How to read SFS format CF card in macOS

[AmigaBruno]

As  posted in another thread I'm trying to install a driver for an Aiptek Hyperpen 6000 graphics tablet. Unfortunately, one problem doing this is that I can't read or write either of two CF cards on my MacBook and I can't currently copy the driver using a FAT32 CF card either.

The two CF cards I've got are in different formats. One is in SFS format and was installed by me in 2015 after buying it formatted from Amigakit. I know I used Linux to install Workbench 3.0 and lots of other software onto it, but now I can't remember what I did and I haven't got a computer running Linux at the moment. The other card is in the PFS3 format, but I bought it containing lots of software from a well known seller on eBay.

How can I set up my MacBook, which is now running macOS Ventura and may soon by running Sonoma, to read the SFS format CF card? So far, I've installed FS-UAE, then copied the SFS filing system file into the Workbench 3.0 Boot floppy disk L directory, but it still won't detect the CF card.

[Boing-ball]

As  posted in another thread I'm trying to install a driver for an Aiptek Hyperpen 6000 graphics tablet. Unfortunately, one problem doing this is that I can't read or write either of two CF cards on my MacBook and I can't currently copy the driver using a FAT32 CF card either.

The two CF cards I've got are in different formats. One is in SFS format and was installed by me in 2015 after buying it formatted from Amigakit. I know I used Linux to install Workbench 3.0 and lots of other software onto it, but now I can't remember what I did and I haven't got a computer running Linux at the moment. The other card is in the PFS3 format, but I bought it containing lots of software from a well known seller on eBay.

How can I set up my MacBook, which is now running macOS Ventura and may soon by running Sonoma, to read the SFS format CF card? So far, I've installed FS-UAE, then copied the SFS filing system file into the Workbench 3.0 Boot floppy disk L directory, but it still won't detect the CF card.

Unfortunately I don’t know with FS-UAE. In Win-UAE you can easily mount up a CF card with a Amiga RDB and boot up from it in the settings. I’ve done that a few times.

Worth having a look on the FS-UAE support page.

[AmigaBruno]

Unfortunately I don’t know with FS-UAE. In Win-UAE you can easily mount up a CF card with a Amiga RDB and boot up from it in the settings. I’ve done that a few times.

Worth having a look on the FS-UAE support page.

Unfortunately, this doesn't help me because I'm not running Windows. I don't want to run Windows again after all the nasty experiences I've had with it. I might try running Win-UAE under WINE on macOS, though. Windows won't run on Macs without some software called Bootcamp, because Macs don't have a PC type BIOS. Macs can boot up from Linux drives without any additional software, though. I also own a Raspberry Pi, so I could try reading my CF card on that under Linux using the same CF to USB card reader.

I tried to add the SFS formatted CF card as an HDD in FS-UAE, but it couldn't be detected. I think the key may be to define it by typing something somewhere in FS-UAE, but I don't know what to type or where.

I think a possible solution may be to buy another SSD and install Linux on it, then install FS-UAE and do what I need to do using a Mac. I think the problem is caused by Linux supporting every known format, but macOS not supporting them all.

According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga_rigid_disk_block an SFS formatted disk does have an RDB. Of course, I've already checked the FS-UAE support page.

[Boing-ball]

Have a look at this and go to the 10:34 mark.

https://youtu.be/88jxTQo4uhs?si=DNEJWuOW-_3UGMWi

This shows the Pi imager software. Can you not use this tool with the MAC to take a raw image of the CF and then rename the .img to .hdf then use the .hdf on FS-UAE?

Not sure if this is any help as well?

https://youtu.be/5BvIUIBIvhI?si=mh6hDupyrWLQ-37y

[AmigaBruno]

Have a look at this and go to the 10:34 mark.

https://youtu.be/88jxTQo4uhs?si=DNEJWuOW-_3UGMWi

This shows the Pi imager software. Can you not use this tool with the MAC to take a raw image of the CF and then rename the .img to .hdf then use the .hdf on FS-UAE?

Not sure if this is any help as well?

https://youtu.be/5BvIUIBIvhI?si=mh6hDupyrWLQ-37y

I suppose I could do all this, but it's like using a sledgehammer to crack a walnut!

All I want to do at the moment is to transfer the Amiga driver file for the Aiptek tablet from my MacBook onto my SFS formatted or PFS3 formatted CF card. As an added bonus, I'd like to transfer some software from Aminet. This should be quite simple, involving just mounting my CF card in an emulator, or even just under macOS and the Finder file browser, then just copying the files across, followed by re inserting the CF card of cards into my Amiga A1200, then booting up from it or them.

Your suggestion means that I have to copy the whole contents of a CF card into an .hdf file, then mount the .hdf file under an emulator, copy some files onto the .hdf image, then write the modified .hdf image onto a CF card. I probably shouldn't use either of my current CF cards to write this modified image onto, otherwise they could get corrupted, so I'd need to buy one or two new CF cards as well. I would have to do this every time I wanted to add anything else onto either CF card as well. 

The latest advice I've found is that I might be able to mount, read and write to my CF cards under macOS by using a few scripts depending on Parted and awk, and there's also a collection of Python scripts called amitools which so far I have no real idea how to use.

 

[Boing-ball]

I haven’t seen your other thread. So don’t know the background.

At a guess, you are running a Amiga in Emulation on the Mac only?

As it is, I don’t own a Mac and on Occassion use Win-UAE and Amiga forever when the need arises. For using the Amiga I tend to only use the real hardware such as A1200 and A4000 setup’s.

The only other way I can think of is emulate windows then run Win-UAE to emulate the Amiga?

Anyways. Good luck 🤞🏻

[AmigaBruno]

I haven’t seen your other thread. So don’t know the background.

At a guess, you are running a Amiga in Emulation on the Mac only?

As it is, I don’t own a Mac and on Occassion use Win-UAE and Amiga forever when the need arises. For using the Amiga I tend to only use the real hardware such as A1200 and A4000 setup’s.

The only other way I can think of is emulate windows then run Win-UAE to emulate the Amiga?

Anyways. Good luck 🤞🏻

I'm running FS-UAE on a MacBook under macOS. I don't use Windows any more because of all the problems it causes, including running very sluggishly, as well as overwriting non Windows partitions if it finds any on the same hard drive.

My problem is now solved after I bought a new old PCMCIA CF card reader.

I still haven't been able to read my SFS or PFS cards on my MacBook, but I have been able to read a CF card in FAT32 format on my Amiga! This card appeared under Dopus, as well as on my Workbench screen with a floppy disk icon labelled AMIGA. I took some pics but my files are too large to attach here!

I spent lots of time copying not only the FormaldiHyd.lha driver for certain classic Aiptek, Wacom, etc graphics tablets designed for Windows 95 or 98, but also some other files from Aminet, such as the Amiga C Manual, some games, and Blitz BASIC. I haven't plugged in my Aiptek Hyperpen 6000 tablet since I installed the driver, but I plan to do that later today.

One problem I had was that although my FAT32 card was detected when booting up from the PFS format CF card I bought from an eBay seller, it wasn't detected when I booted up from the SFS format CF card which I installed all by myself. I know from this that the SFS card must need to have support for the PCMCIA slot or for FAT32 installed onto it. I hope that you or someone else on here can tell me how to get the SFS Workbench 3.0 card to read the FAT32 card.
   

[Boing-ball]

I'm running FS-UAE on a MacBook under macOS. I don't use Windows any more because of all the problems it causes, including running very sluggishly, as well as overwriting non Windows partitions if it finds any on the same hard drive.

My problem is now solved after I bought a new old PCMCIA CF card reader.

I still haven't been able to read my SFS or PFS cards on my MacBook, but I have been able to read a CF card in FAT32 format on my Amiga! This card appeared under Dopus, as well as on my Workbench screen with a floppy disk icon labelled AMIGA. I took some pics but my files are too large to attach here!

I spent lots of time copying not only the FormaldiHyd.lha driver for certain classic Aiptek, Wacom, etc graphics tablets designed for Windows 95 or 98, but also some other files from Aminet, such as the Amiga C Manual, some games, and Blitz BASIC. I haven't plugged in my Aiptek Hyperpen 6000 tablet since I installed the driver, but I plan to do that later today.

One problem I had was that although my FAT32 card was detected when booting up from the PFS format CF card I bought from an eBay seller, it wasn't detected when I booted up from the SFS format CF card which I installed all by myself. I know from this that the SFS card must need to have support for the PCMCIA slot or for FAT32 installed onto it. I hope that you or someone else on here can tell me how to get the SFS Workbench 3.0 card to read the FAT32 card.
 

I replied on the other thread.

The PCMCIA driver and FAT95 used to read the card is Not native to AmigaOS or workbench. Therefore you have to download and install the following to get it to work off Aminet:

For the Compactflash.device driver and the CF0 mount you need this
http://aminet.net/package/driver/media/CFD133

For the Amiga to read and write to FAT16 or FAT32 you need the FAT95 filesystem

http://aminet.net/package/disk/misc/fat95

[kolla]

With FS-UAE (like WinUAE) you can easily use a directory on the host OS as a drive for the emulated Amiga, so you can boot off emulated amiga from the disk image with SFS formatting and just copy over whatever you wish from the host OS (and vice versa).

[Boing-ball]

With FS-UAE (like WinUAE) you can easily use a directory on the host OS as a drive for the emulated Amiga, so you can boot off emulated amiga from the disk image with SFS formatting and just copy over whatever you wish from the host OS (and vice versa).

Good shout Shelly 👍🏻