8 Oct
2009
8 Oct
'09
4:23 p.m.
I'm pleased to announce that the maintainer of Linux cwtool has
implemented working support for reading and writing Intel M2FM "DD"
diskettes as used with the Intellec development systems :-).
Karsten did some analysis of raw bit images I sent him and produced a
working driver within a week! As a "smoke" test (my MDS800 is not
functional at the moment), I duplicated the ISIS-II system diskette and
sent the copy to a person with a working system. It boots, catalogs and
otherwise looks fine.
I have about 20-25 original distribution diskettes for the MDS800 and will
get busy imaging them ASAP. Who would be willing to host these?
They are "cooked" images, so it would be possible to extract the files
from them with a bit of work. However, they're
obviously of the most use
to folks with access to a Catweasel board (and an
Intellec system).
Steve
--
9 Oct
9 Oct
2:22 a.m.
Steven Hirsch wrote:
I have about 20-25 original distribution diskettes for
the MDS800 and
will get busy imaging them ASAP. Who would be willing to host these?
I'd be more than happy to host a copy of them, and I'm sure others on
the list would as well.
They are "cooked" images, so it would be
possible to extract the files
from them with a bit of work.
What do you mean by "cooked"? Raw M2FM data, decoded M2FM (sync words
and headers intact), or just sequential sectors of data?
However, they're obviously of the most
use to folks with access to a Catweasel board (and an Intellec system).
Or curious folk (like me) who enjoy the challenge of picking apart disc
formats :)
--
Phil.
classiccmp at philpem.me.uk
http://www.philpem.me.uk/
2:23 p.m.
On Fri, 9 Oct 2009, Philip Pemberton wrote:
They are sequential sectors of data.
Indeed. It would be great to have a utility that can read/write files
They are
"cooked" images, so it would be possible to extract the files from
them with a bit of work.
What do you mean by "cooked"? Raw M2FM data, decoded M2FM (sync words and
headers intact), or just sequential sectors of data? However,
they're obviously of the most
use to folks with access to a Catweasel board (and an Intellec system).
Or curious folk (like me) who enjoy the challenge of picking apart disc
formats :) from images. For extra credit, how about a FUSE module
for Linux or
MacOSX?
Steve
--
10 Oct
10 Oct
11:21 a.m.
Steven Hirsch wrote:
So basically they are the M2FM equivalent of a WinImage "IMD" file.
Nice. (As long as you know the sector sizes beforehand...)
Point me to a filesystem spec and some demo images and it might turn
into my next "little project".. :)
What do you
mean by "cooked"? Raw M2FM data, decoded M2FM (sync words
and headers intact), or just sequential sectors of data?
They are sequential sectors of data. Or curious
folk (like me) who enjoy the challenge of picking apart
disc formats :)
Indeed. It would be great to have a utility that can read/write files
from images. For extra credit, how about a FUSE module for Linux
or
MacOSX?
That sounds like a lot more fun. A lot of work, but also a lot more fun
(and interesting).
I'd love to do a FUSE mounter for BBC Micro (Acorn DFS and possibly
ADFS) disc images, but it's still on my "maybe later" list... :)
--
Phil.
classiccmp at philpem.me.uk
http://www.philpem.me.uk/
11 Oct
11 Oct
5:56 p.m.
On Sat, 10 Oct 2009, Philip Pemberton wrote:
Point me to a filesystem spec and some demo images and it might turn into my
next "little project".. :)
I'll do some poking through the ISIS-II documentation and see if there's a
filesystem spec.
I had a bit of exposure to the FUSE API while doing some bug-fixing on the
CoCo FUSE module. It seems very straightforward. There's a baseline of
functionality that must be present, and a few other things that are nice
to have but not essential.
Steve
--
Steven Hirsch wrote:
So basically they are the M2FM equivalent of a WinImage "IMD" file. Nice. (As
long as you know the sector sizes beforehand...)
I'm not familiar with WinImage.
What do
you mean by "cooked"? Raw M2FM data, decoded M2FM (sync words and
headers intact), or just sequential sectors of data?
They are sequential sectors of data. Or curious folk (like me) who enjoy the challenge of
picking apart disc
formats :)
Indeed. It would be great to have a utility that can read/write files from
images. For extra
credit, how about a FUSE module for Linux or
MacOSX?
That sounds like a lot more fun. A lot of work, but also a lot more fun (and
interesting).
I'd love to do a FUSE mounter for BBC Micro (Acorn DFS and possibly ADFS)
disc images, but it's still on my "maybe later" list... :) 
7:34 p.m.
Sorry to hijack the thread. But could you tell me if this linux catweasel
tool can read and write apple 2e and 2gs 5.25" and 3.5" floppies? Thanks.
brian
On Thu, Oct 8, 2009 at 6:23 PM, Steven Hirsch <snhirsch at gmail.com> wrote:
I'm pleased to announce that the maintainer of
Linux cwtool has implemented
working support for reading and writing Intel M2FM "DD" diskettes as used
with the Intellec development systems :-).
Karsten did some analysis of raw bit images I sent him and produced a
working driver within a week! As a "smoke" test (my MDS800 is not
functional at the moment), I duplicated the ISIS-II system diskette and sent
the copy to a person with a working system. It boots, catalogs and
otherwise looks fine.
I have about 20-25 original distribution diskettes for the MDS800 and will
get busy imaging them ASAP. Who would be willing to host these?
They are "cooked" images, so it would be possible to extract the files from
them with a bit of work. However, they're obviously of the most use to
folks with access to a Catweasel board (and an Intellec system).
10 Oct
10 Oct
6:13 a.m.
On Fri, 9 Oct 2009, Brian Lanning wrote:
Sorry to hijack the thread. But could you tell me if
this linux catweasel
tool can read and write apple 2e and 2gs 5.25" and 3.5" floppies? Thanks.
Since it simply reads flux transitions and captures the time interval that
separates them, it is capable of reading anything recorded on a magnetic
disk. That said, I believe only the Windows-based utility can actually
decode the raw capture from A2 diskettes into a sector-by-sector image.
The opensource Linux package can read Commodore GCR diskettes, so I assume
adding A2 support would be doable.
Steve
--
11 Oct
11 Oct
6:15 p.m.
On Sat, Oct 10, 2009 at 8:13 AM, Steven Hirsch <snhirsch at gmail.com> wrote:
On Fri, 9 Oct 2009, Brian Lanning wrote:
Sorry to hijack the thread. But could you tell me if this linux catweasel
I talked to Jens (catweasel creator) about it. The current windows software
only supports reading apple 2e floppies at the moment. Someone else is
handling the software for him, but not much seems to be happening there.
He says that all of the floppy file formats just end up being a series of
blocks one after another so that all you need to know is the block size and
the number of sectors per track. If it's so easy, I'm not sure why they
only implemented reading. :-/ I've considered writing something open source
for windows/linux that could read and write anything simply by changing
configurable parameters. Supporting a new format would just require knowing
what the file format looks like and what the floppy layout it. Alas,
woodworking is taking too much of my time these days. I may get around to
it at some point. It would help greatly if I had existing source code that
I could use as a starting point. I haven't really started to dig yet.
brian
tool can read and write apple 2e and 2gs
5.25" and 3.5" floppies? Thanks.
Since it simply reads flux transitions and captures the time interval that
separates them, it is capable of reading anything recorded on a magnetic
disk. That said, I believe only the Windows-based utility can actually
decode the raw capture from A2 diskettes into a sector-by-sector image.
The opensource Linux package can read Commodore GCR diskettes, so I assume
adding A2 support would be doable.
6:42 p.m.
Brian Lanning wrote:
He says that all of the floppy file formats just end
up being a series of
blocks one after another so that all you need to know is the block size and
the number of sectors per track.
I didn't know if I should laugh or cry when I read that sentence. It certainly
explains why software support from the vendor for the board is so poor if he
seriously believes that.
7:04 p.m.
On 11 Oct 2009 at 18:42, Al Kossow wrote:
I didn't know if I should laugh or cry when I read
that sentence. It
certainly explains why software support from the vendor for the board
is so poor if he seriously believes that.
Amen. I submit that there is more variety in floppy formats than in
almost any other digital magnetic medium.
Cheers,
Chuck
7:13 p.m.
He says that all of the floppy file formats just end
up being a series of
blocks one after another so that all you need to know is the block size and
the number of sectors per track.
All files just end up being a series of words one after another so that
all you need to know is the word-size in bits, and the length of the file.
8:22 p.m.
On 11 Oct 2009 at 19:13, Fred Cisin wrote:
Ever tried to decode a DECStation WPS I floppy? Two sectors are used
to hold the low-order 8 bits of each word and then a third sector
holds the high-order 4 bits of the words of the other two sectors,
all packed together. 6 bit ASCII, too, with numerous escape codes.
--Chuck
He says that
all of the floppy file formats just end up being a
series of blocks one after another so that all you need to know is
the block size and the number of sectors per track.
All files just end up being a series of words one after another so
that all you need to know is the word-size in bits, and the length of
the file. 
12 Oct
12 Oct
12:59 p.m.
All files just
end up being a series of words one after another so
that all you need to know is the word-size in bits, and the length of
the file.
Ever tried to decode a DECStation WPS I floppy? Two sectors are used
to hold the low-order 8 bits of each word and then a third sector
holds the high-order 4 bits of the words of the other two sectors,
all packed together. 6 bit ASCII, too, with numerous escape codes.
5:06 a.m.
On Sun, Oct 11, 2009 at 8:42 PM, Al Kossow <aek at bitsavers.org> wrote:
Brian Lanning wrote:
He says that all of the floppy file formats just end up being a series of
I think that might have been a statement more about the file formats than
the floppy formats. But I don't know much about floppy formats anyway. He
definitely seems more interested in the hardware though. It seems that
other people are always doing the drivers and utilities for him.
brian
blocks one after another so that all you need to
know is the block size
and
the number of sectors per track.
I didn't know if I should laugh or cry when I read that sentence. It
certainly
explains why software support from the vendor for the board is so poor if
he
seriously believes that.
4:50 a.m.
On Sun, 11 Oct 2009, Brian Lanning wrote:
The opensource
Linux package can read Commodore GCR diskettes, so I assume
adding A2 support would be doable.
It would help greatly if I had existing source code
that I could use as
a starting point. I haven't really started to dig yet.
Well, both cwtool and cw2dmk are opensource software. That provides a
reasonable starting point to examine working code.
--
13 Oct
13 Oct
4:49 a.m.
On Mon, Oct 12, 2009 at 6:50 AM, Steven Hirsch <snhirsch at gmail.com> wrote:
Well, both cwtool and cw2dmk are opensource software.
That provides a
reasonable starting point to examine working code.
I haven't had a chance to look at it at all. I've been meaning to get to it
for about a year now. Too many projects. :-/ Thanks for the suggestion.
brian
10 Oct
10 Oct
10:24 a.m.
Steven Hirsch wrote:
I'm pleased to announce that the maintainer of
Linux cwtool has
implemented working support for reading and writing Intel M2FM "DD"
diskettes as used with the Intellec development systems :-).
Is he planning another release? The last one posted is .13
11 Oct
11 Oct
5:52 p.m.
On Sat, 10 Oct 2009, Al Kossow wrote:
Steven Hirsch wrote:
That's completely up to Karsten. I believe he's also working on some
other enhancements and that may be gating things.
I'd suggest dropping him e-mail if you want to get a pre-release copy.
Steve
--
I'm pleased to announce that the maintainer
of Linux cwtool has implemented
working support for reading and writing Intel M2FM "DD" diskettes as used
with the Intellec development systems :-).
Is he planning another release? The last one posted is .13 
25 Jan
25 Jan
8:39 a.m.
On Thu, 8 Oct 2009, Steven Hirsch wrote:
I'm pleased to announce that the maintainer of
Linux cwtool has implemented
working support for reading and writing Intel M2FM "DD" diskettes as used
with the Intellec development systems :-).
I've just looked at the current cwtool's code, and it seems that the M2FM
support is still missing.
Christian
5211
days inactive
5320
days old
19 comments
8 participants
participants (8)
-
aek＠bitsavers.org -
ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk -
brianlanning＠gmail.com -
cc＠informatik.uni-stuttgart.de -
cclist＠sydex.com -
cisin＠xenosoft.com -
classiccmp＠philpem.me.uk -
snhirsch＠gmail.com