Convert ATR to SuperCard Pro flux image?

[tschak909]

Is there a tool that can properly convert an ATR disk image to an SCP flux image, so it can be written by a SuperCard Pro?

 

-Thom

[_The Doctor__]

??? that defeats the whole purpose of SCP and of little to no benefit... odd very odd. Perhaps an ATX converted in some way would have some benefit as it would be and attempt to write a protected disk out for use.

[phaeron]

My a8rawconv utility will do this:

 

 

It will do image encoding from .ATR to .SCP. However, it's better to let it drive the SuperCard Pro directly to write the image to disk. The reason is that the .SCP image format only contains full index-to-index tracks and doesn't contain information about appropriate splice points for each track. If you attempt to use the SCP software to write out the converted image, it may choose the wrong point and corrupt a sector, even if you choose splice mode. Since a8rawconv knows about the Atari disk format, it will either compute appropriate splice points if writing out an ATR directly, or decode the sectors in an existing SCP image to do so. It also writes tracks in index-aligned mode with appropriate padding at the front to maintain the original skew alignment for each track.

 

[tschak909]

Groovy. Thanks Avery. (And thanks for supporting the SuperCard Pro! IMHO it is a better device than the Kryoflux)

 

-Thom

[_The Doctor__]

I only use it to convert from SCP to ATR...

I am still curious why one would convert ATR to SCP...

letting it drive the scp is the best answer to write out some disks

but writing out a common ATR that has nothing special is adding steps with little to no obvious purpose..

it's very useful for ATX..

Edited September 28, 2019 by _The Doctor__

[tschak909]

Wasn't aware it could drive the SCP directly.

 

I was asking literally because the ONLY 5.25" drive that I have is attached to my SCP (in a modified IBM 4869 case)

 

-Thom

[_The Doctor__]

hmmm, you are looking to duplicate or make disks through the scp for the other folks who might need them perhaps as a PLATO-TERM distribution pack, Cart and Disk, but don't have any Atari specific drives to do so... that makes a bit more sense now.

Edited September 28, 2019 by _The Doctor__

[tschak909]

That's a thought. SCP files are huge...  6 megs for a single density disk.

[_The Doctor__]

Yes they are... insanely(large in size), but because of this you can sometimes see what data belongs where things have failed on the real disk... all little bit in front of or behind and near the bad spot. Kind of cool, not unlike some forensic tools for hard drive recovery, the only other step is to read slightly off alignment on the track locations to gather data around a bad patch.

 

Though this tool is for floppies..

This kind of tool (flux recording) also helps when a hard drives sectors have floated away from their original positions... todays drive re calibrate etc. may even re write some data due to float or temperature changes. Pretty cool.

Edited September 28, 2019 by _The Doctor__

[ijor]

On 9/28/2019 at 2:06 AM, phaeron said:

My a8rawconv utility will do this ...  It will do image encoding from .ATR to .SCP. However, it's better to let it drive the SuperCard Pro directly to write the image to disk. The reason is that the .SCP image format only contains full index-to-index tracks and doesn't contain information about appropriate splice points for each track. If you attempt to use the SCP software to write out the converted image, it may choose the wrong point and corrupt a sector, even if you choose splice mode.

 

Not sure I understand why this would happen in this case when you converter from an ATR image. Don't you create SCP images already "correctly" aligned to the index so that writing blindly index to index would be ok? There is no skew in the ATR image to preserve anyway. I'm not saying that it is better to use SCP to write to the disk. Just commenting that it should be different in this case

Edited September 29, 2019 by ijor

[phaeron]

2 hours ago, ijor said:

 

Not sure I understand why this would happen in this case when you converter from an ATR image. Don't you create SCP images already "correctly" aligned to the index so that writing blindly index to index would be ok? There is no skew in the ATR image to preserve anyway. I'm not saying that it is better to use SCP to write to the disk. Just commenting that it should be different in this case

 

No, the ATR to image converter currently applies a track-to-track skew of 8% to be more similar to how an 810 or 1050 formats disks and since reduces the track step delay when booting. There aren't options to customize the default layout, which I've considered adding after all of the research we've been able to do on various disk drive models.

 

[tschak909]

unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be able to find my SuperCard Pro. (SCP tool works) The latest drivers do not occupy a serial port.

 

Also, the track step seems to be twice as large when writing with the SCP tool, as my drive bottoms out after track 20.

 

-Thom

[BigBen]

1 hour ago, tschak909 said:

unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be able to find my SuperCard Pro. (SCP tool works) The latest drivers do not occupy a serial port.

 

Also, the track step seems to be twice as large when writing with the SCP tool, as my drive bottoms out after track 20.

 

-Thom

Hi Tom,
connect your PC with the SCP interface. Open the devices manager and under USB device the USB serial converter. Activate VCP load and reboot the computer.

Now you should find the interface of the scp under serial device.

Edited September 29, 2019 by BigBen

[ijor]

9 hours ago, phaeron said:

 

No, the ATR to image converter currently applies a track-to-track skew of 8% to be more similar to how an 810 or 1050 formats disks and since reduces the track step delay when booting.

 

I see. Didn't consider you were applying any skew.