Indeed, one would expect that a disk image utility would write the whole formatted image on the disk and be done with it.
I had all sorts of problems writing disk images on the target platform that I thought were communications related, which disappeared when I formatted the disks. Interestingly, CP/M images seem to write just fine on DOS formatted disks so go figure.
Regards,
Gord
----- Original Message -----
From: Vintage Computer Festival <vcf at siconic.com>
Date: Monday, April 25, 2005 8:11 pm
Subject: Re: Apple // Emulator Disk Images
> On Mon, 25 Apr 2005 gordt at gordtulloch.com wrote:
>
> > I would assume you need to format the floppies with the
> appropriate format
> > (DOS or ProDOS depending on what you're writing) - I need to do
> so on my
> > IIGS with DSK2FILE so I presume you'd need to do so on the Mac...
>
> This is a disk image tool so it doesn't matter what OS you use to
> formatthe disk, just as long as the disk is formatted.
>
> If indeed DSK2FILE requires the disk to be pre-formatted as you
> say then
> that's probably what was causing the troubles Zane was having.
> Lame lame
> lame. Some people shouldn't be allowed to write software.
>
> --
>
> Sellam Ismail Vintage
> Computer Festival
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
> -----------
> International Man of Intrigue and Danger
> http://www.vintage.org
> [ Old computing resources for business || Buy/Sell/Trade Vintage
> Computers ]
> [ and academia at www.VintageTech.com || at
> http://marketplace.vintage.org ]
>
>
>
Hi
Formatting of disk is a little bit of black magic
to most programmers. There is little information on things
like the exact gap sizes used for different formats. Also,
formating usually requires knowledge of the hardware actually
used while simply writing preformatted sectors can usually
be handled through simple system calls.
If formatting the disk with the system is trivial, I see
no reason to go through the extra process of doing so in
the code. While if the program is intended to bootstrap the
system with disk of unknown condition, formatting is a must.
I've done both ways for my home stuff.
Of course, if it is to be released to others, one should
include a readme or help printout that states the need of
a preformatted disk.
Dwight
>From: "Gordon Tulloch" <gtulloch at shaw.ca>
>
>Indeed, one would expect that a disk image utility would write the whole
formatted image on the disk and be done with it.
>
>I had all sorts of problems writing disk images on the target platform that I
thought were communications related, which disappeared when I formatted the
disks. Interestingly, CP/M images seem to write just fine on DOS formatted disks
so go figure.
>
>Regards,
> Gord
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: Vintage Computer Festival <vcf at siconic.com>
>Date: Monday, April 25, 2005 8:11 pm
>Subject: Re: Apple // Emulator Disk Images
>
>> On Mon, 25 Apr 2005 gordt at gordtulloch.com wrote:
>>
>> > I would assume you need to format the floppies with the
>> appropriate format
>> > (DOS or ProDOS depending on what you're writing) - I need to do
>> so on my
>> > IIGS with DSK2FILE so I presume you'd need to do so on the Mac...
>>
>> This is a disk image tool so it doesn't matter what OS you use to
>> formatthe disk, just as long as the disk is formatted.
>>
>> If indeed DSK2FILE requires the disk to be pre-formatted as you
>> say then
>> that's probably what was causing the troubles Zane was having.
>> Lame lame
>> lame. Some people shouldn't be allowed to write software.
>>
>> --
>>
>> Sellam Ismail Vintage
>> Computer Festival
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------
>> -----------
>> International Man of Intrigue and Danger
>> http://www.vintage.org
>> [ Old computing resources for business || Buy/Sell/Trade Vintage
>> Computers ]
>> [ and academia at www.VintageTech.com || at
>> http://marketplace.vintage.org ]
>>
>>
>>
>
>
Building on Jules earlier post-
I have been wrestling with my 425, and it seems that Apollos in general
are pretty picky about their tape drives. Mine crashes in the load phase, both
with distro media and with a custom boot tape from the working disk. I'm not
sure what they like, but it doesn't seem to be Archive QIC-150 drives (one
>from a Sun, one from a SGI). I've got everything installed, but it was a long
process requiring two disks . . .
-Scott Quinn
>
>Subject: Re: small valves and RE: OT
> From: ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell)
> Date: Tue, 26 Apr 2005 00:13:41 +0100 (BST)
> To: cctalk at classiccmp.org
>
>Sure.... The reason I looked up the equivalents is that I don't know US
>valve numbers that well, and they don't tell me that much cabout the
>valve. The Philips/Mullard numbers are much more useful in that respsect
>-- the initial 'D' means a 1.5V filament (E would be 6.3V, etc), the
>other letters give the electrode structure (A = diode, F = signal
>pentode, K = heptode or octode frequency changer, with the phantom
>cathode type of design (H would be a hexode or heptode designed for a
>separate oscillator), L = output pentode, etc...) and the '9' tells me
>it's a 7 pin miniature base (B7G).
I also have a Phillips/Mullard and Eimac manuals. I should have used
numbers more common there. I see both here so it's no big deal. For
example a homebrew RX for 80/75m uses an eclectic mix, 6AN8 Mix/LO,
6AU6 455khz IF, 6BH6 455khz regenerative detector, 6DS4 BFO, and an
ELC84 first audio and power output. All built into a 7x7x2.5" chassis
with power transformer and all stages shielded as needed. Works
very nice.
>Sure. My warning, again, was based on the fact that you're likely to get
>inside the set (but as I said, I am sure you realised the dangers anyhow).
The dangers are less here with 117V nominal mains. However I've been
at this racket for over 35 years. It's usually me telling others to
be careful and lockout/tagout.
>> The local station for RED SOX baseball is WEEI 850khz! It's the best
>> AM radio I have. I have spares for the tubes.
>
>My comment was not 'why would you want to listen to that radio' (that is
>obvious, valve radios are good to listen to), but 'why would you want to
>listen to sports when there's plenty of hacking to do' ;-)
Simple matter Holmes, background noise. That and I live near Boston!
Besides if it's not a Sox game it's likely to be 6 Meter band action
if any in the background.
Allison
I've been giving some serious thought about breaking out either one of my
Apple //'s, C-64's, or maybe even the Amiga 500, as I feel like playing some
old games.
These days I don't really have the space to set one (or all) up. Then I had
an idea on how to save some space. All three of these systems were intended
to plug into a monitor that was basically a TV.
Has anyone tried to plug an old Home computer into an Analog to Digital TV
converter such as the Canopus ADVC-100, and then use a mondern computer
with a Firewire port and video capture software as a monitor?
Alternatively, would an Apple // work with a Commodore 2002 monitor?
Zane
I'm currently using Anadisk to dump disks into image files. The problem
is, Anadisk, like 22disk, is retarded. If it hits an error it skips the
sector but does not put a blank sector in the image file. You have the
option of placing a sector header before each sector, but for manipulating
disk images, this is a piss poor way to mark missing sectors. Anadisk
also has the annoying habit of ignoring the start and finish cylinders and
merrily proceeds to read the entire disk, relegating the need to ask you
what cylinders you want dumped superfluous.
Is there anything in Linux that will dump a disk image and put blank space
where bad sectors are? It's not certain if dd does this.
I'm sick of the crap programming of others. Must I write *EVERYTHING*
myself?
--
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org
[ Old computing resources for business || Buy/Sell/Trade Vintage Computers ]
[ and academia at www.VintageTech.com || at http://marketplace.vintage.org ]
In the interest of getting the longest life span out of something, what
is the better way of handling power?
Should one leave the power on all the time, or should one turn it on and
off as needed. This assumes the item in question is going to be used on a
regular basis (such as daily).
I know there is debate on this topic, so I'm asking it here where people
may have the best chance of showing long term patterns to survival rates
on either method. My personal finding has been anything that gets
regularly power cycled dies sooner then items that are left on all the
time. That said, I still turn off anything that will be unused for
extended periods of time (not for increasing the life span, but for
decreasing my utility bill... ie: I turn off my Playstation when done as
that may go weeks between use... but I leave my main computer on
24x7x365, both to increase its life, and to avoid waiting for it to boot.)
Alas, my "it lasts longer when left on" data is based off old hardware
that has been left on for years at a time. Compared to newer hardware
that gets cycled daily. So it could be that leaving something on is
better for it, or it could be that modern electronics just suck.
So what is the opinion of the group? Leave it on, or shut it off?
(and I hope I'm not starting a long flaming thread)
-chris
<http://www.mythtech.net>
On Apr 21 2005, 18:28, John Foust wrote:
> At 05:14 PM 4/21/2005, Pete Turnbull wrote:
> > somthing to hold the fiche against a lens and project a
> > magnified image onto the scanner glass. I assume that, in essence,
> > is how Al's big fiche scanner works.
>
> What, no one here has ever tried to bolt a scanner to the
> frosted glass face of an ordinary fiche viewer? You'd want to trick
> it into not using its own lamp, but that's been done before with
> the guy who turned a scanner into a high-res camera.
You could just remove the fiche viewer screen. You don't need the
screen to form the image, you only need the (virtual) image from the
viewer's lens system to be focussed in the same plane as the scanner's
optics. Actually, since the image is usually focussed on the back
surface of the viewer screen, you'd want to remove it anyway.
Similarly, you don't need to remove the scanner's lamp, except perhaps
to eliminate stray reflections that would cause glare and reduce
contrast. You would just disconnect its power if that were the
requirement.
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
I am starting to get curious. Out of all my machines the one I get the most
requests for is the sentinal pro dongle.
Is there a pending patent case?
Is the software that required these still in use or demand?
this one is labelled
1294/6558
C.B. Microtek ltd
-----------------------------------
4F33BH-B
9451L52135
--
Collector of vintage computers http://www.ncf.ca/~ba600