Making bootable MS-DOS disk as ADF file for multi-level emulation

[Minuous]

Here is an interesting one for you... :-)

What I am trying to do is to run the Amiga IBM-PC emulator Transformer through WinUAE.

Transformer needs to be fed an MS-DOS boot disk to start up. I've made an ADF with CrossDOS and copied some MS-DOS files onto it.

However when I try to use the (virtual) disk with Transformer I get the message "CrossDOS non-bootable disk" or words to that effect. So I need to put a proper MS-DOS boot block onto the disk. CrossDOS doesn't seem to be able to do this and Workbench's Install command doesn't work for MS-DOS disks, only for true Amiga disks.

One solution would be to make an MS-DOS disk with an IBM-PC (using SYS command etc.), then put the disk in an Amiga and use Transdisk to make an ADF of it. But all my Amigas have broken :-(

I used to have DOS-2-DOS but don't anymore, I can't remember whether it was able to install bootblocks.

Comments, suggestions, ideas?

[Chuckles]

I think what you need isn't an ADF with MS-DOS on it, but an image of a bootable MS-DOS disk. Assuming that you had one of those created on a PC, you should be able to use disk2fdi to create an .img file from it. (It is capable of creating images not only of Amiga formatted diskettes, but of PC formatted diskettes as well, though that's not what people normally think of it being used for.) A fairly recent version of MS-DOS might not work though with Transformer, though that's only a guess. I think I have an old bootable MS-DOS 3.3 diskette around somewhere though, and I could try to create a .img from it once I find it and upload it to the Zone for you to try out. It is one that I had used before to boot a different emulator on my A500, and it did work, but it was slower than molasses. Just let me know if you want it and I'll see what I can do.

[Chuckles]

Just an update on this: I managed to find my MS-DOS 3.3 diskette, but it was unreadable. I guess it must be a victim of bit rot. If anybody else has one of these lying around and can create an .img of it, I could use it too. I'll look around and see if I can find another one, but I'm not at all sure that I have one.

[thomas]

Create a 720K boot floppy on your PC (with FDisk, Format, Sys etc. on it). Then use one of those image creation tools to create an image of it (e.g. WinImage (http://www.winimage.com/winimage.htm)). The image must be uncompressed and without a header, exactly 737,280 bytes.

Now boot AmigaOS and start PC0 (part of CrossDOS, included in AmigaOS since Version 2.1). Create a Custom Floppy with WinUAE and insert it into DF0. Now use TSGui (http://uk.aminet.net/aminetbin/find?tsgui) or similar to copy the previously created image to PC0.

Et voilà, your MS-DOS boot floppy for an Emulator. Should work with PC-Task and PCx, too.

[Chuckles]

Thanks for the info, Thomas. I don't have all of the necessary bits of software handy, but I have had some luck since my last post. I did find another copy of a bootable MS-DOS 3.3 disk, and fortunately this one was readable. I believe this is a full copy of MS-DOS 3.3, rather than being a subset of the commands. I used disk2fdi to create a .img from it which is exactly 737,280 bytes long as you had mentioned, and I expect that this will be in the exact same format as WinImage would have created. I'd be happy to upload this to the Zone if anybody wants to use it to carry out the rest of the procedure you described. All I ask is that the resulting MS-DOS boot floppy be uploaded to the Zone afterward so I can snag a copy of it too.

[Akira]

Would be swell if you had a dual format disk, thus having it ALL in one disk ;)

I think this is what you wanted, Minuous? It can;'t be done with normal hardware, methinks ;/

[thomas]

I don't have all of the necessary bits of software handy

Just download it, I gave you the links.

[Chuckles]

Yes, but I've never managed to get CrossDos working under emulation, and it isn't on my WB2.0 harddrive setup, which predated the release of WB2.1. Since I'm competing for time on my machine at the moment with my wife's need for it as she works on completing her Master's degree, I'm not sure when I'll manage to find the time to build a WB2.1 setup to fiddle with it. That's why I offered what I had available for anyone else who had the time and resources to complete the task, but if nobody else wants to do that then I'll simply have to put it on my list of things to do when I have more time.

[thomas]

Then upload it to the zone.

[Chuckles]

I've just uploaded it to the Zone, now that it appears somebody actually might want it after all. ;)

[thomas]

Ok, result uploaded, too.

[Chuckles]

Thanks, Thomas! I appreciate that! :)

[Minuous]

Yeah, thanx heaps!!

[Chuckles]

Now on a related note, did any of the Evil Empire Emulators support EGA graphics? If so, that might provide an interesting exercise as I have a few ancient EGA titles like the first MechWarrior that are a pain to get to run properly on a fast PC. It would be ironic if I found that my best bet to run them properly these days would be by running them on a PC emulator that was running on an Amiga emulator. That sounds just crazy enough to me to be appealing in a sick sort of way. ;)