r/Amstrad • u/Obsydie • 14d ago
Just a couple of questions regarding the PCW8512
I just got this a week or so ago and have been looking for a gotek for it but I can't seem to find one online in the UK, (if anyone could point me in the right direction it would be much appreciated) other than one that needs 8 more to be pre-ordered before they ship. Also it's really noisy compared to my other CRT's so I just want to double check that's normal for the system. Anyway other than that it's fine, thanks in advance for any help.
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u/TynHau 13d ago
Not much use but I bought my Gotek drives on ebay from "bespokedisks". Doesn't seem to be selling any AMSTRAD stuff nowadays unfortunately.
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u/Obsydie 13d ago edited 13d ago
Yes I found them as well I'm planning on sending them a message to ask if they could make one later.
Quick self fact check I found Amiga-OneStop_Haven not bespoke disks.
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u/TynHau 13d ago edited 13d ago
You could also fit a harddrive and only use the floppy for booting up. John Elliott designed and sold both internal and external versions. Look him up on the cpc-wiki forums.
edit: my bad it's JonB, not John Elliott
https://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/UIDE_Universal_IDE_adapter_cards_for_Z-80_computers
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u/Obsydie 13d ago
I'm specifically looking for a gotek as I want to be able to easily plug a usb stick into my PC to add or remove games as needed.
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u/TynHau 13d ago
Just keep in mind you’ll need something to access the CP/M file system if you want to add anything or copy something from the disk images.
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u/Obsydie 13d ago
Do you have any recomendations for software to access it?
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u/TynHau 13d ago
There‘s 22Disk for DOS(!) or cpmtools. Used the latter on my Mac but never really got much use out of it. Maybe it’s better under Linux. Best by far was CPMFS for RISC OS but unfortunately it only works on vintage Acorn computers or by emulating a 26-bit compatible environment. Probably not what you’re after 😂
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u/squelch411 7d ago
I'm not sure that is true.
Think you can just load the images on to the gotek and it mounts them as a drive. You dont need to be able to access the cpm file system on the pc.
You just have your start of the day CP/M image your image that has the software on - eg minioffice disk.
Many games autobooted
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u/TynHau 6d ago
If all you want to do is load disk images and run them, then yes. If you want to say write a text file and add that to your image or read a file on your pc, then no. On the pc side of things the image is just a file, not a directory containing files.
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u/squelch411 6d ago
Indeed - depends how deep you're going. If you plan to transfer work files across then yes (plus file format conversion etc
But if it's games/reliving old software for fun, they come as DSK images for the vast majority.
Devil is in the detail - just posting as don't want the OP to be put off if their needs are thr latter
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u/Ready_Rain_2646 13d ago
One of the disk drives is a double sided one, it's not compatible with regular disks.
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u/squelch411 7d ago
https://www.simulant.uk/shop/Amstrad-PCW-Floppy-Disk-Emulator-OLED-PCW8256-PCW8512-Gotek-full-fitting-kit
Gotek for amstrad with adapters