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22DISK will not read Osborne 1 disks

N

neosunrise

Experienced Member
Joined
Jan 17, 2019
Messages
139
Location
Chicago, IL
I recently made some disks using ImageDisk for my Osborne 1. It has the floppy drive upgrade with two double density drives. The disks booted and was read fine on the Osborne 1 (I had to change the transfer rate from 250kpbs to 300kbps in ImageDisk though). Now I wanted to copy some files to the disks using 22DISK from my 486 DOS machine (which has a 5.25" floppy drive that supports both DD and HD disks) but no matter which disk format I set it to (SSSD, or SSDD for Osborne 1), it won't be able to recognize the disks.

Am I out of luck?
 
Did you purchase a registered copy of 22Disk? It has about 550 different definitions of which 11 are for Osborne.

I've thought about it, and I've decided to quit registering new 22Disk customers. When a floppy disk drive is a rarity on a computer system and most young people wouldn't know what to do when a floppy was handed to them, it's time to retire the product. Of course, I'll still respond to registered users requesting support for an unknown format, as I've done for the last 33 years.

I'm not going to release it into the public domain. That just wouldn't be fair to the people who actually paid for it.
 
Chuck(G) said:
Did you purchase a registered copy of 22Disk? It has about 550 different definitions of which 11 are for Osborne.

I've thought about it, and I've decided to quit registering new 22Disk customers. When a floppy disk drive is a rarity on a computer system and most young people wouldn't know what to do when a floppy was handed to them, it's time to retire the product. Of course, I'll still respond to registered users requesting support for an unknown format, as I've done for the last 33 years.

I'm not going to release it into the public domain. That just wouldn't be fair to the people who actually paid for it.
Click to expand...

Thanks Chuck for the reply. I am using the unregistered version which has 9 formats for the Osbornes, out of which, two are for Osborne 1. I'm not sure if this is a software limit by the unregistered version or my hardware limit.
 
Give Larry Kramer's Linux utility a try. I suspect that the definitions are based on 22Disk.

If you want, upload an image of your problem disk to a file-sharing site and PM me the link. I can tell you if it's you or 22Disk that's the problem.
 
Chuck(G) said:
How is your 'tweener set up? i.e. OS, drives? I assume that your DISKETTE.CFG file represents your setup?
Click to expand...
It’s a 486 with DOS 6.22 installed. It has an EPSON SD680L655 floppy drive which I had no problem making disks for the Osborne 1. As far as the CFG file, where am I supposed to see it? I can’t find it in the 22DSK directory.
 
Run the program VIEWCONF and see what it says. (Should be part of the 22disk distro, but since I didn't make the one you're using, who knows?)
 
Just tried it on a couple of the files. Worked fine. Tweener was a AMD K6-2 500 with 1.44/1.2 drives. MSDOS 7.1 (Win98SE).

Here's a sample:
Code: 
CDIR Ver. 1.44-Sep 14 1997, Copyright 1996, Sydex.  All rights reserved.
Osborne 1 - SSSD 48 tpi 5.25" format

B0:AUTOST.COM      B0:COPY.COM        B0:HELP.COM        B0:MOVCPM.COM      
B0:PIP.COM         B0:SETUP.COM       B0:STAT.COM        B0:SYSGEN.COM      
B0:XDIR.COM        

28K free on drive B:

The above files as copied to DOS.

Code: 
 Volume in drive D is DRIVE_D_   
 Volume Serial Number is 180E-1BF4
 Directory of D:\ALIEN\ostemp

.              <DIR>        08-11-20  1:34p .
..             <DIR>        08-11-20  1:34p ..
AUTOST   CPM         2,432  08-11-20  1:35p AUTOST.CPM
HELP     CPM        17,920  08-11-20  1:35p HELP.CPM
SYSGEN   CPM         1,280  08-11-20  1:35p SYSGEN.CPM
STAT     CPM         5,376  08-11-20  1:35p STAT.CPM
COPY     CPM         2,304  08-11-20  1:35p COPY.CPM
SETUP    CPM         3,328  08-11-20  1:35p SETUP.CPM
PIP      CPM         7,424  08-11-20  1:35p PIP.CPM
MOVCPM   CPM        11,008  08-11-20  1:35p MOVCPM.CPM
XDIR     CPM         2,304  08-11-20  1:35p XDIR.CPM
         9 file(s)         53,376 bytes
         2 dir(s)        8,898.51 MB free

When using 1.2M drives for this stuff, you have to set IMD to double-step and 250Kbps->300kbps in the menu. 22Disk sees the 1.2M (80 cylinder) drive and assumes double-stepping for a 48 track original.
 
I tested the shareware version of 22disk with OS1SYSD.imd and it worked fine. What's the cost of 22disk? Would you sell one last copy for old time sake?
 
The problem is that with each sale comes the responsibility of support. I don't know--I'm kind of tired telling people that it won't run on Windows 10 with a USB floppy drive.

I'm starting to feel my age. One gets tired more easily.
 
For some reason, I downloaded version 1.42 and it did not include VIEWCONF.EXE. I tried a different version V1.44 and I was able to get the configuration. Here's what it showed:

IMG_0926.JPG

Interestingly, this version was able to recognize the disks - I had to choose Osborne 1 SSDD. I'm pretty happy that it works now. Thank you for your help!
 
Chuck(G) said:
The problem is that with each sale comes the responsibility of support. I don't know--I'm kind of tired telling people that it won't run on Windows 10 with a USB floppy drive.

I'm starting to feel my age. One gets tired more easily.
Click to expand...

Fair enough but I'd like to think I've demonstrated my competence.

Strictly speaking I don't need it but it seems like an awfully handy piece of software.
 
Chuck(G) said:
The problem is that with each sale comes the responsibility of support. I don't know--I'm kind of tired telling people that it won't run on Windows 10 with a USB floppy drive.

I'm starting to feel my age. One gets tired more easily.
Click to expand...

Maybe the solution is to switch new registrations over to "you get source" rather than "you get support". Let them support themselves.
 
Chuck,

There are probably several of us, including me, that would love to get a registered copy before the opportunity is lost to the world. Please consider offering a final few registered copies with the understanding of
"no support". I would hate to know that I have procrastinated too long on getting a copy.

Phillip
 
Chuck(G) said:
Okay, I'll extend the registration period for a month. Drop me a PM and we can take it from there.
Click to expand...

Oh, I thought, 22Disk was also from NTI Corp. - didn't know it can be still registered... from you ? Is there a web site for it ? Don't know the price of the registered version (that one with more predefined formats).
 
THANKS CHUCK! That's a VERY GOOD DEAL for CP/M Users. As a REGISTERED User Since May 1991, THANKS
AGAIN! for the continuing SUPPORT of CP/M.


Larry Kraemer
 
Peter z80.eu said:
Oh, I thought, 22Disk was also from NTI Corp. - didn't know it can be still registered... from you ? Is there a web site for it ? Don't know the price of the registered version (that one with more predefined formats).
Click to expand...

We don't advertise it because of the lack of suitable equipment on the market. We started getting requests from people who wanted to use XP with a USB floppy to read their disks. I hated to tell them that it wasn't going to work. Drop me a PM and I'll fill you in with registration details.

Thanks!

We also have a 2.0 version that handles the really oddball stuff such as the Cifer 2684 or National BLC 86/20. Buffers full tracks for speed. Never got around to making a general release version, but sold a few private copies.
 
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