Amiga CF card setup

[ianoid]

I  have an Amiga 1200 with an IDE to CF adapter. I'm hoping to load it full of disk images to enjoy. 

 

I've done some research and it seems quite complicated to set up a CF card for Amiga. It seems like I need numerous programs and ROMs and other stuff downloaded from various sites. I'm working on it, but it is very slow going, and some of the instructions I've used are dated and set me back. For example, I used a tutorial to try to set up AmigaUAE and ended up having to uninstall and reinstall the program because somehow it resulted in the emulator being permanently frozen. Also, I hate doing stuff with Windows.

 

This is the same kind of complexity issue I had with trying to put together an image for my Atari ST with the UltraSatan device. Both Amiga and Atari ST CF adapters require the card to be in their native format, rather than FAT32. May other 8-bit computers don't really have useable native formats for large volumes, so most flash adapters were devised with FAT32 support in mind. 

 

I have an extensive TOSEC set of disk images, although that is in IPF format, which doesn't seem to have much widespread support. I'd like to get a somewhat complete set in the more useful ADF format, but I haven't seen that. I don't use torrent sites either.  From the legality standpoint, I own a ton of original Amiga disks including Workbench versions, so I'm legally entitled to own many of the ROM files. I just want to be able to play them conveniently without finding the disks or worrying about disks not loading.

 

I'm happy to trade for a loaded working CF card, although I'd prefer just to download an image that I can install on a CF card. Any insight or recommendations as to how to get this done would be appreciated. 

[WhataKowinkydink]

I had similar issues at first trying to get a CF card on the nanoPEB loaded for the TI-99/4A (neither the bundled software nor the Mac/Unix/Linux alternative succeeded in loading a thing), then I found a third party program that did the trick real nicely.  Perhaps that's the case here.  I actually found that hint from a YouTube vid, so perhaps you might start there. 

[+OLD CS1]

Er, really it is not that difficult.   You do not need anything more than KS3.1 and an up-to-date FFS (to handle the large drive issues.)

 

For about 12 years I ran my A1200 on OS3.5 (then 3.9) on a 4GB CF formatted with FFS.  Then I switched up to a DoM.

 

You can just install it like a regular hard drive using the OS3.1 installation floppies (again, updated FFS 45.13 will be helpful, and scsi.device might help, too.)  You can also use the OS3.5 or 3.9 discs if you have a CD drive and boot floppy.  Easy-peasy.

 

If you get OS3.1.4 or later, I believe that is all set for large drives.  I bought it but have yet to use it and I think I am out of date.  I honestly have no idea what has been happening over the past several months as I have all but quit Amiga.org over all the drama and corporate-political nonsense and I never really participated anywhere else.

[+OLD CS1]

If you are using old stuff, the trick might be to make a small boot partition first.  Say 120MB or 250MB, whatever.  Then you can update your FFS and scsi.device (including putting the updated FFS in the CF's RDB.)  Afterward you can create other partitions which use the space after 4GB.

[Daedalus2097]

Indeed, there's not that much to it, provided you stay within certain limits. Especially on the A1200, which is made to take a standard IDE drive, and by extension, most CF cards. If you have Kickstart 3.1 or 3.0, once you keep within the first 4GB of the drive, you can use the OS tools for partitioning, formatting and installing the OS without issue. If your card is bigger than that, you can still choose to just use the first 4GB and that will still work fine. Everything you need is included on the Install disk as part of the OS, though sadly that disk was missing from the OS bundled with the A1200 unless you bought one with a factory-fitted hard drive.

 

It only gets complicated if you want to use drives larger than 4GB, in which case you need to apply a patch to the device driver and install a newer filesystem on the hard drive. This isn't a problem if you use OS 3.5+ or 3.1.4, which have the required updates built in.

 

It's generally good advice as posted above to set up the system partition of 100-250MB. The OS will never need that much anyway, and it keeps things simple for backing up as well as allowing multiple boot partitions if you liked that can be used for emergencies.

 

If you want a ready-to-go image or fully loaded card, they're really not difficult to find. eBay has lots of CF cards, both official with a standard OS install and unofficial with several GB of games and WHDLoad installed in addition to the OS. You can also find images ready to go, but you generally need to torrent them.

 

@OLD CS1

Yeah, there's a lot of toxicity in the Amiga scene unfortunately, and Amiga.org has been one of the worst places for it. I stopped visiting there probably 5 or more years ago now and haven't missed it. The occasional time I end up there looking for information, it's still full of the same old names having the same old arguments. While nowhere is completely drama-free, the EAB board (eab.abime.net) is about the sanest place to go for Amiga stuff, probably a similar temperament to AtariAge really.

 

 

[ianoid]

Thanks all for your recommendations. I guess the easiest way to set up a card is with the computer itself. I can do that, I have a full set of 3.1 original disks. 

 

I did find a non-torrent (somewhat safe) source for ADFs, fortunately.  I believe that the tough part is getting 1000 .ADFs onto the partition in a way that I can access them from the Amiga.

 

There are some pre-formatted CF cards available on eBay for around $20, although I don't see ones with massive deposits of software. Then again, I don't really want to support eBay sellers who sell pirated stuff to the masses. 

[Daedalus2097]

Fair enough  If they're mostly blank other than the OS, they're probably legitimately licenced installs of the OS. Most of the official dealers sell these too. ADFs are more widespread and supported generally because they're a standard geometry, so you can read and write them very easily using the OS. IPFs include extra detail such as deliberate corrupt sectors, non-standard geometry etc. that was often used as copy protection, and therefore aren't easily written or read. You need additional hardware to transfer them to or from floppy disks. So when you find ADFs for games, most of them will be ADFs of cracked versions, not of the original disks. IPFs are generally images of original disks, but most people just use the cracked versions.

 

You should bear in mind too that many games aren't hard drive installable without using external software like WHDLoad. This, in turn, only normally works with original versions of the disks. However, you can download pre-installed packages of games from places like whdownload.com that you simply unpack on your hard drive and run (most of the time). Running from hard drive usually needs more RAM though, so make sure you have some sort of expansion installed if you're going down that route.

[+OLD CS1]

Note WHDLoad will not work with most ADF game images.  You must have the original disks if you want to install them yourself.  That said, there are a few archives out there with already-working WHDLoad installations of games.

[+OLD CS1]

@Daedalus2097 Yeah.  There is still at least one guy around there who just trashes everything that does not work the way he likes or thinks it should and beats up on developers all the time.  I understand he has been banned from other Amiga spots so I might get more involved.  It is a shame to see AO fall so far in 15 years, but that is the way things often go.  While I like the AmigaKit guys (even though I cannot get Chris to send my two dead PPC accelerators back,) I miss Wayne.

[ianoid]

Not to side track this discussion to the original topic, but I don't care what anyone says, setting up a CF card to use with a CF to IDE adapter on an Amiga is a pain in the arse. Even having most of the component parts, setting up this card is still a lesson in frustration for a noob.

 

I continue to download WHDload files and ADFs and google the topic and there are far more confused threads than tutorials that are understandable.

 

I believe the difficulty arises between those who understand how WB and Amiga files and Amiga emulation works and everyone else. I have no experience with anything aside from booting workbench and starting up original disks on real hardware. If I understood what was going on, it would be a lot easier to fix. I'll have to watch some more videos.

 

 

[+OLD CS1]

What is your hardware configuration?  What is your process?

 

Seriously, when I did a CF install in my 1200 many moons ago, all I had was the OS3.5 installation CD, a boot floppy, and a the CF in an IDE-to-CF adapter.  A couple of years ago I did a clean installation on a 4000D with a CF card then an SSD using nothing more than the OS3.1 floppies.  It was just like installing to a hard drive.

 

Although, to be honest, I did have some issues with HDToolBox on the 128GB SSD but the 4GB CF worked flawlessly.

 

If I can get some free time this week, I would be happy to do a quick video showing this in action.  Time, however, is a precious commodity right now so I make no promises.

[Daedalus2097]

With the caveats mentioned (the main one being limiting the size to 4GB), it's exactly as easy (or as difficult) as installing a traditional hard drive:

 

- Connect the drive / CF card + adaptor / SSD / SD card + adaptor

- Insert the 3.1 Install floppy and turn on the power

- Open HDToolbox

- Read the drive geometry and save the configuration

- Create whatever partitions you like

- Set the MaxTransfer value to 0x1FE00 for each partition (note, this step is often overlooked even on pre-setup images. Missing it results in data corruption.)

- Set at least one partition as bootable

- Save the configuration and reboot when prompted

- After rebooting, format each partition (use the quick option, a full format is utterly pointless and only contributes wear to the card)

- Open the installation script

- Follow the prompts

- Remove any floppies, reboot and enjoy

 

The only other thing to think about then is to copy over drivers for additional stuff like PCMCIA memory card readers or network cards for easy transfer to/from other machines.

 

I tend to do most of my installations on real hardware with real media, just so I know it's built properly for the hardware and it's really not that much hassle. 3.5 and 3.9 are a little more involved because they're designed to load replacement Kickstart modules from the hard drive and be installed from CD, but even then it's no big deal. Using more than 4GB of a drive is a little more involved too, but again, no biggie once you have the required patches to hand and follow their instructions.

[ianoid]

Thanks @Daedalus2097 for the step by step. I've seen that in videos, but I'll use yours and try reformatting the CF I have. Fortunately I have original hardware to do this on, rather than trying to figure out UAE Amiga emulator to format the drive. 

 

I think where it gets more complicated is, how do I then load that formatted CF card with the 100s of ADF files or WHDLoad files from my PC (or better yet Mac) that I want to have at my fingertips on original hardware?

 

Thanks,

 

ian

[+OLD CS1]

54 minutes ago, ianoid said:

I think where it gets more complicated is, how do I then load that formatted CF card with the 100s of ADF files or WHDLoad files from my PC (or better yet Mac) that I want to have at my fingertips on original hardware?

You have the PCMCIA port available, so a CF-to-PCMCIA might be useful.  If you have SCSI you could use a SCSI Zip drive or CD-ROM.  Otherwise, all else fails, there are 720k floppies.

[Daedalus2097]

Yep, the PCMCIA memory card method is very handy indeed. You'll need compactflash.device and fat95 (both from Aminet), and that will let you use a PCMCIA card reader with standard PC-formatted cards. You'll also need lha.run (Aminet again) to be able to unpack the lha archives on the Amiga. I strongly recommend unpacking files on the Amiga however since file permissions and other details can get screwed up by unpacking them on a PC or storing them on a non-Amiga filesystem.

 

Alternatively, when you have it all set up to your liking, you could then add the device to WinUAE to transfer further data onto it. Just make sure you ignore the Windows warning that the card isn't formatted! Run UAE as administrator and it should then be able to boot directly from the card.

 

Another option is Amiga Explorer, which is a lightweight PC-Amiga serial transfer tool. You'll need a serial port on your PC (or a decent USB-Serial adaptor), and a null modem cable.