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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: bpb235 on January 08, 2010, 09:30:48 AM
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Hello ! – Heres a stupid question from a noob, I just found my A600 in my parents loft and it’s still works great and I’m having a blast with my old Demo’s and games. – My question is, if I download a DMS file and write it to a floppy, can I use it in my Amiga ? – I don’t have a floppy drive on either of my PC’s but I can buy an external PC floppy drive cheaply, I just don want to spend the money if it wont work ! – Thanks in advance - Scott - PS, love the site but most of the information is well beyond me !
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Welcome to the board. You can't write an amiga native floppy disk with standard PC hardware. You can buy a catweasel controller to drive a PC floppy drive to write amiga disks however, and if you do that a lot it's worth the money.
Before I got a catweasel, I used a program to transfer ADF files to the amiga and write them out to disk. ADF sender comes to mind. It's been awhile for me though, I'm sure some other folks on this board will offer better or more detailed advice.
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Hi
Firstly, welcome to Amiga.org :)
With your Amiga being a 600 it has the PCMCIA slot on the left hand side so you will be better off buying a compact flash adaptor and a compact flash card. You can then copy all the ADFs you have onto the CF memory card and then write them to floppy on your A600 via the CF adaptor. Please find linked below the CF adaptor:
http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=440
AmigaKit are a well known and reputable company within the community.
A standard CF memory card will do, I personally use a 2GB Dane Elec card, which is more than big enough for Amiga files.
Best of luck
Taj
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@ Taj, He will also need to software so be can transfer ADF disk images to the floppy itself. I forget the name of the app.
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easy ADF is what you want. Amigakit sells everything you need for something like 20 bucks
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@ Taj, He will also need to software so be can transfer ADF disk images to the floppy itself. I forget the name of the app.
The AmigaKit link is to the whole kit, all software is included :) Just need the CF card
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CF cards are getting very hard to find in shops these days, you would be better off with a PCMCIA Multi-Card adapter or SD Card adapter, and use cheap SD cards. But as the others suggested, using a card reader in the PCMCIA slot is definitely the best way to transfer thousands of ADF/DMS files to real floppies through your A600.
The problem of course is getting the drivers onto your Amiga in the first place. If you're willing to trust someone on the forum with your address, perhaps they could send you an Amiga floppy with all the necessary software (card reader driver, FAT filesystem handler and ADF/DMS transfer software) and you could easily buy a PCMCIA card reader online. I use this model - http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.23720 but you can sometimes find them even cheaper if you shop around.
You really should also install a new internal IDE drive. By far the best option for A600s is to get a Compact Flash or SD Card adapter for the IDE port and use a 2-4GB card with two partitions on it. Then you'll be able to install Workbench and WHDLoad, allowing you to install thousands of games on the drive instead of having to write them all to floppies. You can get these adapters here http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.10310 (they have SD ones too but they cost more, so if you can find yourself a CF card you're set).
You might also want to upgrade to Kickstart 3.1 because 2.x is kinda useless these days, 3.1 barely uses any extra memory but it's a much better Operating System. For ultimate game compatibility, you could even get a Kickstart ROM Switcher with both 3.1 and 1.3 (A500 Kickstart with IDE support added), so if you felt like running some floppy games without needing to use a degrader first you can, easily. I have this setup in my A600 and it's the best.
Here's a little video I made showing my A600 with these expansions (IDE-CF and PCMCIA-CF adapters) running Workbench 3.1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTLvrhlNdyc
Here's a video on installing an IDE-CF adapter in an A1200, which will be the same process in an A600 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fWfqRd3E3E
Here's a video explaining one way of transferring ADFs to a floppy - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fWfqRd3E3E (There are a few different utilities that do this)
I'm sure after clicking on a few related videos you'll soon find out there are lots of different things you can use your A600 for, and they're quite easy to upgrade and expand these days! Check out my A600 with 2MB ChipRAM, Network card, USB, numeric keypad and more - http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?t=49670 (All these expansions can be bought new).
Make sure you check out http://www.lemonamiga.com and browse through all the games. There's plenty of information about most Amiga games, as well as ratings and reviews from members of the site.
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The AmigaKit link is to the whole kit, all software is included :) Just need the CF card
Ah sorry I didn't know it was included on the software disk. In that case I would opt for Taj's idea. :)
@ Cammy, Chances are he/she is running a KS 2.05 or something inside that A600 so the maximum drive that will work on that Kickstart is 40Mb.
That also requires him/her having the knowlage to Install workbench on that (2.05 Install disks are a little tricky to find). If bpb235 is up for learning then it's a very useful skill and quite easy to replace Hard Drives and Install once you know what your doing. Lemon Amiga has a good tutorial for making HD installs for WinUAE (Amiga Emulator) but the process is exactly the same on the real thing.
An easier but a little more costly option is upgrading to 3.1 which will make it alot more compatible and comes with all the disks for an Install for a hard drive (upto 4GB).
Personally I have no problems finding CF cards (in this country anyway), plenty of second hand stores and eBay are places I usually find older ones from as little as 50p - £1.00 for a 32Mb one (which is ideal for KS 2.05 if you are willing to buy a IDE to CF adapter but will still require you to install Workbench.
Finally I would recomend a 1Mb expansion for that 'trap door' panel on the bottom of the machine. You can pick these up for about £10 - £15 on ebay and will make all the difference when using Workbench, games, demoscene stuff and EasyADF.
P.s. bpb235, PM me if you need a hand and let me know what you want from your 600 and il do my best (even supply disks, CF cards, RAM cards and installing).
P.p.s. Welcome to the forum by the way. :)
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Another option (Yes, I'm old school!) is serial port and Transwarp.
Yes, it is slower.. :-)
And yes, a lot of PCs don't have serial ports anymore...
BUT.. Some of us like 19,200 baud dagnabbit! It was fast enough for Martin Van Buren, it's fast enough for me!!
Actually, if you have a crossover cable and a serial port (both of which I did have handy), it works fairly well, if slowly...
I just run ADF on my laptop and transwarp on the amiga and 2 hours later (OK, it's not 2 hours, but it is slow..), I have a disk!
Just an option...
desiv
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Ah sorry I didn't know it was included on the software disk. In that case I would opt for Taj's idea. :)
No probs :) I found it the best solution as I didnt want the hassle of finding all the software and setting it up etc etc. And its not too expensive.
This is the memory card I have on mine:
http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=15375&category_id=316&manufacturer_id=0&tid=da-cf-4096-r
A bit over a tenner with free postage :)
Taj
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WOW, Thanks for the replys, I was thinking that maybe i was the only person that was still a fan of the Amiga ! - I have a 2GB CF card laying here not doing anything so to begin with I am going to order the PCMCIA adaptor kit as that looks like a quick and simple way to get back into the world of Amiga. ANOTHER silly question, I have a box with about 600 DS/HD blank discs, will these work in the amiga or do they have to be DS/DD discs ? - I really forgot how good the Amiga was, I have had a blast today playing Magic Pockets (the only game I have as it was left in the floppy drive when it went into the loft MANY years ago)
Thanks again for your help, really looking forward to learning more about this amazing machine !
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WOW, Thanks for the replys, I was thinking that maybe i was the only person that was still a fan of the Amiga ! - I have a 2GB CF card laying here not doing anything so to begin with I am going to order the PCMCIA adaptor kit as that looks like a quick and simple way to get back into the world of Amiga. ANOTHER silly question, I have a box with about 600 DS/HD blank discs, will these work in the amiga or do they have to be DS/DD discs ? - I really forgot how good the Amiga was, I have had a blast today playing Magic Pockets (the only game I have as it was left in the floppy drive when it went into the loft MANY years ago)
Thanks again for your help, really looking forward to learning more about this amazing machine !
Simple answer, yes they should. You will need to format them to work on Amiga though (format them on your 600 not PC by the way. :)
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Finally I would recomend a 1Mb expansion for that 'trap door' panel on the bottom of the machine. You can pick these up for about £10 - £15 on ebay and will make all the difference when using Workbench and EasyADF.
it's 1Mb already :)
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WOW, Thanks for the replys, I was thinking that maybe i was the only person that was still a fan of the Amiga ! - I have a 2GB CF card laying here not doing anything so to begin with I am going to order the PCMCIA adaptor kit as that looks like a quick and simple way to get back into the world of Amiga. ANOTHER silly question, I have a box with about 600 DS/HD blank discs, will these work in the amiga or do they have to be DS/DD discs ? - I really forgot how good the Amiga was, I have had a blast today playing Magic Pockets (the only game I have as it was left in the floppy drive when it went into the loft MANY years ago)
Thanks again for your help, really looking forward to learning more about this amazing machine !
LMAO!! "the only person that was still a fan of the Amiga" ??!:laughing:
Umm, there are a "few" of us around :roflmao:
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it's 1Mb already :)
With the RAM upgrade it should total to 2Mb, sorry I wasn't clear.
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it's 1Mb already :)
I think the OP meant an additional 1MB :) If you want to play games off floppy disks then youre best looking for an external floppy drive too, otherwise you might get an embarassing wrist pain :laughing:
Some games will take advantage of the extra 1MB some wont but its worth getting both expansions, I used to have 2MB and an external floppy on my first A500+ back in the day, it was a god send not having to swap bloody disks all the time...and damn annoying when you found a game that didnt user either the RAM, floppy drive or both! :furious:
If you dont want to hunt on eBay, Amigakit also sell A600 1MB upgrades:
http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=879
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still a fan of Amiga
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Just ordered an EasyADF PCMCIA Compact Flash Transfer Kit ! - Looking forward to getting it – Thanks again for the help !
Are Amiga games abandonware now ?
Thanks
Scott
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Many thanks for the order of EasyADF (http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=440) - it will be dispatched very shortly.
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Kit came yesterday and I spent several hours last night trying to use it but I seem to have a problem that might be hardware based, everything loads and works great until it comes to write the floppy, the floppy spins up but the head does not move, and thats how it sits until I turn if off. The floppy drive formats and copies discs via the workbench fine but just will not write a disc with easy adf package ....... could it be a bad drive in my A600 or the fact that Its a bog standard 1mb A600, I have tried using both DSDD and DSHD discs, nither will write ?
Any clues ? :confused:
Thanks in advance
Scott
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Not sure it this helps but my equipment should now be in my signature !
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Threads like this is what Amiga.org is all about.
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Kit came yesterday and I spent several hours last night trying to use it but I seem to have a problem that might be hardware based, everything loads and works great until it comes to write the floppy, the floppy spins up but the head does not move, and thats how it sits until I turn if off. The floppy drive formats and copies discs via the workbench fine but just will not write a disc with easy adf package ....... could it be a bad drive in my A600 or the fact that Its a bog standard 1mb A600, I have tried using both DSDD and DSHD discs, nither will write ?
Any clues ? :confused:
Thanks in advance
Scott
You could try other software for writing adf files. I remember using a program named ADFBlitzer that worked ok for me with both reading and writing disks.
Check aminet or here:
http://amigamuseum.emu-france.com/Fichiers/Downloads/
(I also think there are other adf programs made)
You also mentioned some dms files. Try to get the dms program from aminet and try to write a dms file to floppy.
A personal experience I had with floppies is that DD disks are more reliable than HD disks when using them in DD diskdrives. I did get a lot more read/write errors when using HD disks on my amiga than with DD disks.
Another tip could be to try to find a cleaning disk for the diskdrive and give it a run.
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Are Amiga games abandonware now ?
No, but you'll find heaps of legally released games at Back 2 Roots (http://team.back2roots.org/) and AmiSectorOne (http://www.exotica.org.uk/mirrors/ami_sector_one/index.html).
Aminet (http://www.aminet.net), if you're not familiar with it, should be your first stop for anything Amiga-related.
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Kit came yesterday and I spent several hours last night trying to use it but I seem to have a problem that might be hardware based, everything loads and works great until it comes to write the floppy, the floppy spins up but the head does not move, and thats how it sits until I turn if off. The floppy drive formats and copies discs via the workbench fine but just will not write a disc with easy adf package ....... could it be a bad drive in my A600 or the fact that Its a bog standard 1mb A600, I have tried using both DSDD and DSHD discs, nither will write ?
Any clues ? :confused:
Thanks in advance
Scott
Hi Scott
I dont think its the fact you have 1MB, but I could be wrong as I used mine on an A1200 which comes with 2MB as standard. If your Amiga can read and write disks via Workbench OK I would think that it isnt a hardware problem.
Are you booting off the EasyADF disk? Or are you booting from Workbench then inserting the EasyADF disk?
If not, it might be worth booting directly from the Easy ADF floppy disk and seeing if it works. (you still need to keep your Workbench disk at hand though).
Keep the thread updated with how you get on mate :)
Taj
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You gotta get some extra memory even if that's not causing your problem. I recall having issues with my 600 that disappeared once I got the memory expansion.
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You could try other software for writing adf files. I remember using a program named ADFBlitzer that worked ok for me with both reading and writing disks.
Check aminet or here:
http://amigamuseum.emu-france.com/Fichiers/Downloads/
(I also think there are other adf programs made)
You also mentioned some dms files. Try to get the dms program from aminet and try to write a dms file to floppy.
A personal experience I had with floppies is that DD disks are more reliable than HD disks when using them in DD diskdrives. I did get a lot more read/write errors when using HD disks on my amiga than with DD disks.
Another tip could be to try to find a cleaning disk for the diskdrive and give it a run.
I have a floppy cleaning kit and have ran that 3 times without any help. I've been messing the both DD & HD discs and both have the same problem. About 2 hours ago, I did finally get a ADF file to burn to a floppy but then the same problem has been happening ever since ...... I really think it may be DF0 as it's now started to error when formatting discs and copying discs using Workbench, I think 11 years in a FREEZING cold loft has done it's worst, I see the disc drives are cheap enough to buy, Are they easy to fit ?
Thanks again for all the help
Scott
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I have a floppy cleaning kit and have ran that 3 times without any help. I've been messing the both DD & HD discs and both have the same problem. About 2 hours ago, I did finally get a ADF file to burn to a floppy but then the same problem has been happening ever since ...... I really think it may be DF0 as it's now started to error when formatting discs and copying discs using Workbench, I think 11 years in a FREEZING cold loft has done it's worst, I see the disc drives are cheap enough to buy, Are they easy to fit ?
Thanks again for all the help
Scott
Hope the cold loft thing is not the main reason for killing old hardware... I have a cold loft as well and sometimes the outside temperature drops down below minus 35 C. And I have 2 x C64's, 2.5 x A500, 1 x A1200 and one A4000 up there....
As for replacing the floppy drive, it shouldnt be to much trouble. Just make sure you get the connectors in the right place when putting it together. I think there is no plastic frame for alignment around the connector on the drive, so it can easily be misplaced if you are not careful.
Hopefully this is the problem and changing the drive will fix it. But there is a small chance that it could be a faulty chip. I'm not sure how common this is, but on one A500 I got this problem with read/write errors. It got so bad that every time a disk was insterted, the A500 drive would spin and you heard the sound like the it was doing something on the disk. After this the disks were NDOS disks and not accessable on any amiga. It turned out to be a faulty CIA chip. If I remember correctly there are two CIA chips on the A500, and to test it I simply swapped the chips. (but maybe I remember wrong and that I used a chip from another A500, its a long time ago now)
But in any case, beware these chips. They are fragile, especially to static electricity. So make sure you are properly grounded.
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I have a floppy cleaning kit and have ran that 3 times without any help. I've been messing the both DD & HD discs and both have the same problem.
Are you sure the disks are OK? Maybe the drive isn't the problem, but the disks?
I see the disc drives are cheap enough to buy, Are they easy to fit ?
As long it is an Amiga drive and the eject button matches, yes. Note that PC drives won't work in your Amiga (at least not without being modified).
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I don't mean to hijack this thread, it is a related ADF question. That is, can ADFs be run directly on an Amiga some how? No conversion just run like they are on a Win UAE setup.
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You can mount AmigaDOS formatted ADFs in Workbench and use them, but if they're NDOS disks they won't work, the same as a real NDOS floppy wouldn't work in Workbench. The way to install and run games like this from the hard drive is to use WHDLoad, which copies the disk images similar to an ADF to the hard drive and runs the game from the images.
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DS HD disks have been a real pain at times for me. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. I think they require a different strength in the magnetic field, and they're just not too reliable in your standard Amiga drive.
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Speaking of old school, why not use Crossdos to format pc dos disks on the A600? Then get the external floppy drive for the pc. That used to work very good for me.
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Ah sorry I didn't know it was included on the software disk. In that case I would opt for Taj's idea. :)
@ Cammy, Chances are he/she is running a KS 2.05 or something inside that A600 so the maximum drive that will work on that Kickstart is 40Mb.
Just to bust this myth, I have an A600 with Kickstart 37.300 (2.05) and run a CF 4 gig card just fine in it, partitioned into two 2gig drives, works flawlessly.
Also Workbench 2.1 is worth putting on, most of the advantages of WB 3 without a ROM change.
Install disks for 2.1 can be found on Amiga forever.
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Hello ! – Heres a stupid question from a noob, I just found my A600 in my parents loft and it’s still works great and I’m having a blast with my old Demo’s and games. – My question is, if I download a DMS file and write it to a floppy, can I use it in my Amiga ? – I don’t have a floppy drive on either of my PC’s but I can buy an external PC floppy drive cheaply, I just don want to spend the money if it wont work ! – Thanks in advance - Scott - PS, love the site but most of the information is well beyond me !
Nope.. you cant write a amiga disk on a pc without a controller addon like the catweasel. The amiga is on the other hand compatible with DD 720k dos formatted floppies. If you have WB 2.1 or newer in that a600 then it is a good chance it comes with crossdos, which lets you read pc floppies easily.
You could use a null modem cable+cloanto amigaforever to transfer messydos or crossdos over if you dont have it on your WB/extras floppies. The only issue with this is that you have to compress adf/dms files to 2 seperate files if they are over the 720k pc format limit.
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Speaking of old school, why not use Crossdos to format pc dos disks on the A600? Then get the external floppy drive for the pc. That used to work very good for me.
I think he said he doesn't have a floppy drive on any of his PC's... Many PC's don't come with floppys now-a-days.
I've had trouble formatting HD floppies as DD floppies. If you have some DD floppies, give that a try.