[Coco] trouble writing disks

[Joel Ewy]

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
>>>>
>>>>         
>>> --
>>> Coco mailing list
>>> Coco at maltedmedia.com
>>> http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
>>>
>>>       
>> --
>> Coco mailing list
>> Coco at maltedmedia.com
>> http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
>>     
>
>
> --
> Coco mailing list
> Coco at maltedmedia.com
> http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
>
>