:crying

Let's see... I suppose I can create a HD extended adf (4 MB raw mfm) from your HD image, using Emplant Disk Converter II v7.0, but:
1) I don't know how to setup WinUAE in order to let it "see" one of its disk drives as a HD drive. Is it easy to do?
2) I don't know if A-Max IV is able to boot the emulated Mac from a HD boot disk... but I would suppose it is, according to the Italian magazine with the A-Max IV report on it

As the first "real" (I mean, produced by you from a real disk/image and not obtained from one of cosmic's floppies) 720 KB boot disk to test with A-Max, I preferred a DD disk..

OK then, if you can provide images of 7.0.1 (HD) and 6.0.3 (DD) I'll do some tests, but not today ;)

Yes, that can be done. :agree

It doesn't need setting up. WinUAE automatically recognizes HD images, Go on, try creating a blank 1760K floppy disk image in the configuration panel. :)

It's impossible to fit even a minimal System 7.0.1 on an 800K disk, as I have shown, so A-Max IV must be able to boot it from a 1440K disk! :D

I'm going to upload 1400K Mac-formatted System 7.0.1 and 720K Mac-formatted System 6.0.3 disk images for you to play with, just to see if they will boot. :spin

Yes, I know this :).
What I was meaning is: how can I setup the emulated Amiga in order to recognize the attached drive as HD? I suppose there's some sort of mount file to be created/set so that the OS "knows" there's a HD drive connected.
Also, which is the minimal configuration (A500? A1200? Which WB or KS?) needed for HD support?

hmmm, you are probably right!! Then there's hope! :D

Ok!
Remember that the disk/image must have a DOS physical format and a logical HFS structure :)

On Friday afterrnoon, I won a Power Computing XL External Drive for Amiga on eBay, which was posted to me on Saturday. It will format HD floppy disks to 1760K and comes complete with manual and installatoion disk. I should be able to answer all your questions concerning mount files, etc. when I receive it, which could be as early as Monday morning! :D

I will be installing it in my KS3.1/WB3.1 A1200, so It would be best to go for that WinUAE configuration for your tests.

There is no other way to create Mac-formatted disks/images of 1440K and 720K capacity! :p

Okay, I've created the disks. Now I'll just make images of them and try them out with Mini vMac. Then I'll upload them! :great

@Supamax,

I've tested both the System 7.0.1 (1440K) and System 6.0.3 (720K) images in Mini vMac emulation with a Macintosh Plus version 3 ROM image, and they both boot to the desktop. :)

They're up in the Zone for you now. :great

nice 1 prowler

did`t your A4000 have a high density FDD ??? I know mine dos`t work and I`m still waiting for konishipols to send a replacement LOL only been about 9 months

Hi Cosmic,

Yes, my A4000 has a high density floppy drive, but it's all in bits ATM while I am trying to remove the old SIMM sockets in my spare moments without lifting any pads.

I am waiting for the Power Computing XL drive to arrive, so that I can add HD FDD compatibility to one of my A1200s and then answer Supamax's questions about mountfiles, etc.

I did find some info once online about mountfiles for HD floppies in a feature about adapting a PC HD floppy drive for use with the Amiga, but I don't remember where, and I'm not sure whether it would be strictly relevant in this case anyway.

When it arrives, and If I think it would be useful, I will scan the XL drive manual and upload it. :)

HD drives and floppies are automatically supported by OS. No need for mountfiles (afaik XL drive isn't same as "normal" Amiga HD drive and requires drivers)

Ok!
By the way prowler, some days ago I saw your post about your new XL drive... compliments! I always wanted one of those, back in the day :crying.

Thanks!! :bowdown

YES! It will be useful, also (or should I say mainly?) for preservation purposes :agree.

Hi Toni! :)
I suppose you're talking about OS 3.x. I knew (/read somewhere) about A4000 not needing mountfiles... but I thought that A1200 would require a mountfile if a user mounted a HD drive in it as a replacement for the DD drive...

Will OSes 1.x..2.x require mountfiles?

@all
I have talked to a osx specialized forum, and they have told me that classic viruses are completely inocuous in a osx system, so you guys out there with osx, can sleep easy about amax disks infecting your system. :D

@ prowler

some steps further, I hope.
I prepared a properly emulated Amiga, with hard disk etc. and 2 HD drives, then I tested both disks with A-Max IV. The DD disk (6.0.3) freezes WinUAE, "as usual" :(, but the HD disk (7.0.1) is better, even if not so much better...: when I insert the HD disk, the emulated Mac in A-Max IV shows the smiling face and tries to read it (well, it seems to load a track or two), then the screen displays the underlying AmigaDOS for half a second and then it returns to the A-Max display, retrying to read the disk and so on, cyclically.
I know this is not very much, but at least it's not freezing any more! :nervous

Prowler, are the two aforementioned images obtained by directly dumping your newly created 720 KB disks (without deinterleaving, I mean)?

I would like to do some tests but I have to request you something more... :o
I would need a 800KB image of a disk (containing less than 720 KB of course) and a 720KB image of the same disk (same, absolutely unmodified disk+file structure... not a single different byte). Do you think it possible? If so, could you do it (when you have time)?

If in doubt, I'd just advise you to give it a try without mountfiles and see what happens. You'll only be trying it in emulation, after all. The Amiga OS is packed full of surprises. For example, you don't have to mount a 5¼-inch floppy disk drive to use PC Utilities on the Extras 1.3 disk.

I didn't receive my Power Computing XL drive today, but in the meantime, I've found the online info about mountfiles for HD floppies I mentioned in my last post. I found it here originally:
http://amiga.serveftp.net/PCfloppyDr...ga/Drive-1.44/
but now it's here on Aminet:
http://aminet.net/package/docs/hard/drv-1.44 :)

There are some explanatory notes (DRV1.44.txt) on how to configure a high density floppy drive for use with the Amiga. A utility (mega2) is provided to automate the installation process with the included device driver (gcrdisk.device) and mountfiles (mountlist and mountlist.ad2).

I am not recommending that anyone tries it using these files, but the information provided does give an insight into techniques for configuring HD floppies for use with the Amiga.

The method described achieves 1520K capacity from HD floppies by using 19 sectors per track instead of 11. The standard Amiga capacity of 1760K for HD floppies uses 22 sectors per track, of course.

Yes. Any disk images I upload will always be directly dumped, unless I have indicated otherwise. I deinterleaved those dumps from cosmicfrog's 720K A-Max disks because the image structure suggested that they were interleaved. I'm sure that decision was correct, but there's still something I'm missing... :blased

The only way to do that for sure is to start with a 720K disk image and convert it to 800K with Apple Disk Copy 6. Does it need to be bootable? That might make it more difficult to get a clean image with no loose blocks, but it should be possible with a bit of luck.

You're right, of course. :)
That's what I tried with my A1200 config in WinUAE.
As Toni said, I didn't need to mount anything, but that's with OS 3.x.

I'll do some tests with earlier versions of KS/WB.

:confused
I really don't understand what you mean... are you referring to 40-tracks 5,25" drives, not to 80-tracks 5,25" drives, right?
PC Utilities on the Extras 1.3 disk??

Thanks! Interesting :bowdown

Hmmmm, I'll let you know as soon as I'll know what I am doing / going to do :crazy:crazy:crazy

Yes, I am referring to 40-tracks 5¼-inch drives. On the Extras 1.3 disk, there is a PC Utilities application which lets you PC Format 5¼-inch disks in the drive, and copy files back and forth between PC-formatted 5¼-inch disks and AmigaDOS under Workbench 1.3. If you mount the 5¼-inch disk drive, the PC Utilities will not work correctly. ;)

Thanks. :great

BTW, It's just occurred to me that maybe the disk images I uploaded yesterday should have been interleaved for best compatibility with A-Max IV. What do you think? Would you like to try them interleaved? After all, Cosmicfrog's A-Max IV disks appeared to be interleaved, and no virus did that! :agree

Oh yes!!!! :great
let's give it a try!

EDIT: that's a good idea! :agree

Ok, but that's obvious...
I mean: it's that application which is able to access the drive without the "aid" of AmigaDOS. Like Project D, for example...
It's normal that it doesn't need mount parameters.

Okay, I'll interleave them such that they're structured in the same way as cosmicfrog's disks.

The problem with those disk images is that I couldn't mount them in Mini vMac emulation after I deinterleaved them, whereas these new images can be booted in Mini vMac.

If you can get these images working with A-Max IV after I've interleaved them, then it will confirm that an idea beginning to form in my mind to fix those other images might work too...

Edit: I'm thinking that could possibly be the symptoms of an incorrectly formatted disk (i.e. normal format when the emulator expects interleaved format?). :nervous

I know you'll hate me for this, but... I feel skeptical :(.
Why did they discard the old A-Max format? Whyyyyyyyyyyyyy?
If they didn't I could have already tested all the extended adfs I prepared months ago :crying and we would be ages forward! Damn!

P.S.
With CrossMac you will be able to use your A-Max II+ card (connected to a standard Amiga floppy drive) to read real 800KB Mac floppies. It doesn't matter if it has a G or H revision IC5 :). Perhaps you will so be able to read some more data from cosmicfrog's disks...

P.S. #2
I read again the A-Max IV html manual, and it says that A-Max IV uses a new custom 800KB format. We knew about it, but... if we could determine how this new format is structured, I could obtain a working bootable 800KB Mac System floppy (advanced adf or real floppy) for use with A-Max IV.
For example you, prowler, could use your A-Max II+ card (+ CrossMac or the Transfer Disk utility contained in the A-Max IV floppy) to obtain such a 800KB image...

P.S. #3
Did you try this program with cosmic's floppies:
http://www.macdisk.com/mden.php3

Hi Supamax,

I've uploaded to the Zone an archive containing interleaved versions of the 720K System 6.0.3 and 1440K System 7.0.1 boot disk images for you to try with the A-Max IV emulator running under WinUAE.

I really hope this leads to a breakthrough. :nervous If it doesn't, then I'm completely at a loss to explain how cosmicfrog's A-Max IV disks became formatted with tracks 0-79 on side 0 and tracks 80-159 on side 1. :sad

I'm skeptical whenever we try to make progress in this thread. We have been thwarted with obstacles right from the start. Why have no experienced A-Max users come forward who can share their knowledge with us? Was this emulator really so difficult to master back in the day?

I'll certainly be looking to do that when I have my A4000 ready and the card installed. :agree But I'd feel a lot more optimistic about my chances of success if I had the H revision IC5.

I'm sure that the replacement IC5 reprograms the floppy disk handling to make it compatible with the new A-Max IV formats. Without it, I'll probably find that any disks or images I try to obtain will be not be usable unless we can find the key to unscrambling (deinterleaving?) them. I'm certain now that the 'new' format(s) introduced for A-Max version 4 will turn out to involve some sort of interleaving, and we're bound to discover the details eventually.

That program has an advanced menu function that will swap the data and resource forks of Macintosh files. I spent quite a while trying to use it to recombine the data and resource forks of files salvaged from those floppies with CrossMAC, but failed because the structure of the resource forks had not been faithfully preserved.

It wouldn't mount those floppies. :( It seems that nothing will mount them! :mad