ADF transfer kit stopped working

[AmigaBruno]

Has this happened to anyone else? Last week I bought an ADF transfer kit containing an Amiga floppy disk of the Paradise software by Giuseppe Mignogna, as well as a custom made lead as described by him for connecting Amiga and PC parallel ports, all to be used with a download of a Windows program called ADF transfer.

I soon managed to get it to transfer ADF files from the PC onto Amiga floppy disks in drive df0: , but I didn't manage to get it to transfer any files of an Amiga floppy disk containing my artwork onto the PC hard drive. I later realised that a certain folder which was supposed to contain a DOSbox conf file didn't exist, so I created it and copied the file into the right folder, then it started to work, but complained about a checksum. Unfortunately, before I got to that stage I found that I could no longer copy ADF files from the PC to the Amiga! Every ADF file I try to copy over to the Amiga is now too long at 912,384 bytes, instead of 901,720 bytes, which is a difference of 10,664 bytes. I noticed that the latest downloaded files were 912,384 bytes, while even my attempts to transfer a file of 901,720 bytes I had downloaded and successfully copied over before ended up with its file length increased to 912,384 bytes!

Unfortunately, before this started happening I turned the Amiga off to move it out of the way, then unplugged the parallel cable from the Amiga, but forgot to turn off the PC before unplugging the cable from the Amiga. Obviously, this may have caused the problem, but I can't be sure. Since then, I've also uninstalled and reinstalled the Windows ADF transfer software, but this hasn't made any difference. My next step is to install a new parallel port onto the PC.

I'm going to contact the seller of this kit, as well as Giuseppe Mignogna, but I don't know if they can tell me what's gone wrong or how soon this would be, so I thought I'd post here as well.

[AmigaBruno]

Actually, I didn't install as Administrator. My Windows XP installation has no account names or login screen set up and I usually use Linux. Anyway, that should only affect the Amiga to PC transfers. The software was working before in the case of PC to Amiga transfers.

I didn't notice the transfer system stop working immediately, because I'd filled up all my blank floppy disks, then it was Sunday and I couldn't get any more until Monday. The question is can I remember anything relevant I may have done during that time? The default browser is Chrome, which has various unwanted plugins and adware installed, which are difficult to get rid of. The last ADF I transferred was Barbarian (Palace Software), the game with gladiators, not the RPG game.

I've been thinking about various things that may have caused this problem. I was searching for a common factor as well as where this file size is mentioned, if anywhere. The Amiga to PC transfers always appear as temp.adf on the Amiga screen. I've noticed there is a file called temp.adf in the ADF_TRANSFER_32 folder on my PC. This file is 912,384 bytes. The question is where did it come from and why is it there? I've also noticed another ADF file in the same directory called COPY_OF_ADF, which is 45,056 bytes. I now think that if I do something with the long temp.adf file, as well as possibly the COPY_OF_ADF file, then that may work. This will be my next step. I'll rename the file temp.adf, try a transfer with no temp.adf file already in that directory, then it that doesn't work, replace it with another adf file of the right length, renamed temp.adf.

[AmigaBruno]

Problem solved! It turned out that my problems were caused by that one file called temp.adf, which wasn't part of the archive I extracted and I don't know why it was there. It was that wrong length of 912384 bytes, which came up in an error message every time I tried another transfer. It may have been generated by a failed transfer from Amiga to PC. I renamed it as oldtemp.adf , then I found I was able to transfer another copy of Barbarian from the PC to an Amiga floppy. The software ADF transfer (for Windows) is by John Konstantopoulos, who I think is also the eBay seller and has posted on these forums. I've now found his email address, so I'll report this bug. I've only been running Paradise on the Amiga and the problem with the file length came up on the PC side.  

I think one problem with Google Chrome is that whenever you sign in to Google Mail using Google Chrome it syncs all bookmarks, etc with all other copies of Chrome which you may have installed on different devices and operating systems. That's what's making these plugins and adware hard to get rid of.

BTW, I'm using the Amiga again, because I realised that I'd created lots of things with Amigas before, but I felt I'd been brainwashed into forgetting most of what I'd done. I heard that computers today are being using mainly for communication, not for computing or working things out. I'm now doing more artwork (GIMP, Photoshop, MS Paint, etc are useless IMHO), playing some games I missed out on, as well as some old games I haven't played for some time. I first read about Linux in Amiga magazines and planned to use mainly Linux on PCs, but I had problems with incompatible modems, as well as hard drive space getting quickly taken up by Windows before I could install Linux. I think Linux looks and feels too much like Winodws, but Aeros may be the answer.

[AmigaBruno]

I found out that my problem was caused by the fact that there are some ADF files on the site Back to the Roots which are 912384 bytes, or 891Kb. These include, but may not be limited to Assassins games disks. I'll point it out to them. Anyone using this kit or a similar one check that all your ADF files are 880Kb and delete any which aren't, especially if there's a temp.adf file in the same directory as ADF_TRANSFER.

I also found I was unable to download certain files, because my AVG software running under Windows XP kept failing. The solution to this was to install Bullguard and uninstall AVG, although I wasn't able to completely uninstall it.