How to send software to amiga from PC

[Specs78]

Hi Every1,
I am in the middle of converting ADFs to disk on my Amiga. I have a small problem in doing so, I have a piece of software that I need the Amiga to run, it is called ADF 2 Disk. The problem is that the software is on the PC and not on the Amiga. How do I get the software onto the Amiga?

Specs78

[SilvrDrgn]

Two suggestions....
1) CrossDOS and a double-density diskette.
2) Terminal programs on each computer, and connect a null modem cable between them.

I'm sure there are others that people will list.

[PMC]

I've long been trying to find a way of transferring files from PC - Amiga and vice versa.

It depends on how eimple or complicated you want to make it, but you can either copy ADF 2 Disk onto a 720 (Double Density) PC formatted floppy.  The floppy can be read on OS3x using the PC0: commodity.  

You can also burn your files onto a CD ROM on the PC side and read that on an Amiga.  

I've dabbled with networking etc with no results and the best solution for me was to read my Amiga's hard drive using WinUAE.  There's no need to format the device, just attach it to the PC's IDE chain and you can use the disk menu in UAE to read it.  AFAIK you can write too.

[Xamiche]

Hi Every1,
I am in the middle of converting ADFs to disk on my Amiga. I have a small problem in doing so, I have a piece of software that I need the Amiga to run, it is called ADF 2 Disk. The problem is that the software is on the PC and not on the Amiga. How do I get the software onto the Amiga?

Specs78

Well Specs78, it depends on what type of Amiga you are using. If you are using an Amiga 600, 1200, 3000 or 4000, then CrossDos is probably your best bet, as suggested by the others. However if you're using an Amiga 500 without a hard drive then it becomes trickier. I wrote a tutorial for getting software from a PC to an Amiga about a year ago and posted it on my website, but that site no longer functions. If you like I can dig it out and put it on my new site for you, if indeed you are using a 500. It involves using a modified serial null-modem cable, all you really need are pin 2(Transmit Data), 3(Receive Data) and 7(Signal Ground), a small piece of code you'll need to write up in AmigaBasic and a small program called transdisk.
I wont go into too much detail here, but if this sounds like it could be a good solution for you let me know.

Xamiche
 

[thorrin]

PMC wrote:


I've dabbled with networking etc with no results

Samba isnt too bad...  This page gives a nice tutorial.  Then you can mount the PC drives on the amiga and vice versa.  You can bring up the amiga drive in explorer and the PC drives in Dopus.

-Thorrin

[Specs78]

Xamiche, I'm using an Amiga A500+ with 2 mb in it. Will it still be a problem to transfer software to and from the Amiga, to a PC? If it will be a problem, then could you give me a hand? I'm currently trying to move Twin Express across to the Amiga from the PC, any ideas?

Thanks
Specs78  

[Aegis]

The "Amiga Explorer" component that comes with Cloanto's Amiga Forever is designed specifically for this (it can also copy hard disk files and ROM images). I believe you can buy it as a stand-alone product too...

ADDED: Yup - the stand-alone version is $20

[Specs78]

Thanks for the help Aegis. How do I use the Amiga Forever program to send ADFs to my Amiga a500+ from my PC? Any Ideas? I've had enough with trying to install Twin Express into my ramdisk on my Amiga, I just can't get it to install. Are there any more programs that do the same as TE but are easier to use?

Many Thanks
Specs78   :-D

[Stedy]

Hi,

If you have the Amiga Explorer package (part of Amiga forever) it has an automated setup that copies this Arexx script to your Amiga (WB 2.0+ only).

----Begin code segment-----

/* Cloanto Amiga Explorer Rexx script - Copyright © 2000 Cloanto ® - http://cloanto.com */

/* $VER: Setup.rexx 1.0 */

binfname = 'RAM:Setup2'
blocksize = 512

IF OPEN('serfile', 'SER:', 'R') THEN DO
   IF OPEN('binfile', binfname, 'W') THEN DO
      DO FOREVER
         data = READCH('serfile', blocksize)
         datalen = LENGTH(data)
         IF datalen > 0 THEN DO
            IF WRITECH('binfile', data) ~= datalen THEN DO
               SAY 'Error writing file.'
               datalen = 0
            END
         END
         IF datalen ~= blocksize | EOF('serfile') THEN BREAK
      END
      CALL CLOSE('binfile')
   END
   CALL CLOSE('serfile')
END

ADDRESS COMMAND 'Run >NIL:' binfname

---- End Code segment----

This simply polls the serial port for data and when it recieves and end of file, exits. I think you have to terminate this on the Amiga with a Ctrl-C combo.

You can use either the Amiga explorer software or Windows Hyperterminal to send data, I think, need to check.

If you have Amiga explorer installed, right click on the Amiga Explorer Icon on your desktop and select setup, then follow the prompts.

Hope this helps.

[jjans]

I agree with Stedy as Amiga Explorer is the easiest to set up the crossplatform transfer. It installs itself on the Amiga automatically by following the extensive documentation.

The most difficult problem in setting up the Amiga->PC connection is getting the communication program to the Amiga. Esp if you do not have CrossDos or Amiga Explorer.

I have just successfully set up a transdisk connection using  this excellant resource: 1st Connection. Please note that it did not work under WorkBench 3.1, but it did work at 19200 bps when I soft kicked into WorkBench 1.3.

I used the method A which is CLI TYPE command from the WorkBench Disk. Method B is making an AmigaBasic script, which is the way I did it years ago, and is also very easy.

Serial Cable must have a NULL Modem box, if not an actual NULL Modem Cable. Above link has excellant descriptions/diagrams of this.

Please note that there are several settings that must be identical on both machines when attempting any direct transfer if using terminal apps on the Amiga such as Terminus, Diga!, or Kermit etc:

1. The Baudrate. Stock Amiga 500's using the serial.device are pretty well limited to 19200 bps if transfering from PC->Amiga. TransWarp can achieve 115200bps Amiga->PC.


2.  The Transfer Protocal must be identical (ie; ZMODEM,XMODEM etc). Most older terminal progs come with XMODEM at least. Hyperterm included with Windows includeds all the major Protocals already to go. ZMODEM on the Amiga mustbe installed seperately, but seems to be the fastest, esp when configured to use BaudBandit.device.

3.   The Port settings must be identical. Usually their default settings are Data Bits=8; Parity=None; and Stop Bits=1. Flow or error control on Hardware (or CRC). The default settings have usually worked fine.

If using Hyperterm, the Properties/Connect To list must be changed from your Modem to the Com Port you attached your Serial Cable to. This will allow you to also edit the above settings.

Good Luck!

[Macca]

I have Amiga Forever v6 (includes Amiga Explorer) what I would like to know is if there is a way to mount the Amigas Floppy drive to write ADF images without the Amiga booting?  I.E. it's on but no disks..

Anyone know if this is possible?

Cheers,


Macca.

[jjans]

Macca wrote:
I have Amiga Forever v6 (includes Amiga Explorer) what I would like to know is if there is a way to mount the Amigas Floppy drive to write ADF images without the Amiga booting?  I.E. it's on but no disks..

Anyone know if this is possible?

Cheers,


Macca.

Not sure what you mean here. Can you see the Amiga from the PC using AE(ie ca you connect?

If you are talking about a minimal boot on an A500 with no hardrive then I can work out a solution for you. It is possible to make a boot disk that only starts AE using minimal resources if that is what you are looking for.

I need to know a couple of things so I can recreate your problem from my end.

1.  What Amiga are you using,  and does it have a Hard disk?

2.   How many floppy drive units do you have?

3.   How much RAM do you have?

4.   What WorkBench version are you using?

[daemon]

Since someone already opened this topic, I'll write about my related problem here.
First, hardware info: Amiga 500, 512kb RAM expansion, Kickstart 1.3, Workbench 1.3, internal floppy only (Chinon FB-354).
I made the Amiga<->PC cable and followed the instructions on this page - I used the method A.
http://homepage.uibk.ac.at/homepage/c725/c72578/amiga/adfsenderterminal/methods.html#A
I transferred the transdisk utility successfully, then copied it onto my WB1.3 backup floppy. I rebooted, then typed into the shell:
transdisk -w ser:
then I started the ADF Sender Terminal on the PC and sent some ADF file (I set the COM port settings before that, so that they match Amiga's). It started writing, took quite some time, but then stopped at the last track - ADF Sender Terminal said "100% sent", so I thought that was it. But Amiga seemed to be still waiting, it didn't exit the transdisk program. Then I simply powered off the Amiga and tried booting off that floppy - nothing
Does anyone have any idea what might be the problem?
And another question: I have only a few DD disks, but many many HD disks I don't need - can I use HD disks in my Amiga? If yes, what is the procedure? Do I have to "prepare" them somehow? Do I have to tape over the "HD identify" hole to "trick" Amiga as if it was a DD floppy? Do I format them on PC or on Amiga? Or do I simply do a "diskcopy df0: to df0:" to back up my WB1.3 to a HD floppy?
Thank you very much for reading this and any replies.

[pjhutch]

You need to transdisk -w to a file not to a ser:, I doubt it would work correctly.
There are better PC-Amiga software out there.
You can use HD disks, on Amiga, cover up the hole, and format them as normally as 800K disks.

See http://www.pcguru.plus.com/uae_faq.html for some suggestions.

[daemon]

Thank you for such a quick reply!

Regarding transdisk:
I don't understand what you mean by transferring to a file first, since I have only 1mb - when I boot into WB1.3, I have 888216 bytes of free memory, but the ADF image file is 901120 bytes (=880k). That's why I chose this method - as I understand, it should write directly from the serial port to df0, without requiring 880k free memory. Or did I misunderstand that transdisk method completely?

I've seen links to some other transfer software, but most of these programs are Kick2.0+, so that's a no-go in my case.

Regarding HD:
Something strange is happening - I take a freshly formatted 1.44mb floppy and put it into my Amiga - the following procedure:
1. WB loads completely
2. I eject the WB disk and insert formatted HD disk
3. An icon with "DF0:BAD" appears - I click on it, then right click on Disk and select Initialize
4. It asks me for WB1.3, so I switch the disks again
5. Asks me to insert the disk to be initialized and I do that and say Continue when it warns me that all data will be erased.
6. It starts formatting - it says formatting and verifying cyl 0 two or three times and then quits with the following message:
Initialization failed
bad sector number
try a different disk

Is it possible it is a hardware problem? Something like a dirty fd0 or misaligned head or something completely different?

[Edit: I've just tried the same procedure with some DD disk and it was the same error!! Then I tried formatting with X-Copy 9 and strange things happen:
First I formatted the top side and it completed successfully. Then I tried the lower side and verify errors appeared on the first half of the disk.
Then I tried formatting that HD disk, first the top side, then the lower. Results? Top - verify errors on the first 15 of 79, it's ok from then on. Lower - first half has verify errors, it's ok from then on.
And another interesting thing - I tried formatting the upper side again, and there were errors up to 11 and ok from then on. 11 to 15 were "healed" or what? This is getting very very strange... I hope that this additional info is helpful in any way.]

Sorry for these newbie questions, but I have no idea what's wrong!
And sorry for that off-topic HD stuff, but it *is* related in my case, since that seems to be a part of the problem with transferring from PC to Amiga.