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BBC Disks
- Thread starter bbcmicro
- Start date
carlsson
Veteran Member
You don't have a 5.25" PC drive that is capable of writing disks? As I wrote in the other thread, I tried to transfer some software to 3.5" disks, but so far I've not succeeded.
You don't have a 5.25" PC drive that is capable of writing disks?
Unfortunately no. I would need special software on my PC to write BBC readable disks anyway, although there is a man somewhere on the internet who is selling IBM compatible DFS roms, letting you read PC disks on a micro, if I did have a 5.25 pc drive.
I don't think winXP supports formatting of 5.25 disks anyway, just reading and writing. I'm not sure if my motherboard supports the either. I must check that up really.
As I wrote in the other thread, I tried to transfer some software to 3.5" disks, but so far I've not succeeded.
Sorry, which thread again?
carlsson
Veteran Member
The "special software" on your PC doesn't seem so hard to locate, but it is said that 5.25" drives are more picky than 3.5" drives when it comes to ability to read and write foreign formats. Look for Omnidisk, Omniflop, FDC etc.
I tried my parents' PC, and it was able to write 3.5" BBC ADFS floppies. Then I moved that particular floppy drive to my PC, but no luck. Either it is a difference in OS (theirs runs Windows XP and can use Omniflop while my PC runs Windows 98 and can only run Omnidisk in DOS mode) or the floppy disk controller on my motherboard isn't flexible enough - it is a cheap ECS/SiS motherboard as some already know.
Anyway, now I know it is possible to get runnable floppies, so I might look around for a small footprint PC dedicated for this purpose. The XM1541 cable works fine (in DOS mode) with my PC, so that is one need less. I also joined the Stairway to Hell forum for some expert advice.
I tried my parents' PC, and it was able to write 3.5" BBC ADFS floppies. Then I moved that particular floppy drive to my PC, but no luck. Either it is a difference in OS (theirs runs Windows XP and can use Omniflop while my PC runs Windows 98 and can only run Omnidisk in DOS mode) or the floppy disk controller on my motherboard isn't flexible enough - it is a cheap ECS/SiS motherboard as some already know.
Anyway, now I know it is possible to get runnable floppies, so I might look around for a small footprint PC dedicated for this purpose. The XM1541 cable works fine (in DOS mode) with my PC, so that is one need less. I also joined the Stairway to Hell forum for some expert advice.
I suppose xfer is an option for a direct link, but I would need to make a cable (I'm hopeless at things like that) and get someone else to put the software on a 5.25" disk. Plus I have no idea how the system works. A cheap, dedicated computer, maybe a 486 or something sounds like a good idea. What format of 5.25" floppy drive can be forced to write BBC floppies? and is it a tedious process of converting files and writing them or is it simple?
on stairwaytohell, when I still had a functioning data recorder I tried converting the files to wav, burning them to a cd and then playing them on a CD/tape player and recording the results. It never worked properly though, just loading the first half or so and then something goes wrong... I ought to try again really but I dont have that partiular CD player, so I might try and source a cable for my sound card. I recon it didnt work because
1) The original tape may have suffered some degrade in quality due to age, but not enough to stop functionality
2) conversion to .wav probably accentuated these faults
3) as did burning to CD
4) as did recording again to tape.
on stairwaytohell, when I still had a functioning data recorder I tried converting the files to wav, burning them to a cd and then playing them on a CD/tape player and recording the results. It never worked properly though, just loading the first half or so and then something goes wrong... I ought to try again really but I dont have that partiular CD player, so I might try and source a cable for my sound card. I recon it didnt work because
1) The original tape may have suffered some degrade in quality due to age, but not enough to stop functionality
2) conversion to .wav probably accentuated these faults
3) as did burning to CD
4) as did recording again to tape.
carlsson
Veteran Member
Not sure, but it was said that maybe one out of three 5.25" PC drives (or perhaps the controller boards) were flexible enough to be addressed as required. I suppose it is possible at all because both systems use some form of MFM encoding on the floppies.bbcmicro said:What format of 5.25" floppy drive can be forced to write BBC floppies?
I still don't understand how Omnidisk is supposed to work, but Omniflop (in W2K/XP) was very straightforward once I had a proper setup. No need for extra cables, just a software install. The games software I found were on SSD disk images, which are fine for 5.25" systems; otherwise there are some converters. I used a combination of DFS Explorer and ADFS Explorer to drag and drop files between different types of disk images.
If you convert files to wav, why not play them back on your sound card and either connect a tape recorder with mic input or perhaps find a way to connect the sound card directly to the destination computer.