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CBMSTUFF FORUM
Help! - Printable Version

+- CBMSTUFF FORUM (https://www.cbmstuff.com/forum)
+-- Forum: CBMSTUFF PRODUCTS (https://www.cbmstuff.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=1)
+--- Forum: SuperCard Pro (https://www.cbmstuff.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=3)
+---- Forum: Installation and setup (https://www.cbmstuff.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=5)
+---- Thread: Help! (/showthread.php?tid=209)

Pages: 1 2


Help! - prowler - 01-10-2015

Hi everyone!

This is my first post on the forum, and I'm afraid I need help from the word go.

I bought my SuperCard Pro shortly after it was first made available.

Today, I unpacked my shiny new accessory from its bubble mailer and connected it to a USB 2.0 port on my WinXP machine.

Downloaded the latest (v1.5.0.1) software and installed it. So far so good.

Downloaded the latest (v1.1) firmware updater, but Avast! reports that it's infected with the Win32:Malware-gen virus!

I presume the latest version of the software requires the latest firmware update, but first I thought I would determine the existing firmware version and try to update it as far as possible.

Firmware updater v0.8 reported that the existing firmware was at version 0.8, so updated the firmware to version 0.9 with firmware updater v0.9 - again, so far so good.

However, firmware updater v1.0 also appears to be infected with the Win32:Malware-gen virus.

Are these files genuinely infected, or can I exclude them from my AV scans?

On a different note, I have found that I am unable to insert my storage medium (a Kingston Technology 8GB Micro-SDHC Class 4) all the way into the SuperCard Pro's Micro-SD card slot.

I don't think local storage is required to produce or store disk images, however I would like to know why I'm having difficulty inserting this card. The slot doesn't look damaged in any way.

Thanks for any help with this. Smile


RE: Help! - admin - 01-10-2015

There is no virus. I compress and encrypt the executable files, and some anti-virus programs have an issue with this.

You don't "insert" a card into the SD card storage location. The metal lid lifts up and you set the card in place and then close the lid. So... push the lid until it unlocks, pivot the lid upright, lay the card in place, lower the lid over the card, and push the lid to lock it in place.


RE: Help! - prowler - 01-11-2015

Thanks for your quick reply, Jim! Smile

I have now fitted the Kingston Micro-SD HC card. (It's easy when you know how! Wink).

I disabled the Avast! shields and updated the SuperCard Pro firmware first to version 1.0 and then to version 1.1.

However, there is no indication yet that the SD card is detected by the SCP program or available in any way for local storage. Will this become evident later when I connect a floppy drive and try to make an image of a disk?

I had expected the SD card to be accessible from Windows Explorer with the SuperCard Pro board plugged into the PC, but it isn't. The card is formatted AFAIK (I have no other way of reading it). Can the SCP program use the SD card to store disk images locally, or is it used only for temporary storage of images when copying disks, etc.?

I will attempt to make my first .scp image (from an Amiga-formatted 5¼-inch disk) tomorrow and report back.


RE: Help! - admin - 01-11-2015

The SD media card is not used at all currently. I know nothing about Windows drivers for emulating a device, so I won't be making the SD card available under Windows. It is designed to be removed and placed in a card reader for Windows/Linux/Mac where image files can be moved. The card would then be inserted back into the SCP for use with the floppy drive emulator (when that feature becomes available). Notice that there is nothing mentioned in the documentation about the SD card.


RE: Help! - prowler - 01-12-2015

Thanks for the clarification, Jim. That's fine. I'll have to get myself a micro-SD card adapter for when that time comes.

I've not had much success at all reading Amiga-formatted 5¼-inch disks with the SCP today. I've had no joy whatsoever reading disks in splice mode while ignoring the index (the source grid filled with orange boxes). I tried that because of the uncertainty about where each track starts on Amiga disks, but the resulting flux (.scp) images are just rubbish, and when they're converted to ADF images, the source grid boxes are all red. The destination grid is filled with blue boxes, but the disk images are all filled with zeroes.

Using index mode with the drive index signal required to produce flux images seems to give much more reliable reading (the source grid filled with blue boxes), but when converting them to ADF images, the source grid is mainly filled with red boxes and just a few yellow, while the destination grid is again filled with blue boxes. This time, the resulting ADF images are mostly filled with zeroes and a mixture of valid and corrupt data in the tracks corresponding to the yellow source grid boxes.

I'll try some 3½-inch Amiga- and PC-formatted disks next, just to see if I can get anything working at all.

In the meantime, could you clarify the meaning of the coloured boxes in the disk copier/imager grids for me, please? It seems to me that red, orange and yellow boxes indicate failed reads with one or more bad sectors, and blue boxes indicate good reads or writes, though the written data can never be valid if the original read was bad.


RE: Help! - admin - 01-12-2015

The adf converter does not work with 5.25" Amiga disks (I have never seen one before, although I do have a 5.25" Amiga drive). To duplicate the 5.25" Amiga disks, you would need to use SPLICE mode. IBM PC disks created with an Amiga drive (using the BridgeBoard) can be duplicated using the INDEX mode.

I will have to look at how 5.25" Amiga disks were encoded. The adf converter was only designed for 3.5" disks.


RE: Help! - prowler - 01-12-2015

Could I perhaps copy one 5¼-inch Amiga disk I'm particularly interested in, which may have one or more long tracks, onto a 3½-inch disk using SPLICE mode? That would keep me happy for now.


RE: Help! - admin - 01-12-2015

You can't convert 5.25" to 3.5" format. What disk do you have on 5.25" format that is copy protected? I have never seen a single 5.25" commercial disk, and I had lots of copiers for the Amiga back in the day. You can duplicate any disk with SCP, so you can copy that disk.


RE: Help! - prowler - 01-14-2015

The 5¼-inch disk I wish to make an image of suitable for use in emulation is a Powerstyx 100% demo disk backup. I'm not sure that it is copy protected, but the backup was made originally from a 3½-inch disk using NibbleCopy, and subsequently the demo was run from the backup disk and this was verified as a good copy.

The original 3½-inch disk has now been lost and the owner of the backup disk has no working 5¼-inch disk drive with which to read it. Eventually it was passed to me, but I have failed to make an image of it using my Catweasel card, so I'm assuming it has one or more long tracks on it.

Because I can create no image of this disk using SCP (I'm not convinced the disk is being read properly, even when dumping to a flux (.scp) image), I will make one last attempt to get satisfactory reading performance with the SCP by copying this disk to another 5¼-inch DD disk, and then I will tackle the job using the Amiga's Powercopy utility. I can then generate either a 3½-inch disk or an extended ADF for use in WinUAE from the resulting trackfiles.

I was attempting to use my SCP board for this job only because I had thought it would be more straightforward than using Powercopy, and one day soon perhaps it will be.

Thanks for all your help getting my SCP board up and running.


RE: Help! - admin - 01-14-2015

As I stated, you can duplicate any disk using SCP. 5.25" disks and 3.5" disks use two different physical formats, so you can not simply copy tracks from one format to another.

Have you tried looking at the flux data to see if the disk is even reading correctly? Send me the image file and I can check it.