Amiga 5.25 disk drive not recognized

[Thunderbird98]

Used this tutorial and am still stuck.

I have a custom made amiga 5.25 drive (one with a db23 connector) that came with the a2000 that I got recently

When I type "info" it just shows DF0, DF1 and RAM disk. How do I get it to recognize DF2? 
(Note: I am trying to dump C64 disks with this)

[Daedalus2097]

There are a couple of different things to think about here. Is your custom drive trying to be a generic Amiga drive, or is it trying to be a 5.25" drive specifically like the one in that image? A generic drive needs to have special logic for latching the signals and providing a suitable device ID to the OS for it to be automatically recognised.

 

Are you trying to mount it with the mountlists suggested in that thread? Do you have a model number for the mechanism?

[Thunderbird98]

Well I the drive was connected to the a2000 when I got it from a neighbor. And its not just a generic drive. The owner actually made a custom circuit and built the adapter from scratch. It looks like a generic 5.25" drive connected to a custom circuit. Heres a picture
Also I used the mountlist on the aforementioned article. 

[Daedalus2097]

Nice  That looks like it has the latch circuits needed, though if it's not showing up without a mountlist then it's not set up to act like a generic Amiga drive. What version of the OS are you using? If you try to mount the mountlist again, do you get an error?

[Thunderbird98]

It would be odd for it not to be set up as an amiga drive because it uses the DB23 connector and was plugged into the amiga when I got it. But you never know. I got the a2000 from someone cleaning out a hoarder's house and I believe they had a C64 at least at one point.
I'm using WB1.3 off of a (gotek) floppy because I cant figure out how to get the hardcard hard drive working. (I don't have any original system disks, but I would like to eventually test the hard drive)
I don't get an error when I edit and save the mountlist, but when I type "info", it only lists DF0 and DF1. 
Also the 5.25 drive does spin for a little bit when I boot up the amiga.

[Daedalus2097]

Sorry, I meant to replicate a native Amiga drive. You can set up an 80-track 5.25" drive to essentially emulate a standard Amiga 3.5" drive, in which case no mountlist is needed and it works directly with the standard Amiga filesystems.

 

You won't normally get an error when you edit and save the mountlist - it's when you actually mount it that it will give an error. For example, if you try to mount the same mountlist twice, it should give you a "Device PC2: already mounted" or something similar.

[Thunderbird98]

Alright, how do I set up a 5.25" drive to emulate a 3.5" drive? Is there something internal I need to change? I don't know much about Amigas as this is my first one.

[+OLD CS1]

7 minutes ago, Thunderbird98 said:

Alright, how do I set up a 5.25" drive to emulate a 3.5" drive? Is there something internal I need to change? I don't know much about Amigas as this is my first one.

For the most part it is automatic. I have a 5.25" drive that formats 880k, looking like a standard 3.5". But, the format is unusable anywhere else. As well, native Amiga makes no use of 5.25" floppies, it is a 3.5" system. There is little use for these drives for anything other than MS-DOS emulation or format conversions.

[Thunderbird98]

1 hour ago, OLD CS1 said:

For the most part it is automatic. I have a 5.25" drive that formats 880k, looking like a standard 3.5". But, the format is unusable anywhere else. As well, native Amiga makes no use of 5.25" floppies, it is a 3.5" system. There is little use for these drives for anything other than MS-DOS emulation or format conversions.

I'm confused. This drive uses a DB23 connecter, which is the Amiga's special disk drive connector, right? Am I missing something? I just want to use it to dump C64 disks.

[+OLD CS1]

2 minutes ago, Thunderbird98 said:

I'm confused. This drive uses a DB23 connecter, which is the Amiga's special disk drive connector, right? Am I missing something? I just want to use it to dump C64 disks.

It is.  But the 1020 drive was originally only meant to be used with Amiga's PC emulation for access to 360k MS-DOS floppies.  That it can be used for anything else is gravy.

 

In order to be used for dumping C64 disks, which I have done in the past, you have to adjust the drive speed to (IIRC 280rpm) and use a special program.

 

http://aminet.net/package/misc/emu/1541

http://aminet.net/package/misc/emu/1541_GUI

 

From the program docs:

    The "1541" program reads a 1541 disk and produces a disk

image. A "disk image" is simply a block-by-block copy of the disk,
stores as a file. 1541 disk images are frequently given a ".d64" ex
tension, and referred to as "d64" files. (The term "disk image" is pre
ferred, however).
    "1541", as may already be obvious, reads from an Amiga
5.25 inch drive; I use the Commodore A1020, and recommend it to
you as well. There is a catch, however. A 5.25 inch drive running at
the standard 300RPM speed can only read 1541 tracks 18-35, that
is, all but speed zone 1. (I'm not going to explain the 1541 speed
zones, so if you don't understand, don't worry about it). Luckily,
though, there is an easy fix: simply slow down the drive. At a some
what slower speed the Amiga is able to read all 4 1541 speed
zones.
    If you don't know how to use a screwdriver, you may want to
have an expert technician perform the speed adjustment; otherwise,
keep reading. Disassemble the drive casing. Examine (carefully!) the
drive, looking for any turn-able adjustment (potentiometer). In the
case of my Alps drive, there's a rather large adjustment nicely slot
ted for a screwdriver on the circuit board surrounding the drive mo
tor.
    After you've located the (presumed) speed control, get the
drive in a position in which you can adjust the speed while the drive
is connected and functional. Run the "speed" program (see below),
which continuously prints drive speed information (in RPM) to the
console. I've found that 280RPM works satisfactorily, so that's what I
recommend you use, at least as a start. If you have problems read
ing tracks 1-17 at 280RPM you can try reducing the speed slightly
(but I wouldn't recommend going lower than 270RPM). After you've
read in a few disks as a test, you can reassemble the case and for
get about it. You should still be able to read IBM and AppleII disks at
the reduced speed, but I wouldn't recommend writing to them.
    Anyway, once you have adjusted the speed of your drive you
should be able to read 1541 disks to your heart's content. On my
A2000 (68040) it takes about 13 seconds to read a disk. (I could
actually reduce the time to under 10 seconds, but I didn't deem it
worth the effort). One more thing worth mentioning about "1541" is
how it deals with errors. When "1541" finds that it can't read a sec
tor, it places a special identifying mark on the sector
($00,$FF,"LAZARUS" to be precise). That way programs (like Get
Files, see below) that manipulate the disk image can identify sectors
that were unable to be read from the physical disk.

 

 

[+OLD CS1]

Also, looking at your setup, which is not a 1020, I am not convinced you will be able to dump C64 disks with your Amiga.  I would try it if I had time, though; nothing ventured, nothing gained.

[Thunderbird98]

okay thank you

not sure what I'm going to do with the drive then

[+OLD CS1]

6 hours ago, Thunderbird98 said:

okay thank you

not sure what I'm going to do with the drive then

With the proper mountlist, you could likely use the drive to read DOS-formatted disks.  Assuming, of course, the drive and its interface work.