Totally new to Amigas. Picked up a A1200HD/40 with a CSA twelve guage accelerator

[Quixote]

edderkop edged in::

this migth be a stuped question but is the read wire on the ribbon cable on pin 1. ?? :-?

;-) Not a stupid question at all, sir.  Always check the simple things first.

@ Pete_Pumpkin:

;-) You may wish to check Aminet for a program called "SCSI inquire."  This tool will probe your SCSI bus and report what it finds at each address.  If it fails to report your CD-ROM drive, then something may be amiss with your hardware.  Check that the CD-ROM has power, that the SCSI cable is connected securely to the CD-ROM and the Amiga's SCSI port, etcetera.  Also, always check over old hardware that you buy.  The SCSI ID gadget on the back of your CD-ROM may not be connected to the CD-ROM itself, on the inside, etcetera.  Little things like that can trip you up.

:-) To answer an earlier question, yes, you can use old Mac SCSI stuff, so a trip through your local charity thrift shop may prove fruitful.  

[Quixote]

pete_pumpkin protested:

...I just need to read back in the previous posts and work out how to unpack the .dms files onto my HD; when using DOpus, I'm prompted to insert a floppy into DF0:, for starters, my DF0: is totally buggered, and secondly I don't want them on floppy, I want them on the HD.

;-) If the drive were working, it'd be easy: just unpack the file to floppy, then copy the floppy to the hard drive.

:-( However, I suspect that .dms files need to use DF0:.  On the other hand, I do wonder whether it would be possible to redirect its output to another device if run from the Shell.  Something like:

[Filename].dms >DF1:

:-? -Though I suspect I'd just get an error.  I'll have to try it to be sure.  Redirecting it to hard drive or Ram: probably wouldn't work, though, since IIRC the .dms archive includes formatting data for the compressed floppy image, as well.
:idea: Now, a dedicated HD partition of 880k, on the other hand...