How to get .st (.msa)-images on real Atari disks on new PCs?
Uri Puivov
I recently bought an Atari 1040/STFM. And I've downloaded many disk
images of games. It's nice to play all these great games on an emu-
lator but a real Atari gaming would be a more enjoyment.
Unfortunately, I've got a rather new PC with an Elitegroup K7VTA3.0
mainboard with VIA VT8233A-Controller. And it semms that I can't
write the extended disk formats using this configuration (800kB,
820kB and so on). I've tried booting from a DOS6.22-, a W95B and
a WME-bootdisk and using makedisk, stdisk and wdfcopy (all newest
versions) without success.
Following things occured:
-------------------------
under _stdisk_: using a 720kB-medium (that one with one hole), it
says under DOS: 'address mark not found' when it
wants to format the first sector, first track and
first head. Using a 1.44MB-medium, it works fine on
my PC, but it cannot be read by my Atari.
under _wfdcopy_: it works good until it reaches tracks above 73.
All these tracks above are marked red instead of
green. And it only runs until track 80 although
the image has got 82 tracks. Disk is not readable
by the Atari either.
_makedisk_ doesn't work at all.
So, because writing real Atari disks out off images on my PC doesn't
work, I've two possibilities:
--------------------------------------------------------------------
1) Using a parallel-(serial-)cable to connect my PC to my Atari and
transfer files to disks
2) Using standard 720kB-disks between my PC and my ATARI
Now my questions:
-----------------
1a) If I use the cable-connection between my two machines, I can trans-
fer files to an inserted disk in my Atari, right? What's about disk-
images (.st, .msa)? Is there a program to read these images and di-
rectly write them through the cable on disks inserted in my Atari?
2a) If I use disks for swapping files between my two machines, please
imagine following: I've downloaded FuzionCD100 (fuzcd100.msa). Now,
I love the games on there, so I want to play them on my real Atari
to get the right feeling [;-))]. The file itself is 821kB big and
it's in .msa-Format. So I use 'msatost' to convert them into a
'.st'-file. This file (fuzcd100.st) is bow 820kB big. It's too big
to put it on one 720kB-disk, so I use a splitter on my PC to split
it into two smaller files. I copy these two files on two 720kB-disks.
b) Now, how can I join them on my real Atari? Has it got something
like a ramdisk?
c) If I've successfully joined them on my Atari, how can I write them
to a real Atari disk on my Atari?
d) Or is there a programm that can built a disk out off two splitted
parts of an image on my Atari?
On my (now damaged and now more loved) Amiga I compressed the .adf-
images with 'lzh', decompressed it into the ramdisk on my Amiga and
used 'adf2disk' to get a real Amiga disk out of it. Is there an equal
way for the Atari? I can probably use it with the cable connection,
too?
Sorry for this very large posting, but I've searched very much and found
nothing.
My PC sytem:
------------
Elitegroup K7VTA Rev. 3.0
AMD Athlon XP 1600+
512MB Ram
80GB Harddisk
Radeon 9700Pro
WinXP
My Atari:
---------
Atari 1040/STFM
Many thanks in advance and kind regards (let the Atari live again),
Uri
NellyNel888
"Uri Puivov" <u_ri...@yahoo.de> wrote in message
news:bb31dv$50qgo$1...@ID-130827.news.dfncis.de...
> Hello,
>
> I recently bought an Atari 1040/STFM. And I've downloaded many disk
> images of games. It's nice to play all these great games on an emu-
> lator but a real Atari gaming would be a more enjoyment.
>
> Unfortunately, I've got a rather new PC with an Elitegroup K7VTA3.0
> mainboard with VIA VT8233A-Controller. And it semms that I can't
> write the extended disk formats using this configuration (800kB,
> 820kB and so on). I've tried booting from a DOS6.22-, a W95B and
> a WME-bootdisk and using makedisk, stdisk and wdfcopy (all newest
> versions) without success.
>
> Following things occured:
> -------------------------
> under _stdisk_: using a 720kB-medium (that one with one hole), it
> says under DOS: 'address mark not found' when it
> wants to format the first sector, first track and
> first head. Using a 1.44MB-medium, it works fine on
> my PC, but it cannot be read by my Atari.
>
> under _wfdcopy_: it works good until it reaches tracks above 73.
> All these tracks above are marked red instead of
> green. And it only runs until track 80 although
> the image has got 82 tracks. Disk is not readable
> by the Atari either.
>
have you formated these on your atari to the required tracks/sectors??
if not use something like format 3. is it?? been so long since i used it :)
or is it fdisk3?? not sure but someone will tell you :)
good luck
Uri Puivov
> have you formated these on your atari to the required tracks/sectors??
>
> if not use something like format 3. is it?? been so long since i used it :)
> or is it fdisk3?? not sure but someone will tell you :)
Good idea. I've done that. The program for the Atari is called 'format3.lzh'.
So, I've formatted the disk 82 tracks / 10 sectors on my Atari and used
'wfdcopy'. Writing was very slow (apr. 5 minutes or so). I've got the same
red sectors after track 73.
I've inserted the disk into my Atari and looked at the directory contents.
It showed me the files. But after I used 'info' on the floppy drive icon
I've got two bombs on my screen. Booting from disk hasn't work, too. The
Atari showed me the boot screen and then switched to GEM with no icons
at all. Perhaps I'll give stdisk a try...
Many thanks for your response, got a step further,
Uri
Tim
use STDISK.
I have to write a 720k ST image FIRST, before it will work (for up to 830k
images!, nothing higher!) But it does work. I used DSDD 720k disks and it
works fine.
Tim
"Uri Puivov" <u_ri...@yahoo.de> wrote in message
news:bb31dv$50qgo$1...@ID-130827.news.dfncis.de...
Uri Puivov
> I know on my PC (KT3 Ultra w/AMD 2200+) I have go boot to a DOS Disk and I
> use STDISK.
>
> I have to write a 720k ST image FIRST, before it will work (for up to 830k
> images!, nothing higher!) But it does work. I used DSDD 720k disks and it
> works fine.
Yeehaaa! It works on my PC, too. A little bit fuzzy but at least I can make
disks. There are only 6 FuzionCDs with more than 830kB: 3x 880kB, 2x 891kB
and 1x 902kB. No idea how to get them on disks, but never mind. Thanks alot,
Tim. I think that this little trick should get into the FAQ...
Cheers,
Uri
Smeg
(sp?). Fastcopy 3 is good but doesnt do 1.4Mb disks.
The one to use on the PC is VGACOPY version 625 or above. Run it in pure DOS
if you can. It writes directly to the floppy disk driver chip, and even
better it looks like Fastcopy.
Try them both, you wont regret it.
Smeg.
Uri Puivov <u_ri...@yahoo.de> wrote in message
news:bb31dv$50qgo$1...@ID-130827.news.dfncis.de...
Uri Puivov
> The best formatter/copier on the ST is Fastcopy Pro by Bartin Bakschat
> (sp?). Fastcopy 3 is good but doesnt do 1.4Mb disks.
>
> The one to use on the PC is VGACOPY version 625 or above. Run it in pure DOS
> if you can. It writes directly to the floppy disk driver chip, and even
> better it looks like Fastcopy.
Ok, I've downloaded VGACOPY 6.25 and booted from Win95B-Bootdisk. Then
I've renamed 'fuzcd100.st' to 'test.vcp' and run VGACOPY. I loaded
'test.vcp' and pressed 'w' for writing this on disk. All I get are
yellow sectors. I've turned off modify with no success. Then I've
turned off verify what makes writing ok. But my Atari doesn't recognize
the disk. I've rebooted WinXP and run VGACOPY under that. Writing the
same image seems to work until track 79, then I've gotten errors and
errors. I've read the faulty disk again and saved it to 'testread.vcp'.
Then I've made a filecompare where the two images are the same until
offset 1200. *sniff*
Any ideas?
Thanks for that nice hint, perhaps the way to do it?
Cheers,
Uri
Smeg
question/problem.
The .ST file is basically a raw disk image. So is the VCP file - except -
there is a header on the file which has a description of the disk. You cant
write an .ST file using Vgacopy.
You can use VGACOPY to format floppies on the PC that you want to be bigger
than normal (IE 82 tracks 20sectors) for .ST files that need that format
disk. If you press formfill button you you can choose a type of format
using the mouse in the bottom window. It will load that format into the disk
buffer then you would use the Write button to format the disk. You can press
a function key instead for the most common formats (F8 is 10S 82T, F10 is
18S and 80T (standard 1.44mb)).
Once you have formatted the disk with Vgacopy, and you dont get any dodgy
sectors you know the disk is ok, you could try makedisk/STdisk again. If you
still cant get it to work then its probably your floppy drive is only just
aligned so writing extended formats increases the error in the alignment,
also disks transfered from one machine to another will have problems. I had
to change the floppy drive in my PC last year because of this.
Smeg.
Uri Puivov
> [...]
> You can use VGACOPY to format floppies on the PC that you want to be bigger
> than normal (IE 82 tracks 20sectors) for .ST files that need that format
> disk. If you press formfill button you you can choose a type of format
> using the mouse in the bottom window. It will load that format into the disk
> buffer then you would use the Write button to format the disk. You can press
> a function key instead for the most common formats (F8 is 10S 82T, F10 is
> 18S and 80T (standard 1.44mb)).
>
> Once you have formatted the disk with Vgacopy, and you dont get any dodgy
> sectors you know the disk is ok, you could try makedisk/STdisk again. If you
> still cant get it to work then its probably your floppy drive is only just
> aligned so writing extended formats increases the error in the alignment,
> also disks transfered from one machine to another will have problems. I had
> to change the floppy drive in my PC last year because of this.
Ok ;-), now I've understood. Unfortunately, this doesn't work for me as
VGACOPY neither formats 720kB not 820kB under pure DOS. I've found an
old 2.88MB-floppy and installed this into my PC. Now STDISK works very
well under pure DOS but only for disk images with max. 830kB. Don't know
why. Perhaps I'm going to get an old PC, install Win95 on it and try
WFDCOPY as it says in its readme that under Win2K (WinXP) it doesn't
work with more sectors than 8 and more than 80 tracks...
Cheers,
Uri
Smeg
If Vgacopy doesnt format 720K disks then there is a real problem.
"Format A: /F720" will format a 720K disk in DOS. Did you try that? I dont
have an XP machine in front of me so I cant check XP's pseudo-DOS to see
whether support for 720K's (and indeed 5"1/4 drives) has been removed.
Smeg.
Uri Puivov
> If Vgacopy doesnt format 720K disks then there is a real problem.
Yeah, it's a strange behaviour. Under pure DOS it doesn't format
720kB, but under WinXP it does. *puzzled*
> "Format A: /F720" will format a 720K disk in DOS. Did you try that?
Yes, this works. It seems that VGACOPY doesn't like my floppy
controller for some reasons.
> I dont have an XP machine in front of me so I cant check XP's
> pseudo-DOS to see whether support for 720K's (and indeed 5"1/4 drives)
> has been removed.
But it's a Win95B-Bootdisk. Not a XP-Bootdisk. Don't know why it
doesn't work. I gonna try to get an older PC...
Cheers and thanks,
Uri
Tim
STDISK and the V option to write the image and it works every time! See my
other reply...
Tim
"Uri Puivov" <u_ri...@yahoo.de> wrote in message
news:bba60c$7aufv$1...@ID-130827.news.dfncis.de...