Author Topic: New to emulation - Looking for tips (Read 3140 times)

trilobitepictures · « **on:** May 17, 2009, 07:50:06 PM »

Hello and good afternoon (or morning or evening. Your choice. I'm easy.)

Very old Amiga fan here and I'm just now getting back into my old project out of a sense of nostalgia. I dug out my formerly-functioning 3000 only to discover what looks like catastrophic battery failure which makes the computer itself deader than disco. However the hard drive is still good and I have stacks and stacks of old project floppies and programs I'd like to go through.

So, here's the plan-- Emulate the 3000 OS on my MacBook and resurrect the now dead 3000 there by copying the contents to a CD-ROM and backing up all of my floppies to a memory stick or a second CD through the new faux-Amiga on the MacBook.

Now, the questions... Is this even possible? Users in other threads have suggested that simply taking the SCSI drive out and hooking it to a PC with SCSI capabilities to save the data from the dead 3000 on something compatible with the modern world, but will I be able to actually USE this data like I would if the 3000 still functioned? Sure the OS will be different, but will I be able to run the apps? Also, what of these stacks and stacks of floppies? Will a simple external floppy drive work if I accessed them via the emulated Amiga OS, or will I need to jump through more hoops?

RRunner · « **Reply #1 on:** May 17, 2009, 08:03:15 PM »

Quote from: trilobitepictures;454717

Hello and good afternoon (or morning or evening. Your choice. I'm easy.)

Very old Amiga fan here and I'm just now getting back into my old project out of a sense of nostalgia. I dug out my formerly-functioning 3000 only to discover what looks like catastrophic battery failure which makes the computer itself deader than disco. However the hard drive is still good and I have stacks and stacks of old project floppies and programs I'd like to go through.

So, here's the plan-- Emulate the 3000 OS on my MacBook and resurrect the now dead 3000 there by copying the contents to a CD-ROM and backing up all of my floppies to a memory stick or a second CD through the new faux-Amiga on the MacBook.

Now, the questions... Is this even possible? Users in other threads have suggested that simply taking the SCSI drive out and hooking it to a PC with SCSI capabilities to save the data from the dead 3000 on something compatible with the modern world, but will I be able to actually USE this data like I would if the 3000 still functioned? Sure the OS will be different, but will I be able to run the apps? Also, what of these stacks and stacks of floppies? Will a simple external floppy drive work if I accessed them via the emulated Amiga OS, or will I need to jump through more hoops?

I don't know about the floppies, but I had a bad HD which I managed to grab most of the files off of and restore them on my WinXP machine. I just pointed UAE at where I restored the files to and presto, I was able to boot and everything! Awesome!

SamuraiCrow · « **Reply #2 on:** May 17, 2009, 08:09:43 PM »

The floppy drive on an Amiga uses a non-standard decoder since it uses only one set of sync markers per track. It allows reliable 11 sector-per-track usage but does not allow compatibility with PC-style floppy drives.

trilobitepictures · « **Reply #3 on:** May 17, 2009, 08:20:31 PM »

Quote from: RRunner;454719

I don't know about the floppies, but I had a bad HD which I managed to grab most of the files off of and restore them on my WinXP machine. I just pointed UAE at where I restored the files to and presto, I was able to boot and everything! Awesome!

What of ROMs? I have already downloaded Hi-Toro which, I'm guessing, is looking for a ROM of Kickstart. Any hints?

trilobitepictures · « **Reply #4 on:** May 17, 2009, 08:22:18 PM »

Quote from: SamuraiCrow;454721

The floppy drive on an Amiga uses a non-standard decoder since it uses only one set of sync markers per track. It allows reliable 11 sector-per-track usage but does not allow compatibility with PC-style floppy drives.

Crap. That doesn't sound pleasant. Shy of getting my hands on a second Amiga, filling up a HD with the contents of the floppies, then pulling the drive, then backing it up to a PC... any shorter ways?

Karlos · « **Reply #5 on:** May 17, 2009, 08:35:43 PM »

As far as floppies go, isn't there a catweasel card for PC? Assuming you can get an amiga floppy drive as well.

RRunner · « **Reply #6 on:** May 17, 2009, 08:40:16 PM »

Quote from: trilobitepictures;454724

What of ROMs? I have already downloaded Hi-Toro which, I'm guessing, is looking for a ROM of Kickstart. Any hints?

I'm using the 3.1 ROMs in WinUAE... the same ROMs that I have in my A2000.

trilobitepictures · « **Reply #7 on:** May 17, 2009, 09:21:17 PM »

Quote from: Karlos;454728

As far as floppies go, isn't there a catweasel card for PC? Assuming you can get an amiga floppy drive as well.

I can probably use the drive from the dead 3000.

Catweasel, eh? Well, a Googling I shall go...

SamuraiCrow · « **Reply #8 on:** May 18, 2009, 02:46:03 AM »

http://www.jschoenfeld.com/products/catweasel_e.htm will get you the info about the CatWeasel floppy controller, but how to dump the Kickstart ROM files to a disk/memory stick I can't help you with. If you Google for an unscrupulous download site for the exact model Kickstart you have, it should be legal for you.

mongo · « **Reply #9 on:** May 18, 2009, 03:19:10 AM »

Quote from: Karlos;454728

As far as floppies go, isn't there a catweasel card for PC? Assuming you can get an amiga floppy drive as well.

Don't need a Catweasel, just a PC with two floppy drives and a copy of Disk2FDI.

Karlos · « **Reply #10 on:** May 18, 2009, 09:48:37 AM »

Quote from: mongo;454792

Don't need a Catweasel, just a PC with two floppy drives and a copy of Disk2FDI.

Might have problems running that on any PC made in the last 10 years: http://www.oldskool.org/disk2fdi

Piru · « **Reply #11 on:** May 18, 2009, 11:18:55 AM »

Quote from: Karlos;454810

Might have problems running that on any PC made in the last 10 years: http://www.oldskool.org/disk2fdi

And for anything running Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008:
http://www.winuae.net/files/adfread-1.1.zip

You obviously still need the two floppy drives (and no, USB drives won't do).

trilobitepictures · « **Reply #12 on:** May 18, 2009, 02:31:38 PM »

Okay... I'm looking into what ways I have access to to get the contents of the floppies to a more modern medium and how to emulate Workbench on one of my current computers.

Now, the hard drive inside the dead 3000. That still works and has quite a bit on there that I want to save and transfer over to the new set-up. I have been told that it is a matter of taking the SCSI hard drive out and placing it into PC with a SCSI controller.

Surely, it can't be THAT simple. Won't the PC view it as unreadable?

RRunner · « **Reply #13 on:** May 18, 2009, 04:52:02 PM »

Quote from: trilobitepictures;454836

Okay... I'm looking into what ways I have access to to get the contents of the floppies to a more modern medium and how to emulate Workbench on one of my current computers.

Now, the hard drive inside the dead 3000. That still works and has quite a bit on there that I want to save and transfer over to the new set-up. I have been told that it is a matter of taking the SCSI hard drive out and placing it into PC with a SCSI controller.

Surely, it can't be THAT simple. Won't the PC view it as unreadable?

Yes. It will show up in windows devices as an unformatted drive but you will be able to run WinUAE and point of at that drive. WinUAE will me able to use it.

trilobitepictures · « **Reply #14 on:** May 18, 2009, 06:32:18 PM »

Well, I'll be buggered. That makes sense.

Okay. Sounds like the hard part is getting a PC. Software fixes to take care of the format issues sound easy enough.

Looks like this won't be such a huge loss after all...

Thanks all around!