ComFy v0.1b (ADF/PCMCIA transfer package)

[ppill]

Here's an early version of ComFy. It's a software package desiged for transfering ADF images onto real Amigas (A1200 for now, A600 later) using the Compact Flash PCMCIA adapters. Plain and simple.

Boots from an HDF file on the CF card thanks to a special floppy so all the software is available without having to copy files to ram:, swapping disks and all that nonsense. It's just like you'd boot form an 100mb hard drive.

Some of the software:

- WorseFormat (great for formatting old floppy disks)
- SuperDuper (copy/check/format floppy disks, fast and easy)
- TSGui (ADF/DMS Writer)
- TextViewer (no clue what it does )
- JanoEditor (simple text editor that supports tabs)
- Filer (file manager)
- xadmaster, xpkmaster, xfdmaster (for everything that's ever been archived, crunched, compressed)
- ZShell (great little shell replacement)
- TransADF (for (g)zipped ADFs but you'll be better of using funzip, xadunfile to get a clean ADF file and then use TSGui or tracktool, transwarp, transdisk... or better still unpack them on a PC )

Help files are located in the docs drawer on the Goodies disk.

There's much more to come...

- FMS support
- Filer custom configuration suited for ADF transfers
- AppIcons for writing directly to disks (with file type recognition)
- Full screen shell with plenty of useful aliases
- A600 version (need betatesters for this since my A600 came with a version of kickstart that doesn't support PCMCIA -- gee thanks Commodore for selling crippled hardware)
- your suggestions, bugfixes etc.

Installation:
The zip file contains the following:
comfy.hdf (copy it to the CF card's root directory)
Disk.info (same)
comfy.adf (write it to a floppy disk, needed to boot the whole thing)
comfy.run (self-extracting lha file containing DMS and comfy.dms (same thing as above), small so it can fit onto a 720kb disk)

Any suggestions always welcomed. Take it for a spin, tell me what you think Handle with care

Enjoy!

PS. It's free of course so please don't try to rip people off by selling ComFy.

During start-up the internal IDE port is disabled to get rid of that annoying delay. So if you still want access to it comment the first line from the start-up sequence:

;run <>NIL: c:noide ;<- like so
makeres install enable reboot quiet
cardreset
cardpatch
mount CF0:
mount HD0:
wait 2
movesys cd HD0:
run >NIL: execute s:startup-sequence
endcli

[FOL]

Originally Posted by ppill

Boots from an HDF file on the CF card thanks to a special floppy so all the software is available without having to copy files to ram:, swapping disks and all that nonsense. It's just like you'd boot form an 100mb hard drive.

How do you get the workbench files across without swapping disks?
Do you mean the HDF includes the copyrighted WorkBench files?
Or do you need to activate the HDF, like with CWB and AmigaSYS?

Originally Posted by ppill

- A600 version (need betatesters for this since my A600 came with a version of kickstart that doesn't support PCMCIA -- gee thanks Commodore for selling crippled hardware)

Not sure this is right, I have used the PCMCIA many times with Kickstart 37.299 and 37.300.

[ppill]

It includes the rudimentary libraries to make the included software work. No Arexx, Datatypes, CrossDos, Prefs, Locale etc.

Absolutely useless without the included public domain software.

[Cammy]

This looks really cool, ppill. I'm going to try it out on the Amigas here on the office today, thanks!

Those are some interesting icons, did you make them yourself?

[ppill]

Originally Posted by Cammy

This looks really cool, ppill. I'm going to try it out on the Amigas here on the office today, thanks!

Those are some interesting icons, did you make them yourself?

Thanks Yes, using PPaint.

[prowler]

Great work, ppill (as usual)!

[Photon]

I'm not sure I understand what this solution solves? To transfer an ADF I copy it to my SD card and insert into PCMCIA, and to write the ADF to floppy I use transdisk. Explain it to me, cos I don't understand what I'm missing

[ppill]

Originally Posted by Photon

I'm not sure I understand what this solution solves? To transfer an ADF I copy it to my SD card and insert into PCMCIA, and to write the ADF to floppy I use transdisk. Explain it to me, cos I don't understand what I'm missing

You can choose between various programs for writing adfs. There are a few shell utilities and one GUI driven one. It's just about choice. Some people prefer CLI other requesters, buttons etc

ComFy's a software package that can take care of many disk image formats and boots from the CF card itself (well sort of you still need the boot floppy).

Any clearer now?

The best way to see is to try it out.

[hansel75]

Hi everyone, i just joined the site and i look forward to chatting with you all!

I have recently dug out my A600 and bought the pcmcia compact flash card adapter and a 4gb cf card, so i can transfer adf's to new floppies in which it works great.

I have looked around everywhere for the possibility of booting from the pcmcia card and found out about comfy here, and decided to try it out but i am having problems.

I have put the hdf file onto the compact flash card, but i can't seem to get the boot disk to work, i copied it out to a floppy but when i try to boot of it it says- Not a dos disk in device dfo.

I have also tried the boot disk from the cf_ClassicWB_LITE package but get the same thing. I also tested both these boot disks in winuae and the same error occurs.

My A600 has kickstart 2.0 (37.299) and i also have a 1mb card in it to make a total of 2mb chip memory. I have no internal hd of any kind. I know i can upgrade the kickstart to 3.1 and put an internal ide cf setup in it, but i would like to see if this method works first.

Could this older kickstart be causing the problems, do these cf boot hdf packs need a newer kickstart 2 or 3 chip? From what i have read the 37.299 version of the kickstart does not support hard drives, but what i have gathered from the info on this page about comfy, is that it works around that because it uses a boot disk, is this correct?

My pcmcia adapter and card work fine when writing adf's to floppy using the adf software that came with it, and i have also copied over the necessary cf files onto my workbench 2.1 disk so i can also access the pcmcia adpater through workbench ok. With this method i can also play back music mods directly from the pcmcia cf card.

But i would like to use whdload, can whdload be installed and run of the pcmcia adpater with these cf boot hdf packs? Also can the size of the hard drive be expanded above 100mb?

Sorry for all these questions, but i'm at a bit of a loss, mainly as to why the boot floppies aren't booting up.

If ppil or anyone can help that would be much appreciated.

Hansel.

[hansel75]

Hi, ok i think i got the boot disk sorted. I have put the hdf file onto a fat formatted cf card and into the pcmcia slot(the card does detect ok when using the adf transfer software from floppy).

So i put the boot disk in as well as the cf card into the pcmcia adapter that had the hdf file on it, and after about 20secs of floppy activity all i get is either a grey or purple screen and nothing happens.

I have also tried the comfy hfd from the cf_ClassicWB_LITE pack, and it does the same thing with the boot disk.
I have tried to set it all up in winuae, and as for the classic workbench i have copied over the necessary workbench files, and it all works fine in winue but not on my real amiga 600.

There was also one occasion when i tried it and when it went to access the cf/pcmcia after the boot floppy, it said it was write protected, but all the other times i tried ijust get a blank screen as mentioned above.
Can the boot disk, and comfy or cf_ClassicWB_LITE be used on an A600 that has kickstart 2.0 (37.299)?? Am i doing something wrong?
Thanks, Han.

[gibs]

Great!

Question: what are those fantastic icons you're using ?

[Exit]

whats that font you are using, looking at the workbench picture? (i want it too for my icons)

[Amiga1992]

The font I think might be MicroKnight and the icons are made by ppill himself.

[ppill]

@hansel75 (I've sent you a PM)

The font's called Thing (it's used in Protracker)
I made the icons using PPaint:

Check out this thread for more.

[fitzsteve]

Hi ppill, I just wanted to drop by and give you some kudos for this awesome boot Disk/loader.

I managed to get it working just fine on my 1mb standard A600, I used the TSGui release from Classic Workbench and it leaves me with a lot more free memory.

But anyway, confirmed working on an A600









Really impressive stuff

[ppill]

Nice to hear

Should REALLY update this :/