"Work", has the wrong icon.

[Mr B]

While experimenting with a larger then 4GB drive, and workbenchinstalls through WinUAE i found out that apparently i have to partition the drive with HDToolBox, and manually format it, (Well, as manual a right click and poking in a menu gets) since HDsetup tries to use all of the drive, and makes it error out. The drawback to this seams to be that i'm now "stuck" with a floppy image signifying the "drive" for the "Work" space.

Am i going about this in the wrong way, should i have done something differently, or is this the right way, and there is a way to get the "right" icon for the partition?
B!

[Hewitson]

Use HDInstTools for drives larger than 4GB, the size won't "wrap-around" like in HDToolBox.
http://aminet.net/package/disk/misc/hdinst

However this has nothing to do with your problem, the floppy icon is simply the default icon for any disk. Run the following command:

copy SYS:Disk.info Work:

[fitzsteve]

Copy 'Disk.info' from your System/Workbench partition to 'Work' if you want the same Icon as that or you can use an Icon Manager to create a differnt one.

There are some on Aminet

Steve.

[Mr B]

Originally Posted by Hewitson

Use HDInstTools for drives larger than 4GB, the size won't "wrap-around" like in HDToolBox.
http://aminet.net/package/disk/misc/hdinst

I actually managed to get it right, or so it seams, with HDToolBox. Well, since i stuck to <4GB anyway. I'll be experimenting with different filesystems and HDInstTools in a while, but first of i need to figure out a few basic things... Thats what this setup is for. Then i'll create a working setup with my new 20GB drive, and put it in my Amiga. I had a 20GB drive a few years back, but it never got a new filesystem, just a bunch of 4GB partitions, and a new scsi device driver.

Originally Posted by Hewitson

However this has nothing to do with your problem, the floppy icon is simply the default icon for any disk. Run the following command:

copy SYS:Disk.info Work:

That looked like it did... nothing. A reset later, and it looks like it should. Great, thanks.

Originally Posted by fitzsteve

Copy 'Disk.info' from your System/Workbench partition to 'Work' if you want the same Icon as that or you can use an Icon Manager to create a differnt one.

You need to talk to me like i'm a complete moron. It would be close to the truth. It's been a "few" years since i did anything with the Amiga, and back then it was only games. I didn't care to figure out how to copy something, much less find it, unless it was a game, on a blue piece of plastic, and could be copied with X-copy, or nibbler.
You said "copy Disc.info" and i went looking in the "folder" of the drive. Nope, not there. Aha, hidden, lets show all... Um.. Still not there... Just shows how much (or rather, little) i know. ;- )

This is a learning experience, i'll be shooting questions out of my ears, just you guys wait. You'll be so bored answering basic questions in notime, that you'll go watch that "other" Amiga video.
B!

[thomas]

I had a 20GB drive a few years back, but it never got a new filesystem, just a bunch of 4GB partitions, and a new scsi device driver.

You surely had a new file system. Otherwise your data would have had a very risky life. The 4GB limit applies to the drive size, not to partition size. As soon as the sum of all partitions exeeds 4GB the problem arises, although it might remain unrecognised until two partitions write data to the same place on the HDD. Only a working combination of scsi driver and file system fixes it. One part alone does not help a bit.

[Mr B]

You should know, your the one who got me through it the last time... (Well, you, and Charlie.) I just sort of remember using FFS all along, but then again, what do i know, i just had it set up once, filled with "my stuff™" and then used it. Sadly, when i pulled the A1200 out of storage the drive was dead, and here i am, again. Trying to do a more serious setup this time around. The A1200 isn't going back in to storage for quite some time, so might as well...
B!

While on the topic. Since my new drive is a 13Gb item, i should be able to get away with a "small" FFS partition for the OS, and then use SFS for one single partition, for the rest? (I'll find out, in the process of testing it...)
B!

[thomas]

Originally Posted by Mr B

While on the topic. Since my new drive is a 13Gb item, i should be able to get away with a "small" FFS partition for the OS, and then use SFS for one single partition, for the rest? (I'll find out, in the process of testing it...)
B!

Not completely. As mentioned above, the file system alone does not fix the 4GB problem, you also need the updated scsi.device driver.

Secondly, SFS is better than FFS in many ways. I don't see a reason for not using SFS on the boot partition if you use it for other partitions.

Regarding SFS in general, it is still in beta state and there is not much support for it out there in the case of an emergency. So you should be prepared to make regular backups so that you don't lose much and can restore your data quickly in the case of a failure. I would make two big partitions and use the second one to store the backups.

[Mr B]

I would prefer PFS3, but even tho it seams abandoned, and the developer claimed he was willing to give it to the community, nothing has happened, so i went with whats second best. And, thats SFS. However, i messed up while trying to get the SCSI_IDE_43_23 details right, and decided to start over, so right now i'm making a copy of a clean install, (Of AmigaOS + a few workbench addons like the updated installer and such) just to not have to restart from the beginning again.
B!

[AndyLandy]

Originally Posted by Mr B

You said "copy Disc.info" and i went looking in the "folder" of the drive. Nope, not there. Aha, hidden, lets show all... Um.. Still not there... Just shows how much (or rather, little) i know. ;- )

.info files are invisible, even if you say "show all files" but they are really there. You will need to use CLI to copy one. Do "execute command" and type "copy sys:disk.info work:disk.info" and that'll copy the icon from your boot SYS: partition to your work: partition. :-)

[Mr B]

Yeah, that worked as intended, but i was like "uh, wtf!?" when i couldn't find the file when i was looking for it, and when i couldn't see the new image after i did the typing i was really starting to wonder if i was going insane. A virtual reset later and all was clear as day.

Since then i've messed up the filesystem, and WinUAE refused to boot of the drive again, so i started over. But i'm picking up speed. Do something over and over, and you learn to be better at it. I didn't expect it to be quite this true tho...
B!

[thomas]

I would prefer PFS3, but even tho it seams abandoned, and the developer claimed he was willing to give it to the community, nothing has happened, so i went with whats second best.

You can still order issue 85 of the Amiga Future magazine for 13,75 Euro (8 Euro mag with CD + 3.75 Euro shipping outside germany + 2 Euro PayPal fee) from http://www.apc-tcp.de/shop/afe.php if you really want it.

[Mr B]

They managed to get there hands on a kit, ? Cool. I'll have to look in to that when i start getting ready for the actual disc that will go into the Amiga.

Thanks for the tip.

BTW, would it be worth the money to get a IDEfix97 just for the drivers to use larger then 4GB drives? IDEfix97 includes a bunch of stuff i don't need, or really want, like atapi directed stuff. I guess what i'm asking is if there are benefits over using IDEfix97 over the SCSI_IDE_43_23 package? The fact that the installer makes it a lot easier for a noob isn't enough to justify it.
B!

Edit
As a few of you know by now, i'm having every issue a Noob can have. Heck, i haven't even been able to figure out how to edit text files in WinUAE. For now i'm resorting to transfering startup-sequence to the drive thats actually a folder, edit it with notepad, making sure to copy in the right return marker at the end of the line, and save it, and then move it back to where it belongs. Crude, but it works.

While i started talking about scsi_ide_43_23 in here, i might as well drop a question about the current error i'm having with it as well. Anyway. I'm trying to get this working, and keep getting a error. "loadv43module failed return code 10" on boot. Reading up a bit, i found out this could be caused by a date check, meaning that the beta has expired. So, i went after the patch for that problem, and patched A300.ld.strip (Hey, i figured out a way to do that at least. Still not grasping directory structures for commands, i simply copied the file to be patched, and the tool to do it to, to the ram drive, and execute command >cli hey, presto, easy as "patchstrip a300.ld.strip patcha300.ld.strip")

Copy back, and since i was to lazy to rewrite the startup-sequence again, i renamed and overwrote the original a300... Still no go. For good measure i patched the scsidisk.ld.strip as well. Go figure, still no go. So, now i suspect i did something else wrong.

a300.ld.strip is in devs/dosdrivers
scsidisk.ld.strip and loadv43module is in C

As far as i can tell i need to add something like "LoadV43Module >NIL: <path>a300.ld.strip [REBOOT]" to the top of my startup-sequence and it should be all at this point. (Wish i paid more attention "back then" when i had some help that got me set up the last time. My mate at hand that time at least had some knowledge of how to work the Amiga.) My two main concerns at this point (with this issue) is that i'm not that certain i put the right files in the right places. And the other one is that i'm really not sure how to write a propper path to the a300...
I went with "workbench:devs/dosdrivers/a300.ld.strip" but well, as i said, i get this error message...

For now i commented the line out, it's to late to keep up, i'm going to bed. (It's just past 2 in the morning.) At least it will start in the morning, leaving me with a work in progress, and not a piece of broken software.

Any ideas as to where i'm messing up (yes, i know, i messed up when i walked close to the amiga) and some advice on how to get it going wouldn't hurt. I'm going to have to do this a few times until i manage to get my own setup with a few tools, and whdload on to this drive in a working condition. after that i'll try and "on my own" configure the 20GB drive that actually might end up in the amiga. And by that time the summer will be over, Jens will have released the Indivision MKII, and i'll be indoors playing Amiga on my TV over the winter. By the time the drive is dying from abuse, i'll have forgotten everything, and we get to start over here.

Yeah, you know it. I love you all. And i should really be in bed by now, i'm getting TO silly.
B!
/Edit

[thomas]

Heck, i haven't even been able to figure out how to edit text files in WinUAE.

The default editor in AmigaOS is Ed. You open it from a shell window by entering ed s:startup-sequence. However, it is quite difficult to use, simular to vi in Linux.

With WinUAE you have all kinds of possibilities to make your life easier. I'd suggest to install ClassicWB or AmigaSYS or similar and then prepare your new harddrive from that.

Anyway. I'm trying to get this working, and keep getting a error. "loadv43module failed return code 10" on boot.

Generally a command never quits silently just saying "there was an error". It always prints an error message telling you what is wrong. However, you hide the error message. Remove the ">nil:" from the command line, then the error message will be printed to the console.

Regarding loadv43module, it makes some unnecessary checks about the system configuration, for example it only works on Kick 3.1 and needs a 68020. All that is not true for the actual scsi.device module. So you better use Thor's LoadModule which runs without all these checks.

http://aminet.net/package/util/boot/LoadModule

a300.ld.strip is in devs/dosdrivers

Only mount files belong there, not modules. Copy it to devs or make a new drawer devs/modules. Do not put it into dosdrivers.

As far as i can tell i need to add something like "LoadV43Module >NIL: <path>a300.ld.strip [REBOOT]"

Hope you didn't copy this to startup-sequence literally. Signs like <> or [] usually surround parameters which need to be replaced by values. <> usually means that this parameter is needed while [] indicates optional parameters.

<path> should be replaced by the directory where the strip module is located. In your case devs:a300.ld.strip or devs:modules/a300.ld.strip.

A parameter written in capital letters means it is a keyword which needs to be specified exactly as shown. So in the case of [REBOOT] you either write REBOOT if you need a reboot or nothing if you don't want to reboot. (You need a reboot to activate scsi.device.)

[Mr B]

Originally Posted by thomas

The default editor in AmigaOS is Ed. You open it from a shell window by entering ed s:startup-sequence. However, it is quite difficult to use, simular to vi in Linux.

With WinUAE you have all kinds of possibilities to make your life easier. I'd suggest to install ClassicWB or AmigaSYS or similar and then prepare your new harddrive from that.

Sooner or later i will have to use the Amiga, and nothing but the Amiga to work this out, so i better learn how to do it the right way. Or, if you rather want to blame it on me, being stubborn.

Originally Posted by thomas

Generally a command never quits silently just saying "there was an error". It always prints an error message telling you what is wrong. However, you hide the error message. Remove the ">nil:" from the command line, then the error message will be printed to the console.

True. I just figured since i know i don't know enough about the Amiga, it was a error based on the path being wrong. Sure enough, do away with >nil: and i got "loading devs:modules/a300.ld.strip failed: object not found"
The good thing about this situation is that i know what the "error" is. It's me. the human factor. Someone who knew what the heck they were doing would have this up and running in notime. I intend to learn enough to be at that level.

Originally Posted by thomas

Hope you didn't copy this to startup-sequence literally. Signs like <> or [] usually surround parameters which need to be replaced by values. <> usually means that this parameter is needed while [] indicates optional parameters.

<path> should be replaced by the directory where the strip module is located. In your case devs:a300.ld.strip or devs:modules/a300.ld.strip.

A parameter written in capital letters means it is a keyword which needs to be specified exactly as shown. So in the case of [REBOOT] you either write REBOOT if you need a reboot or nothing if you don't want to reboot. (You need a reboot to activate scsi.device.)

You seam to have figured it out. I know pretty much nothing, and expect me to know as much. Actually, <path> i knew, and replaced as best as i could, with different attempts, with no luck. [reboot] ( or rather [] )was news to me. With the new loadmodule you pointed at, it seams it reboots on it's own after loading, if "needed", and have to be forced not to, so i left it out. However, still no go. I'll keep poking it with a stick, but it seams i need a longer stick, since i got to go out for a bit.
B!

[thomas]

Originally Posted by Mr B

Sooner or later i will have to use the Amiga, and nothing but the Amiga to work this out, so i better learn how to do it the right way. Or, if you rather want to blame it on me, being stubborn.

Why is using more comfortable tools less right than the puristic approach?

I would do this on my real Amiga, too: I would connect the new harddrive as second drive to the already working environment I am comfortable with and prepare it from there using my preferred tools.

And actually you are doing the same already: you've connected the HDD to a PC. So why not use a comfortable environment on this PC?

Besides that, there are many people using ClassicWB or AmigaSYS on their real Amigas. It's Amiga software after all. Why should it not run on real Amiga computers?

True. I just figured since i know i don't know enough about the Amiga, it was a error based on the path being wrong. Sure enough, do away with >nil: and i got "loading devs:modules/a300.ld.strip failed: object not found"

That's quite easy to check: just enter

cd devs:modules
dir

Probably there is no file called a300.ld.strip in this directory, otherwise it would have found it.

[Mr B]

Originally Posted by thomas

Why is using more comfortable tools less right than the puristic approach?

I told you, you could blame it on me being stubborn, it has very little to do with more, or less right ;- )

Originally Posted by thomas

That's quite easy to check: just enter

cd devs:modules
dir

Probably there is no file called a300.ld.strip in this directory, otherwise it would have found it.

It was there, and combined with your statement that it should have found it made me go back to my copy of the drive, grab a unmodifyed startup-sequence, and add the line. After transferring it to the "Amiga" it now works. Plain odd, i could swear they are alike, but now it works, b4 it didn't. Well, at least i think it works. Without the reboot item that is. And it still only see 8GB, so i take it it hasn't rebooted, which means the command works, but doesn't do it's thing just yet.
I'll look in to that next. In the morning.

Thank you for sharing your knowledge, and having lots of patience.
;- )
B!

Edit
Looks like the reboot part doesn't have to be specified for LoadModule, as compared to load43module. That was to easy, and the last thing i tested. *sigh* Well, looks like it's loading as supposed. Fire up WinUAE, start the "Amiga" and then CTRL+Home+Insert, both mouse buttons, and "Boot with no startup-sequence" and when i use the loadmodule list feature it shows up... Should be resident from the previews boot. But the drive is still seen as 8GB in HDInstTools. It should work under WinUAE, right? When HDInstTools is scanning for devices it should detect actuall hardware parameters, i think? The true spec should be 26550 cylinders, 16 heads and 63 sectors. What i get is 16383 cylinders. The rest is right. Total size reported as 8.062MB. WinUAE, where you add the drive, knows full well it's 12.8GB large. (HD controller IDE0)
Confusing, if anything.
/Edit