Amiga software to disk from images

[Gunstar]

yeah, I know this is an ST forum, but i know lots of you here also use Amigas. I was going to post in the classic gaming forum, but this seems a better spot. I also know I could go to an Amiga forum, but AtariAge is always where i start asking questions, regardless of the system.

 

So, I'm wondering about turning Amiga software disc images for use in emulators back into real amiga disks like I do with my ST. where can i go for info on doing this and what are the programs, etc. to do this. Can i make the disks on a PC like I do with the ST? just looking for some answers to get me pointed in the right direction. thanks.

[Ayreon]

I'm no expert, but i have been looking into this a long while ago.

It's impossible to make Amiga format disks on pc. You can make the Amiga read dos formatted disks, but that won't be good enough for games. So a nullmodem would be the only solution. My Amiga has Kickstart 1.0 or 1.1 and the proggies (a few amiga basic lines to transfer the nullmodem software to amiga) needed a higher version than that. So i gave up very quickly.

 

a few links: http://web.ukonline.co.uk/andrew.odish/emu.htm

http://web.ukonline.co.uk/andrew.odish/emu.htm transfer program (bloody popups)

ADF transfer software. http://homepage.uibk.ac.at/homepage/c725/c72578/amiga/

[Retro Rogue]

yeah, I know this is an ST forum, but i know lots of you here also use Amigas. I was going to post in the classic gaming forum, but this seems a better spot. I also know I could go to an Amiga forum, but AtariAge is always where i start asking questions, regardless of the system.

 

So, I'm wondering about turning Amiga software disc images for use in emulators back into real amiga disks like I do with my ST. where can i go for info on doing this and what are the programs, etc. to do this. Can i make the disks on a PC like I do with the ST? just looking for some answers to get me pointed in the right direction. thanks.

 

No, you can't do that. Amiga disks used a complete proprietary drive and timing system that makes them impossible to read on standard disks. There was an old DOS program at one time that got somewhat around this by requiring you to have two floppy drives and copying data back and forth between disks in an effort to simulate the timing needed.

 

Most people simply use several different available programs to swap the data through the serial port and write directly to the Amiga's native floppy drive. They should be found pretty easy in a google search, or pop on to IRC and ask in the #amiga channel.

 

The reason you can do ST disks directly on a PC is because they use an older MS-DOS format (which was done on purpose) and pretty standard floppy controllers and drive mechanisms.

[Gunstar]

So I guess it has to be done more like it is with the 8-bit Atari and an APE cable and software (10502PC, etc.). thanks.

[Ayreon]

hmm yeah.. don't know if there are any programs that let you use the pc as a floppy or harddisc drive for your amiga though.

The nullmodem programs let you download the image into the amiga memory (upgrading to 1 or more MB is handy) and then convert/write it to a real floppy beofre you can boot it

[Gunstar]

hmm yeah.. don't know if there are any programs that let you use the pc as a floppy or harddisc drive for your amiga though.

The nullmodem programs let you download the image into the amiga memory (upgrading to 1 or more MB is handy) and then convert/write it to a real floppy beofre you can boot it

 

yeah, I didn't mean it like that, just that i need a cable and software to transfer the files over to the Amiga, I realize the similarities end there...

[emkay]

http://www.jschoenfeld.com/indexe.htm

 

On this site you'll find Hardware for Networking (X-Surf for AMIGA KICK 3.x) or a Floppy-Disk Controller (Catweasel AMIGA & PC) to create most Disk-Types(XL/XE, C64, AMIGA ...)

[Gunstar]

Very cool! Thanks Emkay and thanks again to you others for the cool links and info.

[tjlazah]

Being a Amiga user from back when I can say that to transfer Amiga Disk File's (ADF) to a real disk is almost impossible on a PC. There is one way. To get a card called the Catwiesel. This will drive a Drive for writing in Amiga format. But that is the hard way. The easy way is to transfer that ADF file to a real Amiga and use a program to write that image back to disk! At a minumum you will need a Amiga with 1MB RAM, CrossDOS (PC file system), maybe a Zip tool, ADF transfer util (Look on Aminet, ADF2Disk is one I think) and some patience.

 

1. The ADF is going to be 880k in size. It will not fit on a PC 720k disk! You need to Zip the ADF and copy it to the PC disk.

 

2. Boot the Amiga and mount PC0: (Cross DOS) then insert the PC disk. Copy the Zipped ADF to RAM: Unzip the file to RAM.

 

3. Fire up a shell, and insert a blank disk. Run the ADFtool to copy the ADF to disk!

 

You are done!

 

I myself have a Amiga 4000 on my LAN so I just copy the ADF over to my HD from the PC

 

Also a more On Topic (for this site) comment. LOL This same thing needs to be done for some ST images to get them to copy to Disk! Like the ones that are 800k or larger. I zip the MSA file and copy to 720k disk, copy it to my Falcon HD and use MSA-II to write the .MSA image to disk.

[emkay]

 

 

I myself have a Amiga 4000 on my LAN so I just copy the ADF over to my HD from the PC

 

 

Because I don't want to put any other KICKSTART into my AMIGA 2000...:

 

Do you know a way for a usable networking with Kick 1.3?

5Meg. RAM and 500MB Harddisk are present.

[Gunstar]

Also a more On Topic (for this site) comment.  LOL  This same thing needs to be done for some ST images to get them to copy to Disk!  Like the ones that are 800k or larger.  I zip the MSA file and copy to 720k disk, copy it to my Falcon HD and use MSA-II to write the .MSA image to disk.

 

Actually, that may be one way, but it is not the only way. I have a program on both my ST and PC that will write PS2 format disks and I can even choose the number of tracks and sectors then I just write the MSA file to the disk formatted in this way (depending on how large the MSA file is) on my PC and since the ST can read PC disks, it works fine (most of the time,I have found that formatting the disk on the ST then putting it in the PC and writing the MSA file to it there works best). But I do use a special program on the PC to write the image since the PC only understands the 720 or 1.44 meg formats with windows/ms-dos. Once you've figured it out the first time, it's a breeze. This way works without having a HD on the ST.

[Wrathchild]

Just to clarify...

 

1) Do any of the Atari emulators support a disk image format that includes the disk format info?

 

2) Is it possible to image an original game disk along with its copy protection?

 

3) As 2 but without an Amiga :wink: What was the title of the PC 2 drive solution?

 

Found it... http://www.oldskool.org/disk2fdi

 

Thanks,

 

Mark

[emkay]

Just to clarify...

 

1) Do any of the Atari emulators support a disk image format that includes the disk format info?

 

2) Is it possible to image an original game disk along with its copy protection?

 

3) As 2 but without an Amiga  :wink: What was the title of the PC 2 drive solution?

 

Found it... http://www.oldskool.org/disk2fdi

 

Thanks,

 

Mark

 

 

Is there existing a tool like "fdi2disk" ? I heaviely need some tools that are available in the net, but it would be necessary to put them on the PC to a AMIGA-format Disk.... and networking seems to be impossible with Kick 1.3

 

 

BTW:On the AMIGA still exists a tool "Cyclone" to copy every Disk-types from AMIGA itself to ST or PC DS/DD....

[Rekrul]

Because I don't want to put any other KICKSTART into my AMIGA 2000...:  

 

Do you know a way for a usable networking with Kick 1.3?  

5Meg. RAM and 500MB Harddisk are present.

 

Can't help with the networking, but I'd like to recommend that you at least consider getting Kickstart 2.0. I don't have any experience with 3.x, but 2.0 was much nicer than 1.3. If you're worried about compatibility, you can also get a Kickstart Switcher and switch between the two at will. The one I have is a nice little board where you just hold the reset keys for 5 seconds and it switches to the other one. It also stays set until you switch back or turn off the power. If you don't want to install a switcher, you can also get a copy of Kickstart 2 (or even 3) in a file and use one of the loaders from Aminet to load it into RAM. Doing this off the HD would be almost instant.

 

As for transferring disk images to real disks, the best program I found for doing this was TransADF, which will also read compressed disk images and images inside of Zip files. I believe it needs KS 2.0 though.

[Rekrul]

ARGH! I found this while searching for something else and didn't notice it was a year old!

[MasterMotorola]

There was a program I found about four years ago that let you copy/read Amiga disks using MS Windows. The only caught was you needed to install a second floppy drive... one for Amiga disks, the other for PC disks.

 

Can anyone remember what that was called? I'll see if I can find it myself.

 

- Steve

[Gunstar]

What I've found out in my search on this matter is that there is a LOT of disinformation floating around about what the Amiga can and can't do. The FACT is that the Amiga CAN read PC disks, as long as they are formatted in 720k. You see, Workbench (the Amiga desktop) has a built-in utility called CROSSDOS on it that allows you to read these PC disks. So, all you must do is download the Amiga programs, save them to 720k disks on the PC, boot the Amiga, select CrossDos (under Storage/DOSdrivers, drag it too DEVS file-icon marked as PC0), put the PC disk in, double click on PC0 and it reads the PC disk, then just drag those Amiga icons into another Amiga folder (generally the C: drive (work) and it's all good to go. You can read all about it in chapter 7 of the workbench user guide! You see, it helps A LOT to read instructions/manuals!

[Gunstar]

correction-you won't find an icon called "crossdos" they are labeled PC0 and PC1 to corrospond to DF0 and DF1, you can also create more of these for any external drives, etc.

[Gunstar]

You see, a LOT of disinformation is spread by the vast majority of IDIOTS out there who never even bothered to read the manuals that they have...READ, or you shall remain IGNORANT.

[+Random Terrain]

You see, a LOT of disinformation is spread by the vast majority of IDIOTS out there who never even bothered to read the manuals that they have...READ, or you shall remain IGNORANT.

I wish there was an easy way for my PC to read my Amiga 500 disks. I have a lot of old word processor files that I would like to transfer to my PC, but I don't have a ton of money or the ability to screw around with the guts of my computer. I need something easy and as cheap as possible.

[tjlazah]

Look at my post above. I mention Cross Dos. Also the amiga does not have a C: device. the C: is the command dir on the Amiga, the DHx: is the device for Hard Disks. (x= a number, 0 for boot, etc.) I am a Amiga guru so if you guys need help let me know.

[Rekrul]

The FACT is that the Amiga CAN read PC disks, as long as they are formatted in 720k.

 

Actually, the 720K limitation is imposed by the fact that most Amiga models only came with DD drives. CrossDOS will support HD disks if you have an HD floppy drive (I have one), Zip disks or even hard drives.

 

You see, Workbench (the Amiga desktop) has a built-in utility called CROSSDOS on it that allows you to read these PC disks.

 

CrossDOS wasn't included with the Amiga OS until version 2.x. It was available for OS 1.x, but you had to buy it separately. There were also a couple PD programs that claimed to do the same thing. They were kind of flaky. Also, I don't think any version of Workbench came with CrossDOS 7, which finally had support for long filenames.