MiSTer Floppy

Floppy Drive Interface for the MiSTer FPGA


Frequently Asked Questions

What Type of Floppy Drives are Supported?

The adapter supports normal IBM/PC Floppy Drives and Shugart Drives (Amiga drive) and you can configure this by changing a jumper on the PCB.

Do I need an external 12V supply?

For PC floppy drives, probably no. For Shugart/Amiga style drives, yes, some need this or they won't work.

Do I need an external 5V supply?

Depends on the floppy drive and how many you have connected. If you have more than one then yes. If you notice your drive makes a continuous clicking sound, has trouble seeking or is behaving erratically, then yes, and you need to move a jumper on the board for this to work.

How many floppy drives are supported?

In IBM/PC mode, 2 and both are connected onto the same floppy drive cable. You will need an external power supply for this. In Shugart/Amiga mode, up to four are supported however only the first one will work correctly without additional hardware. This is what the expansion pin is for and provides an extra signal needed for external floppy drives. A PCB for this has not been designed yet.

What kind of cable do I need?

You need a special USB3 cable which you can find here.

What kind of 5V power supply do I need?

A standard USB 5V supply will probably work ok, as long as it supplies around 500mA PER DRIVE. I recommend a minimum of 1A.

Why haven't I integrated a mixed 5/12v power supply onto the board or used USB-C?

I was focused on getting this to work. The circuit is open source so other are welcome to improve upon the design.

Does it support High Density disks?

The interface does so for other cores is a possibility, but the updated Minimig core does not... Maybe this will be supported in a future update.

My drive isn't working correctly or I am getting disk errors

The first thing to check is voltage levels. If you're not using an external power supply, try this first. Don`t forget to set the correct jumper!
Next check the disk on a real Amiga to make sure it can read it correctly.
Third, check the USB3 cable you are using, if possible, get a shorter one.
Lastly, check your I/O board. Not all of them are manufactured correctly.

One other possibility is the 5V from the MiSTer may not be at the required voltage, this can happen with poor power supplies or bad solder joints. Remove the jumper on the voltage selector header (Mister/External) and measure the voltage on the pin labelled MiSTer. If its less than 4.8v it won't work properly.

Can I use my MT32-Pi UserPort cable?

Yes, it will probably work perfectly.

Can I hot-swap the MT32-Pi and the MiSTer Floppy board while in use?

Yes you can, and it does work, but I don't recommend doing this. Generally it's not a good idea to be unplugging/plugging things into the user port while powered up.

There are no options for MiSTer Floppy on the Minimig menu

Please follow the instructions and copy the required files to the SD card. This should be done by removing the card from the MiSTer.

I have a MiSTer MultiSystem V1 with a cartridge connected

To use MiSTer Floppy, you may need to disconnect this cartridge depending on what it is and what it does. For example the Pi-MMS or any SNAC cartridges will need disconnecting.

I have a MiSTer MultiSystem V2. How do I connected MiSTer Floppy?

The MiSTer MultiSystem V2 does not have a UserPort connector. A suitable MiSTer Floppy adapter will soon be available direct from Heber.

Why did I make this?

Partly because I wanted to see if it was possible, and partly because I wanted to have a go at FPGA programming.

Will I add support for other cores?

Probably not, my focus was on the Amiga Minimig core as I know that best. However everything is open source and with the right knowledge could be fairly easily integrated into other systems.

Will this get merged into the official distributions?

I honestly don't know. I really would like it to be, but I haven't even approached that yet.