Amiga.org

Operating System Specific Discussions => Other Operating Systems => Topic started by: slaapliedje on November 07, 2013, 11:38:35 PM

Title: Read Atari ST formatted floppy on Amiga?
Post by: slaapliedje on November 07, 2013, 11:38:35 PM
First, I'll admit I didn't look too deeply into this (just browsed through Aminet) but is there a way for the Amiga to read Atari ST floppy disks?  I figure if they're a weird format, there really isn't much point, but an Atari ST formatted disk with just text files on it?  

I seem to recall that most of the Atari ST disks were formatted the same way DOS ones were, but I know sometimes you could tweak track / sector amounts to make them hold more.

Unfortunately I don't have a working monitor for my STs, so the only system I currently have set up and working with a Floppy drive is my Amiga 4000d.

Any help greatly appreciated.

slaapliedje
Title: Re: Read Atari ST formatted floppy on Amiga?
Post by: motrucker on November 07, 2013, 11:50:39 PM
If I remember, Cross DOS will, and maybe DOS 2 DOS. These are both commercial programs though.
Title: Re: Read Atari ST formatted floppy on Amiga?
Post by: Amiga_Nut on November 08, 2013, 12:01:36 AM
ST uses PC format disks either 720kb or 360kb

Amigas with Workbench 2.1 or newer natively support the reading of this format of disk too.

It works a treat, I copied a software blitter from a real ST floppy disk with my Amiga onto the hard drive to use with an ST emulator (massive improvement to GEM performance in both real hardware and emulators running on any machine like STEEM on Windows etc)
Title: Re: Read Atari ST formatted floppy on Amiga?
Post by: Iggy on November 08, 2013, 02:43:14 AM
Good answer.
Yes the Atari ST does not have all the glamorous little extra circuits you're all fond of, but unlike the Amiga or the Apple II (and like almost everything else) it does have disk that other computer can read.
Title: Re: Read Atari ST formatted floppy on Amiga?
Post by: slaapliedje on November 08, 2013, 05:29:11 PM
I knew all this :D  I could have sworn there was a more 'native' format though.  And of course Cross Dos (or something similar) was included with Workbench 2.1 (or maybe it was 3.x).  And I have no problems reading Dos disks.  

Of course the most likely problem is that the disks are bad anyhow.  I definitely wouldn't rule that out.  Especially considering the age of the disks, and my weird curse I've had with floppies.

Hmm, let's say they're in a weird format that can only be read if you boot straight off of them, is there any 'disk imaging' software for the amiga so I could create a .msa file, and then run it with an Atari ST emulator (on the Amiga or my Linux setup) or an ST emulator with direct floppy drive access?

slaapliedje
Title: Re: Read Atari ST formatted floppy on Amiga?
Post by: paul1981 on November 09, 2013, 11:52:15 AM
Quote from: slaapliedje;752117
First, I'll admit I didn't look too deeply into this (just browsed through Aminet) but is there a way for the Amiga to read Atari ST floppy disks?  I figure if they're a weird format, there really isn't much point, but an Atari ST formatted disk with just text files on it?  

I seem to recall that most of the Atari ST disks were formatted the same way DOS ones were, but I know sometimes you could tweak track / sector amounts to make them hold more.

Unfortunately I don't have a working monitor for my STs, so the only system I currently have set up and working with a Floppy drive is my Amiga 4000d.

Any help greatly appreciated.

slaapliedje

Have you tried OmniFlop for Windows? I use it to read Acorn disks. According to the features list it handles various Atari formats:

http://www.shlock.co.uk/Utils/OmniFlop/OmniFlop.htm#Features

Cheers.
Title: Re: Read Atari ST formatted floppy on Amiga?
Post by: slaapliedje on November 09, 2013, 06:44:29 PM
Hmmm, gonna have to get me a USB Floppy drive for that.  Sadly newer motherboards no longer even have floppy controllers included.  This includes mine.

slaapliedje