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Writing Zorba disks on an x86 machine

M

mudmin

Experienced Member
Joined
Jan 5, 2022
Messages
91
Sorry for the noob question. For things like my TRS80 machines I use a program called ImageDisk to write images and it works really well. However my Zorba CPM machine can't read anything I write using this method. I have some Zorba IMD images and they appear to write properly, but I must have a setting wrong because they're never readable. Does anyone have a point in the write direction?

I've read an old google grou
 
idk how my post got cut off, but I was saying I've read an old google groups thread that people link to several times but they're using different software and I'm not seeing any conclusions from that thread that seem to help me.
 
mudmin,
OK, I am running DOS 7.1, which was extracted from Win98SE and I am using Fdisk from a later version
so I can have 2 - 3GB Partitions on my Bootable Hitachi 6GB Micro Drive. 2nd partition is a backup of
the First partition. I boot from the HItachi Micro Drive.

I also have the Onboard FDC disabled, and I have purchased a Adaptec AHA-1522 SCSI Controller.
(The SCSI portion is disabled and I have just the floppy controller enabled. (Just make sure the AHA-1522
has the National Semiconductor Logo and has the DP8473xx IC and floppy cable connector on the PCB.)
It will write SD and DD but not 128 Bytes per sector. There is a AHA-1522 on Ebay right now at a good price.

www.ebay.com

AHA-1522A ADAPTEC 16 BIT ISA SCSI ADAPTER HARD/FLOPPY 554006-00 AHA-1510/20/22A | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for AHA-1522A ADAPTEC 16 BIT ISA SCSI ADAPTER HARD/FLOPPY 554006-00 AHA-1510/20/22A at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!
www.ebay.com

I also have dd for MSDOS and have it copied to my DOS Computer, but haven't tried it yet. It should write
a floppy like dd in Linux does. I just need to try it to see how it works.

If you run TESTFDC.COM from Dave Dunfield's Utilities does it pass the SD and DD testing? If you haven't run
the test yet, run it to see what the current FDC has the capability of doing. It just need a blank floppy.

Imagedisk should write the floppy correctly. I've used it a lot and haven't had much trouble. If you are using BIN2IMG.COM
you need to get the Updated Code, as Dave had a BUG in the original code. If you need the Update I have it posted
on my PCloud account. Just send me a Message about how to download it. I'm not sure Dave has updated his server.


Larry
 
First of all, what floppy drive do you have on your x86 machine? 360K or 1.2MB? What drives on on the Zorba? What format are the IMD images? Are they 40-track or 80-track? You might have to change IMD settings depending on the image and your x86 drives. Zorbas typically came with 48-tpi (40 track) drives, with 96-tpi (80 track) drives as an option. My Zorba has the 96-tpi drives.
 
Last edited:
ldkraemer said:
mudmin,
OK, I am running DOS 7.1, which was extracted from Win98SE and I am using Fdisk from a later version
so I can have 2 - 3GB Partitions on my Bootable Hitachi 6GB Micro Drive. 2nd partition is a backup of
the First partition. I boot from the HItachi Micro Drive.

I also have the Onboard FDC disabled, and I have purchased a Adaptec AHA-1522 SCSI Controller.
(The SCSI portion is disabled and I have just the floppy controller enabled. (Just make sure the AHA-1522
has the National Semiconductor Logo and has the DP8473xx IC and floppy cable connector on the PCB.)
It will write SD and DD but not 128 Bytes per sector. There is a AHA-1522 on Ebay right now at a good price.

www.ebay.com

AHA-1522A ADAPTEC 16 BIT ISA SCSI ADAPTER HARD/FLOPPY 554006-00 AHA-1510/20/22A | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for AHA-1522A ADAPTEC 16 BIT ISA SCSI ADAPTER HARD/FLOPPY 554006-00 AHA-1510/20/22A at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!
www.ebay.com

I also have dd for MSDOS and have it copied to my DOS Computer, but haven't tried it yet. It should write
a floppy like dd in Linux does. I just need to try it to see how it works.

If you run TESTFDC.COM from Dave Dunfield's Utilities does it pass the SD and DD testing? If you haven't run
the test yet, run it to see what the current FDC has the capability of doing. It just need a blank floppy.

Imagedisk should write the floppy correctly. I've used it a lot and haven't had much trouble. If you are using BIN2IMG.COM
you need to get the Updated Code, as Dave had a BUG in the original code. If you need the Update I have it posted
on my PCloud account. Just send me a Message about how to download it. I'm not sure Dave has updated his server.


Larry
Click to expand...
That's a lot of awesome info. I'm definitely using a 360k drive. I need to go in and run some of the tests for the other things. My bin2img is pretty recent IIRC, but I will check that too. Thanks Larry.
 
mloewen said:
First of all, what floppy drive do you have on your x86 machine? 360K or 1.2MB? What drives on on the Zorba? What format are the IMD images? Are they 40-track or 80-track? You might have to change IMD settings depending on the image and your x86 drives. Zorbas typically came with 48-tpi (40 track) drives, with 96-tpi (80 track) drives as an option. My Zorba has the 96-tpi drives.
Click to expand...
I'm using a 360k drive. I believe the images were 40 tracks, but I'll have to learn how to examine all that stuff to figure it out for sure. If switching to 80 track in my settings is all it takes, that, would be a pretty easy fix.
 
mudmin,
The easiest was tor a quick test is insert a floppy and count the steps as it formats. It's
either 40, or 80 if it's a 5.25" Floppy Drive.

Larry
 
ldkraemer said:
mudmin,
The easiest was tor a quick test is insert a floppy and count the steps as it formats. It's
either 40, or 80 if it's a 5.25" Floppy Drive.

Larry
Click to expand...
I'm not sure I'm following. Format a zorba disk in windows and count the tracks or format it on the zorba?
 
I appreciate everyone's help! I think I'm to the point where I'm going to recover what I can recover and put a gotek in. Disk writing is just not working.
 
Late to the party and new to this site, but I have recently gotten my Zorba up and running. Did you resolve your issue? I have 48 TPI drives if a set of disks created from a Zorba would help here.
 
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