Jean-François DEL NERO (who’s behind the HxC SD Floppy Emulator) recently has released a version of the HxC emulator firmware that is compatible with the STM32 chip used in the Gotek floppy emulators.

This means that the great functionality of the HxC SD emulator is now available on cheaper and more widely available hardware.

The bootloader to convert the Gotek floppy drive in HxC compatible must be purchased on the website HXC 2001 by sending an email to Jean-François DEL NERO. The price of the bootloader is one-off 10 Euro per Gotek that you want to update. Future updates of the software are free and can be made from a USB stick

The HXC Usb (Gotek) firmware supports: + many more….

Release notes Firmware USB HxCFloppyEmulator v3.0.19.2a:

• New buttons behaviour and better debouncing filter. Navigation user-experience should be better now.
• Disk Eject function : Press both buttons to eject the disk. Working in indexed, autoboot mode, and normal mode.
• “Eject at power up” option added.
• Support up to 999 Images in autoboot mode (with the File selector) (Use the new CFG file and selector to use this feature)
• LCD : Display refresh improvements.
• New CFG file format : Some new flags and no more slots/disk drive limitation.
• Some critical parts rewritten in assembly. Huge code speed improvement -> Better HD density reliability. ED density to be tested ;).
• Code size reduced.
• Advanced USB mass storage cache implemented to improve read/write reliability.   (Btw : Now when track size can be stored into the SRAM, the emulator will not read forever the data from the stick but use the cached data instead).
• IMG/ST file write support done.
• Huge RAW (*.ADF/*.ST/*.IMG) Write performance enhancement (Write 2 tracks at once !)
• RAW *.IMG files can be used in indexed mode : Name the files DSKA0000.IMG,DSKA0001.IMG,DSKA0002.IMG,…
• HFE write performance enhancement.
• “Autoboot.hfe not found” message added.
• 7 segments display “dots” glitch fixed.
• 128 & 256 bytes sectors support added in raw mode.
• FM support : Write to HFE file fixed.
• FM support : Raw (*.dsk) read/write support.
• New File format support (WIP) : HFEv3. Can now support copy protected images converted from IPF and others similar formats !  Variable bitrate supported (CopyLock & SpeedLock). Weak/Flakey bits support to be added !
• Fix IPF support for these games: Jim Power, Z-Out,Xenon 2,Ghosts’n Goblins,Rainbow Islands,B.A.T II  and probably some others !
• Slot number printed on the second line during slot search with an LCD.
• XCopy write issue fixed.
• Sound buzzer output on the “JB” jumper position. You can connect a piezo or a magnetic buzzer (transistor needed for the magnetic version).  The sound output can be disabled or enabled into the selector settings.  (Note : Please remove these old sound mod using directly the step signal, they are producing reliability problems…)
• Mixed track format/density write support fixed (To be tested!).

Current direct images support:

• *.HFE (RW),*.HFE V3 (RW) (early write support), *.ADF (RW), *.ST (RW), *.IMG (RW).
    Note : HFE files is a multiplatorms floppy image format supporting many systems and disk formats.

Selector software:

• New Bootblock for the Amiga version : The file selector is now “trackloaded” and start faster.
• Speed up the sub-directory change/browsing.
• Can start an image from the slot page with the F7 key.
• The File selector is now available under Windows and Linux ! : You can now edit the list from a PC !. (Compatible with all SD/USB HxC drives !)  To launch it : HXCFEMNG -disk:[SD/USB drive letter:]  See the selector readme file for more details.  This is a new selection solution for all others machines without native file selector available.
• Linux/Windows version : You can now import from txt file / export to txt file / auto populate / check / fix and clear your slots configuration.  Very useful for fast populating and compilations duplication ;)
• Windows version : Fix big size (>8GB) usb stick/sd access issue.
• populateslots option : autoboot.hfe filtered.

Converter / HxC Software:

• WIP : HFEv3 Import/export support added. This format support copy protections (variable bitrate protections and soon weakbits protections).

Download: USB Stick STM32 (Gotek) HxC Firmware v3.0.19.2a (1367)

source: hxc2001.com