents to the larger 1.44mb image. You should be able to do something similar in Windows with software such as PowerISO etc.

    Finally, if nobody else has a solution before then please update us when you try it out, this would be great to know.

    • @SanguineBrahOPEnglish
      1•1 year ago

      Thanks; when I’ve had the chance to clear some workspace I may set up a test bench and try a variety of floppy images from Winworld to see what works. I vaguely remember once having to use Winimage to copy files from a 360k image into a newly created 1.44mb image for one machine. Unfortunately, that approach (aside from being a bit inconvenient) wouldn’t work for floppy booter games but perhaps it could be done with a raw copy tool and the correct arguments.