GOTEK FLOPPY EMULATOR ON RM NIMBUS PC-386/20

GOTEK FLOPPY EMULATOR ON RM NIMBUS PC-386/20

Please note: All my work including all my original notes, thoughts, ideas, comments & pics added onto RM User Group - previously called RM Nimbus User Group Facebook page at the time started from 27th Aug 2020 onwards has been deleted somehow without admins or Facebook letting me know and didn't have the chance to back up all my data that has been posted onto their FB group page and wasting all my time starting all over again from scratch like creating this blog as an example so that all my hard work will be still available for viewing without getting deleted.

FINALLY!!! I've got it working on my RM Nimbus PC-386/20 (92) around Friday 29th ‎January ‎2021 ‏‎01:36 after hours and hours of thorough research (see links below) on the Internet, countless many of times with trial and error method attempts but in the end, I've found and following Setting up gotek for a IBM 5150 video especially at 5:38 mark for creating both FF folder & configuration file and then transfer it with a copy PC 286 386 Reference Disk PSetup Ver 3.00C PN 30421 (renaming it as DSKA0001_30421.IMA to get the Gotek reading as '001' and renaming PC 286 386 System Disk Rel 1.00A PN 30417 as DSKA0000_30417.IMA at the time) onto Lexar 1GB SD using OTG Card Reader SD/T-Flash Card - USB 2.0 + Micro USB, SD + Micro SD/T-Flash Card Reader, it worked perfectly like a miracle see following pics as shown above!! I'm planning to get the full customised GOTEK USB Floppy drives including Rotary Encoder + knob, 0.91" White OLED, Piezo sounder for authentic floppy drive noises but without 16GB USB drive later in the future, just need to check exact how many I need in total for all my retro computers / computer accessories first before ordering all of them in one go. To be continued...

Previously... It's all started from around 12 Dec 2020 03:48 with replying back to James's messages from RM User Group (finding out that I was the one with RM Nimbus 186 PC2 - 1985 design by asking me "Are you the chap who has a 186 with external HDD and 5.25 drive?" on 5/12/20 19:06 when I've asked him for a copy of RM Nimbus PC-386/20 boot / setup discs and some PC-386 software earlier around 17:52 via Facebook Messenger), after sending him copies of my External XW40 40MB Winchester Hard Drive - Previous.rar, Slimeline PC-186 20MB HDD - PREVIOUS.rar via RM Nimbus PC-186 Serial Communication with Windows PC & PC-386_20 40MB HDD - 1ST_eBay_bcc-148 - Previous.rar (as RM User Group generally operate a software donation for software access policy to the archive contents, wanting any RM software that would be willing to add to the collection in the way of disk images and manual scans etc) via RM Nimbus PC-386/20 Serial communication to Windows based PC started from 15:48 until 19:15 on 9/12/2020, working exactly the same way as Amstrad PC Serial Communication with Windows PC after replacing the faulty floppy drive with a new Black 3.5" NM-052 Floppy Drive, using both copies of PC 286 386 Reference Disk PSetup Ver 3.00C PN 30421 (copy given to me from James on 5/12/20 20:14 as part of the exchange for my HDD image files) & my copy of FastLynx software - PC 386 on floppy discs at the time in order to get the file transferring process going. Did exactly same thing with my 2nd RM Nimbus PC-386/20 (93) starting from 04:03 until 05:55 on 12/12/2020, sending a copy of PC-386_20 40MB HDD - 2ND_eBay_gronopa - Previous.rar as well to James after has arrived on 11th Dec around 10am. Yup, same thing as my 1st RM Nimbus PC-386/20 (92) - floppy drive was faulty, replacing by using the same new Black 3.5" NM-052 Floppy Drive and HDD works perfectly too with Windows 3.1 installed, Microsoft Works as well extra RM PC286/386 /4MB AOR memory card inside, except this PC is extremely very dirty and dusty inside.

While he was looking through both of my HDD image files, I was wondering how he did got his RM Nimbus network working in the museum while trying to figure out how to get home networking on RM Nimbus PC's especially with both my RM Nimbus PC-386/20's to my Windows based PCs, having 'N' drive same way as done in City of Westminster College Paddington Green, remembering all the good times, missing RM Network Logon screen so much as shown in RM User Group pic too but I don't know how or see how they did it at in my college while only using the computers available for working on my assignments throughout the years. Probably I'm getting myself confused with 386's using with RM 4100 / 486 as a server for the 'N' drive in my college.

Halfway through of messaging chats regarding with RM Nimbus Networking, he was stating that "I'll need RMNET LM server like RM SystemBase server with an RM network card in it, running OS2 and RM Net LM 2.0 server software. All early RM network software was coded to only run on their hardware. Yes we have it all but it will only run on RM servers, so it will be not be any use to you. You should be able to install RMNET 2.0 onto your 186 That will allow you to use your other 186 as a client", and then Baz said "my advice though would be to fit Gotek's on the machines much more reliable then 3.5 floppies. iv put a gotek in my rm box" around 12 Dec 2020 14:51. From that point, I thought that it's a good idea, I might do the same on all RM Nimbus PC's later in the future...

Fast forward to 23rd January 2021, I've purchased the first Gotek Floppy drive emulator from eBay as a experiment, while waiting for it to arrive, I'm going to use it for testing on my RM Nimbus PC-386/20 (92). Still messaging to RM User Group at the time, letting them know with the progress on my separate self booting disks for PC-386/20 version after receiving my Gotek drive. But I'm not sure how to fit one of these Gotek drives into my earlier RM Nimbus PC-186 PC2 & X10 models as these PCs has one of the huge sized early YD-640 Floppy Drives. I just thinking of replacing these drives as well later in the future.

In which RM User Group replying back to me saying: "I would recommend putting the Flash Floppy firmware onto the gotek to get the most use out of it. It should work with no issues on both machines. With the 186 you're going to end up with a hole above it in the front of the machine but it should still line up with the screw holes in the mounting frame. I guess you could 3d print a plate to fill it up."

Then I said: "The one I'm getting has already flashed with current latest FlashFloppy firmware, making it ready to use straight out of the box. Sweet! Then, I'll get probably about 20-25 of them or even more in total but with different colours and few modifications for upgrading on all my computers later in the future. As for 186, you're right, I could get modified 3D plate after getting the right measurements to cover the hole in front of the machine but nothing can do about the colouring of the case though."

Finally, my Grey Gotek Floppy drive emulator has arrived! I've just received same Gotek drive as shown in Paul Smallman's Gotek on Facebook with 3 Digit 7 Segment Red LED, similar to SFR1M44-U100 or SFR1M44-U100 GoTek 3.5Inch 1.44MB USB SSD Floppy Driver Emulator having MCU: SFRC922D on Thursday 28th Jan 2021 but I'm trying to get working on RM Nimbus PC-386/20 (92) first, if it works perfectly, I'll buy more of these Gotek drives but I don't how to use Gotek, so I had to do my usually hard way approach by spending hours and hours of researching on the Internet by these links as shown below:

Links:

Continued from the top - Friday 29th ‎January ‎2021 ‏‎01:36... Since I've got my Gotek Floppy drive emulator working very successfully on my RM Nimbus PC-386/20 (92), decided to moving on with using it for more testing / experimenting purposes, making things much more easier in the process such as editing images files using Inject / Extract options on WinImage software and transferring files, etc by using the same Lexar 1GB SD on OTG Card Reader SD/T-Flash Card - USB 2.0 + Micro USB, SD + Micro SD/T-Flash Card Reader back & forth between Dell XPS 8940 PC & RM Nimbus PC-386/20 (92) with ease. On 10th Feb 2021 23:52, I've finally got Adventures I-The Lost Frog & Merlin's Castle self-booting working on PC-386!! It wasn't easy, having so many attempts with error messages but all thanks to my Gotek drive, everything is so easy and reliable!!

And then it's time for next challenge: Using SCSI2SD on RM Nimbus PC-286 / 386 M-Series via MCA SCSI Controller Card, again all thanks to Gotek Floppy drive emulator for making everything so easy and reliable!

While loving the new Gotek Floppy drive setup so much, I've purchased 3 x full customised GOTEK USB Floppy Emulator from eBay including Rotary Encoder + knob, 0.91" White OLED, Piezo sounder for authentic floppy drive noises both (x1) with and (x2) without 16GB USB drive for RM Nimbus PC-386/20 (93), RM Nimbus 186 PC2 (1987 re-design) & Slimline PC-186 - see following pics as shown below. All Gotek drives that I've purchased including Three-digit Display with 7 Segment Red LED version are installed MCU: SFRC922D, shared with STM32F105 according to Gotek Models.

March / April 2021 Pics

Gotek experimenting on Slimline PC-186 (‎20/3/21 17:07)	Gotek installed on RM Nimbus PC-386/20 (93) with IBM Fast SCSI-2 Adapter/A, IBM Expanded Memory Adapter 0-8MB XMA & 3COM 3C523 ETHERLINK/MC MCA Network card (14/4/21)