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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: Amiga1983 on November 09, 2020, 02:17:54 AM
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Hi everyone,
My name is Laura. I have been registered to this forum for long time, but never been really active. First of all I hope I posted this question in the right section, if not I apologize.
I'm not new to the Amiga world: I grew up with an Amiga 2000, then I switched to a A1200, and for a short period of time I also had a A600 and A3000. About 6 years ago, after spending money and time to expand it, I made the terrible mistake to sell my A1200 for a ridiculous price. I regretted that soon, and have been unable to find or afford another one during the years.
Two weeks ago I won the auction for an Amiga 500 Rev.5 with 1MB RAM and ROM 1.3. Before I explain the problems I am having with it I would like to state that I spent days trying to solve this issue and I've done online searches for hours, but the info I found where either unhelpful or incomplete for my particular situation, and most of the time even confusing. I know that after more than 8 years I'm a bit rusty, but this is something that I used to do that in less than a minute with my old A1200. I am having a VERY hard time trying to transfer files from my iMac (with dual boot Win7/ OSX) to my Amiga 500.
My (limited) resources are: an old Workbench 1.3 floppy disk, an unbranded null modem cable with USB adapter, and external Mitsumi FDD 061M USB floppy drive, an authentic copy of Amiga Forever+Amiga Explorer, WinUAE3300_x64, and some empty floppy disks.
These are the ways I am trying to transfer files between my computer and Amiga, and the problems I am facing:
1) The serial connection via Amiga Explorer fails after the "RAM:Setup" command: many other users complain about the same issue. I assumed it could be caused by a bad quality (or badly wired) null modem cable, so I decided to purchase the highly recommended Monoprice 6-Feet Null Modem DB9F/DB25F Molded Cable. I should receive it in a couple of days so I still don't know if that will solve my problem or not, but I'll let you know.
2) I installed WinUAE and formatted a 1.44MB floppy disk in Amiga format with the emulator; whenever I place Amiga files on it or try to write an .adf image via transdisk, no matter what I do, I always get the "DF0:BAD" or "DF0:DOS" error when I insert that back in the Amiga (even if I cover the second hole with tape). Moreover, when I use the "transdisk > floppyname:filename.adf -s 0 -e 79" command in a new shell, the transfer gets interrupted by the "Disk is Full" error whenever it reaches Track 74 or 78.
3) Tired of all this, I installed Total Commander with the AmigaDX plugin and tried to write an .adf file on a floppy. The Amiga still won't recognize it.
4) I also tried ADFMaster for Mac OS, but my Mitsumi USB FDD is very unrealiable (sometimes it fails to format, and won't appear in the list of devices, especially in Mac OS environment). Uunfortunately I don't have any other external floppy drive to try.
Any idea of why this is happening? Am I doing something wrong? Is Workbench 1.3 too obsolete for this procedure?
I have already tried different things, such as cleaning both A500 and Mitsumi floppy drives heads with a head cleaning diskette, but nothing changed. I also noticed that the Mitsumi USB FDD is very unrealiable (sometimes it fails to format, and won't appear in the list of devices), but unfortunately I don't have any other external floppy drive to try.
If all else fails, there are other solutions for my problems that I would like to try, but I'm not sure which one is the best one. Can I upgrade its ROM to Kickstart 3.1.4 and use OS 3.1 (since it comes with CrossDOS drivers) without making the system unstable or having to solder something? Or should I purchase an internal Gotek drive and say goodbye to floppy disks and frustration? Believe me, reselling this A500 and purchasing another A1200 is on my wishlist, but unfortunately I cannot afford one at the moment. So here I am, stuck with all my ideas and doubts and unable to use this Amiga.
Any assistance you can provide would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!
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Welcome, Laura!
Unfortunately it's not possible to write ADFs to disk without an actual Amiga or without other specialized hardware (Catweasel, Kyroflux, etc.). While the Amiga can read and write PC-format 720K disks (with CrossDOS), the reverse isn't true. You can't write ADFs to disk with just a standard USB floppy drive.
So I think your best bet is to try to get Amiga Explorer working. Then you'll be able to write ADFs over the serial connection using the 500's floppy drive. I've only ever used Amiga Explorer over TCP/IP, so I don't have any advice on using it over Serial/USB, but it sounds like you're on the right track with getting the new cable. Is the USB adapter definitely working? Cloanto has some decent support documentation on their site about making the hardware connection.
One thing that jumps out at me is that your WinUAE version is fairly old, which makes me wonder if your version of Amiga Explorer might also be out-of-date. Make sure you've got the latest to take advantage of bugfixes. While it's not likely, there's also the possibility that the 500's serial port is fried. (Just in case you forgot: never hotplug anything into an Amiga.)
What are your plans for the system? i.e., are you just looking to play games or are you looking to set up an actual computing environment to do other things as well? The answer to that question will influence recommendations for upgrade paths.
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Amiga Explorer should just work, so cable must be a problem. Here about wiring https://www.amigaforever.com/kb/13-105
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This kit on eBay is still the easiest, cheapest, fastest way to transfer adf images to your real Amiga.... :)
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Amiga-Pc-ADF-File-to-3-5-Disk-Parallel-cable-Transfer-Kit-Easy-Fast-Cheap/272363110828?hash=item3f6a1b41ac:g:g-4AAOSw~G1Z2kcG
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This kit on eBay is still the easiest, cheapest, fastest way to transfer adf images to your real Amiga.... :)
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Amiga-Pc-ADF-File-to-3-5-Disk-Parallel-cable-Transfer-Kit-Easy-Fast-Cheap/272363110828?hash=item3f6a1b41ac:g:g-4AAOSw~G1Z2kcG
No slots for a parallel port/card on an iMac, unfortunately. :(
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The best way is probably joining a local meeting with likeminded people to get the initial setup smoothly running.
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Hi everyone,
I'd like to thank all of you for welcoming me and for your replies! :)
I apologize for not mentioning, in my initial message, that the first thing I did when I started this process was reading all the documentation on the Amiga Explorer website. I followed all the steps to make sure the settings for the serial connection are the same on PC and Amiga.
Although I still remembered something from the past and I just needed to refresh my memory, I found and printed useful guides such as how to use CrossDOS (it was introduced with AmigaOS 3.0 and 3.1, so there's nothing I can do with my primitive 1.3), HDToolBox, and the different ways to transfer files PS<->Amiga. I also found useful notes that I wrote in the past, but unfortunately while those info worked perfectly for my old Amiga 1200, the same cannot be said for this very limited Amiga 500.
For this reason I don't think I will waste money expanding it too much, especially if it's impossible to add an HDD or internal/external CF adapter like I did with my old A1200. My plan is to make it functional enough to enjoy it until the moment I'll be able to resell it (I also have its original box) and finally afford another Amiga 1200. I even kept the internal CF adapter, CF cards, cables, external CD Rom, network card and many other things from my old one.
Matt_H: it may sound silly, but the reason why I uninstalled the latest version of WinUAE and I am now using an older and more stable/complete one is because the possibility to mount external/removable devices in the Settings has been removed (my USB floppy drive, in this case). Moreover, I also noticed bugs in the latest version. For example, the keyboard becomes unresponsive when emulation is on, and many adfs won't load, making the emulator unusable. Until the developers fix those bugs, for the first time ever I will only use an older version.
You're right, utri007. I realize that the null modem cable I have might have become defective during the years. After all, I bought it about 15 years ago for my old A2000 when I was still living in Europe. It could have got damaged when I moved to the US. Also, I opened it and even tho I'm not an expert, I believe it may be improperly wired for this purpose (according to the scheme posted on the Amiga Forever website). I'll post here a couple of photos of the wiring of my cable so you can have a look and eventually let me know what you think about it.
Yes, unfortunately the cable that giZmo350 recommended is for older computers with a serial port. The only solution that works for me is a DB9F/DB25F null modem cable, and a DB9F to USB adapter. That Monoprice cable I purchased after doing some online searches and reading about that in some post should work for Amiga 500, or at least that's what I read in some positive reviews. Keeping my fingers crossed. ::) I should receive it between November 10-16. If it won't work, I think I'll go ahead and purchase an internal Gotek drive.
Well guys, I'll keep you posted. Thank you again for your help! ;) :)
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Matt_H: please pardon my ignorance...I totally got confused with FS_UAE for Mac. That's what happens when you work with two different OS at the same time. You are absolutely right: the latest version of WinUAE for Windows (the 4.4.0) works perfectly fine, and nothing has changed in the Settings menu. It's the Mac version of this emulator that, unfortunately, has compatibility issues and various bugs.
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I think you've got the right plan: New null modem cable with Gotek as a secondary option. There *is* a standalone version of CrossDOS that's compatible with 1.3 (CrossDOS v5 or below) but if you can get either of the other methods working you won't need to transfer via floppy disk.
(Another option if you don't want to replace the internal floppy: an external Gotek. You could then diskcopy from DF1 to a real disk in DF0 or remap DF0 to DF1 with a tool like Degrader.)
I don't quite follow you re: FS-UAE and the USB floppy, but the same hardware limitations apply: it wouldn't have worked as an Amiga floppy drive. It might have been presenting as a floppy-sized storage device passed through from the host system, but it wouldn't have worked as a "true" Amiga floppy. But that doesn't matter if you can get Amiga Explorer or the Gotek operational.
Hope you get up and running soon - let us know how it goes.
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Personally I avoid nullmodem cables (it’s too easy to fry CIAs) and instead use a tiny bluetooth-rs232 dongle that is powered with 5V from within the Amiga. It’s then easy to establish a wireless nullmodem connection on top of that.
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Personally I avoid nullmodem cables (it’s too easy to fry CIAs) and instead use a tiny bluetooth-rs232 dongle that is powered with 5V from within the Amiga. It’s then easy to establish a wireless nullmodem connection on top of that.
That’s some 21st-century thinking ;). Can you explain more about how those work? You plug it into the Amiga, power up, then push a button and it becomes discoverable by the other computer? How do you adjust settings like baud rate, null modem vs. straight-through, etc? Is there a particular model you can recommend?
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@lauramacfan
Hi. You've tried formatting a 1.44Mb floppy but the A500 disk drive can only read a 720Mb floppy.
Can you reformat the floppy on the PC as 720 Mb?
Fred
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@lauramacfan
First, welcome to Amiga.org ...
My first Amiga was an A2000HD with AmigaOS 1.3 ... Later upgraded to OS 3.1.
After I purchased my AmigaOS4 system in 2004, I used Amiga Explorer to transfer programs from my A2000HD to a PC, where I burned them to CD. I then installed these programs from CD onto my OS4 system. Worked quite well.
I used a DB25/DB9 serial null cable between the A2000HD and the PC.
Later, I used Amiga Eplorer between my OS4 system and the same PC using an ethernet connection through my router. The PC became my backup device for the OS4 system until I learned how to backup files to USB sticks and CD-R discs.
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redfox
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Hi
Old skool this ... I have actually been writing a series of blogs recently on how to create your own Workbench disks from old floppies and one thing I do is customise the disks with both Messy and MultiDOS plus CrossDOS. I only use disks that I find lying around. I have a series of blogs coming up with a variety of ways to create disks.
The way to get an ADF onto a 720K is to ZIP it using UNZIP [tool ] and Dface [ GUI ] and then copy to a 720K disk created on a Win98 machine that can format 720K with the hole blocked out for 1.4MB disks. And then use CrossDOS that came free with Amiga Format Collection No 8 and which works specifically with the A500. The PC will auto unzip any file . My Win7 does. Just need to get an old Win98 machine or laptop.
https://www.scuzzscink.com/amiga/scuzzblog_march20/scuzzblogdmarch20_2401.htm
https://www.scuzzscink.com/amiga/scuzzblog_september20/scuzzblogdseptember20_0501.htm
https://www.scuzzscink.com/amiga/scuzzblog_october20/scuzzblogdoctober20_1601.htm
http://aminet.net/package/util/arc/UnZip
I do have the AmiPC cable and software but its a pig to get working and very slow. I was only able to get it working with a Win98 machine and OS3+
Once I used the CrossDOS tool on that disk which simply mounts your Amiga drive as a PC drive I was carrying my disks to the PC and copying at will. Bit old skool but works. 1.3 can be a bit of a pain but it makes you use the CLI[shell] and AmigDOS commands more and soon it gets very easy. Just a different way of working.
I will be posting more blogs on how to create Workbench disks from old junk disks and so on over the next few weeks.
https://www.scuzzscink.com/amiga/scuzzblog.htm
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The Amiga 500 - along with the CDTV, the A1000, and the CD32 - are somewhat of oddities within the classic range of Amiga computers. They the Zorro ports that the "big box" Amigas have, while also missing the PCMCIA port the A600 and the A1200 have. All of this makes expanding them a bit more troublesome - but not impossible.
In the year 2020, a lot of people would probably agree that every Amiga belongs on a network - including Amiga 500 personal computers. Having a standard Ethernet port, or for that matter wifi connectivity, opens a lot of doors - including easy and fast file transfers. Fortunately, all of this is doable on an Amiga 500. The proper, quickest and certainly most elegant way of doing this is by equipping your Amiga 500 with a native networking solution, adapted for the Amiga 500's left most expansion port. Even better, there is brand new hardware made using modern manufacturing methods available for this particular purpose.
What you need, for a fashionable and - most importantly - future proof way of letting your Amiga 500 access your local network and the Internet at large, is the X-Surf 500 (https://icomp.de/shop-icomp/en/shop/product/x-surf-500.html) - an Ethernet networking interface card for the Amiga 500. Moreover, you'll also need the ACA 500 Plus (https://icomp.de/shop-icomp/en/shop/product/ACA500plus.html) card, which plugs straight into your Amiga 500 expansion port. Once the ACA 500 Plus is in place, you'll plug the X-Surf 500 into it and install an appropriate TCP/IP service stack. AmiTCP is one option (included with the X-Surf 500 for free), and Roadshow (http://roadshow.apc-tcp.de/index-en.php) another option (a brand new TCP/IP service maintained and under active development by AmigaOS developer Olaf 'Olsen' Barthel - highly recommended).
The combination of these two pieces of hardware not only gives your Amiga 500 an Ethernet port, but also a brand new MC68SEC000 processor capable of running at much, much higher frequencies than the stock A500 processor, another 8 MB of much needed RAM memory and two compact flash card slots - efficently working as two Amiga hard disk units. On top of that, the ACA 500 Plus should easily let you switch between the old AmigaOS 1.3 version and the upcoming, brand new AmigaOS 3.2 (https://forum.amiga.org/index.php?topic=74270.0) release. While you wait, upgrading the Amiga 500 to the latest version of AmigaOS for the legacy range - Release 3.1.4 (https://www.hyperion-entertainment.com/index.php/where-to-buy/direct-downloads/188-amigaos-314) - is advisable.
All in all, consider investing in...
- The ACA 500 Plus expansion card
- The X-Surf 500 peripheral card
- AmigaOS 3.1.4 (including a ROM chip and a set of system software floppies)
- The Roadshow TCP/IP stack
Your Amiga 500 will thank you for it. Zippy file transfers over the network and accessing all sorts of networking services will be a breeze. In combination with the ACA 500 Plus' silent and speedy hard disk implementation, a ton of more RAM and a faster processor, your Amiga 500 will feel like a lot snappier and fun to work with. Best of luck!
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All in all, consider investing in...
- The ACA 500 Plus expansion card
- The X-Surf 500 peripheral card
- AmigaOS 3.1.4 (including a ROM chip and a set of system software floppies)
- The Roadshow TCP/IP stack
Can you sum up the overall cost of this? Would it be cheaper to try and get a working A600 instead which can use PCMCIA?
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@First Ninja
Why do you continue to change thread titles and basically hi-jack the original user’s thread? How is it you have this ability? By doing this you are essentially “erasing” the owners thread as when titles are clicked, the forum jumps to the last post. Unless a user were to deliberately navigate back to the first post in the thread, a user will never see the original user’s post at all! This is just wrong. If you want to contribute by posting a solution that has no relevance to the original thread topic, start a new thread. Look, I’m not criticizing your “solution” posts but your method is highly irregular. Please reconsider from doing this. Thanks, we all enjoy your input.
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Or the OP could simply buy' Amiga Format Cover Disk - Collection No.8' from Ebay currently £1.99 which when loaded lets the user see PC disks. It really isn't that hard especially if the end user wants to experience life as it was all those years ago.
An ADF file on a PC compresses to 625K ZIP that fits on a 720K disk that can transfer to the A500 and with DFace and Unzip open the file. Then use an ADF writer to create the Amiga disk.
And then ... for the 720K disk. This.
https://techatplay.wordpress.com/2012/07/16/how-to-format-floppy-disk-to-720k-in-windows/
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Certainly.
- The ACA 500 Plus expansion card + The X-Surf 500 peripheral card (including a free version of AmiTCP) from Icomp.de (https://icomp.de/shop-icomp/en/shop.html#filter=*): €132.75 + €78.66 = €211.41
- AmigaOS 3.1.4 (including a ROM chip and a set of system software floppies) from AmigaStore.eu (https://amigastore.eu/en/689-amigaos-314.html#/): €34.94
- Optionally, but highly recommended: The Roadshow TCP/IP stack from AmigaShop.org (https://www.amigashop.org/product_info.php?products_id=200): €25
Grand total without Roadshow, excluding shipping fees but including EU sales tax: €246.35. It may be hefty at first, but given what you get for your money - a brand new processor, 16x more RAM memory than a stock Amiga 500, hard disk capability, real Ethernet connectivity, a free TCP/IP stack with DHCP capability and the very latest version of AmigaOS, I think it's actually quite a lot of features at a resonable cost. Moreover, your Amiga 500 will be a citizen on your home network - and that alone should be incentive enough to break the piggy bank. Here's what it all looks like, by the way:
(https://i.imgur.com/3RdKT46.png)
For anyone who'd like their desk tidy, an acrylic case for the ACA 500 Plus and the X-Surf 500 can be bought from PlexliLaser.de (https://www.plexilaser.de/Acryl-Gehaeuse-fuer-die-ACA500plus-Teilesatz) for €22.37. Here's another photo showing it:
(https://i.imgur.com/sypCBLd.png)
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Hi everyone,
Thank you all for your replies and suggestions! I really appreciated all of them, even if unfortunately I won’t be able to spend more than $60 for this A500. I really cannot afford anything in this particular moment, and since this won’t be my “final” Amiga (my dream is, in the future, to own another A1200) all I need is a cheap solution. What @scuzzb494 suggested (thank you!) is probably the best one for my problem.
I wanted to update you about my initial post: yesterday I finally received the new null-modem cable from Monoprice. Making sure that the settings were the same on both iMac (running Windows 7) and Amiga 500 (OS 1.3), I tried to make them communicate with each other using Amiga Explorer installed on my iMac.
Here’s what I discovered after many attempts using different settings: if I use the recommended settings (Baud Rate: 19200, Buffer size: 4096, etc...) the **BREAK line never appears in the Amiga shell. On the contrary, it appears when I lower the baud rate to 9600 on both computers. Unfortunately, no matter what I try, I keep on getting the ”Error reading from serial port” on my computer, and “Unable to load RAM:Setup: file in not an object module” on my Amiga. COM3 is also the only port that works. I didn’t think about replacing the DB9 to USB cable. The one I’m using is almost 15 years old and may be damaged or incompatible with Win 7.
@OldAmigan: unfortunately my external floppy drive plugged to my iMac doesn’t recognize 720k Amiga floppies. When I insert one it asks me to format it. Because of that, I can’t even format it at 720k (only 1.44mb, otherwise it would always abort the operation giving me an error). I tried everything, but I believe the USB floppy drive that I’m using is too new for this purpose. I read that some older models (such as LACIE) can accomplish this task, but if I don’t know exactly what to buy and if it’s compatible with my iMac I don’t want to waste more money.
@First Ninja: to think that I had all those expansions for my old Amiga 1200...I spent so much for it. Cannot spend the same amount of money anymore. It was different back then. I still have the XSurf 100, NetPCM010, Poseidon, EasyNet, AdaPCMCFL original floppy disks that I purchased years ago. Although I sold the cards , I still I have all the cables, PCMCIA adapter, CF cards, and even a wifi network card that I was never able to use. I wish I could use this stuff with my A500 but there’s no compatibility (especially because I only have a KS 1.3). An external CF adapter and internal 40gb hdd used to be all I really needed back then to transfer data PC->A1200.
At this point I’m really at a loss.... :(
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Or the OP could simply buy' Amiga Format Cover Disk - Collection No.8' from Ebay currently £1.99 which when loaded lets the user see PC disks. It really isn't that hard especially if the end user wants to experience life as it was all those years ago.
I just purchased it ;) Not sure how long it will take to arrive here in the US from the UK, especially during this pandemic. Hopefully international mail won’t be suspended again! Keeping my finger crossed... ::)
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Hi
A couple of other disks that are very useful Amiga Computing Issue 51 Coverdisk34 August 1992 called Arcadia and CUAmiga 100 DOpus 4 and or Amiga Computing June 1992 Issue 49 with SID v2.00. You are trying to trackdown software called MultiDOS. This lets you format DOS disks. Saves you having to do it on a PC.
Most copies of Amiga Computing cover disks from the 1992 era self boot into their own version of Workbench. By following the guides online and copying a few disks from the CLI [shell] you can create your own Workbench disk. Its very easy. This morning I copied the files over from ARCADIA MultiDOS disk to my own Bench disk which involved LIBS,L,C and DEVS files and then from a simple command
PCMOUNTALL FROM devs:mountlist.multidos
I was able to mount both Df0 and Df1 as PC drives [ MD0 and MD1]. Better still with the command:
PCFORMAT DRIVE MD0: NAME [ dusk name ]
I was able to format a HD disk with the corner taped over and then could see that on a Windows PC. Amazing. You need SID or DOpus cus you can't see files without icons in 1.3 The software isn't suppose to work under WB 2.0 but I got it working on 1.3. I have photographed everything and will appear as a blog in a week or so.
MultiDOS came on a few cover disks.
https://www.scuzzscink.com/amiga/scuzzblog_october20_2/car_sbd_161020_03.jpg
The Amiga was seeing DOS disks a long long time before folk got use to downloading off the internet. So there is plenty around that will let you do it. Having a file manager like DOpus really helps seeing those files that are invisible to 1.3.
Using that FORMAT line I gave in my link may work on a USB drive. But with the PCFormat too in MultiDOS you don't need to. I didn't know if MultiDOS worked so I didn't suggest that one but if you see it going cheap I'd grab a copy.
Good luck
Er sorry almost forgot. Research creating your own self booting disk and the INSTALL command that prepares disks. You only need half a dozen files to create a self booting disk. Knowing how to do this and how to customise the disk thro the CLI [ shell ] is the way 1.3 works really. The basic 1.3 Workbench is very limited. It needs extra 'umph' to get it working to your benefit. Great fun.
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Hi everyone,
I have an update on my Mac->Amiga transfer issues, and not a very pleasant one unfortunately. I ended up purchasing both CrossDOS and MultiDOS on floppy disks, but for the latter I’ll have to wait until February because it comes from the UK (I live in the US).
So this is what happened: I inserted the CrossDOS 4.02 floppy disk in my Amiga 500 running my old Workbench release 1.3 GAMMA version 34.4 main floppy disk (the only one I have because I lost the "Extras" long time ago). I clicked on the large software icon called “CrossDOS MSDOS_FileSystem” and noticed various icons such as “Attach”, “Attach.DI0”, “Attach.DI1”, “Install_MSDOSFS”, and so on.
Problem #1: because my Amiga 500 has no hard disk, I cannot install CrossDOS. I read the documentation (“READ.ME”, “Tech_Ref”, and especially “In Case of Difficulty”), but it's not helping me to figure out how to use this software.
Problem #2: I launched “Attach.DI0”, but my Amiga still showed floppy disks formatted on my iMac as "DF0:BAD" (these floppies work and are tested). I wrote .adf files on some of them with Total Commander, but the situation didn’t change on my Amiga.
I’m pretty sure I'm doing something wrong here. I see that CrossDOS has a folder called Systems that contains other options, such as “MFormat”. I wonder if I should try to format a floppy disk with CrossDOS and see if the usb floppy drive connected to my iMac will recognize and read/write it?
This is a sad situation. Maybe my Amiga 500 is too “basic” for all this? I’m getting very confused and frustrated. I really wanted this to work but I can't make CrossDOS work on my Amiga, so I don’t see any other option but to buy a Gotek drive soon. :'(
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This morning I copied the files over from ARCADIA MultiDOS disk to my own Bench disk which involved LIBS,L,C and DEVS files and then from a simple command
PCMOUNTALL FROM devs:mountlist.multidos
I was able to mount both Df0 and Df1 as PC drives [ MD0 and MD1]. Better still with the command:
PCFORMAT DRIVE MD0: NAME [ dusk name ]
I was able to format a HD disk with the corner taped over and then could see that on a Windows PC. Amazing. You need SID or DOpus cus you can't see files without icons in 1.3 The software isn't suppose to work under WB 2.0 but I got it working on 1.3. I have photographed everything and will appear as a blog in a week or so.
Thank you for your advice, @scuzzb494. As soon as I get the MultiDOS floppy I'll also try this and see what happens.
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Hi Laura, hope you had great T-Day! First off, what version of OSX are you using? Anything after Snow Leopard is just not going to work if you’re formatting the floppy from the MAC side. You’ll have to boot to your Win 7 side and format as a 720K disk. I tried using a 1.44MB disk and version 4.02a of CrossDos on the Amiga Format disk won’t read 1.44MB disks. I don’t know if newer CrossDos versions work with 1.44 disks.
To format a 1.44MB disk as 720K in Windows press the Start Button and type CMD. Right click on CMD and “run as administrator”.
Type: format A: /FS:FAT /T:80 /N:9 this will format the 1.44 floppy as 720K. Be sure to put tape on the left side hole.
Now here’s the catch with ADFs. Most are 880K and won’t fit on the 720K formatted floppy. However, if you zip the ADF first (in my test case 880K ADF compressed down to 632K) it will fit but you’re going to have get an Amiga UnZip program on a floppy also to unzip the ADF - I would assume to RAM:
Second, I have the exact same Amiga Format disk #8 and went thru the procedure with a 720K formatted disk.
1. Loaded the CrossDos file by double clicking the Attach.DI0 icon. Once successfully loaded the program responded with “Done”.
2. Inserted the 720K floppy and it was read just fine (with the zip file) however with two icons. One displayed the disk as Unrecognizable and a second as the title of the 720K floppy (named TEST) that I could open - no problem. Odd. Like Matt said "Windows doesn't really handle USB floppy drives very well" except for transferring files.
That’s about it really. Maybe someone else could add to this for additional help?
At least if you just write a zip file under 720K to the floppy using Windows you'll be able test thru to a visible disk on the Amiga. Hope this helps a little. :D
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Hi GiZmo, I had a great Thanksgiving, thanks! Hope you did too! :)
The versions of OS X I used are High Sierra and Catalina, but I must specify that for this task I'm mainly using Windows 7, either running in dual boot or in a virtual machine. I tried so many times to format floppy disks to 720k in the Command Prompt with the same command you wrote in your post, to no avail (I can successfully format them with the regular Format a: command, but that’s about it). I also tried with Format a: /f:720, but I always get the same error: “Parameters not supported”. Just in case, I installed XP on the virtual machine and tried the same procedure, but still got the same error.
I made sure to put back the piece of black tape to cover the second hole of the floppy disks each time I inserted them into the disk drive of my Amiga, but I’d still get the "DF0:BAD" or "DF0:DOSc" icons. When I saw the "DF0:DOSc" icon I though "Well well, that's an improvement" and immediately launched CrossDOS, but obviously my excitement was short lived when nothing changed after loading Attach.DI0 (Amiga asks me to switch between the Workbench floppy and the CrossDOS one at least 4 times just for completing this task!). Those floppy disks can still be formatted successfully in their original format on the Amiga after covering the second hole, and under Windows with the Format a: command after removing the piece of tape, but that’s all I can do. I cannot format them to 720k, nor can my Amiga read them afterwards. I’m basically stuck.
At this point I believe the culprit is my cheap external Mitsumi USB floppy drive: it's either defective, too new, or incompatible. The reason why I'm saying this is also because while I’m having those problems in Windows, Mac OS doesn’t even recognize this FDD and it doesn’t show up under Disk Utility.
I was watching some old USB floppy drives such as the LACIE Pocket 706018 MyFloppy3 that I read on some forums should do the trick; instead I decided to go ahead and purchase a Gotek drive because I am not willing at the moment to waste more time and money for a device that I don’t even know for sure if it will solve my problem. And believe me, I’m not too happy about this. I was hoping for a more “traditional” (translation: old fashioned) way to transfer adf files from computer to Amiga, but I guess I’ll have to accept this arrangement until the day I’ll be able to find/afford another Amiga 1200.
PS: Wish I could find a purist who hates their Amiga 1200 so much to the point they would trade it for my classic Amiga 500 with original floppy drive, box, internal Gotek drive, UK power supply (that I don't need because I use my US version), and memory expansion included. I would gladly part from it, and even add the original Amiga tank mouse as a gift...I'm sure they would have the experience to enjoy this A500 much more than I do ::) :'(
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I made sure to put back the piece of black tape to cover the second hole of the floppy disks each time I inserted them into the disk drive of my Amiga
[...]
Those floppy disks can still be formatted successfully [...] under Windows with the Format a: command after removing the piece of tape, but that’s all I can do. I cannot format them to 720k, nor can my Amiga read them afterwards. I’m basically stuck.
I may be wrong, but I would have thought you needed to cover the hole when formatting on the PC, so Windows sees the disk as a 720K one.
If you format it with the hole free, you are probably creating a 1.44MB disk, which obviously can't be read on the Amiga with or without tape (unless you have a HD floppy drive).
Best regards,
Niels
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Hi again Laura, Please make sure that both holes are covered on the 1.44mb disk when you format using your external USB drive.
Then using Win 7 (which is what I used with my test).....
Click the Start Button and type CMD. Right click on CMD and “run as administrator”.
Type: format A: /FS:FAT /T:80 /N:9 this will format the 1.44 floppy as 720K.
Name the disk TEST or something. That's all that is needed to then read the disk on the Amiga (after firing up CrossDoss).
This work perfectly for me. ;D
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This is how I wrote an ADF file to an Amiga disk tranferred from PC to an Amiga without a cable.
The whole process has formed a series of blogs on the issue. Great fun.
Baybench 1.3 - ADF and TSGUI.
https://www.scuzzscink.com/amiga/scuzzblog_december20/scuzzblogddecember20_0501.htm
What I tried to do was create an Amiga disk on a 500 using only none-Workbench disks.
The aim being to customise so I could tranfer a ZIP from a PC and unarchive it and
from the ADF image create an actual Amiga disk using my version of 1.3.
HOW I DID IT:
Baybench 1.3 - Make your own WB.
https://www.scuzzscink.com/amiga/scuzzblog_december20/scuzzblogddecember20_0201.htm
Baybench 1.3 - Adding Disk Master.
https://www.scuzzscink.com/amiga/scuzzblog_december20/scuzzblogddecember20_0302.htm
Baybench 1.3 - Adding MultiDOS.
https://www.scuzzscink.com/amiga/scuzzblog_december20/scuzzblogddecember20_0301.htm
Baybench 1.3 - UNZIP and ADF.
https://www.scuzzscink.com/amiga/scuzzblog_december20/scuzzblogddecember20_0401.htm
And finally .... Baybench 1.3 - ADF and TSGUI.
https://www.scuzzscink.com/amiga/scuzzblog_december20/scuzzblogddecember20_0501.htm