[Coco] trouble writing disks

[coco at yourdvd.net]

Jeff's documentation states that 360k drives can be a problem with port.
One reported solution is to force your BIOS to misidentify the 360k dsdd
as a 3.5'' 720k drive. The other is to just use the 1.2mb floppy in the
ibm. I've used both 360k and 1.2mb drives with Jeff's software with no
problems, but many people do have problems with the 360k drives using
port. -robert

> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: Re: [Coco] trouble writing disks
> From: "mike delyea" <mdelyea at gmail.com>
> Date: Thu, May 03, 2007 9:53 pm
> To: "CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts" <coco at maltedmedia.com>
> 
> Though I tried to be as informative as possible, naturally I can't
> anticipate every question.  Suffice it to say that I've tried the same
> procedure with several disks - all with the same results.  Works fine
> with
> the coco, problems with the IBM.  Having tried different procedures with
> different disks, and all the results ending with an error, I've concluded
> that the problem must lie with the IBM itself.  So, I'll be firing up my
> next lowest spec computer to see if that helps.  Also forgot to
> mention I'm
> running pure DOS.
> 
> On 5/3/07, Joel Ewy <jcewy at swbell.net> wrote:
> >
> > mike delyea wrote:
> > > Just got my floppy system and I'm having problems getting Jeff's port
> > > program to write to coco disks.  First I formatted a disk with the
> > > coco and
> > > then TYPED in the "GETROM.BAS" program, saved to disk, ran it and got
> > the
> > > ROMs.  DSKINI0, DIR0 and LOAD/SAVE "GETROM.BAS" all worked perfectly.
> > > Took
> > > the disk back to my low-end IBM with Jeff's emulator on it and ran
> > > port but
> > > it gave me a "READ ERROR ON TRACK 17, SECTOR 02".  Next I used Jeff's
> > > dskini
> > > program to format the disk in the IBM and tried to send "GETROM.BAS"
> > > to the
> > > floppy but got the same error.
> > Mike,
> >
> > You didn't mention whether you have tried different floppy disks.  It
> > just sounds like a bad disk to me.  You do mention that you appear
> to be
> > able to read the file back from within RS-DOS, but obviously there is
> > something wrong, and the error message is pretty specific.  A different
> > floppy might work.  Weirder things have been known.
> >
> > It does seem odd that this problem crops up using the self-same floppy
> > drive.  So often this kind of thing is a result of the track alignment
> > and who-knows-what-all else not matching up between two different
> > drives...
> >
> > JCE
> > > So "port" neither reads nor writes with the
> > > same error.  I am using the SAME 360k floppy drive on both machines -
> > > that
> > > is, I am removing and installing the drive on each machine for each
> > > attempt.  Coco reads and writes fine, IBM not so much, and its
> getting
> > > a bit
> > > tedious.  More info that may be helpful.  The IBM is a P1 200mhz with
> > > 64mb
> > > RAM.  That era machine has a BIOS that is normally pretty good at
> > > detecting
> > > drives but it choked on my 1.2mb 5.25 inch floppy (thought it was a
> > > 3.5 inch
> > > 1.44mb floppy).  Also, though it correctly detects the 360k
> floppy, it
> > > refuses to recognize the 3.5 inch drive when both are connected
> (yes, I
> > > tried a different cable).  Early on in this project I disconnected
> the
> > > 3.5inch floppy and have the 360k floppy plugged into the "A:"
> position
> > > on the
> > > cable, where it is correctly detected as "drive A:, 360k, 5.25 inch
> > > floppy
> > > disk.  I can even format the disk in MSDOS using "FORMAT A:/F:160"
> and
> > > that
> > > works too.  Firstly, is there a command line switch I'm missing with
> > > port?
> > > Secondly, I have 3 or 4 other computers of the P3 and P4 variety
> laying
> > > around, should I give up on the old IBM and try one of those?  More
> > > info -
> > > I'm not using the 1.2mb floppy at all, I just mentioned that the BIOS
> > > didn't
> > > correctly identify it.  Also I think I've almost spent as much time
> > > typing
> > > this post as I did mucking around with the emu and IBM ;)
> > >
> > > --
> > > Coco mailing list
> > > Coco at maltedmedia.com
> > > http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
> > >
> >
> >
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> >
> 
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