Date : Mon, 30 Mar 2009 10:31:56 +0100
From : kishtailor@... (Kish Tailor)
Subject: Fwd: [TI-99/4A] Re: questions on tranferring files to
Here's a very informative reply from another list regarding omniflop.
Sent via iPhone by O2
Begin forwarded message:
> From: "Paolo Bagnaresi" <paul.bagnaresi@...>
> Date: 30 March 2009 01:20:02 BST
> To: <ti99-4a@...>
> Subject: Re: [TI-99/4A] Re: questions on tranferring files to the
> TI...
> Reply-To: ti99-4a@...
>
> You can use OmniFlop for TI disks as it is now, no need to change
> anything. The only catch is that you have to use an already
> formatted TI
> disk, because OmniFlop is not currently TI-aware, so to speak. Ah, and
> you also have to get a licence just to use it, but it is entirely
> free.
> Actually I had to get 2 licences in a row, because I wanted to use
> Single Density, which is licenced separately.
>
> I gave it a quick try on my XP PC this evening and I must say this
> guy,
> Jason Watton of Sherlock Consulting Limited, really knows his stuff!
> He
> did manage to directly access a disk drive under Windows 2000, XP and
> Vista. This is the first time I see someone who succeeds in doing so.
>
> This is my pc (year 2004)
> Motherboard: ASUS A8N-SLI Premium ACPI BIOS Revision 1303
> Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4200+
> Southbridge: nVidia nForce4 MCP rev. F3
>
> You have to install the OmniFlop.sys first (see explanations on
> the .pdf
> file included), because the original Windows driver for floppy must be
> replaced. Windows does not acknowledge Single Density.
>
> My quick experiment was to try to read, write and read back a TI SSSD
> disk on a 3.5 floppy. It worked like a charm.
>
> I inserted a TI SS/SD disk with some code in it into the disk drive. I
> let OmniFlop chose the "Unknown unform custom format" and went ahead.
> The proposed *.img format turned out to be a plain V9T9 format (one
> sector after another, no gap in between). The generated .img file was
> exactly 90 KB, as it should be. The .img file was inspected and found
> good; it was then fed to the "write" option of OmniFlop, for which I
> had
> previously inserted a freshly formatted SSSD disk (obtained from
> TI99-PC) into the disk drive.
>
> OmniFlop first inspected the new floppy, as it always does, and then
> went on writing the floppy. The so obtained floppy proved to be a good
> SS/SD TI disk. It was properly catalogged and extracted by TI99-PC.
>
> My test lacks the final proof. Someone must see if a dis written by
> OmniFlop is properly handled on a real TI-99/4A, but chances are it
> very
> easily will. I'd be surprised if it wouldn't.
>
> My conclusions:
>
> 1) We finally have a good way to read and write TI disks under Windows
> XP (and probably under Vista and 2000 too). We still lack the format
> capability, but a good bunch of previously formatted disks will get
> you
> by on that.
>
> 2) We may have the TI disk formatting option directly implemented in
> OmniFlop. As a matter of fact, the OmniFlop author, Jason Watton, is
> still working on this project of his and seems to be keen to expand
> the
> already huge compatibility table of his program. We just have to get
> in
> touch with him.
>
> 3) Some of us, with good Windows programming skills, could write a new
> application, exploiting the OmniFlop.sys driver that already manages
> Single and Double density. No need to re-invent the wheel. The
> driver is
> already there, Jason Watton is glad to share his driver, we just have
> add some interface code to perform catalog, transfer, file extraction,
> unarchiving, and TIFILES operations. Yeah, its a lot of code, I admit,
> but nothing really impossible. I'm too old for that (I'm 65 now), I
> don't have time and I've never been a good Windows programmer either.
>
> Paolo
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Kish Tailor" <kishtailor@...>
> To: "Ti-99/4a Mailing List" <ti99-4a@...>
> Sent: Sunday, March 29, 2009 1:27 AM
> Subject: Re: [TI-99/4A] Re: questions on tranferring files to the
> TI...
>
>
>> If someone could modify it for a ti-99 it would save a lot of space
>> on
>> my hard drive then using one program this computer and another for
>> another computer.
>>
>> It could end up being a mess type program that supports various
>> systems.
>>
>> Sent via iPhone by O2
>>
>> On 28 Mar 2009,@23:01, FDOS <fdosbrs@...> wrote:
>>
>>> Eric,
>>>
>>> Correct, nothing about the TI-99/4A, but it seems that with the
>>> software
>>> they have that anyone of our more talented individuals here could do
>>> it,
>>> but what would be the incentive considering we do have TI99-PC, and
>>> most
>>> of us have found a way to use it with the PC+OS that we have.
>>>
>>> I have too many things in the fire already.
>>>
>>> Bill S
>>>
>>> Eric Bray wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> You can find Omniflop at the following site:
>>>>
>>>> http://www.shlock.co.uk/Utils/OmniFlop/OmniFlop.htm
>>>> <http://www.shlock.co.uk/Utils/OmniFlop/OmniFlop.htm>
>>>>
>>>> When I last read the .pdf file documentation I don't remember
>>>> seeing
>>>> anything about the TI99/4A format(s) being covered by this program.
>>>> I
>>>> saw a great many other 8-Bit machine formats but not ours!
>>>>
>>>> --- In ti99-4a@... <mailto:ti99-4a%40yahoogroups.com>,
>>>> FDOS
>>>> <fdosbrs@...> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> I don't have "omniflop" or know where to get it, but TI99-PC is
>>>>> available on WHTECH for free.
>>>>>
>>>>> Bill S
>>>>>
>>>>> Kish Tailor wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> As I am a collector of various vintage computers, omniflop is the
>>>>>> only
>>>>>> program that can write various formats of disk images.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Using omniflop would be like using mess for me.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Sent via iPhone by O2
>>
>>
>
>
>
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