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Easiest way to convert TI Disks to nanoPEB Volumes


jonecool

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Just wondering how others are duping copies of their existing TI 5.25" Floppies to volumes used for the nanoPEB? I imagine one way would be to connect the original PEB, then use an RS-232 data transfer to the PC using some software to receive the TI disk and store it on the PC HD. But, I was wondering if there was an easier way? I was looking for a 5.25" USB floppy drive, but apparently noone ever made them (I have a USB 3.5" but obviously not much use for the TI). Are there adapter/sleds that allow 5.25" USB connections to occur?

 

Maybe there is another way that just isn't obvious to me. TIA

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Just wondering how others are duping copies of their existing TI 5.25" Floppies to volumes used for the nanoPEB? I imagine one way would be to connect the original PEB, then use an RS-232 data transfer to the PC using some software to receive the TI disk and store it on the PC HD. But, I was wondering if there was an easier way? I was looking for a 5.25" USB floppy drive, but apparently noone ever made them (I have a USB 3.5" but obviously not much use for the TI). Are there adapter/sleds that allow 5.25" USB connections to occur?

 

Maybe there is another way that just isn't obvious to me. TIA

 

There are many ways. One is to download the huge amount of software from the FTP site (ftp.whtech.com) Chances are it's already up there. If not then you can either transfer it over via MagicFM which uses a serial cable from the TI to a serial port on your TI.

 

There is also a program called TI99-PC, which will read TI diskettes on the PC. last time I tested this was with Windows 7 and it worked. Not sure about Windows 8 or 10.

 

It does interface with the Hardware layer of the PC, so it may not work with 8/10.

 

HERE

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I'm not sure what you mean. You've seen my "pimped out" PEB. There is a 3.5" GoTek drive that takes USB thumb drives. Mine is filled with HFE image (disk images created on the PC) that the TI sees as regular floppy disks DSSD. without an RS232 card that is the easiest way for me to transfer files.

As for making a duplicate of a 5.25" disk to a blank HFE disk file, I don't know.
I don't think HFE images can be initialized on the TI - Limitation of the firmware on GoTek I think. Perhaps the lothorak drives support that?

So I don't know if there is a disk duplication method to go from physical to virtual unless something like a kryoflux exists for the ti.

i simply copy files off a physical disk to a virtual one (not disk duplication, just file copies).

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the easiest way is to use HDX imho.. with the nanopeb you can use the cfhdxs software to copy files from the pc hd to the TI.. pr disks from dsk files on the pc to the disk on your TI with dsk2pc

with a pbox you can modify your rs232 card to have a hdx bios daughterboard and then you can do all the above AND access the pc drive from any application that supports DSR calls with HDX1.filename

 

Greg

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I used it with a Teac 1.2 MB drive some years ago, and it seemed to work.

(But cannot exactly remember what I did, but there where jobs in both directions IIRC)

The main thing was to replace the MS driver via device manager.

I can remember it was a bit slow, And I had some "music" from the drive ;)

 

From the webpage:

 

160. Read, write, and format TI-99/4A formats (90kB, 160kB, 180kB, 320kB, 360kB, 640kB, 720kB, 1440kB, 40-track, 80-track, single- and double-stepped). Note: High-density formats need DDAM hardware support and OmniFDC driver must be installed.

 

hmm, so what does this "DDAM" means ?

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Yeah, a HD 5.25" drive can read a DD disk but the drive must have a variable spindle speed as HD is 360RPM and DD is 300RPM. Due to the track width in an HD drive being half that of a DD drive, a DD drive may have problems reading a disk formatted and written by a HD drive, and will have problems reading a DD disk written by a DD drive and re-written in an HD drive.

 

The human analogue would be cassette tapes. A monophonic tape deck read/write head spans one entire side of the tape while a stereophonic read/write head divides the side into two tracks, left and right, with a slight separation between each. A tape recorded on a mono deck will output audio from both channels on a stereo deck, and a tape recorded on a stereo deck will output both channels mixed together on a mono deck. However, if you take a tape which was recorded on a mono deck and record over it in a stereo deck there will be a faint "ghost" of the original recording audible when played back on a mono deck, possibly on a stereo deck as well*.

 

"DAM" is a "data address mark" and I had not yet come across the notation "DDAM," but I found a reference here to "deleted data address mark." On this particular system it refers to formatting a sector but writing the sector marker on the disk without any sector data.

 

* This is even with the use of an "erase head" found on pretty much every tape deck in existence. Eventually the remaining mono audio between the two stereo tracks will become more audible due to magnetic domain migration, but only to a certain point depending upon the tape chemistry, strength of recording, strength and design of the erase head, among other factors which I am only superficially familiar.

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I did not find a good explanation of DDAM either, apart from what you found as Deleted DAM (for sectors marked as deleted). However, I can't imagine why this means some special hardware requirement. Deleted DAMs are just another value on the track, and it is a matter of the disk controller to understand it.

 

As for the 80-track phenomenon, in MAME I actually emulated it in the way that you can read 40-track images in a 80-track drive if the controller applies double-stepping, but once you write to it, the image magically turns into an 80-track image (doubling its size), which makes it impossible to read it in a 40-track drive from then on.

Edited by mizapf
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