Dumb Question !

[bpb235]

Hello ! – Heres a stupid question from a noob, I just found my A600 in my parents loft and it’s still works great and I’m having a blast with my old Demo’s and games. – My question is, if I download a DMS file and write it to a floppy, can I use it in my Amiga ? – I don’t have a floppy drive on either of my PC’s but I can buy an external PC floppy drive cheaply, I just don want to spend the money if it wont work ! – Thanks in advance - Scott - PS, love the site but most of the information is well beyond me !

[koaftder]

Welcome to the board. You can't write an amiga native floppy disk with standard PC hardware. You can buy a catweasel controller to drive a PC floppy drive to write amiga disks however, and if you do that a lot it's worth the money.

Before I got a catweasel, I used a program to transfer ADF files to the amiga and write them out to disk. ADF sender comes to mind. It's been awhile for me though, I'm sure some other folks on this board will offer better or more detailed advice.

[Tajmaster]

Hi

Firstly, welcome to Amiga.org

With your Amiga being a 600 it has the PCMCIA slot on the left hand side so you will be better off buying a compact flash adaptor and a compact flash card. You can then copy all the ADFs you have onto the CF memory card and then write them to floppy on your A600 via the CF adaptor. Please find linked below the CF adaptor:

http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=440

AmigaKit are a well known and reputable company within the community.

A standard CF memory card will do, I personally use a 2GB Dane Elec card, which is more than big enough for Amiga files.

Best of luck

Taj

[tokyoracer]

@ Taj, He will also need to software so be can transfer ADF disk images to the floppy itself. I forget the name of the app.

[runequester]

easy ADF is what you want. Amigakit sells everything you need for something like 20 bucks

[Tajmaster]

@ Taj, He will also need to software so be can transfer ADF disk images to the floppy itself. I forget the name of the app.

The AmigaKit link is to the whole kit, all software is included Just need the CF card

[Cammy]

CF cards are getting very hard to find in shops these days, you would be better off with a PCMCIA Multi-Card adapter or SD Card adapter, and use cheap SD cards. But as the others suggested, using a card reader in the PCMCIA slot is definitely the best way to transfer thousands of ADF/DMS files to real floppies through your A600.

The problem of course is getting the drivers onto your Amiga in the first place. If you're willing to trust someone on the forum with your address, perhaps they could send you an Amiga floppy with all the necessary software (card reader driver, FAT filesystem handler and ADF/DMS transfer software) and you could easily buy a PCMCIA card reader online. I use this model - http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.23720 but you can sometimes find them even cheaper if you shop around.

You really should also install a new internal IDE drive. By far the best option for A600s is to get a Compact Flash or SD Card adapter for the IDE port and use a 2-4GB card with two partitions on it. Then you'll be able to install Workbench and WHDLoad, allowing you to install thousands of games on the drive instead of having to write them all to floppies. You can get these adapters here http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.10310 (they have SD ones too but they cost more, so if you can find yourself a CF card you're set).

You might also want to upgrade to Kickstart 3.1 because 2.x is kinda useless these days, 3.1 barely uses any extra memory but it's a much better Operating System. For ultimate game compatibility, you could even get a Kickstart ROM Switcher with both 3.1 and 1.3 (A500 Kickstart with IDE support added), so if you felt like running some floppy games without needing to use a degrader first you can, easily. I have this setup in my A600 and it's the best.

Here's a little video I made showing my A600 with these expansions (IDE-CF and PCMCIA-CF adapters) running Workbench 3.1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTLvrhlNdyc

Here's a video on installing an IDE-CF adapter in an A1200, which will be the same process in an A600 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fWfqRd3E3E

Here's a video explaining one way of transferring ADFs to a floppy - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fWfqRd3E3E (There are a few different utilities that do this)

I'm sure after clicking on a few related videos you'll soon find out there are lots of different things you can use your A600 for, and they're quite easy to upgrade and expand these days! Check out my A600 with 2MB ChipRAM, Network card, USB, numeric keypad and more - http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?t=49670 (All these expansions can be bought new).

Make sure you check out http://www.lemonamiga.com and browse through all the games. There's plenty of information about most Amiga games, as well as ratings and reviews from members of the site.

[tokyoracer]

The AmigaKit link is to the whole kit, all software is included Just need the CF card

Ah sorry I didn't know it was included on the software disk. In that case I would opt for Taj's idea.

@ Cammy, Chances are he/she is running a KS 2.05 or something inside that A600 so the maximum drive that will work on that Kickstart is 40Mb.

That also requires him/her having the knowlage to Install workbench on that (2.05 Install disks are a little tricky to find). If bpb235 is up for learning then it's a very useful skill and quite easy to replace Hard Drives and Install once you know what your doing. Lemon Amiga has a good tutorial for making HD installs for WinUAE (Amiga Emulator) but the process is exactly the same on the real thing.

An easier but a little more costly option is upgrading to 3.1 which will make it alot more compatible and comes with all the disks for an Install for a hard drive (upto 4GB).

Personally I have no problems finding CF cards (in this country anyway), plenty of second hand stores and eBay are places I usually find older ones from as little as 50p - £1.00 for a 32Mb one (which is ideal for KS 2.05 if you are willing to buy a IDE to CF adapter but will still require you to install Workbench.

Finally I would recomend a 1Mb expansion for that 'trap door' panel on the bottom of the machine. You can pick these up for about £10 - £15 on ebay and will make all the difference when using Workbench, games, demoscene stuff and EasyADF.

P.s. bpb235, PM me if you need a hand and let me know what you want from your 600 and il do my best (even supply disks, CF cards, RAM cards and installing).

P.p.s. Welcome to the forum by the way.

[desiv]

Another option (Yes, I'm old school!) is serial port and Transwarp.

Yes, it is slower..  :-)

And yes, a lot of PCs don't have serial ports anymore...

BUT..  Some of us like 19,200 baud dagnabbit!  It was fast enough for Martin Van Buren, it's fast enough for me!!

Actually, if you have a crossover cable and a serial port (both of which I did have handy), it works fairly well, if slowly...

I just run ADF on my laptop and transwarp on the amiga and 2 hours later (OK, it's not 2 hours, but it is slow..), I have a disk!

Just an option...

desiv

[Tajmaster]

Ah sorry I didn't know it was included on the software disk. In that case I would opt for Taj's idea.

No probs I found it the best solution as I didnt want the hassle of finding all the software and setting it up etc etc. And its not too expensive.
 
This is the memory card I have on mine:
 
http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=15375&category_id=316&manufacturer_id=0&tid=da-cf-4096-r
 
A bit over a tenner with free postage
 
Taj

[bpb235]

WOW, Thanks for the replys, I was thinking that maybe i was the only person that was still a fan of the Amiga ! - I have a 2GB CF card laying here not doing anything so to begin with I am going to order the PCMCIA adaptor kit as that looks like a quick and simple way to get back into the world of Amiga. ANOTHER silly question, I have a box with about 600 DS/HD blank discs, will these work in the amiga or do they have to be DS/DD discs ? - I really forgot how good the Amiga was, I have had a blast today playing Magic Pockets (the only game I have as it was left in the floppy drive when it went into the loft MANY years ago)

Thanks again for your help, really looking forward to learning more about this amazing machine !

[tokyoracer]

WOW, Thanks for the replys, I was thinking that maybe i was the only person that was still a fan of the Amiga ! - I have a 2GB CF card laying here not doing anything so to begin with I am going to order the PCMCIA adaptor kit as that looks like a quick and simple way to get back into the world of Amiga. ANOTHER silly question, I have a box with about 600 DS/HD blank discs, will these work in the amiga or do they have to be DS/DD discs ? - I really forgot how good the Amiga was, I have had a blast today playing Magic Pockets (the only game I have as it was left in the floppy drive when it went into the loft MANY years ago)

Thanks again for your help, really looking forward to learning more about this amazing machine !

Simple answer, yes they should. You will need to format them to work on Amiga though (format them on your 600 not PC by the way.

[bpb235]

Finally I would recomend a 1Mb expansion for that 'trap door' panel on the bottom of the machine. You can pick these up for about £10 - £15 on ebay and will make all the difference when using Workbench and EasyADF.

it's 1Mb already

[Tajmaster]

WOW, Thanks for the replys, I was thinking that maybe i was the only person that was still a fan of the Amiga ! - I have a 2GB CF card laying here not doing anything so to begin with I am going to order the PCMCIA adaptor kit as that looks like a quick and simple way to get back into the world of Amiga. ANOTHER silly question, I have a box with about 600 DS/HD blank discs, will these work in the amiga or do they have to be DS/DD discs ? - I really forgot how good the Amiga was, I have had a blast today playing Magic Pockets (the only game I have as it was left in the floppy drive when it went into the loft MANY years ago)
 
Thanks again for your help, really looking forward to learning more about this amazing machine !

LMAO!! "the only person that was still a fan of the Amiga" ??!:laughing:
Umm, there are a "few" of us around :roflmao:

[tokyoracer]

it's 1Mb already

With the RAM upgrade it should total to 2Mb, sorry I wasn't clear.