Date   : Tue, 19 Jan 1993 12:43:46 GMT
From   : Christopher Currie <ccurrie@clus1.ulcc.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: trouble with 22dsk, Xenocopy, etc.

>------------------------------
>
>Date: 18 Jan 93 02:52:28 GMT
>From: mcsun!sun4nl!wtrlnd!contrast!postmaster@uunet.uu.net  (Oscar Vermeulen)
>Subject: Trouble with 22dsk, Xenocopy etc.
>Message-ID: <727299604.AA01100@contrast.wlink.nl>
>
>Hi All,
>
>I have been trying to get 22disk, Xenocopy and some other, comparable
>CP/M disk converters to run on my 386 clone for weeks now, but they all
>fail to work. I spent most of my effort on 22disk, which reports a
>'drive not ready' after it starts to read the CP/M disk that was
>supposed to be converted. The drive starts spinning for a second or so,
>then the error message appears and the drive stops.
>
>This happens with disks from all kinds of CP/M machines (Cromemco,
>Superbrain, Epson, IBM CP/M 86). It also happens when I try to format an
>alien disk. Once, just once, I got it working for a few minutes, but
>that was all.
>
>Is there something I don't know? Fidgeting with BIOS settings and
>drivparm didn't help me. Do you need some special disk controller? My
>clone is equipped with one of the newer multi I/O cards.
>
>Well, in short: Help!

I have had no trouble with 22disk installed on a 486 clone. But I
did have to reinstall it - I had originally copied it over from my
previous XT, and that installation gave problems. If you have been
using an incomplete 22disk from a friend's machine,
that may be the problem. Get the full current version from Simtel20.
You may need the registered version for some formats.
The registered version has more formats than the shareware version.
Make sure that the specifications for the drives and other
features of your system are set correctly when you install 22disk.

Alternatively the problem could be with your drive cache or PC
speed. If you have a turbo switch, try switching it so that the
computer is set on 'slow' (i.e. AT) speed. If you use
Smartdrv or another drive cache, try altering the buffering settings
for the floppy drive. (I have not found that a turbo setting caused
problems for 22disk, but I have found that a program designed to
read TRS-80 disks on older PCs could not read the floppies unless
the turbo was set OFF, and moreover could not format alien disks unless the
write cache for the floppy drive was switched ON.)

There are other tricks that sometimes work, such as covering the
index hole on the floppy with a write-protect tab.

Christopher Currie
ccurrie@clus1.ulcc.ac.uk