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Creating Physical TRS-80 Floppies From Disk Images

TomL_12953

Experienced Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2003
Messages
63
Location
Malone, NY
I'm trying to create TRS-80 floppies from my Dell XPS 8700 (Core i7) PC using .dsk files downloaded from the Internet.
I have a hardware board known as Kryoflux installed.
What I'm doing is using the HxC floppy drive emulator to read in the .dsk file (the .dsk file works in the TRS32 emulator) and
convert it to Kryoflux raw files (one file per track). Then I use the Kryoflux GUI, Wildewutz to write the raw files to an actual floppy.

So far I have not been able to successfully boot my TRS-80 with any of the floppies I've created. I was able to get to a TRSDOS Ready prompt
with TRSDOS 2.8D (double density TRSDOS) but every command I typed returned ERROR 01.

Can anyone help me?

TIA

Tom L
 
First, did you try verifying the correct case. All TRSDOS commands are uppercase, not lower case.
Second, are you using DS/DD media? My experience is that DS/HD media was a crapshoot.
 
Are we sure that using Wildewutz the Kyroflux can write both Single Density (FM) and Double Density (MFM) tracks/sectors. The Wildewutz post on the Kyroflux forum states that Wildewutz is for DD only. Even with a DD board, the Model 1 uses SD for booting, making the TRSDOS 2.8D disk a SD/DD Hybrid.
 
You can always try using Keir Fraziers Utilitity to create an .IPF file and write that to floppy. I've done that on TRSDOS & NEWDOS and it works (or it did
on the version I tried back then.)

Larry
 
You can always try using Keir Fraziers Utilitity to create an .IPF file and write that to floppy. I've done that on TRSDOS & NEWDOS and it works (or it did
on the version I tried back then.)

Larry
Hello All. I am new here. I just came across this forum looking for someone who has used kryoflux to record floppy disks for the TRS80.

I am asking for your help. . Please write how you did it. What tool did you use? In my case I tried to use disk-analyse, but the DSK with the TRSDOS image is recognized as amigados. When I used the option to force format on ibm - it did the conversion to IPF, but nothing further comes out. IPF does burn to floppy, but something doesn't want to work.

greetings
Arkadius
 
Last edited:
WOW! Here you go........

You can use the Kryoflux, SuperCard Pro, Catweasle, Disc Ferret, Greaseweazle, and Fluxengine
to image the Original Floppy's. There are also Software solutions for making copies. Teledisk,
Imagedisk, CopyQM, WinImage, and dd (in Linux). It depends on the system and if it's CP/M or
NEWDOS, TRSDOS, ULTRADOS, and on and on. Several good Tutorials are included below.


Kryoflux

DOSBox

cpmtools

HxC Software

TRS-80 Floppy's


Emulators

SDLTRS

Z80
XTRS
TRS80
TRS80GP

The Emulators TRS80, XTRS, and SDLTRS should be able to write directly to the Physical
Floppy, assuming you have a floppy connected to the computer running the Emulator.
TRS80GP DOES NOT support writing floppy's (according to George).

This will get you started. All you need to do is ask for a bit of help on exactly what you are wanting to do.


Larry
 

TomL_12953,​

If you install a TRS-80 Emulator in Windows or Linux, you can use three of the four Emulators
to write the .DSK or .DMK file to a real floppy. The three Emulators are TRS80 by David Keil,
SDLTRS by Mark Grebe, Updates by Jens Guenther, and XTRS by Tim Mann.

That would be the easiest way to get the floppy's created.


Larry
 
I use David Keil's emulator for this, on a 486 running straight MS-DOS 6.2. However. as others have said, some double density TRS-80 OS disks have the first few sectors as single density so your PC must be able to write single density. Not all PC floppy controllers can do this.

Tez
 
Thank you for all the hints. The problem for me is the lack of a 5.25 dive for the PC and the old PC. So I want to find a way to use KryoFlux to write an IPF image to a real 5.25 floppy disk drive connected to KryoFlux.

command

dtc -ffilename.ipf -w

should do it, however something is not right when converting (disk-analyse can do it) from dsk to hfe and next to ipf. The DTC command shows that side 0 and side 1 is unformatted.

My idea came about because I read that someone had done it and it supposedly works. However, no one has written how they did it :)

All the best
Arek
 
Arek,
Do you have the Files already in a (*.DSK, *.DMK, *.TD0, *.IMD, *.RAW, *,HFE, or other format) and what type OS are you talking bout?
NEWDOS what version(s), TRSDOS what Version(s), ULTRADOS Version?, Multidos Version?, LDOS Version?, or other OS?


Larry
 
Dear Larry,

yes, I have files in DSK, DMK and HFE formats. My topic is more about trying to do something that can make life easier for people without an old PC and an old 5.25 station. That is, since Kryoflux can record floppy disks, I'm still trying to find a way to do it:

1. I have a TRS80 floppy disk image in, for example, DSK format.
2. I use the HxC floppy emu to have the DSK converted to HFE
3. I use the disk-analyse program by Keir Fraser to convert HFE to IPF (a format that I can burn to floppy via DTC from Kryoflux)
4 I use DTC to burn the image to a real floppy disk.
5. For fun, but also as a challenge - I want to understand and learn how such in theory, correctly recorded floppy disk read again using Kryoflux and save in DSK/DMK format so that the emulator can use it.

All this seems like secret knowledge, hidden like Druids' spells :)

All of this I want to do as a challenge, especially since someone supposedly did it and it works. The problem with online forums and other sites is that someone wrote - I DO IT! IT WORKS!!! but didn't write how he did it so that the knowledge can be used.

Such knowledge will open up the possibility of burning other floppy disk formats using a regular WIN/MAC system and Kryoflux interface. It all started with the fact that my TRS80 was faulty. I did not have a floppy disk (the real 5.25 one) with LDOS or TRSDOS. I was not able to check if the station was working. I finally managed to get GOTEK working. Everything is ok. However, the idea and challenge remained. So I am looking for those willing to help and join in this fun. My knowledge is quite limited, maybe there is someone who has more. Such joint action is always successful.

all the best
Arek
 
Arek,
Sure, I understand what you are requesting. The first thing to do is locate a way to convert the SOURCE image format into
something the Kryoflux (or Supercard Pro, or Greaseweazle, or Fluxengine) can write. In your case you chose the IPF format.
The four GOTO converters I use are SAMDISK, HxC, DISK-ANALYSE, and LIBDSK.

SAMDISK
SAMdisk supports a selection of popular disk image containers, rather than specific disk formats, meaning it automatically supports thousands of existing disk images and track formats.


The following containers types are supported for input:
Code:
[LIST]
[*]EDSK — Extended disk image (Amstrad CPC, Spectrum +3, SAM Coupé, PC).
[*]MGT — MGT +D/Disciple/SAM (Sinclair Spectrum / SAM Coupé).
[*]SAD — SAm Disk (SAM Coupé).
[*]SBT — Sam BooTable disk (SAM Coupé).
[*]SDF — Sam Disk Format (SAM Coupé).
[*]DS2 — Velesoft split side format (SAM Coupé).
[*]CPM — Pro-DOS CP/M (SAM Coupé).
[*]TD0 — Sydex TeleDisk (various).
[*]RAW — KryoFlux stream format [IBM MFM and FM only].
[*]SCP — SuperCard Pro stream format [IBM MFM and FM only].
[*]DFI — DiscFerret stream format [IBM MFM and FM only].
[*]IPF — Interchangeable Preservation Format [IBM MFM only].
[*]HFE — HxC Floppy Emulator disk format [IBM MFM and FM only].
[*]DMK  — David M Keil’s disk format (mainly TRS-80).
[*]IMD — Dave Dunfield’s ImageDisk utility (various).
[*]TRD — Beta128 disk for TR-DOS (Sinclair Spectrum).
[*]FDI — Full Disk Image (Sinclair Spectrum, not Disk2FDI).
[*]OPD — OPus Discovery (Sinclair Spectrum).
[*]MBD — MB-02+ Disk (Sinclair Spectrum).
[*]UDI — Ultra Disk Image (Sinclair Spectrum).
[*]SCL — Sinclair betadisk archive (Sinclair Spectrum).
[*]DSK — Disk image (Amstrad CPC).
[*]DSC — WinAPE disk image (Amstrad CPC).
[*]CFI — Compressed Floppy Image (Amstrad).
[*]BPB — FAT12/16 BIOS Parameter Block (MS-DOS, Atari ST).
[*]MSA — Magic Shadow Archive (Atari ST).
[*]D80 — Didaktik D80.
[*]D88 — Pasopeia D88 (NEC PC-xx).
[*]D81 — Commodore 1581.
[*]D2M — Commodore CMD FD-2000.
[*]D4M — Commodore CMD FD-4000.
[*]LIF — Logical Interchange Format (Hewlett-Packard).
[*]DTI — Deep Thought (Jupiter Ace).
[*]S24 — Sega System 24 (Arcade, 1.8M and 1.88M formats).
[*]RAW — raw sector dumps, identified by file size only.
[/LIST]

The following types are supported for output of new or modified disk images, as determined by file extension:
Code:
[LIST]
[*].dsk — Extended DSK flexible format.
[*].mgt — Miles Gordon Technology +D/SAM (80/2/10/512).
[*].sad — SAm Disk semi-flexible.
[*].cpm — SAM Coupé Pro-DOS (80/2/9/512).
[*].trd — Beta128 / TR-DOS (typically 80/2/16/256).
[*].fdi — Full Disk Image flexible format (Beta128 / TR-DOS, not Disk2FDI).
[*].opd — Opus Discovery (typically 40/1/18/256).
[*].mbd — MB-02+ (82/2/11/1024).
[*].imd — ImageDisk flexible format.
[*].d81 — Commodore 1581 (80/2/10/512).
[*].d88 — Pasopeia D88 (NEC PC-xx) flexible format.
[*].d2m — CMD FD-2000 (81/2/10/1024).
[*].d4m — Commodore CMD FD-4000 (81/2/20/1024).
[*].dti — Deep Thought UART stream (80/2/1/2304).
[*].lif — HP Logical Interchange Format (77/2/16/256).
[*].raw — Raw sector dump in suitable regular format.
[/LIST]

libdsk Ver 1.5.19

$ dsktrans -types
Code:
Disk image types supported:
   gotek      : Gotek 1440k disc image collection 
   gotek72    : Gotek 720k disc image collection 
   remote     : Remote LibDsk instance
   rcpmfs     : Reverse CP/MFS driver
   floppy     : Linux floppy driver
   dsk        : CPCEMU .DSK driver
   edsk       : Extended .DSK driver
   apridisk   : APRIDISK file driver
   copyqm     : CopyQM file driver
   tele       : TeleDisk file driver
   ldbs       : LibDsk block store
   ldbst      : LDBS (text form)
   sap        : SAP file driver
   qrst       : Quick Release Sector Transfer
   imd        : IMD file driver
   ydsk       : YAZE YDSK driver
   raw        : Raw file driver (alternate sides) 
   rawoo      : Raw file driver (out and out) 
   rawob      : Raw file driver (out and back) 
   myz80      : MYZ80 hard drive driver
   simh       : SIMH disc image driver
   nanowasp   : NanoWasp image file driver
   logical    : Raw file logical sector order
   jv3        : JV3 file driver
   dc42       : Disk Copy 4.2
   cfi        : CFI file driver

REF: SEE ATTACHED FILE


NOTE: These formats are my .libdskrc file conents. You can add additional CP/M formats as needed.


DISK-ANALYSE


Code:
$ disk-analyse
Usage: disk-analyse [options] in_file out_file
Options:
  -h, --help          Display this information
  -q, --quiet         Quiesce normal informational output
  -v, --verbose       Print extra diagnostic info
  -i, --index-align   Align all track starts near index mark
  -C, --clear-bad-sectors Clear bad sectors in output
  -p, --pll-period-adj=PCT (PCT=0..100) PLL period adjustment
  -P, --pll-phase-adj=PCT (PCT=0..100) PLL phase adjustment
                      Amount observed flux affects PLL
  -r, --rpm=DRIVE[:DATA] RPM of drive that created the input,
                         Original recording RPM of data [300]
  -D, --double-step   Double Step
  -s, --start-cyl=N   Start cylinder
  -e, --end-cyl=N     End cylinder
  -S, --ss[=0|1]      Single-sided disk (default is side 0)
  -k, --kryoflux-hack Fill empty tracks with prev track's data
  -f, --format=FORMAT Name of format descriptor in config file
  -c, --config=FILE   Config file to parse for format info
Supported file formats (suffix => type):
  .adf  => ADF
  .eadf => Extended-ADF
  .hfe  => HxC Floppy Emulator (orig,v3)
  .imd  => ImageDisk
  .img  => IBM-MFM Sector Dump
  .ipf  => SPS/IPF
  .dsk  => Libdisk
  .scp  => Supercard Pro
  .st   => Atari ST Sector Dump
Read-only support:
  .dat  => Diskread
  .dfi  => DiscFerret DFE2
  *.raw => Kryoflux STREAM
  .{ct,ctr,raw} => CAPS/SPS CT Raw
Write-only support:
  .jv3  => JV3 TRS80 Emulator

HxC
HxC - Can load .DSK (TRS-80 Format) .DMK, .RAW, and other types of images. It can also export to various
formats.

Now, How about uploading an Image you want to try and write with the Kryoflux, so we can do some testing on it.


Larry
 

Attachments

  • libdsk-formats.txt
    12 KB · Views: 4
Wow

This is a powerful dose of knowledge! You are incredibly well informed. Thank you so much for the information. This is a very big step further. I'll be learning and seeing what works to make such a step-by-step manual for the community. Because this way I can burn floppy disks in an emergency situation without having the original hardware.

Thank you very much again for these tips. I am grateful.

All the best
Arek
 
Thank you. I've been sitting on this issue since I got back from work and I seem to be going around in circles like a hamster. Somewhere I'm making a logical error and my head is confused. I'm uploading the DMK file with regular dos because I'm sure it works. It's a conversion from an HFE file. TRSTools reads the DMK contents correctly after conversion.

I'm not going to suggest anything right now, as my thinking is probably wrong. I'll wait for you to describe your example to me, and then I'll write what I did.

all the best
Arek
 

Attachments

  • dziala_hfe_ld3-531_dsk_hfe.zip
    93.5 KB · Views: 5
Arek,
I've looked at your image and it isn't quite what I expected. There seems to be a lot of jitter in the
image versus what I see for l3d5136.dmk. I'm using the Linux Version of HxC which is at Revision
2601, and I'm currently using Revision 2595. A few weeks ago when I checked I was using the
latest Version.

1. What Revision HxC Software are you using? Is it a Windows Version, or Linux?

The Linux version is at this URL:
svn checkout svn://svn.code.sf.net/p/hxcfloppyemu/code/hxcfloppyemu-code

I've attached a photo of your image with the jitter problem, an also an image that was on my TRS80GP
Emulator, for comparison.

I did get you image to boot, but if I do a DIR command after the second page scrolls, the Emulator locks up.
If you do a DIR and list two pages does your computer also lock up?

Larry
 

Attachments

  • dzlala.png
    dzlala.png
    36.5 KB · Views: 16
  • dzlala-orig.png
    dzlala-orig.png
    215.8 KB · Views: 18
  • l3d5316.png
    l3d5316.png
    215.4 KB · Views: 18
Strange, I wrote back yesterday but my entry did not appear. I wrote that I am away from my home and have no way of doing it now. Thank you very much for a lot of information. I will be back tonight or tomorrow. I will answer all questions and suggestions then.

All the best
Arek
 
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