A new MSX Disk Image utility

Par Gig71

Expert (81)

10-02-2020, 11:03

thanks a lot robodrunk.
Iwill try it soon as possible.

Par Gig71

Expert (81)

10-02-2020, 19:48

Hi Robodrunk.
I've made some quick test.

result:

dsk 360k in dos1 don't works: tested on bluemsx and on openmsx.
If I open such disk in the tool i can see the files, but in emulators there are no files.

dsk 360k in dos 2 works !!
dsk 720k in dos 1 works !!
dsk 720k in dos 2 works !!

in the previous version i closed the Explorer tabs, and i dont know how to restore them.
they even don't show in this version.

maybe you can add a info about dos boot in the info bar.

I saw that you had put a changelog too in the zip file, great !!!

P.S.
I'd like To attach a zip file with dsk examples, but I don't know how to attach a file

this tool is getting better and better every version.

Thanks for your work Robodrunk !

Par robodrunk

Resident (50)

11-02-2020, 04:49

Hi Gig71,

Oops, I will make a version today that lets users re-enable browser panels.
I will check the dsk 360 with dos1 issues. It should be the same, just a different boot record, but who knows, maybe I missed something.
I was thinking about making it possible to specify custom boot codes as well. Currently it's also possible to set the boot code to None (that makes a C9 / RET opcode).

I was thinking about adding a (hex) viewer for boot record or maybe the whole disk as well, that may extend to a hex editor at some point.

In general I really want to add a quick built-in text/hex viewer to check file contents.

And regarding the command line options to do operations on an image - I didn't yet decide how I want this implemented.
Advanced command line is more suitable for a separate console app that I can also add to the package.
It's also possible to add some sort of a JS-based scripting to the GUI app that may let user perform custom operations on a disk image.

Thank you for the reports!

Par robodrunk

Resident (50)

11-02-2020, 05:09

Hi rderooy,

At this moment the tool is pretty much hard-coded to support MS(X)-DOS formats only of 360/720kb sizes (that are basically the same with minor diffs).
HFE format decoder results in exactly same binary structure when decoded.

The tool was made to improve my own disk image handling experience + let me export data to removable drives in HFE format (the only format my floppy emulator can handle).

So for the moment I have no idea when I could add more bizzare stuff, like those DMKs etc

With the current tool I know it's already at least two users who need it (one of them is me)

Thank you!

Par robodrunk

Resident (50)

11-02-2020, 07:15

New version update

Version 0.0.5
* Opening a disk image file will check if current one is modified
* Improved usability for deleting items from current disk image using keyboard
* New Options menu was added - it lets user re-enable browser panels
* Experimental: "export to Removable" will save current image in HFE format to first Removable drive detected
(that drive letter may be changed in Options submenu).
* A few shortcuts were added for file operations
* Fixed incorrect FAT signature when creating 360k images

Download link: http://www.pen-code.com/files/MSXDiskTool.zip

Par akumajo

Resident (43)

11-02-2020, 07:31

Got it!
Thank you Robodrunk for this tool and this update!
Can we expect a Linux and/or MacOS version ?

Par Gig71

Expert (81)

11-02-2020, 21:11

Tested-
All works fine now!

Maybe when renaming files is better if we could rename extension too.

About Hex editor , it give to a tool a professional look! great idea.
And, I'm not asking, only a tip.
Maybe a viewer for basic files (ascii and tokenized), with a option to export it as ascii file.
I currently use Msx View v 1.1 from shingo minag to view content of basic files.
Just a tip, it's not a request !

Great tool.
Thanks

Par NYYRIKKI

Enlighted (6094)

11-02-2020, 21:43

Very interesting... very, very interesting...

This might be a bit bold idea especially at this development stage, but how about supporting SVI-3x8 (Pre MSX) .DSK-files? (BlueMSX uses this format and for openMSX use the images can be converted to DMK)

This format is similar to MSX .DSK file in a sense that it just includes all the disk data areas as RAW, but logically it is extremely primitive format compared to FAT. The problem is that so far there is no ANY tool to handle these files. I would say there is quite a huge need for such a program as currently only way to copy files is to transfer them on emulator manually from cassette to disk or other way around... Even creating a new empty disk image requires practically running 3 different tools inside emulator (Low level format, logical format and boot track copy program) Definitely not user friendly as you might imagine.

If you are interested about this, I can help you with all the ugly details.

Par Gig71

Expert (81)

11-02-2020, 22:03

Yes
One tool to do everything we need without switching to all great but too much and sometimes not updated tools.
Would be a dream comes to reality.

disk images
hard disk images
and what about ESE-RAM/SCC Disk? (DiskExplorer V1.69 by Junno(N.Inoue) support this files).

The Ultimate MSX Disk Tool !

Par Gig71

Expert (81)

11-02-2020, 22:28

Found A bug.
Opennin a dsk image by menu or even by drag and drop onto the exe.
give a access violation error and can't exit the program.
Only if i do (after that error) file-new image(without saving it) i can exit the tool.