Request: PC bridgeboard install/dos disks

[Toni Wilen]

PC bridgeboard official boot/install disks are nearly 100% MIA, they should be also preserved.

Commodore A1060, A2088, A2286, A2386SX included DOS disks with Janus software pre-installed. I am not sure if non-Commodore boards also included board specific DOS boot disks?

[DrBong]

Originally Posted by Toni Wilen

PC bridgeboard official boot/install disks are nearly 100% MIA, they should be also preserved.

Perhaps not "preserved" in the SPS tradition, but readily available on the Amiga Hardware Database:

http://amiga.resource.cx/dir/ibm

Commodore A1060, A2088, A2286, A2386SX included DOS disks with Janus software pre-installed. I am not sure if non-Commodore boards also included board specific DOS boot disks?

I think these links should cover most of what you specify above:

http://amiga.resource.cx/dir/ibm

http://www.l8r.net/install/misc.html

[Toni Wilen]

Originally Posted by DrBong

I think these links should cover most of what you specify above

No. PC/MS/Whatever/DOS install disks, not Amiga-side install disks. (Not .ADF)

[DrBong]

Originally Posted by Toni Wilen

No. PC/MS/Whatever/DOS install disks, not Amiga-side install disks. (Not .ADF)

My apologies. I thought the zip files in the Amiga Hardware Database entries contained the DOS disks with Janus software pre-installed, but it looks to be just the standalone Janus software.

TBH I can't remember receiving DOS disks with the Janus software pre-installed for any of the C= bridgeboards/sidecars or the Vortex ATOnce boards I've bought in the past, but that might be because they were all bought secondhand. Good luck with the hunt for these disks!

[Arnie]

The only one that has a PC disk is the AToncePlus. Not sure if it has Janus on it though.

[DrBong]

@Arnie
Yeh, I just had a look at the C= 2088/2286 manual and it only mentions MS-DOS 3.3 and GW-BASIC being supplied on disk along with docs, but nothing about Janus.

[Toni Wilen]

Check Commodore_A1060-A2088_MSDOS_1987.zip in the zone. Disk label mentions "Utilities" and disk does contain for example JLINK.COM and JDISK.SYS.

[DrBong]

Originally Posted by Toni Wilen

Check Commodore_A1060-A2088_MSDOS_1987.zip in the zone. Disk label mentions "Utilities" and disk does contain for example JLINK.COM and JDISK.SYS.

OK, that must be the one mentioned in the C= 2088/2286 manual because the disk label mentions MS-DOS and GW-BASIC. The disk scan looks familiar, so I might have received a copy with one of the A1060s I have.

I'm guessing that kind of software would've been supplied on floppy with PC bridgeboards that were bundled with 5.25" PC disk drives, but not so much otherwise (possibly due to licensing costs). FWIW, the Big Book of Amiga Hardware indicates that these PC bridgeboards were supplied with PC software on 5.25" floppy disk:

- C= A1060
- C= A2088 (see pic of bundled 5.25" disks HERE)
- C= A2286 (but not the A2386)
- Vortex ATonce Plus (but not the original ATOnce)

[demolition]

I have what looks to be an unused package of the 2088/2286 BB disks, including the Janus utility disk.

I dumped the 3.5" Amiga disk, but I am having problems with the 5.25" disks in my Amiga external drive. I can see the root directory, but when I try to copy files from the disk, I just get empty files. I have never tried reading PC 5.25" disks on the Amiga before so not sure how it differs from 3.5". The disks look like DD and seeing as I can see the root, they probably are, but the question is whether they are 360kB or 720kB and if the Amiga is configured for it?

Anyway, if I can't make it work, I will be able to dump the disks in a real PC drive in a week or two.

Edit: I managed to dump them using the Amiga drive by setting the drive to 40 tracks and dumping it using TrackSaver GUI. Since the Amiga still thought it was a 720kB disk, it failed at 50%/360kB where I just canceled the operation. The images all seem good to me. I have put them in the Zone.

[Sandro]

Originally Posted by demolition

I have what looks to be an unused package of the 2088/2286 BB disks, including the Janus utility disk.

I dumped the 3.5" Amiga disk, but I am having problems with the 5.25" disks in my Amiga external drive. I can see the root directory, but when I try to copy files from the disk, I just get empty files. I have never tried reading PC 5.25" disks on the Amiga before so not sure how it differs from 3.5". The disks look like DD and seeing as I can see the root, they probably are, but the question is whether they are 360kB or 720kB and if the Amiga is configured for it?

Anyway, if I can't make it work, I will be able to dump the disks in a real PC drive in a week or two.

Edit: I managed to dump them using the Amiga drive by setting the drive to 40 tracks and dumping it using TrackSaver GUI. Since the Amiga still thought it was a 720kB disk, it failed at 50%/360kB where I just canceled the operation. The images all seem good to me. I have put them in the Zone.

those are normal dos disks 3.30 you can get them on the web

the best way to image those disks is using a common PC+ a common 5.25 drive, you can do the images using the program "winimage" (IMA format)

[demolition]

I am quite certain that the images I made with the Amiga drive in 40 track mode and put in the zone are good ones. It is just a plain image, so the same as WinImage's IMA format. I can open them in WinImage and see all the contents.

But if these were not the disks that Toni were looking for, then what was it? When I stumbled upon these disks, I just remembered seeing this thread.

[Toni Wilen]

They are exactly the images I was looking for. They most likely will include bridgeboard specific utilities and are not "pure" dos disks.

[demolition]

I can get access to a Kryoflux so can even read them through that in case there are concerns if it is not plain formatted DOS disks, but seeing as it would read all tracks with a constant speed, I would not expect any custom format which is not typical on PC anyway.

[Toni Wilen]

Originally Posted by demolition

I can get access to a Kryoflux so can even read them through that in case there are concerns if it is not plain formatted DOS disks, but seeing as it would read all tracks with a constant speed, I would not expect any custom format which is not typical on PC anyway.

I don't think they have any strange formatting. (not "pure" = not exactly same as official msdos disks from microsoft, they have extra OEM specific data and modifications)

But KF dump would be nice anyway, those disks aren't that common and should be fully preserved.

[demolition]

I just put the Amiga side PC-Install disk on the Zone. It seems to me that it is different from the 1.3 I can find in TOSEC. Looking through the image I can find some Danish text in there, not present in the other images, so is it possible they made localized versions of these disks?

[demolition]

Originally Posted by Toni Wilen

But KF dump would be nice anyway, those disks aren't that common and should be fully preserved.

Forgot about this for a while, but I just put raw KF dumps + scans of those floppies in the Zone in case anyone finds them useful.

Hi,
I've just picked up a 2286 bridgeboard, any chance you could reupload the software into the Zone?

Cheers

[demolition]

Done

Originally Posted by demolition

Done

You're a star, thank you