[Coco] trouble writing disks

coco at yourdvd.net coco at yourdvd.net
Fri May 4 13:59:32 EDT 2007


the only reason that i remember is because i was just using jeff's and
david keils emulators yesterday on a pc that I had installed a real
soundblaster 16, and found it necessary to resort to their
documentation because i couldn't remember how to use them. I was
impressed that the keil emulator seems to handle Sock's DONKEY KONG
rather well - I haven't tried it on the jv emulator. - robert

> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: Re: [Coco] trouble writing disks
> From: Joel Ewy <jcewy at swbell.net>
> Date: Fri, May 04, 2007 6:58 am
> To: CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts <coco at maltedmedia.com>
> 
> coco at yourdvd.net wrote:
> > 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
> >
> >   
> I hadn't remembered that.  I have to admit that I use mostly 720k 3.5"
> floppies in 1.44M drives on both the CoCo and PC.  I realize that under
> RS-DOS, even using 2 sides, I'm wasting a lot of the capacity of the
> disk.  But the form factor is so much more convenient for me and it
> makes for much easier cross-platform file transfers.
> 
> JCE
> >> -------- 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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> >
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> >   
> 
> 
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