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Imagedisk 1.18 issues FDADAP Adapter issues
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Casey Nordberg
Mar 19, 2014, 2:16:15 AM3/19/14
to
Hi
I bought the FDADAP Adapter to use with 50 pin 8" floppy drive.
anything I do gives me error. Drive seeks on PC bootup, sound good.
IMD gives me a error <0> writeport.
Any clue whats up?
I bought the FDADAP Adapter to use with 50 pin 8" floppy drive.
anything I do gives me error. Drive seeks on PC bootup, sound good.
IMD gives me a error <0> writeport.
Any clue whats up?
ldkr...@gmail.com
Mar 19, 2014, 8:39:18 AM3/19/14
to
Casey,
I don't think we have enough information to even make a wild guess.
But, after looking at the FDADAP Floppy Disk Adapter's information, I'll start with some assumptions, which may be different than what you used.
http://www.dbit.com/fdadap.html
1. You may need to be running DOS or FreeDOS to allow the Software to access the Floppy/Hard Drive Controller hardware directly versus through Windows, as Windows makes it virtualized.
2. The 8" Floppy is a CP/M Format Floppy, or some alien file system format that DOS and/or Windows doesn't recognize, without special software.
3. It's possible you need an older Floppy/Hard Drive Controller to be able to
access the CP/M 8" Floppy.
4. If the 8" Floppy is a DEC or some other System's Disk, that's out of my knowledge base.
If your PC system is an older system, you can try to access a test Floppy (not necessarily your ORIGINAL 8" floppy that may be a One of a Set), with IMD or 2DISK, set with the proper CP/M Format Definition.
Needed:
1. What type PC system is it? 386, 486, ??? Older Motherboard or Newer one with Disk controllers built on Motherboard?
2. OS the PC is using? DOS ?.?, FreeDOS, Win 98, XP, ??
3. What Size & Type Floppy's are attached to PC? 5.25 DS DD 48TPI, 8" SS SD 48TPI, ??????
4. Straight through Floppy Cables or Twist in a Cables?
5. CP/M or ??? Format 8" Floppy? Bigboard or what System created the Floppy?
If you connect a standard 5.25 or 3.5" PC Drive, does it Format and work properly?
Larry
I don't think we have enough information to even make a wild guess.
But, after looking at the FDADAP Floppy Disk Adapter's information, I'll start with some assumptions, which may be different than what you used.
http://www.dbit.com/fdadap.html
1. You may need to be running DOS or FreeDOS to allow the Software to access the Floppy/Hard Drive Controller hardware directly versus through Windows, as Windows makes it virtualized.
2. The 8" Floppy is a CP/M Format Floppy, or some alien file system format that DOS and/or Windows doesn't recognize, without special software.
3. It's possible you need an older Floppy/Hard Drive Controller to be able to
access the CP/M 8" Floppy.
4. If the 8" Floppy is a DEC or some other System's Disk, that's out of my knowledge base.
If your PC system is an older system, you can try to access a test Floppy (not necessarily your ORIGINAL 8" floppy that may be a One of a Set), with IMD or 2DISK, set with the proper CP/M Format Definition.
Needed:
1. What type PC system is it? 386, 486, ??? Older Motherboard or Newer one with Disk controllers built on Motherboard?
2. OS the PC is using? DOS ?.?, FreeDOS, Win 98, XP, ??
3. What Size & Type Floppy's are attached to PC? 5.25 DS DD 48TPI, 8" SS SD 48TPI, ??????
4. Straight through Floppy Cables or Twist in a Cables?
5. CP/M or ??? Format 8" Floppy? Bigboard or what System created the Floppy?
If you connect a standard 5.25 or 3.5" PC Drive, does it Format and work properly?
Larry
David Schmidt
Mar 19, 2014, 9:11:20 AM3/19/14
to
On 3/19/2014 8:39 AM, ldkr...@gmail.com wrote:
> Casey,
> I don't think we have enough information to even make a wild guess.
Larry gave you a pile of good things to look at, consider, and help us
> Casey,
> I don't think we have enough information to even make a wild guess.
understand. One more thing... the 50 pin connector is unkeyed. Were
you careful to align pin 1 from FDADAP to cable through to the 8" drive?
Oh, and... does the 8" drive have both motor power and electronics
power? "Older" drives need two power sources...
ldkr...@gmail.com
Mar 19, 2014, 9:29:37 AM3/19/14
to
Casey,
This site describes some of the problems you may run into.
http://www.retrotechnology.com/herbs_stuff/s_drives_howto.html
If you have a Linux Box, you could try using dd to make an image of the Floppy,
and then try accessing that image with any of the following software (in Linux and with SAMDisk & Imagedisk in Windows):
1. Libdsk
http://www.seasip.demon.co.uk/Unix/LibDsk/#intro
2. CPMTOOLS
http://www.moria.de/~michael/cpmtools/
3. CPMTOOLS built with Libsk library
http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=112244
4. SAMDisk
http://simonowen.com/samdisk/
5. Imagedisk
http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/img/index.htm
6. ./hxcfe & ./hxcfloppyemulator
http://torlus.com/floppy/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1390
7. dd (in Linux)
http://untitledfinale.wordpress.com/2007/10/09/create-mount-and-copy-floppy-disks-images-under-linux/
Once you have the imagefile.img (from Linux) you can access it with 1 thru 6 above. As an example if you download the bb2mon.err.img at:
http://bitsavers.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de/bits/Ferguson/
and use it as a test img file you should be able to access it the same as the
image you create with dd. (Note you can always boot a Linux LiveCD or LiveDVD to do the testing, to get the Image. Debian will typically boot and run on Older 486 and up machines with 64M or larger RAM. (or Puppy, or Porteus, or TintCore, AntiX, or Slitaz)
http://distrowatch.com/
(If you locate "Distribution: ALL" in the center top portion of the screen you can use the ALL Pulldown to select the Distro and then REFRESH to locate it quickly, then download the ISO.)
Lots of options.
Larry
This site describes some of the problems you may run into.
http://www.retrotechnology.com/herbs_stuff/s_drives_howto.html
If you have a Linux Box, you could try using dd to make an image of the Floppy,
and then try accessing that image with any of the following software (in Linux and with SAMDisk & Imagedisk in Windows):
1. Libdsk
http://www.seasip.demon.co.uk/Unix/LibDsk/#intro
2. CPMTOOLS
http://www.moria.de/~michael/cpmtools/
3. CPMTOOLS built with Libsk library
http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=112244
4. SAMDisk
http://simonowen.com/samdisk/
5. Imagedisk
http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/img/index.htm
6. ./hxcfe & ./hxcfloppyemulator
http://torlus.com/floppy/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1390
7. dd (in Linux)
http://untitledfinale.wordpress.com/2007/10/09/create-mount-and-copy-floppy-disks-images-under-linux/
Once you have the imagefile.img (from Linux) you can access it with 1 thru 6 above. As an example if you download the bb2mon.err.img at:
http://bitsavers.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de/bits/Ferguson/
and use it as a test img file you should be able to access it the same as the
image you create with dd. (Note you can always boot a Linux LiveCD or LiveDVD to do the testing, to get the Image. Debian will typically boot and run on Older 486 and up machines with 64M or larger RAM. (or Puppy, or Porteus, or TintCore, AntiX, or Slitaz)
http://distrowatch.com/
(If you locate "Distribution: ALL" in the center top portion of the screen you can use the ALL Pulldown to select the Distro and then REFRESH to locate it quickly, then download the ISO.)
Lots of options.
Larry
ldkr...@gmail.com
Mar 19, 2014, 10:21:19 AM3/19/14
to
Casey,
There was a typo in previous posting. TinyCore vs TintCore
Also the bb2mon.err.img has a corrupt file inside the image, but it shouldn't
be a problem, as you won't use the source files.
Here is the Pinout for the 8" Floppy:
http://old.pinouts.ru/Storage/8InchDisk_pinout.shtml
And it's Pin 44 that is /WPROT (Active LOW) so that pin could be "LOW" causing the ERROR Message. It's probably worth chasing the cable Plugs to verify Pin 1 on all cables are correctly positioned.
Larry
There was a typo in previous posting. TinyCore vs TintCore
Also the bb2mon.err.img has a corrupt file inside the image, but it shouldn't
be a problem, as you won't use the source files.
Here is the Pinout for the 8" Floppy:
http://old.pinouts.ru/Storage/8InchDisk_pinout.shtml
And it's Pin 44 that is /WPROT (Active LOW) so that pin could be "LOW" causing the ERROR Message. It's probably worth chasing the cable Plugs to verify Pin 1 on all cables are correctly positioned.
Larry
BobH
Mar 19, 2014, 8:51:59 PM3/19/14
to
write, opposite the 5 1/4" convention.
BobH
Jeff Jonas
Mar 20, 2014, 1:37:24 AM3/20/14
to
>> And it's Pin 44 that is /WPROT (Active LOW)
> As I recall, the 8" drives need the write protect notch covered
> to write, opposite the 5 1/4" convention.
That's one of my standard rants:
> to write, opposite the 5 1/4" convention.
the 5.25" floppy disk got MANY things wrong
such as continuing the non-reinforced hub of the 8" floppy,
not using anything to auto-select single/double sided
(8" floppies had different sector hole locations for that)
or single/double/high density
(3.5" floppies added a hole for high density).
But worst of all was going the OPPOSITE OF EVERYTHING ELSE
regarding write protect.
EVERYTHING ELSE used a hole or notch for "write protect"
from magtapes (write ring)
to video & audio cassettes (pull tab for write protect)
to data tapes (similar mechanism),
even 3.5" floppies.
8" diskettes had a notch on the far edge for write protect
that was covered over for write-allow.
Some 8" diskettes didn't even have those notches
because the labels liked to fall off inside the drives.
But nooooo!
5.25" floppies use the notch to ALLOW writing
so it's easy for mass produced disks
to be write-protected by lacking the notch,
thus the notching tool to re-use distribution disks.
We're forever rediscovering this
with the lack of the write-protect jumper
in USB flash drives and hard drives :-(
Mr. Emmanuel Roche, France
Mar 20, 2014, 3:20:36 AM3/20/14
to
Jeff Jonas wrote:
> That's one of my standard rants:
> the 5.25" floppy disk got MANY things wrong
Hello, Jeff!
> That's one of my standard rants:
> the 5.25" floppy disk got MANY things wrong
Hahaha! Very good message, Jeff! I had not laught so much in a while! Your list
of the defaults of the "mini-diskette" is worth being included in Wikipedia,
when they speak of diskettes! (I don't know how you say in English but, in the
French language, there is a saying: "The new money is worth less than the old
one." Another example were a commercial "improvement" (the mini-diskette) was,
again, technically inferior to its predecessor (the 8" disk).)
Yours Sincerely,
Mr. Emmanuel Roche, France
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