hd install.....errr yer im a noob

[lurkist]

You are lucky it didn't work, you almost formatted you Workbench disk!  

1- Put the PC0 icon back in Storage/Dosdrivers.
2- Boot with WB disk.
3- Go into Storage/Dosdrivers and double-click the PC0 icon.
4- If things are working correctly, all disks from now on will have 2 icons, one for Amiga filesystem and one for PC filesystem (named ?? or NonDos or something weird-looking, it should also have the Cross-Doss icon)
5- REMOVE YOUR WB DISK NOW (AND WRITE-PROTECT IT)
6- Put your blank floppy in, wait for both icons to appear, single click the weird looking one and choose Format Disk in the right button top menu.
7- You might be asked to replace WB temporarily for it to load the Format command, then it should ask for the blank disk and formatting will begin.

EDIT- 8- To read PC disk after a reboot, you will need to double click the Storage/Dosdrivers/PC0 icon again.  (It's normally better to keep it in Storage than have it loading up every time you switch on)

EDIT - Just remembered, some Amigas need the High Density hole of a disk cellotaping up before they work correctly

[lurkist]

It's possible your WB disk is damaged.  Quick experiment, boot with the WB disk.  Double-click the Storage/Dosdrivers PC0 icon.  After a few seconds of clicking even the WB disk itself should have an extra crossdos icon.  If it does not, there is something wrong with your disk, put in an order for a new set.

EDIT - sorry, I'm forgetting that a disk-based setup has Storage on a separate drawer, this must be making things take twice as long.  Maybe put PC0 in the WB Devs/Dosdrivers disk after all.

[lurkist]

Probably not.

Also, Taunusand's PC formatting advice above produces a disk which can be read on a real Amiga using PC0, I just tried it.

Has the blank disk been Amiga formatted?  If not, do a full (not quick) format on it before trying to mount it as PC0.

[lurkist]

When you select the PC0 file and choose Icons/Information, you should see in the Tool Types section-

ACTIVATE=1
UNIT=0

If they do not exist, create them and try again.

[lurkist]

OK, you say the unit number field is commented out if you view it as a text file?  If you mean with a ; just delete it, save and ...try again...

[lurkist]

I've never used MEmacs, just Ed should do it.

Workbench menu, Execute Command.
Type -

ed devs:dosdrivers/pc0

[lurkist]

Those instructions have been tried pretty much exactly already.

fidelTFG wrote: but I don't see an active field.

I think rkauer means the ACTIVATE field that you already confirmed to me was there and reading 1.

Please confirm the type of disk you are using, and if it is HD (High Density) that you have covered the HD hole using cellotape or something similar.  If in doubt, cover them both (the disk will still be writeable).

Have you been working from a backup of the WB disks?  If so, are the originals still in their virginal state?  If yes, backup a new set and try again.

Swapping the drives is worth a try, but even a "fixed" 1.44 should respond to this basic task.  Since you mention that the UNIT field in PC0 is commented out and won't respond to un-commenting, I think maybe one of these files is damaged -

SYS:Devs/DosDrivers/PC0
SYS:Devs/mfm.device
SYS:L/CrossDOSFilesystem

or maybe even some other arbitrary file.

I am determined to get to the bottom of this now!!

[lurkist]

AHAAA!  I believe we have a winner.  Yes, that file should be there.

Would it be legal to supply this poor chap with said file?
How about Amigakit as the distributer emailing him a copy?

[lurkist]

A closer look at my own copy of 3.1 shows that this is not in the distro.  Was this some kind of error or omission, or is it buried elsewhere?  The 3.1 version of PC0 definitely points to L:CrossDOSFilesystem.

And now I see what you mean by the commenting out, it specifically says the Unit field is controlled by tooltypes in the PC0 icon, so ignore that bit of stuff.

EDIT - OK, you found it.

[lurkist]

Woohoo!  But yeah, all that just to read a disk...  Good luck with the rest, you know where to come if it gets tricky.