Read 5.25" DOS floppies on A1200 possible?

[Rob]

Never heard of this Checkmate thing you're talking about. I saw something about PowerPC as well. You're description making it work felt a little like, "time travel is easy, just plug the flux capacitor into your 23 pin floppy port and press Ctrl-Amiga-Amiga." Lol

Steve Jones was responsible for making the Checkmate 1500 and it was the sole reason that Commodore UK introduced the A1500.  I think Commodore may have taken legal action against him, there was definitely some kind of threat made.  He did recount the story somewhere on the forums a few years back.

[NorthWay]

My regular 3.5" settings are
BufMemType = 0
HighCyl = 79

39 is for a 360K disk.
And if the regular uses 0 for memory then you should be able to do too.
Unit should be read from the info file, but if you keep it then at least make it match to avoid confusion.

Always use SnoopDos to confirm what is (not) happening.

[Nick_66]

Hi, Thanks for all the help.

I have edited this mount file as in your image and when I double click on it the 5.25" drive spins and it shows as PC1: NDOS When I try to format an 5.25" floppy, my A1200 freezes completely and I have to reboot it again.

What could be wrong here?

[Nick_66]

My regular 3.5" settings are
BufMemType = 0
HighCyl = 79

39 is for a 360K disk.
And if the regular uses 0 for memory then you should be able to do too.
Unit should be read from the info file, but if you keep it then at least make it match to avoid confusion.

Always use SnoopDos to confirm what is (not) happening.

Hi. I have a 5.25" external drive.

USe SnoopDos instead of CrossDos?

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

USe SnoopDos instead of CrossDos?

No, these are two totally different things.  SnoopDos is a diagnostic tool.

http://aminet.net/package/util/moni/SnoopDos

[Nick_66]

No, these are two totally different things.  SnoopDos is a diagnostic tool.

http://aminet.net/package/util/moni/SnoopDos

Ok, thanks. Not sure what I can do with this tool, but will get into that as soon as I can get my 5.25 drive ready. Still having problems with it:

Hi, Thanks for all the help.

I have edited this mount file as in your image and when I double click on it the 5.25" drive spins and it shows as PC1: NDOS When I try to format an 5.25" floppy, my A1200 freezes completely and I have to reboot it again.

What could be wrong here?

[scuzzb494]

Hi, Thanks for all the help.

I have edited this mount file as in your image and when I double click on it the 5.25" drive spins and it shows as PC1: NDOS When I try to format an 5.25" floppy, my A1200 freezes completely and I have to reboot it again.

What could be wrong here?

Is the PC1 mount file in the Devs/DOSdrivers drawer. Make sure you boot without a 5.25" in the floppy drive as on mine it does not recognise the disk. Next, is the NDOS appearing even without a disk in the drive. What happens when you insert a disk... you should see an Amiga disk style NDOS and a PC style NDOS so that you can either format as Amiga or PC.

Have you switched anything on the back of the drive.

Don't forget that there are no guarantees as we have no idea what the drive is and how they should work. On the PC I have to enable certain things from the BIOS to get some floppy drives working.

One final thing also.. it may be faulty.

We just keep trying. The fact that the computer locks up isn't a good sign I have to say Have you got SysInfo. If so check the drives from the button in SysInfo and see what it says about mounted drives.

One last thing.. bit like crossing the streams in Ghostbusters. I know I said that don't put a floppy in, well try booting with a 5.25" and see if the drive activates when you boot the Amiga.

Have you edited the info icon as I said ... not the mount file but the info file.

[Rabbi]

Have you tried the AmigaZ80 program from Aminet for CP/M on the Amiga?  I uploaded it and have been working on & off with getting many programs onto the "CP/M disk" to run & eventually replace AmigaZ80 on Aminet with a new version with lots of CP/M programs to run, pre-loaded.

[Rabbi]

In the post yesterday I received a fresh copy of CP/M for the C128. Machine boots just fine with the new disk. Never anticipated anything otherwise. For me it is the whole locking the disk into place and working it. Great tool I have to say. I have twin drives on the Apple and BBC and whilst the BBC works without fault I have to use a small postcard under the floppy on the Apple to get it to work. Bit of a fiddle but fine all the same. On the Checkmate the drive has illuminating LED showing the tracks speed. They truly are a wonderful bit of retro magic.

Have you tried the AmigaZ80 program from Aminet for CP/M on the Amiga?  I uploaded it and have been working on & off with getting many programs onto the "CP/M disk" to run & eventually replace it with the "CP/M disk" file having many CP/M programs pre-loaded segregated by each "disk" grouping different applications & USER areas grouping different programs within the same application.

[scuzzb494]

Have you tried the AmigaZ80 program from Aminet for CP/M on the Amiga?  I uploaded it and have been working on & off with getting many programs onto the "CP/M disk" to run & eventually replace it with the "CP/M disk" file having many CP/M programs pre-loaded segregated by each "disk" grouping different applications & USER areas grouping different programs within the same application.

I had a quick look at it today. Didn't really understand this line ' Copy the appropriate CPU version into that newly created directory AS:Z80. ' The new directory is called CPM2.2 and the appropriate Z80, well I'm 040 so I go with that... but where and what is AS:Z80 ? I'll read all the stuff again. Struggling to see how this would boot without a command tool in C and it says nothing about copying anything to C and I'm in the main OS 3.9. I can see the assign from that line but just need help with firing up the basic Z80 can't see how that is triggered. If you know then maybe you could help. Ta .

[Rabbi]

I had a quick look at it today. Didn't really understand this line ' Copy the appropriate CPU version into that newly created directory AS:Z80. ' The new directory is called CPM2.2 and the appropriate Z80, well I'm 040 so I go with that... but where and what is AS:Z80 ? I'll read all the stuff again. Struggling to see how this would boot without a command tool in C and it says nothing about copying anything to C and I'm in the main OS 3.9. I can see the assign from that line but just need help with firing up the basic Z80 can't see how that is triggered. If you know then maybe you could help. Ta .

Well, duh, to begin with:
1) Yes, I even misspelled Installation, leaving out the "s"
2) No, no, no, not directory "AS:", but in step "2)" it states: COPY the appropriate CPU version into that newly created directory (from step 1, "Work:Emulators/CPM2.2").  So for you, with a 68040, that would be the amigaz80.040 file that would be copied over as "Z80".
3) Copy over the files: Authors.README, disk.cpm, menu, Uploaders.README, Uploaders.README.info, & z80.ram into directory Work:Emulators/CPM2.2

[Nick_66]

Is the PC1 mount file in the Devs/DOSdrivers drawer. Make sure you boot without a 5.25" in the floppy drive as on mine it does not recognise the disk. Next, is the NDOS appearing even without a disk in the drive. What happens when you insert a disk... you should see an Amiga disk style NDOS and a PC style NDOS so that you can either format as Amiga or PC.

Have you switched anything on the back of the drive.

Don't forget that there are no guarantees as we have no idea what the drive is and how they should work. On the PC I have to enable certain things from the BIOS to get some floppy drives working.

One final thing also.. it may be faulty.

We just keep trying. The fact that the computer locks up isn't a good sign I have to say Have you got SysInfo. If so check the drives from the button in SysInfo and see what it says about mounted drives.

One last thing.. bit like crossing the streams in Ghostbusters. I know I said that don't put a floppy in, well try booting with a 5.25" and see if the drive activates when you boot the Amiga.

Have you edited the info icon as I said ... not the mount file but the info file.

I am not sure what you mean by editing the info file and not the mount file??

When I don't double click on the PC1 file the drive pops up as DF1:?

When I try to format it the format utility start and after clicking on format the drives spins and a couple of seconds later I get the following error message:

I/O-error #21

When I insert a disk into the drive and starting up my Amiga, the drive spins.

Checked it with SysInfo:

The result:

NUMBER OF DISK ERRORS                   0
UNIT NUMBER                                     1
DISK STATE                                        Disk not validated
TOTAL NUMBER OF BLOCKS                 1758
TOTAL BLOCKS USED                          1757
BYTES PER BLOCK                               488
DRIVE/DISK TYPE                               No disk inserted (doesn't change after inserting a disk. Reason: not formatted??)
DEVICE NAME                                     trackdisk.device
SURFACES                                          2
SECTORS PER SIDE                             11
RESERVED BLOCKS                             2
LOWEST CYLINDER                             0
HIGHEST CYLINDER                            79
NUMBER OF BUFFERS                         5

I have changed the PC1 mountfile as follows:

Device = trackdisk.device
Buffers = 5

....and the rest of the file I kept unchanged.

Now the disk comes up as PC1:? instead of PC1:NDOS

Also when I try to format it, my Amiga does not freeze. When I uncheck verify in the format utililty the format progress bar is running. Only the head of the drive does not move.

When I check verify and try to format I get the same error I/O-error #21

When I manually move the head of the drive to the center of the disk and switch on my Amiga the head moves to the edge of the disk.

[Nick_66]

Anybody has any ideas what could be wrong? See my previous post.

[scuzzb494]

I am not sure what you mean by editing the info file and not the mount file??

When I don't double click on the PC1 file the drive pops up as DF1:?

When I try to format it the format utility start and after clicking on format the drives spins and a couple of seconds later I get the following error message:

I/O-error #21

When I insert a disk into the drive and starting up my Amiga, the drive spins.

Checked it with SysInfo:

The result:

NUMBER OF DISK ERRORS                   0
UNIT NUMBER                                     1
DISK STATE                                        Disk not validated
TOTAL NUMBER OF BLOCKS                 1758
TOTAL BLOCKS USED                          1757
BYTES PER BLOCK                               488
DRIVE/DISK TYPE                               No disk inserted (doesn't change after inserting a disk. Reason: not formatted??)
DEVICE NAME                                     trackdisk.device
SURFACES                                          2
SECTORS PER SIDE                             11
RESERVED BLOCKS                             2
LOWEST CYLINDER                             0
HIGHEST CYLINDER                            79
NUMBER OF BUFFERS                         5

I have changed the PC1 mountfile as follows:

Device = trackdisk.device
Buffers = 5

....and the rest of the file I kept unchanged.

Now the disk comes up as PC1:? instead of PC1:NDOS

Also when I try to format it, my Amiga does not freeze. When I uncheck verify in the format utililty the format progress bar is running. Only the head of the drive does not move.

When I check verify and try to format I get the same error I/O-error #21

When I manually move the head of the drive to the center of the disk and switch on my Amiga the head moves to the edge of the disk.

You appear to have edited the PC drive for the 5.25" to act as the normal Amiga drive. The SysInfo you are looking at must be DF1 and not PC1 cus I thought you wanted to read PC disks. The file system should be MSDOS File System and the device mfm.device. DF1 is automatically mounted as part of the Amiga syatem. If you read the SYSInfo on DF0 you will also see trackdisk.device but you wont find a trackdisk.device in devs... it comes with the system.

.info files are the icon part of an Amiga tool. I advised earlier that to look at this you open the window where the PC1 tool is located. Right click to highlight the tool and check information from the menu at the top of the screen. The icon should relate to the tool.

I am not a tech head sadly. I was simply giving you the benefit of my config for my 5.25" drive and if that didn't work then sadly I can help no more. I have used my 5.25" drive today  running an Amiga disk and animation and also checked a PC disk MS-DOS. The drive mounts on boot and I have a large Amiga icon on the screen. The config for my machine is as I advised. What your drive is I cannot say.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help. Perhaps someone else can chip in with some clues. I have no idea what the working mechanics of the physical drive is . Beyond me sadly.

Good luck.

PS I wanted you to check SysInfo to see if the PC1 drive was being mounted. I am unclear as to whether that is the case.

[Nick_66]

You appear to have edited the PC drive for the 5.25" to act as the normal Amiga drive. The SysInfo you are looking at must be DF1 and not PC1 cus I thought you wanted to read PC disks. The file system should be MSDOS File System and the device mfm.device. DF1 is automatically mounted as part of the Amiga syatem. If you read the SYSInfo on DF0 you will also see trackdisk.device but you wont find a trackdisk.device in devs... it comes with the system.

.info files are the icon part of an Amiga tool. I advised earlier that to look at this you open the window where the PC1 tool is located. Right click to highlight the tool and check information from the menu at the top of the screen. The icon should relate to the tool.

I am not a tech head sadly. I was simply giving you the benefit of my config for my 5.25" drive and if that didn't work then sadly I can help no more. I have used my 5.25" drive today  running an Amiga disk and animation and also checked a PC disk MS-DOS. The drive mounts on boot and I have a large Amiga icon on the screen. The config for my machine is as I advised. What your drive is I cannot say.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help. Perhaps someone else can chip in with some clues. I have no idea what the working mechanics of the physical drive is . Beyond me sadly.

Good luck.

PS I wanted you to check SysInfo to see if the PC1 drive was being mounted. I am unclear as to whether that is the case.

Hi,

Many thanks for all your help! Really appreciate it!

Why didn't I thought of it in the first place? :cool: Hook up my external 5.25" to my A500plus!

I tried this and it works! I can read the directory of all the 5.25" disks, but unfortunately they have a lot of read errors

Anyway, no need to figur out how to get my 5.25" working on my A1200. Maybe it is not compatible with a A1200?

Is there a way to recover all the read errors on a 5.25" disk as far as possible?