PC floppy drive for adf files transfer to amiga 500

[Galder]

Does anyone know if there is a way to write an adf file in a PC disk using a PC floppy drive and then use this PC disk (by covering its extra 'hole' with tape) in Amiga's drive? Is this going to be successful?

[prowler]

Originally Posted by Galder

Does anyone know if there is a way to write an adf file in a PC disk using a PC floppy drive and then use this PC disk (by covering its extra 'hole' with tape) in Amiga's drive? Is this going to be successful?

By "using a PC floppy drive" I suppose you mean a PC floppy drive attached to a PC.

There are only two ways to do this at present, without making your own controller/interface board (yes, that's possible if you're so inclined), and that is to buy a Catweasel (MkIII, MkIV or MkIV plus) or KryoFlux controller for use with your PC.

The Catweasel is a PCI floppy disk controller once sold by Jens Schoenfeld's Individual Computers GmbH company, but now available in the secondhand market from places like eBay.

The KryoFlux is a USB floppy disk controller sold here.

Edit: And yes, a high density disk should work in the Amiga's floppy drive if the HD sense hole is covered with tape.

[Galder]

Originally Posted by prowler

By "using a PC floppy drive" I suppose you mean a PC floppy drive attached to a PC.

There are only two ways to do this at present, without making your own controller/interface board (yes, that's possible if you're so inclined), and that is to buy a Catweasel (MkIII, MkIV or MkIV plus) or KryoFlux controller for use with your PC.

The Catweasel is a PCI floppy disk controller once sold by Jens Schoenfeld's Individual Computers GmbH company, but now available in the secondhand market from places like eBay.

The KryoFlux is a USB floppy disk controller sold here.

Edit: And yes, a high density disk should work in the Amiga's floppy drive if the HD sense hole is covered with tape.

Thanks for your answer Prowler. If a high density disk would work in the Amiga's floppy drive if the HD sense hole is covered with tape why would I then need Catweasel or KryoFlux? I just want to transfer an adf file (a game) in my amiga's hdd. Isn't this enough to run then the game?

[prowler]

Originally Posted by Galder

Thanks for your answer Prowler. If a high density disk would work in the Amiga's floppy drive if the HD sense hole is covered with tape why would I then need Catweasel or KryoFlux? I just want to transfer an adf file (a game) in my amiga's hdd. Isn't this enough to run then the game?

An ADF file is an Amiga Disk File, i.e. a disk image, which has to be written to the disk track by track in much the same way as one disk is copied over another using the program Diskcopy, and it is the Catweasel or KryoFlux controller which lets you do that with disks using alien filesystems.

Such a disk could even be used to boot your Amiga if the image you're writing to the disk was bootable in emulation.

[Galder]

Originally Posted by prowler

An ADF file is an Amiga Disk File, i.e. a disk image, which has to be written to the disk track by track in much the same way as one disk is copied over another using the program Diskcopy, and it is the Catweasel or KryoFlux controller which lets you do that with disks using alien filesystems.

Such a disk could even be used to boot your Amiga if the image you're writing to the disk was bootable in emulation.

Oh ok, I see. I found here (http://fellow.abime.net/old_version/.../transfer.html) that:

"If you have KickROM version 2.0 (or higher) and the Workbench 2.0 (or higher) disks then the transfer adf software is already on these disks. The first thing you should do is formatting a 3.5" double density disk on your PC. You can copy the files that you need to this disk (1. for example: the game adf file, right??(galder) ). Start the Amiga with Workbench 2.0 (or higher) and put the disk in your Amiga diskdrive (DF0. You can find the needed software in the "/storage/dosdrivers" directory. If you run the file "PC0" your Amiga will automatically detect that the disk in DF0: is an DOS-formatted disk and an extra icon will appear. For using DF1: run "PC1". You can click on it and as you see the file you put on them are now visible (if not so try the "Window" workbench menu and select Show -> All Files).

2. So that means I will be able to transfer the adf file to my hdd or the amiga's ram right?

After that i need to write this adf in a disk. So:

"Once the ADF is transfered to the harddisk or to the ramdisk you can write it back to an original Amiga disk. The utility performing this task is ADF2DISK (click here to download). You must put a blank disk in DF0: and start ADF2DISK by the following command:

CLI> adf2disk RAM:whole.adf

The ADF named "whole.adf" will be written to the disk."

3. I will copy ADF2DISK in the high density formatted disk and then transfer it in the amiga's hdd but the question is where and how?

4. "You must put a blank disk in DF0: and start ADF2DISK by the following command:

CLI> adf2disk RAM:whole.adf". What is the CLI at the beginning? when i open the scipt window i see DH0 if i remember correct. How do I set it to CLI? does it need to be CLI? where does the adf2disk program need to be in the amiga's hdd (i.e. in a specific drawer?) for the above command to work?

I'd really appreciate it if you could answer my 4 questions in bold. I'm entirely lost

[prowler]

Although you can use a high density floppy disk with the HD sense hole covered with tape in your Amiga's floppy drive, the disk *must* be double density formatted if it is to be read by the Amiga, i.e. 880kB (Amiga formatted) or 720kB (MS-DOS formatted).

An ADF file is 880kB in size (i.e. the Amiga formatted disk capacity), but a double density PC formatted floppy disk has only 720kB capacity, so you can see that an ADF file isn't going to fit on the disk.

This means that the technique you mention isn't going to work for you.

There are ways round it, but they involve using compression or splitting the ADF file in two and then splicing the two parts back together in your Amiga's RAM or hard drive.

Edit: The CLI is the Amiga's command line interface, which is like using MS-DOS or Windows' command line on your PC, and the '>' is just like the DOS prompt on the PC.

[McTrinsic]

Hi,

you are Talking about two different Things.

About your original question: if you want To Write a Disk with your PCfor the Amiga that can be read by the Amiga directly, find a Catweazel ( Win 32bit or Linux ) or a Kryoflux.

If you want To Transfer a file To the Amiga First and then Write it To Disk that's something completely different.

I suggest you start a new thread describing exactly what you want To achieve and what you have available, i.e. Systems (PC - OS?, Amiga) and some Details about them - Kickstart, Floppy-Drives, Software, Nullmodem-Cable,...

This Forum can then be extremely helpful - if we know what To help you with.

Cheers,
McTrinsic

Originally Posted by Galder

Oh ok, I see. I found here (http://fellow.abime.net/old_version/.../transfer.html) that:

"If you have KickROM version 2.0 (or higher) and the Workbench 2.0 (or higher) disks then the transfer adf software is already on these disks. The first thing you should do is formatting a 3.5" double density disk on your PC. You can copy the files that you need to this disk (1. for example: the game adf file, right??(galder) ). Start the Amiga with Workbench 2.0 (or higher) and put the disk in your Amiga diskdrive (DF0. You can find the needed software in the "/storage/dosdrivers" directory. If you run the file "PC0" your Amiga will automatically detect that the disk in DF0: is an DOS-formatted disk and an extra icon will appear. For using DF1: run "PC1". You can click on it and as you see the file you put on them are now visible (if not so try the "Window" workbench menu and select Show -> All Files).

2. So that means I will be able to transfer the adf file to my hdd or the amiga's ram right?

After that i need to write this adf in a disk. So:

"Once the ADF is transfered to the harddisk or to the ramdisk you can write it back to an original Amiga disk. The utility performing this task is ADF2DISK (click here to download). You must put a blank disk in DF0: and start ADF2DISK by the following command:

CLI> adf2disk RAM:whole.adf

The ADF named "whole.adf" will be written to the disk."

3. I will copy ADF2DISK in the high density formatted disk and then transfer it in the amiga's hdd but the question is where and how?

4. "You must put a blank disk in DF0: and start ADF2DISK by the following command:

CLI> adf2disk RAM:whole.adf". What is the CLI at the beginning? when i open the scipt window i see DH0 if i remember correct. How do I set it to CLI? does it need to be CLI? where does the adf2disk program need to be in the amiga's hdd (i.e. in a specific drawer?) for the above command to work?

I'd really appreciate it if you could answer my 4 questions in bold. I'm entirely lost

[ajk]

I'm sure everyone here is happy to help with specific issues, but it would be so much more productive if you would have a basic understanding of how Workbench works. May I suggest starting with these two manuals:

AmigaDOS Manual
Workbench 3 User's Guide

We get a lot of these types of questions here on the forums (writing .adf with a PC comes up probably once every week, sure feels like it anyway), and - no offense intended - it's very frustrating to try and help if you have to start from the absolute basics each time I understand that Workbench may be alien to users who are just now getting into the Amiga, but that is why there are manuals and tutorials.

It would also help to know what kind of system you are trying this on, since an .adf will not fit into the memory of a standard A500, nor will CrossDOS be available with Workbench 1.3, etc. - available solutions depend on available resources.

For your question 4, see section 1.3.7 (page 14) of the AmigaDOS Manual above

[Neil79]

Thankfully this is easier on an Amiga 1200 or Amiga 500 with ACA500

You can then have a PCMCIA card with a load of ADF files on it and then an internal CF card. By this you can then use ADF2Floppy or TSGui and copy over an ADF file directly to the floppy in the Amiga itself ( with tape over hole )

Another way to write Amiga disks directly with a PC (that has a parallel port) is ADTWin: http://m1web.de/ADTWin

It does not require external hardware except for a self-soldered cable that connects the floppy drive to the parallel port. Check out the instructions on the web page to see whether it works on your system.