cca@cs.exeter.ac.uk (Clive Carmock) (03/15/91)
Does anyone know of a utility to read and write 720K 3.5" PC (DOS) format disks on an upgraded Amiga 500 with twin drives? I have heard of MessyDos, but cannot find a UK supplier. If there is a PD program, is it available via the network? Thanks Clive Carmock (cca@cs.exeter.ac.uk or cca@expya.UUCP)
harry@demon.co.uk (Harry Broomhall) (03/18/91)
In article <2941@izar.cs.exeter.ac.uk> cca@cs.exeter.ac.uk (Clive Carmock) writes: >Does anyone know of a utility to read and write 720K 3.5" PC >(DOS) format disks on an upgraded Amiga 500 with twin drives? > >I have heard of MessyDos, but cannot find a UK supplier. > >If there is a PD program, is it available via the network? > MessyDos is a shareware program, so won't be found in dealers. Try your local ICPUG (Independant Commodore users Group) or, if you have access to it, CIX. The commercial program for this is called Dos2Dos, which I don't have, so can't comment upon. BTW - MessyDos currently does not work with ADOS 2, but as you are talking about A500 this should not be a problem. Otherwise it is a fabulous prog, and a real life saver. Regards, Harry.
sie@fulcrum.bt.co.uk (Simon Raybould) (03/19/91)
In article <1991Mar18.014040.1976@demon.co.uk> harry@demon.co.uk (Harry Broomhall) writes: In article <2941@izar.cs.exeter.ac.uk> cca@cs.exeter.ac.uk (Clive Carmock) writes: >Does anyone know of a utility to read and write 720K 3.5" PC >(DOS) format disks on an upgraded Amiga 500 with twin drives? > >I have heard of MessyDos, but cannot find a UK supplier. > >If there is a PD program, is it available via the network? > > BTW - MessyDos currently does not work with ADOS 2, but as > you are talking about A500 this should not be a problem. Otherwise > it is a fabulous prog, and a real life saver. > Regards, > Harry. I have messydos and dos2dos. I have had nothing but trouble with messydos. I was intending sending 3 sets of source to c.s.a today but messydos has mad a REAL mess of the PC disks. It has attempted to cram 740K onto the disk and the PC can't read any of the files. I personally do not have the time to wade through the docs to find the reason for this and will be going back to Dos2Dos with which I have had no problems. If there is some obvious reason why all my disks get corrupted by MSH then let me know and I'll give it another try. -- Simon J Raybould (sie@fulcrum.bt.co.uk) // {o.o} \X/AMIGA \-/ =========================================================================== British Telecom Fulcrum, Fordrough Lane, Birmingham, B9 5LD, ENGLAND.
efp90@ecs.soton.ac.uk (Pritchard EF) (03/20/91)
sie@fulcrum.bt.co.uk (Simon Raybould) writes: >In article <1991Mar18.014040.1976@demon.co.uk> harry@demon.co.uk (Harry Broomhall) writes: > In article <2941@izar.cs.exeter.ac.uk> cca@cs.exeter.ac.uk (Clive Carmock) writes: > >Does anyone know of a utility to read and write 720K 3.5" PC > >(DOS) format disks on an upgraded Amiga 500 with twin drives? > > > >I have heard of MessyDos, but cannot find a UK supplier. > > > >If there is a PD program, is it available via the network? > > >> BTW - MessyDos currently does not work with ADOS 2, but as >> you are talking about A500 this should not be a problem. Otherwise >> it is a fabulous prog, and a real life saver. >> Regards, >> Harry. >I have messydos and dos2dos. I have had nothing but trouble with messydos. >I was intending sending 3 sets of source to c.s.a today but messydos has >mad a REAL mess of the PC disks. It has attempted to cram 740K onto the >disk and the PC can't read any of the files. >I personally do not have the time to wade through the docs to find the reason >for this and will be going back to Dos2Dos with which I have had no problems. >If there is some obvious reason why all my disks get corrupted by MSH then >let me know and I'll give it another try. >-- >Simon J Raybould (sie@fulcrum.bt.co.uk) // {o.o} > \X/AMIGA \-/ >=========================================================================== >British Telecom Fulcrum, Fordrough Lane, Birmingham, B9 5LD, ENGLAND. What is the BlocksPerSector variable set to in your Mountlist? When I first got MesstDOS it was set to 9, which is what it should be according to the IBM formatted disks, but I found that it did not work, the drive just spun and did nothing. I changed this parameter to 8, and LO! it worked. WHY? Maybe the problem is this? My major bugbear with MessyDOS is that it always throws a requestor at me every time I swap to a AmigaDOS disk saying 'MessyDOS disk has read/write error' which you then have to cancel, and then a 'Not a DOS disk requestor' which you have to cancel as well. This can crash some applications such as the AZ editor. I have a single floppy system, and my friend with another drive and an A590 does not have this problem. The requestor problem also means that I cannot do single drive disk to disk copies, as DOS gets confused and says 'You MUST replace volume MessyDOS in unit 0'. E.F.Pritchard. efp90 Footnote: Recently I changed the BlocksPerSector back to 9 (for some reason I am not quite sure of) and it still read alright, after hearing of your problem I think I might change it back...
colas@lemur.inria.fr (Colas Nahaboo) (03/20/91)
In article <SIE.91Mar19125838@lister.fulcrum.bt.co.uk>, sie@fulcrum.bt.co.uk (Simon Raybould) writes: > If there is some obvious reason why all my disks get corrupted by MSH then > let me know and I'll give it another try. Personal experience has shown that as long as only one task at a time is using MSH, everything is fine (I never had a problem). BUT, as soon as two tasks access MSH: at once, things go haywire... No wonder with ms-dos is non-multitasking :-) -- Colas Nahaboo, colas@sa.inria.fr, Bull Research, Koala Project, GWM X11 WM Phone:(33) 93.65.77.70(.66 Fax), INRIA, B.P.109 - 06561 Valbonne Cedex, FRANCE.
harry@demon.co.uk (Harry Broomhall) (03/21/91)
In article <SIE.91Mar19125838@lister.fulcrum.bt.co.uk> sie@fulcrum.bt.co.uk (Simon Raybould) writes: >In article <1991Mar18.014040.1976@demon.co.uk> harry@demon.co.uk (Harry Broomhall) writes: > > In article <2941@izar.cs.exeter.ac.uk> cca@cs.exeter.ac.uk (Clive Carmock) writes: > >Does anyone know of a utility to read and write 720K 3.5" PC > >(DOS) format disks on an upgraded Amiga 500 with twin drives? > > >> BTW - MessyDos currently does not work with ADOS 2, but as >> you are talking about A500 this should not be a problem. Otherwise >> it is a fabulous prog, and a real life saver. > >I have messydos and dos2dos. I have had nothing but trouble with messydos. >I was intending sending 3 sets of source to c.s.a today but messydos has >mad a REAL mess of the PC disks. It has attempted to cram 740K onto the >disk and the PC can't read any of the files. > >I personally do not have the time to wade through the docs to find the reason >for this and will be going back to Dos2Dos with which I have had no problems. > >If there is some obvious reason why all my disks get corrupted by MSH then >let me know and I'll give it another try. > I have not had any trouble with Messydos on other than ADos2. It just gets on with the job, and is used heavily in one site I deal with. The only caveat I have found is *NOT* to use it to format disks. Format them on the PC and all will be well. As long as the MountList entry is correct I have found no reason to even look at the docs! Your problem sounds like you tried to use it to format a disk. Perhaps a few more details please? Regards, Harry.
amorsin@cs.vu.nl (A.W.Morsink) (03/28/91)
> > >Does anyone know of a utility to read and write 720K 3.5" PC > > >(DOS) format disks on an upgraded Amiga 500 with twin drives? > > > I'm surprised nobody mentioned CrossDos!!! It's definitely better than dos2dos. Let's you mount any drive you want as an SM-DOS drive, while you can still use 'em as Amy drives too! Arnoud W. Morsink Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam The Netherlands