AmigaOS 3.2.2 - FAT95 compatibility issues?

[cwa107]

Hi All,

First time poster, long time lurker. I have an A1200 with a PiStorm32-Lite with a Pi3A+. 3.2.2 ROMs are softkicked by the PiStorm and I do have 3.2 ROMs physically installed. I have been trying to use a clean install of AmigaOS 3.2.2.1 with a PCMCIA CF Adapter and a 256MB FAT16-formatted card. I am using CFD133 with FAT95, both the latest versions from Aminet.

I'm aware of the A1200's design flaws related to the PCMCIA implementation and RAM expansion, as well as some of the PCMCIA patches that have been put in place in various ROM versions. That said, PrepCard does see the presence of the CF card under this configuration - it just seems like FAT95 has a conflict of some sort. Also, if I boot to an older ClassicWB (based on 3.1) install, I can access the card no problem - and I'm still softkicking the 3.2.2 ROM. Additionally, if I boot to Caffeine OS, the card also mounts with no issue. It seems to be a problem with FAT95 and the software portion of AmigaOS 3.2.2 specifically - it does not seem to matter which ROM I softkick.

I have been through the documentation for CFD133 and FAT95 exhaustively. Everything that needs to be installed is in place in LIBS, C and DEVS. I still don't see the disk mount (there's not even a CF0:Error or similar displayed). I've also tried binding CF0 to CrossDOSFilesystem, but that does result in a CF0:Uninitialized error.

Just wondering if anyone has any sage advice for me on this. I know that 3.2.2 is still relatively new and the PiStorm adds another dubious variable to this mix, but would really like to get a better solution together for transferring data. Right now, I'm just plugging in my old ClassicWB CF card onto my 44-pin IDE header adapter and booting from it whenever I need to transfer anything to the MicroSD card in the PiStorm - so I have a somewhat workable solution, but I sure would like to be able to close my case and not have to constantly shuffle the keyboard around.

[Nor Bert]

Start Amiga (AmigaOS 3.2.2) without s-s and in CLI mount CF0 with Fat95. If it works, you'll need to check s-s, user-s, wbstartup and find the "faulty" program

[lilwshu]

3.2.2 (3.1 ROM) and FAT95 are working fine for me on my A1200.

[No.3]

Every week the same question, why still using Fat95 when the new AmigaOS has CrossDOSFileSystem... ?!?

cwa107, how does your mountfile look like?

[riker77]

You might try Boot-CFD-FAT95 Disk with the bare A1200. Then you know if it is a PiStorm32lite or CF-Card incompatability. i just went throught the same thing with a Sandisk CF that just did not want to be working in the A1200.

[itsmedoofer]

Originally Posted by No.3

Every week the same question, why still using Fat95 when the new AmigaOS has CrossDOSFileSystem... ?!?

cwa107, how does your mountfile look like?

Maybe because, a) most guides point in the direction of FAT95. b) The new functionality hasn't been that widely publicised. c) If you use giggledisk it automatically populates with fat95

[cwa107]

Originally Posted by Nor Bert

Start Amiga (AmigaOS 3.2.2) without s-s and in CLI mount CF0 with Fat95. If it works, you'll need to check s-s, user-s, wbstartup and find the "faulty" program

Thanks - this is a clean install, so startup-sequence (I assume this is what you mean by "s-s") is not at issue. Appreciate the thought though.

[cwa107]

Originally Posted by No.3

Every week the same question, why still using Fat95 when the new AmigaOS has CrossDOSFileSystem... ?!?

cwa107, how does your mountfile look like?

I have attempted to use CrossDOSFileSystem with the CF0: mountfile and it continues to fail in a similar manner.

My mount file is as below:

/* compactflash.device $VER 1.21 (19.10.2002) */
/* fat95 file system by Torsten Jager */

FileSystem     = L:fat95
Device     = compactflash.device
Unit     = 0
Flags     = 0
LowCyl     = 0
High Cyl     = 0
Surfaces =     = 1
BlocksPerTrack     = 1
BlockSize     = 512
Buffers     = 20
BufMemType     = 1
BootPri     = 0
Stacksize     = 4096
Priority     = 5
GlobVec     = -1
DosType     = 0x46415401

[cwa107]

Originally Posted by riker77

You might try Boot-CFD-FAT95 Disk with the bare A1200. Then you know if it is a PiStorm32lite or CF-Card incompatability. i just went throught the same thing with a Sandisk CF that just did not want to be working in the A1200.

I can boot it off the CF card on my internal 44 pin IDE header and it works just fine, so I know it's not a hardware or kickstart issue. It is only when booted to the AmigaOS 3.2.2.1 on the PiStorm MicroSD card System: partition.

[cwa107]

Originally Posted by Boing-Ball

Have you updated your pistorm32 software to the latest? Have heard that there were/are PCMCIA issues with the PiStorm32 lite.

Remember that the FAT95 filesystem also has to be in L:

As others have said, you need a CF0: mountpoint in Devs DOSDrivers with the correct settings in the cf0: mount file.

For example device=Compactflash.device
Filesystem=L:fat95

Compactflash.device should also be present in the Devs folder

The tool type of CF0 I.e the icon should have Activate=1

Good luck.

Yes, I've been through multiple recent builds with this issue. All is configured as you've otherwise noted. Thanks for your input.

[cwa107]

Originally Posted by Nor Bert

Start Amiga (AmigaOS 3.2.2) without s-s and in CLI mount CF0 with Fat95. If it works, you'll need to check s-s, user-s, wbstartup and find the "faulty" program

Shortly after I had read your post, it occurred to me that I had never tried to mount CF0: from the CLI. I did that this evening, the mount command returned no error, and I could access the CF card.

Even during a normal boot, the CF card is indeed mounting and accessible from the CLI alone. The problem appears to be that the newly mounted drive does not show a disk icon on the Workbench desktop.

That said, I think you just indirectly solved my problem Thanks very much!!

Now to figure out why the icon doesn't appear on the desktop on 3.2.2.1, but does on ClassicWB/3.1

[itsmedoofer]

I don't think it is specifically a 3.2.2.1 problem, I'm using that and fat95 and my disks automount and have icons appear on WB. It's not something silly like a deficons problem is it, what happens if you copy disk.info from one of your other drives onto the cf0 ?

[ShK]

I tried also with the PiStorm32Lite. Emu68 version is 20230427-678796. I installed OS 3.2.2.1 + Picasso96 v3.3.3 from the scratch. Compact flash and FAT95 drivers I just unpacked and installed manually:

Lha x fat95.lha
---------
copy fat95/l/fat95 L:

Lha x cfd.lha
-------
copy cfd/def_CF0.info ENV:Sys
copy cfd/def_CF0.info ENVARC:Sys
copy cfd/devs/CF0#? sys:Devs/DOSDrivers/
copy cfd/devs/compactflash.device DEVS:

Seems to work but I've learned over time that not all PCMCIA to Compact Flash Adapters works. Same is with the compact flash memory cards. All of those does not work, even the exact same card may work as system drive with the Compact flash to IDE adapter. I've had the best results with a SanDisk memory card and adapter using FAT32 file format (not exFAT).

[No.3]

Originally Posted by cwa107

I have attempted to use CrossDOSFileSystem with the CF0: mountfile and it continues to fail in a similar manner.

My mount file is as below:

/* compactflash.device $VER 1.21 (19.10.2002) */
/* fat95 file system by Torsten Jager */

FileSystem     = L:fat95
Device     = compactflash.device
Unit     = 0
Flags     = 0
LowCyl     = 0
High Cyl     = 0
Surfaces =     = 1
BlocksPerTrack     = 1
BlockSize     = 512
Buffers     = 20
BufMemType     = 1
BootPri     = 0
Stacksize     = 4096
Priority     = 5
GlobVec     = -1
DosType     = 0x46415401

Besides Fat95 it's exactly the same as with my two A1200, so at least this is okay.
It is known, that not every CF-PCMCIA Adapter works with every CF card. Likely you do not have a second PCMICA adapter to test? But perhaps a second CF card to test? The CF card, was it "initialized" on the Amiga?

[cwa107]

Originally Posted by itsmedoofer

I don't think it is specifically a 3.2.2.1 problem, I'm using that and fat95 and my disks automount and have icons appear on WB. It's not something silly like a deficons problem is it, what happens if you copy disk.info from one of your other drives onto the cf0 ?

That was it - disk.info wasn't on the 256MB card. Once I put it in place, it appeared on the workbench. All is well now! Problem solved.

[cwa107]

Thank you all for taking the time to comment or make a suggestion.

The moral of the story here is to make sure that disk.info is present on the filesystem. Otherwise, CFD133 / Fat95 works perfectly with 3.2.2.1. Not sure why it was showing up without anything present on the CF card filesystem under ClassicWB (3.1 based), but it is definitely working now.

I've been away from the Amiga scene for too long - it never occurred to me that a disk would be mounted, but simply not have an icon.

Again, thank you for dropping enough breadcrumbs for me to find and remedy the issue.

[No.3]

Originally Posted by cwa107

The moral of the story here is to make sure that disk.info is present on the filesystem.

ouch, this is a very mean one! On the other side, this should not happen as a default icon should be used. But well, I haven't used "CF0" for a longer time i.e. not with 3.2.1 and newer so I'll have to check that as soon as my Amigas again have a monitor...

Originally Posted by cwa107

works perfectly with 3.2.2.1.

for perfectly working with 3.2.2.1 you should use CrossDosFileSystem.

[itsmedoofer]

I think the root of the problem may may in defincons, that's why I suggested copying an icon to the disk, but you are up and running that's the main thing, pleased you got it sorted and reported back.

[itsmedoofer]

I tried with crossdosfilesystem this morning and couldn't get it to work, at least with my existing mount files. It's not broken so will stay as is for a while I think....

[cwa107]

Originally Posted by itsmedoofer

I think the root of the problem may may in defincons, that's why I suggested copying an icon to the disk, but you are up and running that's the main thing, pleased you got it sorted and reported back.

I think you're right. I had installed GlowIcons as part of the 3.2.2 install and I am noticing some eccentricities with certain icons. I'll have to dig into that a bit.