Are Coverdisks Worth Anything? - Page 3

fitzsteve · 21 January 2010, 23:26

I wrote the ADF back to a floppy with easyADF and its running right now on my real A1200... Kind of reminds me of fantasy zone but vertical scrolling...

@Titler, would you like me to send you the copy?

Steve.

prowler · 21 January 2010, 23:33

Nice one, Steve!

Is that the Gunbee F-99 Demo from AF117b.adf ?

fitzsteve · 21 January 2010, 23:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by prowler

Nice one, Steve!

Is that the Gunbee F-99 Demo from A117Fb.adf ?

Yes, it works just fine. (takes a little while to load) Good job getting the data off

Nice little shooter

prowler · 21 January 2010, 23:39

Can you run Mini Arcanoid from the same disk image?

We're not certain, but it's possible that this one requires a file or files from the companion AF117a disk, which is damaged.

fitzsteve · 21 January 2010, 23:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by prowler

Can you run Mini Arcanoid from the same disk image?

We're not certain, but it's possible that this one requires a file or files from the companion AF117a disk, which is damaged.

Yes it works, and guess what! Its the same Arcanoid thats included with the Classic Workbench packs.

I extracted the lzx to Ram and ran the HD installer, when I ran the game I instantly recorgnised it, tried the CWB version and its even the same revision!

Steve.

Update: You can also run Gunbee from workbench with the Icon, when I played before I booted off the floppy but it works both ways.

prowler · 21 January 2010, 23:57

Nice work, Steve. Thanks!

You're running that disk on your A1200, right?

The disk label says 'AGA required'. I wonder if Titler's running it in WinUAE using an A500 configuration? It seems unlikely, but maybe that's why he can't get it to work.

fitzsteve · 22 January 2010, 00:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by prowler

Nice work, Steve. Thanks!

You're running that disk on your A1200, right?

The disk label says 'AGA required'. I wonder if Titler's running it in WinUAE using an A500 configuration? It seems unlikely, but maybe that's why he can't get it to work.

Yep its my real A1200 3.1 rom 030 accelerator

prowler · 22 January 2010, 00:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by fitzsteve

Yep its my real A1200 3.1 rom 030 accelerator

That's AGA on steroids!

fitzsteve · 22 January 2010, 00:10

Hmmmm

Seems it might be a bit hit 'n' miss. (Gunbee Demo)

Just tried to play it again and now its getting stuck at the start level loading screen.

Going to try copy to HDD and run it...

BRB.

Update looks like my disk has just developed a read error, lol old floppy's. Let me try to run it from my CF or something, brb...

prowler · 22 January 2010, 00:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by fitzsteve

Hmmmm

Seems it might be a bit hit 'n' miss. (Gunbee Demo)

Just tried to play it again and now its getting stuck at the start level loading screen.

Going to try copy to HDD and run it...

This is what Titler says about the GunBee Demo:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Titler

...I also couldn't get Amibee to launch either, it freezes after selecting graphics/control options on anything but a default A1200 under emulation, but cycles back to the discs first screen when the options are selected with said A1200.

At least that confirms he's not using an A500 config.

Quote:

Originally Posted by fitzsteve

...looks like my disk has just developed a read error, lol old floppy's. Let me try to run it from my CF or something, brb...

Phew! For a moment I thought you meant my ADF.

fitzsteve · 22 January 2010, 00:26

Right theres nothing wrong with the ADF.

Best way to run this game, I ran winuae, with my CWB P96 setup. Mounted the ADF and My CF card in winuae. (Note I named the containing folder AF117b - dont think it will matter but thats what I done)

Then I copied all the files from the ADF to my CF card (with DOPUS), popped that back into my real Amiga and ran the game with the Icon. Loads really fast now and works great.

Tested the same procedure (copy the files to the virtual hard drive) in Winuae and the game works fine ran from the icon in workbench

Enjoy Titler...

Steve.

Hercules · 22 January 2010, 00:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cookiedeathbot

I've got loads of coverdisks, and was wondering if they're worth anything?

I reckon I've probably got between 100-150, from CU Amiga, Amiga Format, Amiga Power, The One, Amiga Action, as well as a couple of issues of Rampage, and some other randoms.....

Auctions are generally worth as much as people are willing to pay for them.

If their is a person out their who is desperately after completing their coverdisk collection, then they will pay that little bit extra. As a general rule of thumb, start the auction with no fixed reserve and go from there, not forgetting to include postage to cover your postage costs. After all, you want to sell this lot, and make some money without eating into your money from the sale so think carefully on postage costs. If the postage is unreasonable, then it can put off some bidders.

Imho starting with no fixed reserve will generate some extra interest.

Good luck !

prowler · 22 January 2010, 01:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by fitzsteve

Right theres nothing wrong with the ADF.

Best way to run this game, I ran winuae, with my CWB P96 setup. Mounted the ADF and My CF card in winuae. (Note I named the containing folder AF117b - dont think it will matter but thats what I done)

Then I copied all the files from the ADF to my CF card (with DOPUS), popped that back into my real Amiga and ran the game with the Icon. Loads really fast now and works great.

Tested the same procedure (copy the files to the virtual hard drive) in Winuae and the game works fine ran from the icon in workbench

That's a pretty exhaustive test you've done on that disk image, Steve. Just what was required.

Can I submit the AF117a.adf image to you for troubleshooting when I have it ready, mate?

fitzsteve · 22 January 2010, 01:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by prowler

That's a pretty exhaustive test you've done on that disk image, Steve. Just what was required.

Can I submit the AF117a.adf image to you for troubleshooting when I have it ready, mate?

Sure

Its no problem, after all the help EAB gave me when I got my Amiga out after 5 years its the least I can do to give something back!

fitzsteve · 22 January 2010, 09:24

The Demo of Gunbee is also on Aminet:

http://aminet.net/package/game/demo/Gunbee-F99

BippyM · 22 January 2010, 18:34

I have boxes with over 400 coverdisks.. Who wants them (They are heavy.. Around 15kg I think) It wont be cheap to post!

prowler · 31 January 2010, 22:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by Titler

Hmmmm... I don't recall ever writing over it, but Pro-Text is the word processor I had with my Amiga and used throughout my student days, so it's possible I accidentally did at one point. Don't worry if it turns out to be Pro-Text data, as I made working copies of all my old essays years ago

But this will be a shame all the same because on that AF disc originally I discovered, when trying to get the AF Amibee demo running, that there's a routine which is needed to launch the Workbench Arkanoid clone on the Amibee disc.

@Titler:
That AF117a disk is almost certainly recoverable.

The volume name has been overwritten and with it the original disk creation date. Also, a single ProText data file has been written to the disk taking up most of the unallocated space. However, it appears that this activity may have been interrupted by removing the disk from the drive while it was being written to, because a significant proportion (25% or so) of the disk's original data has been corrupted.

The data relating to the Fiasco 2.2, View Fonts 2 and PoolMem applications is contained in two lzx-compressed archives. One (109kB) is intact, but the other (687kB) contains 203 files, 43 of which are corrupted. Fortunately, the decompressed content of these archives is reproduced on the AFCD 33 Cover CD, so I have the means to rebuild these archives.

The other data, including startup-sequence and system-configuration files, installation script, keymaps and dearchiving tool appears to be intact, but another archive (23kB) contains nine AmigaDOS commands used for installation and six of them are corrupted.

I have been downloading other Amiga Format coverdisk images from around the same period in an attempt to obtain good copies of these files (which are not included in the coverdisk archives on AFCD 33), and I have now found them!

When I have reconstructed the archives, I shall upload an AF117a.adf image which, although not an exact byte-for-byte equivalent of the original disk, will be as close a match as possible and will permit the applications as well as the games from the companion AF117b coverdisk to be installed to hard disk in accordance with the scripts, as originally intended.

Indeed, the AF117b startup-sequence confirms that booting from the 'serious' coverdisk (AF117a, as distinct from the 'games' coverdisk AF117b) is required to install the Mini Arcanoid game, as it contains the necessary scripts.

Fitzsteve has agreed to troubleshoot the disk image by carrying out an exhaustive test on it when it's ready.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bippym

I have boxes with over 400 coverdisks.. Who wants them (They are heavy.. Around 15kg I think) It wont be cheap to post!

@Bippy:
I would gladly take those coverdisks off your hands and cover your costs if you would care to send them to me.

prowler · 01 February 2010, 22:49

I have built an exact replica of the 23kB lzx archive on the AF117a floppy disk using the corrupted one salvaged from the original disk and a similar file found in the AF110b floppy Disk image available from AMR.

Next it's the big (687kB!

) one! Then it'll be ready for testing on fitzsteve's A1200 powerhouse...

@Bippy:
I'm serious about those coverdisks!

prowler · 04 February 2010, 00:33

Earlier this evening, I was practising the method I will need to use to reconstruct the Fiasco 2.2 archive (the 687kB one) by extracting and re-archiving the PoolMem/Viewfonts2 archive (109kB), which I managed to salvage intact from the AF117a floppy disk.

The archive I pulled from the disk is not as optimized as it might have been, and in order to reconstruct an exact copy of the archive I had to invoke the LZX command a number of times to get the files archived in the same sequence and similarly optimized. I got there in the end, but I'm glad I practised the technique using the smaller file before attempting it on the big one!

Incidentally, the archive bit was set for some of the files, which is unusual. However, I'm trying to build a disk image to match the original disk as closely as possible, so they will stay set.

@Bippy:
Do you still have those coverdisks?

prowler · 06 February 2010, 01:28

Some of the files in AFCD33's coverdisks folder are not perfect replacements for the damaged files in the AF117a coverdisk's Fiasco 2.2 lzx archive, so it looks like it will not be possible to recreate an exact byte-for-byte copy of the original archive.

The files in question are are all .info files, so it will still be possible to install this application and the others from the reconstructed disk image using the included scripts.

Only 2 of the 43 damaged files are not .info files, and they have been restored successfully.

9 of 16 files I have tried so far this evening have been successfully restored. The other 7 are all good files, but 5 have checksums different from those of the original files and 2 are of a different size.

If the present rate of success continues, and I cannot somehow conjure up matching files from the remainder, the archive will end up containing 24 .info files which are similar but not identical to the originals.

The next step will be to fix the filesystem errors on the original disk image so that the time and date stamps of the folders are preserved, along with all the original file entries. My first attempt to repair the disk image with DiskSalv resulted in the Fiasco 2.2 archive being completely purged!

I now think that there is probably some damage to the block allocation table in that file header, which I will attempt to fix by manually editing the relevant blocks. Then I will salvage that file again in an attempt to get a best possible version of it before repairing the disk image again.

The final disk image's boot block will probably be based on that of the companion disk image.

21 January 2010, 23:33	#42
prowler Global Moderator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Sidcup, England Posts: 10,300	Nice one, Steve! Is that the Gunbee F-99 Demo from AF117b.adf ? Last edited by prowler; 22 January 2010 at 00:31. Reason: typo

22 January 2010, 00:26	#51
fitzsteve Professional slacker! Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Kent, UK Age: 44 Posts: 6,683	Right theres nothing wrong with the ADF. Best way to run this game, I ran winuae, with my CWB P96 setup. Mounted the ADF and My CF card in winuae. (Note I named the containing folder AF117b - dont think it will matter but thats what I done) Then I copied all the files from the ADF to my CF card (with DOPUS), popped that back into my real Amiga and ran the game with the Icon. Loads really fast now and works great. Tested the same procedure (copy the files to the virtual hard drive) in Winuae and the game works fine ran from the icon in workbench Enjoy Titler... Steve. Last edited by fitzsteve; 22 January 2010 at 00:34.

04 February 2010, 00:33	#59
prowler Global Moderator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Sidcup, England Posts: 10,300	Earlier this evening, I was practising the method I will need to use to reconstruct the Fiasco 2.2 archive (the 687kB one) by extracting and re-archiving the PoolMem/Viewfonts2 archive (109kB), which I managed to salvage intact from the AF117a floppy disk. The archive I pulled from the disk is not as optimized as it might have been, and in order to reconstruct an exact copy of the archive I had to invoke the LZX command a number of times to get the files archived in the same sequence and similarly optimized. I got there in the end, but I'm glad I practised the technique using the smaller file before attempting it on the big one! Incidentally, the archive bit was set for some of the files, which is unusual. However, I'm trying to build a disk image to match the original disk as closely as possible, so they will stay set. @Bippy: Do you still have those coverdisks? Last edited by prowler; 04 February 2010 at 02:11. Reason: Added archive bit observation.

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21 January 2010, 23:26	#41
fitzsteve Professional slacker! Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Kent, UK Age: 44 Posts: 6,683	I wrote the ADF back to a floppy with easyADF and its running right now on my real A1200... Kind of reminds me of fantasy zone but vertical scrolling... @Titler, would you like me to send you the copy? Steve.

21 January 2010, 23:39	#44
prowler Global Moderator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Sidcup, England Posts: 10,300	Can you run Mini Arcanoid from the same disk image? We're not certain, but it's possible that this one requires a file or files from the companion AF117a disk, which is damaged.

21 January 2010, 23:57	#46
prowler Global Moderator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Sidcup, England Posts: 10,300	Nice work, Steve. Thanks! You're running that disk on your A1200, right? The disk label says 'AGA required'. I wonder if Titler's running it in WinUAE using an A500 configuration? It seems unlikely, but maybe that's why he can't get it to work.

22 January 2010, 00:10	#49
fitzsteve Professional slacker! Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Kent, UK Age: 44 Posts: 6,683	Hmmmm Seems it might be a bit hit 'n' miss. (Gunbee Demo) Just tried to play it again and now its getting stuck at the start level loading screen. Going to try copy to HDD and run it... BRB. Update looks like my disk has just developed a read error, lol old floppy's. Let me try to run it from my CF or something, brb...

22 January 2010, 09:24	#55
fitzsteve Professional slacker! Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Kent, UK Age: 44 Posts: 6,683	The Demo of Gunbee is also on Aminet: http://aminet.net/package/game/demo/Gunbee-F99

22 January 2010, 18:34	#56
BippyM Global Moderator Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Derby, UK Age: 48 Posts: 9,355	I have boxes with over 400 coverdisks.. Who wants them (They are heavy.. Around 15kg I think) It wont be cheap to post!

01 February 2010, 22:49	#58
prowler Global Moderator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Sidcup, England Posts: 10,300	I have built an exact replica of the 23kB lzx archive on the AF117a floppy disk using the corrupted one salvaged from the original disk and a similar file found in the AF110b floppy Disk image available from AMR. Next it's the big (687kB! ) one! Then it'll be ready for testing on fitzsteve's A1200 powerhouse... @Bippy: I'm serious about those coverdisks!

06 February 2010, 01:28	#60
prowler Global Moderator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Sidcup, England Posts: 10,300	Some of the files in AFCD33's coverdisks folder are not perfect replacements for the damaged files in the AF117a coverdisk's Fiasco 2.2 lzx archive, so it looks like it will not be possible to recreate an exact byte-for-byte copy of the original archive. The files in question are are all .info files, so it will still be possible to install this application and the others from the reconstructed disk image using the included scripts. Only 2 of the 43 damaged files are not .info files, and they have been restored successfully. 9 of 16 files I have tried so far this evening have been successfully restored. The other 7 are all good files, but 5 have checksums different from those of the original files and 2 are of a different size. If the present rate of success continues, and I cannot somehow conjure up matching files from the remainder, the archive will end up containing 24 .info files which are similar but not identical to the originals. The next step will be to fix the filesystem errors on the original disk image so that the time and date stamps of the folders are preserved, along with all the original file entries. My first attempt to repair the disk image with DiskSalv resulted in the Fiasco 2.2 archive being completely purged! I now think that there is probably some damage to the block allocation table in that file header, which I will attempt to fix by manually editing the relevant blocks. Then I will salvage that file again in an attempt to get a best possible version of it before repairing the disk image again. The final disk image's boot block will probably be based on that of the companion disk image.

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