How to transfer ADFs from PC to Amiga 500

Hi

I've recently bought an A500 (with RAM upgrade) and want to transfer ADFs from my old XP PC to it.

I've read everything I can find on the process, but it still doesn't make sense; there doesn't seem to be a simple, step-by-step process.

I have bought a null serial cable and have tried Amiga Explorer & ADF Sender Terminal.

Amiga Explorer looked promising (and easy), but it doesn't work. ADF works (sort of?) but I have no idea what I'm doing.

Here's what I've done so far:

Amiga Explorer:

I'm using Windows XP with an Administrator account, but Setup says that I need administrator privileges. It's set up to use COM1 by default, so it should be ok, but I thought I'd flag this.

After following the type ser: to ram:setup instruction, Amiga Explorer setup appears to "copy" files.

I'm then told to press Ctrl+C and OK, but BREAK does not appear on the Amiga.

Typing ram:setup results in "unable to load. file is not an object module".

Pressing OK on the PC fails with "error reading from COM port".

Why does this software fail on 2 counts?

ADF Sender Terminal

I downloaded Transwarp (and every zip on their site site for that matter) but am a bit stumped.

So far I've:

1. Followed the instructions to transfer transwarp to the Amiga

2. On running transwarp.run, it extracted transwarp but then said the archive was corrupt.

3. I ran copy ram:transwarp to c: which copied files to my Workbench disk

4. I tried copy ram:BaudBandit.device to devs: but baudbandit was not an object or module (or something like that)

Now what do I do?

I've read about 4 different readme's, but I am none the wiser on what to do next to transfer say, Holiday Lemmings.adf, to my Amiga to then write to a disk.

Can anyone help provide some clear, step by step instructions?

If I successfully manage to transfer an ADF, do I have to go through all the steps again, or do I write a program to disk and use that?

Your help would be very much appreciated.

Thanks

Matt

[k4lmp]

On mine, after it finishes sending when you do the "type SER: to RAM:Setup" the Amiga should go back to a flashing prompt without having to do anything. This is when the XP machine completes sending. Then, at the prompt do the "RX RAM:Setup" and enter on the Amiga. You should get an ARexx output, and once again, when the XP machine finishes sending the setup file, the Amiga will go to a command prompt. At that point, copy the AExplorer file to your hard drive. Then, you need to right click on the icon, and make sure it is using serial.device, or whatever driver you are using. If you are using the built in serial port, I've found that artser.device works better, and is available on Aminet. Go to your serial preferences, and set them to 8N1, CTS/RTS, 4096 buffer size, and the baud rate to whatever you have Amiga Explorer set to on the XP machine. Also, go into your device manager on the XP machine and make sure all the settings are the same there, as well, on the com port you are using. Double click the AExplorer icon on the Amiga first, it will briefly show you the settings, then the window will close. Double click Amiga Explorer icon on the XP machine, and it should come up, and show all the directories and drives on the Amiga, if not, and you get a "can't read from COM port" or similar, check your settings on both machines again. Make sure you are using a good NULL modem cable.

One other note, I find that sometimes it works better to send the file to the RAM: drive from the XP machine, first, then copy it to the hard drive when doing regular file transfers. It just seems to work better for me that way.

As far as writing ADF files to a floppy, I use TransGUI. It is simple and works great. You just tell it the file you want, and whether you want to do an ADF to Disk, or vice versa. You can tell it to format the floppy on the fly while writing. Make sure to select the correct floppy drive that you have the blank inserted into, and near the bottom is a place to browse for your ADF file.

If I have forgotten something, or am wrong, someone please correct me. Hope this helps.

Jeff

[Arnie]

Just a thought, you could try attaching the Amiga HDD to WinUAE and loading the ADF's from there.

[ppill]

Here's a link to a step by step guide I did... it's in polish but google translate does a decent job. Also check my signature

[Jonathan Drain]

I wrote a guide in 2008. It might be useful to you, although it doesn't have any helpful information on using Amiga Explorer.

Some things that might help:
- Set the bps rate lower, maybe as low as 9600bps if that helps
- Check you're following the instructions and didn't miss anything
- If you're using a USB-serial convertor on the PC, that might cause problems
- Serial is slow anyway, so look into hard disks or SD card readers for A500 (there should be guides on this forum.)
- If you can get CrossDOS (mount PC0 on the A500 you can use DMS to compress half a disk at a time and copy them over on PC formatted disks as detailed on my website linked above.

[prowler]

Hi Stowball,

Whwen you're using Amiga Explorer with a Null Modem Cable, you must ensure that it is wired in accordance with one of the following diagrams:

DB-25 connectors on both ends



DB-9 connector on one end, DB-25 on the other end


DB-9 connectors on both ends

[desiv]

Originally Posted by stowball

4. I tried copy ram:BaudBandit.device to devs: but baudbandit was not an object or module (or something like that)

You don't need the baudbandit.device.

It can make things faster, but it's not required.

Originally Posted by stowball

Now what do I do?

Ok, what I'd do is open a SHELL and copy transwarp to RAM:, then (after placing a blank pre-formatted floppy in the df0 ) type:

RAM:transwarp -w ser: -b 19200 -1

It should tell you to start sending the disk from the PC, so choose your ADF on your PC and send it. Make sure the PC is set for 19,200. (You can go higher, but I had my best luck initially at that speed, so I think it's safest to start.)

Good Luck

desiv
p.s. Make sure you write protect your boot floppy, so you don't accidentally write over it. That's why I generally ran transwarp from RAM.

Originally Posted by ppill

Here's a link to a step by step guide I did... it's in polish but google translate does a decent job. Also check my signature

Hi ppill

Sorry for delay, but I could not get your instructions to work.

I send transwarplong successfully (although I never see BREAK when I press Ctrl+C) so I send an empty .txt file and close the "Send another file?" dialog.

Then I cd:ram and type "ram:transwarp -w ser: -1" and it results in "unable to load ram:transwarp: file is not an object or module".

I have no idea what to do to to fix this I've tried in WB 1.3 & 1.2

Matt

[demolition]

Originally Posted by stowball

I send transwarplong successfully (although I never see BREAK when I press Ctrl+C) so I send an empty .txt file and close the "Send another file?" dialog.

Then I cd:ram and type "ram:transwarp -w ser: -1" and it results in "unable to load ram:transwarp: file is not an object or module".

Is the file set as executable?

Originally Posted by demolition

Is the file set as executable?

I don't know. How do I tell or do that?

[Retroplay]

Originally Posted by prowler

When you're using Amiga Explorer with a Null Modem Cable, you must ensure that it is wired in accordance with one of the following diagrams

A few years ago I went to the local computer shop for a null modem cable, just to find out that I needed to rewire the damn thing before it worked properly.
It's probably just some el-cheapo bamboo no-name cable I bought though.

[demolition]

Originally Posted by stowball

I don't know. How do I tell or do that?

In Workbench you can select the file and choose Information from the right click menu to see and set attributes. Can't remember how this can be done from cli.

Edit: Just found out, use 'protect <filename> +e' to set file as executable.

[ppill]

Originally Posted by stowball

Hi ppill

Sorry for delay, but I could not get your instructions to work.

I send transwarplong successfully (although I never see BREAK when I press Ctrl+C) so I send an empty .txt file and close the "Send another file?" dialog.

Then I cd:ram and type "ram:transwarp -w ser: -1" and it results in "unable to load ram:transwarp: file is not an object or module".

I have no idea what to do to to fix this I've tried in WB 1.3 & 1.2

Matt

send transwarplong, when the requester for another file pops up don't do anything and press CTRL+C in the amiga shell and then send another file (could be anything)... you should see the break signal. did you do that in this order? maybe the translation messed up something.

Originally Posted by ppill

send transwarplong, when the requester for another file pops up don't do anything and press CTRL+C in the amiga shell and then send another file (could be anything)... you should see the break signal. did you do that in this order? maybe the translation messed up something.

I tried it in that order. Break never happens. It didn't when I tried to use Amiga Explorer as well.

My Ctrl and C keys definitely work though :-\

[ppill]

Originally Posted by stowball

I tried it in that order. Break never happens. It didn't when I tried to use Amiga Explorer as well.

My Ctrl and C keys definitely work though :-\

You're using an internal SER port or an USB adapter on the PC? I'm a bit fuzzy on this but changing the ser setting in the hardware manager to disable FIFO buffers or something along those lines did help.

I contacted the guy who sold me the null modem cable on ebay and he tried it and also couldn't get Amiga Explorer to work. However, he said that with an existing Amiga Explorer disk that he already had, it's able to transfer over.

So, he sent me out a copy of the disk and, lo and behold, I can transfer ADFs now!

Christmas has come early! \o/