Creating a floppy disk (and feeling silly)

Supporter (6)

19-11-2005, 22:23

First of all, I'm really sorry for being such a terrible newbie!

As of today I own a Philips NMS 8280 with keyboard and mouse. Of course, feeling all nostalgic, I want to start gaming, but I don't know where to begin. The only thing I've come up with is that I have to cover up the hole on my regular floppy disk to make it a 720k disk, but what's next? What type of files can I put on the disk so my MSX can handle them and, equally important, how do I do it? I've checked out quite a few FAQ's and webpages, but I can't seem to find the answer to this seemingly basic question.

Thanks a lot and sorry again!

By djh1697

Paragon (1736)

19-11-2005, 23:17

Hello! Welcome to msx.org - I feel silly too sometimes!

1. Format a floppy disk in your MSX using call"format"
2. Then there are a number of websites with .DSK images on them, although i cannot mention them on msx.org, because it is piracy if you download the images of games without owning the original games, and msx.org does not appreciate this.
3. You need to use a program call diskmgr, although there are others avaliable to convert the DSK image to a floppy disk.

I am assuming that you have a PC with a floppy drive?

By Rosella

Supporter (6)

19-11-2005, 23:48

Great, this is really helpful! Well, I've formatted a disk, converted a DSK file... but my A drive seems to be broken. How do I tell it to use the B drive? Apparently, it doesn't switch to drive B by itself when I boot the MSX with just a floppy in B.

Thanks for your help!

By Sonic_aka_T

Enlighted (4130)

19-11-2005, 23:53

Are you sure your drive is broken? Try typing FILES in basic to see if it lists anything that might be on the disk. You can do this on your B: drive as well, by typing FILES "B:" to see if that does work. If it works on drive B: but not on A: chances are the drive is broken indeed. If it doesn't work on either drive, let's hope that's an indication of something being wrong with the disk you're using, and not both drives...

By Rosella

Supporter (6)

19-11-2005, 23:59

When I try FILES (with the disk in A) I get a "disk offline" message, when I try FILES"B:" with the disk in B I get the correct files. I already had a suspicion drive A was broken 'cause it wouldn't format my floppy either. But hey, looking on the bright side, disk B does work. And I do have a few backup options, I have another 8280 and 2 more 8250's available as well, all I have to do is pick them up!

By legacy

Hero (570)

20-11-2005, 00:14

If the disk is formatted on the MSX-drive, then the drive is not broken, on the other hand, if the disk is formatted on the pc, then it's maybe an hd-disk, in that case you must tape a hole on the right lower corner, seen from the labelside.
[edit]
Hm, This post was not necessary.

By Rosella

Supporter (6)

20-11-2005, 00:21

I formatted it on the B drive, the A drive is the one that is (almost certainly) broken. I'm trying to load the game with the floppy in the B drive now. I tried LOAD"B:FILENAME.BAS",R but then it seems to be looking at drive A again and it gives me a "disk offline in 10" error.

[edit] I tried it with another disk (and another game) and now it does seem to run the BAS file, but the screen just goes black and the light on the A drive lights up again.

By [D-Tail]

Ascended (8263)

20-11-2005, 01:08

That is because your default drive is still A:. You can make B: your default drive by entering some POKE, don't recall it exactly... Better chance is actually opening the lid, removing the corrupt drive and replace it with a fresh one.

Good luck!

By Rosella

Supporter (6)

20-11-2005, 01:19

If I can find the time and the correct tools tomorrow I'll switch drive A en B. I'll keep you posted, thanks again for all the quick replies!

By MSXHinter

Expert (77)

20-11-2005, 09:17

The poke's are :

Poke &hf247,1 makes the B-drive a:
Poke &hf247,2 makes the C-drive active (C-drive ?)
poke &hf247,0 makes the A-drive active

also when working in dos you can use Assign, but the best solution is indeed the open your computer and switch places

By [D-Tail]

Ascended (8263)

20-11-2005, 11:10

Thanks for the pokes, MSXHinter. To be honest, I tried these (#F247) with NLMSX, but they didn't work... Probably because I was testing in turboR/DOS2 mode... My bad.

Iirc ASSIGN is a DOS2 command, so it won't work without the DOS2 kernel. ASSIGN A: B: assigns all calls for drive A: to drive B:. Which works slightly different than the pokes mentioned earlier.

10 BLOAD "A:MYBINARY.BIN"
20 DEFUSR=&HC000: A=USR(0)

This piece of code will ALWAYS load from the A: drive, even when invoked from drive C: or whatever. But using ASSIGN A: C: all calls for drive A: will be redirected to drive C:, which means it will work .

Finally, how to change drives in BASIC:

DOS1:
POKE &HF247,0 ' Will make the A: drive active
POKE &HF247,1 ' Will make the B: drive active
...
POKE &HF247,7 ' Will make the H: drive active

DOS2:
CALL CHDRV("A:") ' Will make the A: drive active
CALL CHDRV("B:") ' Will make the B: drive active
...
CALL CHDRV("H:") ' Will make the H: drive active

Good luck replacing your drive!