Copy files from pc to Adam

[soviet]

I have Adam computer setup: dual data drive and have up and running the microfox/ANN CF internal ide kit.

Have TDOS working and loving it, its great to by abble to get some juice out of my Adam again but ..... theres a big problem i don't own a floppy drive so seems theres now way to get stuff to and from the Adam or software downloaded from internet CP/M Files dev tools etc.

 

Someone know some way to transfer data from the adam to the pc ?.

 

 

[adamcon]

I have Adam computer setup: dual data drive and have up and running the microfox/ANN CF internal ide kit.

Have TDOS working and loving it, its great to by abble to get some juice out of my Adam again but ..... theres a big problem i don't own a floppy drive so seems theres now way to get stuff to and from the Adam or software downloaded from internet CP/M Files dev tools etc.

 

Someone know some way to transfer data from the adam to the pc ?.

 

 

OUCH! That is a tough one. Basically you need to spend another $200 to get an ADAM disk drive or find the stuff you want on data pack - even have someone copy the stuff for you that you need. You could use serial to serial ibm <-> ADAM but that is not a free road or an easy one either. The best way is ibm w/ 5.25 360k drive to copy to ADAM disk and then use ADAM disk to input into ADAM

[Rey]

Yep that's what I'm doing right now. Received a 5.25 360k floppy drive today and will mess with it in the weekend. Soviet, you can get a really nice ADAM disk drive from adamcon.

[NIAD]

Really the only option is to buy an ADAM 5 1/4" Floppy Disk Drive from ADAMcon ( http://ann.hollowdreams.com ) seeing as the other methods of direct connecting modems or using Serial Interfaces to ransfer between a PC and ADAM just don't seem to be viable anymore... unless someone out there can provide some tips.

 

Here are two very informative threads to read thru as this subject has been broached numerous times on here:

 

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/179825-was-montezumas-revenge-available-on-disk-for-the-adam/?hl=%2Bdcopy&do=findComment&comment=2251139

 

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/177853-looking-for-specs-on-coleco-adam-floppy-drive-model-#7817-power-supply/?view=findpost&p=2220845&hl=%2Bdcopy

[soviet]

Thanks for the replay, i have an adam disk drive and trashed it some years ago i regret it now.

I will take a look at the other treads.

 

Thanks.

[JamesD]

If the ADAM CF interface is using a CP/M format, we could probably build a utility to directly read and write CF cards easy enough.

Edited May 31, 2014 by JamesD

[NIAD]

If the ADAM CF interface is using a CP/M format, we could probably build a utility to directly read and write CF cards easy enough.

In a way the CF Card is using CP/M, but it's a vastly improved version called T-DOS. There are compatibility issues between Coleco's CP/M and the IDE drivers that setup access to the IDE device (CF Card, Zip, Sparq, Hard Drive, etc.), so you can't setup a partition on the IDE device that boots directly into Coleco's CP/M... you will lose access to the IDE device because of the conflict.

 

You can boot Coleco's CP/M from disk or data pack through the IDE menu program, but again access to the IDE device will be lost.

 

So if a utility was to be developed to read and write CF Cards directly, it would have to be developed thru T-DOS or better yet, why not develop a Windows/Mac based program that can read and write directly to the ADAM formatted CF Card. Geoff Oltmans ADAMem SDL emulator has added options for using/working with IDE image files, so the work has already been done... but I have to admit to not testing things out yet on his version or a new Windows version that Doug Slopsema just sent me.

[JamesD]

In a way the CF Card is using CP/M, but it's a vastly improved version called T-DOS. There are compatibility issues between Coleco's CP/M and the IDE drivers that setup access to the IDE device (CF Card, Zip, Sparq, Hard Drive, etc.), so you can't setup a partition on the IDE device that boots directly into Coleco's CP/M... you will lose access to the IDE device because of the conflict.

 

You can boot Coleco's CP/M from disk or data pack through the IDE menu program, but again access to the IDE device will be lost.

 

So if a utility was to be developed to read and write CF Cards directly, it would have to be developed thru T-DOS or better yet, why not develop a Windows/Mac based program that can read and write directly to the ADAM formatted CF Card. Geoff Oltmans ADAMem SDL emulator has added options for using/working with IDE image files, so the work has already been done... but I have to admit to not testing things out yet on his version or a new Windows version that Doug Slopsema just sent me.

Um, the point I was making was to write a program for the PC.

[NIAD]

Um, the point I was making was to write a program for the PC.

Ok then, well why didn't you make yourself a bit clearer so that I didn't have to spend a couple minutes of my life typing up that reply!!!

 

Actually, I have to digress, it was early and my mind was still on hockey after that big Blackhawks win last night and now that my head is clearer (well, as clear as it gets), I understand that you didn't mean develop a CP/M program, but meant a Windows program.

 

Anyway, the ball is already in motion seeing as Geoff's ADAMem SDL can handle IDE Image Files and Doug's Windows-based version does as well... I just need to find some time to test things out and learn how to work with them thru the emulator. It would be really nice to see a stand-alone utility program developed with all the necessary options and features that would be required to transfer files from PC format and ADAM Disk/DDP Image format to ADAM IDE Image format and back as well as include a nice GUI to simplify matters along the lines of what Steve Pitman gave us with Virtual ADAM.

 

Anything Windows based would be great as it would save a lot of wear and tear on everyone's actual ADAM systems and just make life a lot easier. For instance, I am setting up a volume of SmartBASIC P.D. games on my CF Card. In order to do this, I had to use my old PC to make actual ADAM disks that I then took to the ADAM and copied the files to the respective partition on the CF Card. It's not such a big deal for some small projects, but this one I am doing amounted to 1.5Mb of files spread out over some 43 disk images that I had to convert to ADAM disk and then copy to the CF Card... so it became a bit tedious, but everyone should really like the end result when I post the Image files and Help files that I am putting together.

[phattyboombatty]

I have to bump this thread... JamesD and NIAD: Has anything progressed in terms of a driver that would allow us to parse the directories on the ADAM CF card?

[NIAD]

No, nothing has been developed phatty.

 

But, in a nother thread, some questions were broached and it made me consider this subject further and here is what I came up with for those ADAM owners that do not have an ADAM 5 1/4" FDD, but do own the MicroFox IDE CF Card package...

 

You can use the newer versions of ADAMem by Geoff Oltmans or Doug Slopsema that support the IDE standard and mounting of CF Card image files. Then mount whatever disk or data pack image files that you would like to transfer to the ADAM and boot-up the emulator. The Hard Disk menu program will load up and from there you need to load File Manager and your disk or data pack image files that were mounted before loading the emulator will be available under their respective drives. You can then copy files off these disk or ddp image files onto the CF Card image file and finally exit ADAMem and then write the CF Card image file back to an ADAM CF Card with HddRawCopy for use on the ADAM.

 

If you wanted to transfer a game program that does not have a standard directory like the Super Games, you would have to copy blocks 0-159 (160 bloacks total) to a KNOWN empty area of a partition on the CF Card image file keeping careful track of what blocks it is copied to. Then on a real ADAM, just copy those blocks off the CF Card and onto an actual ADAM disk or data pack.

 

It's a bit involved, but it would work... I've done it.

[Geoff Oltmans]

That is a great idea...

 

the only way right now that I can think of (and this is admittedly VERY convoluted) would be to use the Sydex 22dsk utilities to move files into a CP/M formatted ADAM floppy disk (using an old PC with a 5.25" drive), make an image of that with DCOPY or similar, mount that along with the hard disk image in the emulator, copy that over, put that image on the CF card and then back to the ADAM. Voila!

 

A utility would be very handy no doubt. Does anyone know what the structure is of an ADAM IDE image looks like?

[NIAD]

Thanks Geoff.

 

I was getting tired of telling everyone that they needed 5 1/4" FDDs on their PC as well as ADAM, so I took a little time to consider what else could be done and the CF Card option came to mind.

 

This was before MilliV started making his "No Phone Line Required Adapter" for connecting two computers via modem. That's a great option as well that is cheap and will work with numerous retro-computers.

[NIAD]

Double posted.

Edited February 11, 2016 by NIAD