The definitive Macrosystem Casablanca hack thread! - Page 6

gulliver · 17 February 2018, 12:52

@emufan
Thank you.

@Jope
I ended up using your dtc method and then mounting the result image as hdf in winuae. It worked pretty well. Thanks.

------

Now we need to get as many backups disks as we possibly can and make them available.

Fun times ahead

SimonV · 17 February 2018, 17:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by gulliver

Now we need to get as many backups disks as we possibly can and make them available.

Fun times ahead

Since you still need a kryoflux to make and write images it's still difficult to extend the Casablanca image library. 120€ is fairly expensive to backup your casablanca disks .

gulliver · 17 February 2018, 18:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by SimonV

Since you still need a kryoflux to make and write images it's still difficult to extend the Casablanca image library. 120€ is fairly expensive to backup your casablanca disks .

Yes, requiring a kyroflux is certainly not for everyone.

But then, the entire Casablanca software library is not very large. That said, its titles are definately quality releases that should be preserved.

Jope · 17 February 2018, 18:48

Ok, we nailed it. Basically all that is needed to make a vanilla casablanca disk is a sector full of capital Ks (including the sector data CRC which is invalid and contains 4B4B), like what is found on the protection sector on every other track on side 0 of the disk.

SimonV · 07 March 2018, 21:51

With some delay but here it is. An image of an absolutely never used Casablanca floppy.

And a bit of rare one I think, it's the 1997 X-mass disk.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/03ffspfmpb...kette.zip?dl=0

gulliver · 08 March 2018, 05:26

@SimonV

Thank you again.
Now we can help anyone that gets a Casablanca without disks.
This is indeed great!

musashi5150 · 08 March 2018, 08:59

Great stuff guys!

Am I right in thinking that if you have an Amiga with an HD floppy drive (A4000, Power Computing XL etc...) then you should actually be able to mount a physical Casablanca floppy without too much trouble by tweaking DOSDrivers/mountlist? I do have a Kryoflux, but it would just be nice (and easier) to dump/modify datas on the the Amiga. Especially once we get to the stage of wanting to write floppies with new homebrew software.

SimonV · 08 March 2018, 15:06

I just wish I had some install software in English. I only have multilangual DUTCH/FRENCH/GERMAN ones.

gulliver · 08 March 2018, 18:45

I have uploaded to The Zone! the Macrosystem Casablanca v2.7.5.58 (27.7.98) + Bonus Effects - Multilanguage (dansk, deutsch, english, english-j, español, francaise, italiano, japanese, nederlands, norsk, polski, portugues, romana, senska, turkce, vlaams).

I dont have any english version higher than 2.7.5.58.

So I hope people understand the importance of contributing their disks so that anyone can restore their Casablanca.

If anyone is concerned: MacroSystem Computer Gmbh closed its door in 2013. Its PC video editing hardware and software lines were sold to Loewe. All its Amiga, DraCo and Casablanca lines have now literally become abandonware.

Jope · 09 March 2018, 08:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by SimonV

With some delay but here it is. An image of an absolutely never used Casablanca floppy.

Thanks!

Quote:

Originally Posted by musashi5150

Great stuff guys!

Am I right in thinking that if you have an Amiga with an HD floppy drive (A4000, Power Computing XL etc...) then you should actually be able to mount a physical Casablanca floppy without too much trouble by tweaking DOSDrivers/mountlist? I do have a Kryoflux, but it would just be nice (and easier) to dump/modify datas on the the Amiga. Especially once we get to the stage of wanting to write floppies with new homebrew software.

A dosdriver is not enough. Unfortunately a custom mfm.device is also needed. Potentially this could be used as a starting point for a casablancadisk.device http://aminet.net/package/disk/misc/MSH-1.58

I was able to read the protection sector with a modified dosdriver + the stock mfm.device, but not any of the data sectors.

- PC MFM track format + sector spacing
- 10 x 1024 byte sectors per track
- 1 x 512 byte "protection sector" on the end of the track
- the disks are mastered with 11 x 1024 byte sectors, then the final protection sector's header is modified to be a 512 byte sector instead
- if you examine the disk, you'll see protection sectors on head 0 are full of 0x4B (capital K). The blank protection sector's checksum in the sector header is also 0x4B4B.

Zer0-X and myself will be messing around with my casablanca this weekend, hopefully we'll be able to come up with something for kryoflux owners.

I am also dreaming about creating a dumper/mastering tool for the Amiga, so that you can at least work with 1024x10 sector disk images sans protection sector, and then master them back to HD floppies with an empty protection sector, but it is a learning process, I'm not a very good coder. Another avenue might indeed be just focusing on modifying msh to write casablanca tracks, always blanking out the protection sector each time the track is written.

SimonV · 09 March 2018, 11:36

Well if you have a Kryoflux, it's all good. I did copy the empty sector of the new disk to my 3.10 image and it works like a charm. It's like a brand new installation disk usable on any Casablanca. That disk is already on the way to a friend that has a Casablanca without software. By now my Casablanca has lots of effects, I remastered all the extras I got with other Cassablancas for my own one :-)

Of course a dump/mastering tool for Amiga would really open it up... current solution costs more as working Casablanca. Twice the amount of the last Cassie I bought last month to be precise.

Jope · 09 March 2018, 11:39

You can't copy a single sector with dtc, you have to decode the raw track and re-encode it..

Some of the disks you've provided have data on the zero track, so I'm still investigating a universal method of blanking the protection sector.

Also for hacking purposes, it'd be handy to be able to master bootable disks on your own.

SimonV · 09 March 2018, 11:43

I don't know much of it ... all I know is that every time I copied that first track to another image it just worked and installed without problems. The Cassablanca never complained about a missing file or a bad disk.

And yes as I said ... it would be great to have a tool that does it a 100%

Jope · 09 March 2018, 11:52

Lzx skips the corrupt data without failing, if it is a part of the lzx archive. You can of course never see the lzx output when the cassie is unpacking it.

SimonV · 09 March 2018, 12:00

I wonder how this would manifest once installed ? If it's effects I guess it could be some effects missing without noticing ... but with an install disk ?

Jope · 09 March 2018, 12:32

If it's some file that already exists on the HD, then it might not even matter.. Some mathieee library or whatever..

Jope · 11 March 2018, 01:43

Zer0-X managed to code the disk image tool, I only got as far as getting an mfm dump on the amiga. :-)

We have now ran our own code from floppies we mastered from our own content on the casablanca, the first attempts were rom dumpers that dump the f8 and f0 areas to floppy disk, then read the disk back with the kryoflux to retrieve the files.

In any case, it is now possible to remaster all the previously dumped casablanca floppies so that they can be booted on any casablanca.

SimonV · 12 March 2018, 01:12

So first Cassie-homebrew is a fact ?

Jope · 12 March 2018, 09:38

If you count running a transrom alike tool from the startup-sequence, with its output redirected to the floppy, then yes. I also managed to run listscanner on it. :-D Not very exciting.

But in any case, last weekend my cassie has booted floppies whose contents I made and which were mastered by Zer0-X. I have his tool, so I can spin "factory fresh" raw images of the disk images you provided before.. I'll do this in the near future.

The Amiga mastering tool is still WIP, progress is very slow because I'm learning C at the same time. Discouraging stuff, I'm so impatient and get annoyed when I have to look stuff up all time time instead of just doing things.. But I can only get better with practice.

Code:

›0;33;40mListScanner›0;31;40m by Heiko Rath - copyright © by ›1;31;40mThe Software Brewery›0;31;40m
            Raiffeisenstr.10a,D-6108 Weiterstadt,Tel.06150-2658
            (famous last words: Where is my Marabou chocolate?)

MemoryList:
›4;32;40mName:                         Address Type Pri›0;31;40m
draco memory                 $400A3000 $0A $0A 

ResourceList:
›4;32;40mName:                         Address Type Pri›0;31;40m
draco.resource               $40102FD0 $08 $00 
dracobattclock.resource      $401030A0 $08 $00 
FileSystem.resource          $40103108 $08 $00 
ciaa.resource                $401031F4 $08 $00 
ciab.resource                $40103234 $08 $00 
battclock.resource           $401034C0 $08 $00 
battmem.resource             $40103500 $08 $00 
dracobootpic.resource        $402297B4 $08 $00 
keymap.resource              $40229ADE $08 $00 
dracomouse.resource          $4022AE80 $08 $00 
dracokeyboard.resource       $4022B9A8 $08 $00 
dracofdc.resource            $4022CDAC $08 $00 

DeviceList:
›4;32;40mName:                         Address Type Pri›0;31;40m
timer.device                 $4022982E $03 $00 
keyboard.device              $4022993C $03 $00 
input.device                 $40229B84 $03 $00 
ramdrive.device              $4022CCE0 $03 $00 
dracodisk.device             $4022CEC8 $03 $00 
dracoscsi.device             $4022F374 $03 $00 
console.device               $40232328 $03 $00 

InterruptList:
›4;32;40mName:                         Address Type Pri›0;31;40m

LibraryList:
›4;32;40mName:                         Address Type Pri›0;31;40m
utility.library              $40102E50 $09 $00 
dracommu.library             $400A30A4 $09 $00 
dmotion.library              $40106E8C $09 $00 
graphics.library             $40223F24 $09 $00 
layers.library               $40229378 $09 $00 
ovlgfx.library               $402294EC $09 $00 
casablanca.library           $402296C0 $09 $00 
keymap.library               $40229AB8 $09 $00 
intuition.library            $4022D7F4 $09 $00 
dracographics.library        $4023360C $09 $00 
gadtools.library             $40232038 $09 $00 
dos.library                  $40233EBC $09 $00 
expansion.library            $40103314 $09 $EC 
exec.library                 $40103E50 $09 $9C 

PortList:
›4;32;40mName:                         Address Type Pri›0;31;40m

TaskReadyList:
›4;32;40mName:                         Address Type Pri›0;31;40m

TaskWaitingList:
›4;32;40mName:                         Address Type Pri›0;31;40m
dracokeyboard.resource       $4022BABC $01 $16 
vmotion.library (CTRL)       $401070E8 $01 $FE 
console.device               $402334F0 $01 $05 
BOOT                         $40243FB0 $0D $0A 
BACKUP                       $402578C8 $0D $0A 
STB_VIDEO                    $4026ADB8 $0D $0A 
dracoscsi.device             $4022F9D0 $01 $0C 
dracoscsi.device             $4022F858 $01 $0B 
STB_AUDIO                    $4027F198 $0D $0A 
ramlib                       $40292888 $0D $00 
CON                          $402B32F8 $0D $05 
RAM                          $402B8050 $0D $0A 
dracomouse.resource          $4022B83C $01 $14 
input.device                 $40229BDA $01 $14 
dracodisk.device             $4022D07C $01 $0B 
DF0                          $40235010 $0D $0A 

SemaphoreList:
›4;32;40mName:                         Address Type Pri›0;31;40m

voxel · 12 March 2018, 09:48

If I remember well, Macrosystem used 2 MB floppy drives and disks in the casablanca ^^)

17 February 2018, 18:48	#104
Jope - Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Helsinki / Finland Age: 43 Posts: 9,861	Ok, we nailed it. Basically all that is needed to make a vanilla casablanca disk is a sector full of capital Ks (including the sector data CRC which is invalid and contains 4B4B), like what is found on the protection sector on every other track on side 0 of the disk. Last edited by Jope; 17 February 2018 at 18:57.

07 March 2018, 21:51	#105
SimonV Registered User Join Date: Apr 2014 Location: Antwerp Posts: 262	With some delay but here it is. An image of an absolutely never used Casablanca floppy. And a bit of rare one I think, it's the 1997 X-mass disk. https://www.dropbox.com/s/03ffspfmpb...kette.zip?dl=0 Last edited by SimonV; 07 March 2018 at 22:08.

08 March 2018, 08:59	#107
musashi5150 move.w #$4489,$dff07e Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Norfolk, UK Age: 42 Posts: 2,351	Great stuff guys! Am I right in thinking that if you have an Amiga with an HD floppy drive (A4000, Power Computing XL etc...) then you should actually be able to mount a physical Casablanca floppy without too much trouble by tweaking DOSDrivers/mountlist? I do have a Kryoflux, but it would just be nice (and easier) to dump/modify datas on the the Amiga. Especially once we get to the stage of wanting to write floppies with new homebrew software. Last edited by musashi5150; 08 March 2018 at 09:05.

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17 February 2018, 12:52	#101
gulliver BoingBagged Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: The South of nowhere Age: 46 Posts: 2,358	@emufan Thank you. @Jope I ended up using your dtc method and then mounting the result image as hdf in winuae. It worked pretty well. Thanks. ------ Now we need to get as many backups disks as we possibly can and make them available. Fun times ahead

08 March 2018, 05:26	#106
gulliver BoingBagged Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: The South of nowhere Age: 46 Posts: 2,358	@SimonV Thank you again. Now we can help anyone that gets a Casablanca without disks. This is indeed great!

08 March 2018, 15:06	#108
SimonV Registered User Join Date: Apr 2014 Location: Antwerp Posts: 262	I just wish I had some install software in English. I only have multilangual DUTCH/FRENCH/GERMAN ones.

08 March 2018, 18:45	#109
gulliver BoingBagged Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: The South of nowhere Age: 46 Posts: 2,358	I have uploaded to The Zone! the Macrosystem Casablanca v2.7.5.58 (27.7.98) + Bonus Effects - Multilanguage (dansk, deutsch, english, english-j, español, francaise, italiano, japanese, nederlands, norsk, polski, portugues, romana, senska, turkce, vlaams). I dont have any english version higher than 2.7.5.58. So I hope people understand the importance of contributing their disks so that anyone can restore their Casablanca. If anyone is concerned: MacroSystem Computer Gmbh closed its door in 2013. Its PC video editing hardware and software lines were sold to Loewe. All its Amiga, DraCo and Casablanca lines have now literally become abandonware.

09 March 2018, 11:36	#111
SimonV Registered User Join Date: Apr 2014 Location: Antwerp Posts: 262	Well if you have a Kryoflux, it's all good. I did copy the empty sector of the new disk to my 3.10 image and it works like a charm. It's like a brand new installation disk usable on any Casablanca. That disk is already on the way to a friend that has a Casablanca without software. By now my Casablanca has lots of effects, I remastered all the extras I got with other Cassablancas for my own one :-) Of course a dump/mastering tool for Amiga would really open it up... current solution costs more as working Casablanca. Twice the amount of the last Cassie I bought last month to be precise.

09 March 2018, 11:39	#112
Jope - Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Helsinki / Finland Age: 43 Posts: 9,861	You can't copy a single sector with dtc, you have to decode the raw track and re-encode it.. Some of the disks you've provided have data on the zero track, so I'm still investigating a universal method of blanking the protection sector. Also for hacking purposes, it'd be handy to be able to master bootable disks on your own.

09 March 2018, 11:43	#113
SimonV Registered User Join Date: Apr 2014 Location: Antwerp Posts: 262	I don't know much of it ... all I know is that every time I copied that first track to another image it just worked and installed without problems. The Cassablanca never complained about a missing file or a bad disk. And yes as I said ... it would be great to have a tool that does it a 100%

09 March 2018, 11:52	#114
Jope - Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Helsinki / Finland Age: 43 Posts: 9,861	Lzx skips the corrupt data without failing, if it is a part of the lzx archive. You can of course never see the lzx output when the cassie is unpacking it.

09 March 2018, 12:00	#115
SimonV Registered User Join Date: Apr 2014 Location: Antwerp Posts: 262	I wonder how this would manifest once installed ? If it's effects I guess it could be some effects missing without noticing ... but with an install disk ?

09 March 2018, 12:32	#116
Jope - Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Helsinki / Finland Age: 43 Posts: 9,861	If it's some file that already exists on the HD, then it might not even matter.. Some mathieee library or whatever..

11 March 2018, 01:43	#117
Jope - Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Helsinki / Finland Age: 43 Posts: 9,861	Zer0-X managed to code the disk image tool, I only got as far as getting an mfm dump on the amiga. :-) We have now ran our own code from floppies we mastered from our own content on the casablanca, the first attempts were rom dumpers that dump the f8 and f0 areas to floppy disk, then read the disk back with the kryoflux to retrieve the files. In any case, it is now possible to remaster all the previously dumped casablanca floppies so that they can be booted on any casablanca.

12 March 2018, 01:12	#118
SimonV Registered User Join Date: Apr 2014 Location: Antwerp Posts: 262	So first Cassie-homebrew is a fact ?

12 March 2018, 09:48	#120
voxel Amiga Nuts! Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Le Mayet d'Ecole, 03800, FRANCE Posts: 176	If I remember well, Macrosystem used 2 MB floppy drives and disks in the casablanca ^^)

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