A-Max IV hardfile

[amiman99]

Does anyone have a bootable hardfile for A-Max IV with System 7 that can Zone it for me. I have a hard time getting it to work.

I have tried the ssbootfile, it boots, but it freezes and it will not continue, I'm not sure what system version it is.
I also tried system 6 image file, the Mac icon is happy, but it crashes the system.
Most full hard files I tried, gives me x in the Mac icon.

Thanks

[prowler]

As you have posted this in the support.Hardware forum, can we assume that you actually require this hardfile for use in a big box Amiga with A-Max IV card installed?

[amiman99]

Originally Posted by prowler

As you have posted this in the support.Hardware forum, can we assume that you actually require this hardfile for use in a big box Amiga with A-Max IV card installed?

Yes, you are correct. I have the A-Max Plus card with the IC5 REV H chip, so it make is "IV". I also have real ROMs on it which I just got them yesterday.
I read previous post about the A-Max, and some were from you, but it is mostly about System 6, and I did not find any info how to get the system 7 working.
I just need a bootable hard file with system 7, nothing fancy. I got the disks from Apple, but I dont have real Mac to make the disks, so I'm stuck.
The manual states that I need to get special version of system 7 disks from apple on DD disks.

[prowler]

Originally Posted by amiman99

Yes, you are correct. I have the A-Max Plus card with the IC5 REV H chip, so it make is "IV". I also have real ROMs on it which I just got them yesterday.

Congratulations, that IC5 REV H chip is very rare! Yours is the very first one I know for sure that exists!

I bought the same card from an eBay seller in the US who was auctioning various items following a house clearance and was not in possession of any technical details about the card. I was really looking for an A-Max IV with the REV H chip, so bought it on the off-chance, buit it turned out to have the original REV G chip, which made it an A-Max II.

I will have more than a few questions for you when you get it up and running, in particular about the floppy disk image format which it produces. And if you ever decide to sell it, I will DEFINITELY be interested!

In the meantime, I will see if I can find a bootable System 7 hardfile for you and, if not, then I will create one instead.

Do you have any particular preference (System 7.0.x, 7.1,x, etc.)?

[Retro1234]

Would it be possible to dump the A-Max IV software?

[amiman99]

Thanks, I think system 7.1 would be better.
When finished, I would like to make an Youtube video showing it's operation and as an experiment, I would like to see if I could get system 7.5.3 running.

[amiman99]

Originally Posted by prowler

In the meantime, I will see if I can find a bootable System 7 hardfile for you and, if not, then I will create one instead.

Do you have any particular preference (System 7.0.x, 7.1,x, etc.)?

Any luck creating bootable hardfile? I have tried multiple hardfiles I could find and none of them work. Some of them will boot, and I can see Hd activity but then it just stops.
Shapeshifter works fine with almost any hardfiles I found.

Or maybe there is a way to convert Mac disk images to AMAX format?

Edit: I got it working!!!! System 7 on A-Max IV on A3000 B&W so far. Next step is full install with color. When I'm done, I'll do a full write up.

[prowler]

Originally Posted by amiman99

Any luck creating bootable hardfile? I have tried multiple hardfiles I could find and none of them work. Some of them will boot, and I can see Hd activity but then it just stops.
Shapeshifter works fine with almost any hardfiles I found.

That's the trouble. A-Max IV hardware is so rare that it's difficult for those who have no experience of it to make any recommendations.

Originally Posted by amiman99

Or maybe there is a way to convert Mac disk images to AMAX format?

Yes, we have found that it's possible to do that by adding a 16- or 32-byte header to the disk image, which can then be written to floppy disk using the Emplant disk imager utility. Whether the header is 16 or 32 bytes depends on the version of the Emplant utility used.

I was about to suggest this as a better method for you to get started because of the lack of experience here with the A-Max IV version of the hardware.

Originally Posted by amiman99

Edit: I got it working!!!! System 7 on A-Max IV on A3000 B&W so far. Next step is full install with color. When I'm done, I'll do a full write up.

Well done! A write up would be very much appreciated by all contributors to the A-Max thread you mentioned earlier.

[Supamax]

WOW, this is great news!

Perhaps amiman99 will be able to format a physical floppy with the new A-Max format, then we could help him making a dump of it...
then by analysing it we will (hopefully) finally know which is the difference from the old formats. If we are lucky it's only a matter of adding a new header or little more...

[cosmicfrog]

pictures, pictures, cant wait for the Video

[amiman99]

Originally Posted by cosmicfrog

pictures, pictures, cant wait for the Video

So far I got full System 7.1 install working in 16 colors. I installed it on a dedicated HD for faster speed access. I'm in the process of installing misc MAC software. Successfully installed Corel WordPerfect, Adobe Acrobat v3.02, and Stuffit Expander v4.5.
For some reason I cant get the External CDROM working on it, I tried different drivers and nothing, maybe my Panasonic CDROM is not compatible???
Some of SIT files I got, are not working, its possible that they were compressed with newer version of Stuffit.
I will try to install few games to show how it behaves using full screen games. That gives me idea, I may just copy games found on Cammy's MACGAMES hardfile found on EAB server...(but, I have some problems copying files from Hardfiles, sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't).
Stay tuned...

[amiman99]

I can't believe that I did not post link to my video that I made back in 2014. (I probably posted it in another thread.)

[ Show youtube player ]