flashfloppy VS ArduinoFloppyDiskReader

FYI (or others using retro equipment with floppy disks) there's a cheap floppy disk emulator called Gotek that can be connected in place of your 3.5" drive and has an USB connector where you can put a thumb drive with disk images.

For that device there's an Open Source firmware project called FlashFloppy [0] that enhances its features. And I've found today that there's an Open Hardware reimplementation [1] of the Gotek hardware that's compatible with the FlashFloppy Firmware.

  0: https://github.com/keirf/flashfloppy

The other side of this coin is emulating a floppy drive in software: https://github.com/keirf/flashfloppy

Flashfloppy.

If you're not too particular, you can pick up a GoTek unit for $30 and use it as-is, with no firmware or hardware mods.

For wiring see the diagrams on this page https://github.com/keirf/FlashFloppy/wiki/Hardware-Mods

I prefer to retrofit old equipment with more reliable technology.

Highly recommend Keir Fraser's Flash Floppy project: https://github.com/keirf/flashfloppy

=)

I thought so, too, when I got mine. Some people do the modifications before selling them on ebay or wherever and so they are effectively plug and play, but I discovered that unless that's the case I needed to do some stuff to make it work. As the other user suggested, you want to get FlashFloppy. The installation process was a little involved to be honest, but not impossible with the step by step instructions I had found. Unfortunately I can't easily link you anything because there are different versions of Flashfloppy and different versions of the Gotek and different steps depending on what you have. I'd start by looking up flashfloppy and looking through the various instructions. Here is a place to start: https://github.com/keirf/FlashFloppy/wiki/Firmware-Programming

Specifically, one that supports Flashfloppy.

Also have a look at drawbridge which even supports live loading Amiga disks in an emulator. https://amiga.robsmithdev.co.uk/

For more info: https://amiga.robsmithdev.co.uk/

You can convert a cheap USB floppy drive into one that reads Amiga disks using a Drawbridge from https://amiga.robsmithdev.co.uk/ - I've done this and it works.

This seems to be Rob's official site?

For the second case I recommend Rob Smith's DrawBridge (previously known as ArduinoFloppyDiskReader): https://amiga.robsmithdev.co.uk/ It's a simple arduino-based project, which allows you to use a regular PC floppy drive to write (and read) amiga disk images. You can make your own, or wait your turn for Rob to sell you one pre-assembled. I made my own and it works great.

Forget the a500 mini, it's not worth your time. You can use this cheap contraption to grab images of all your old floppy disks: https://amiga.robsmithdev.co.uk/ and just load them up on an emulator like fs-uae, winuae, or whatever, which you can run on any PC you like. The A500mini is just an ARM computer in an amiga-shaped box running the same emulator, without a keyboard, without giving you all the options the emulator can handle, and you have to pay for it... The point approaches 0 pretty fast.