Convert .imd to .scp files?
#11
HxC works in every case I have seen, so I think the issue is likely related to the TPI difference. The data rate would matter during the conversion process, but only for the machine it is to be run on. SCP can reproduce any data rate up to about 100ns/200ns bitcell times (which would be a floppy disk with >20MB of storage capacity - which never existed).
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#12
(07-02-2015, 07:40 AM)admin Wrote: HxC works in every case I have seen, so I think the issue is likely related to the TPI difference.

Thanks, Admin...can you suggest a method by which I could correct this TPI difference, when I use HxC to convert to SCP, and SCP to write to disk?
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#13
I am not sure. I have never needed to change the TPI. The documentation for the HxC likely has that information.
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#14
(07-02-2015, 11:12 PM)admin Wrote: I am not sure. I have never needed to change the TPI.  The documentation for the HxC likely has that information.

I have a set of 3.5 inch HD Windows 3.11 distribution disks.  The first disk has faults, so I downloaded another copy of the distribution from an archive site.  The archive, which was in 7-zip format, contained 6 disk "images", with .img extensions. 

I obtained the Dubaron DiskImage freeware but since the machine that has SCP on it is a "modern" machine (no floppy controller) this software was unable to write the image to disk.  SCP could not handle the .img format directly, so after consulting this thread I found the HxC software.

Using the batch converter I converted the .img files to .scp format, then loaded the disk1.scp file into the SCP utility and burned it to disk.  According to the utility the process completed successfully. 

However, when I inserted the disk into the DOS machine containing a 3.5 inch drive, the drive reported a failure when trying to read the directory.  I'm wondering if I have missed some setting or if I'm simply trying to put a square peg in a round hole.

I'm also wondering if it would be possible to address the 3.5 inch floppy through the Windows OS, rather than through the SCP software.  I envision being able to "copy" an existing file from the HD to a floppy using the SCP interface as the controller.  Is this possible?  I know the SCP reports as a USB  Serial Port (COM4); would a different driver be required?

Any suggestions welcome.  Thanks.
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#15
The HxC software should be able to convert the .img file to .scp format, and that should be able to be written to a disk. Did you check to make sure the disk is good by using the media integrity test (found in the Utilities section of the SCP software)?

We can't access the SCP from any OS directly. If someone wants to write a driver, it would be easy enough to call the SCP to do the tasks necessary. I don't know anything about Windows drivers. SCP is not actually used as COMx, it is accessed directly through the FTDI driver, not through a COM port. Although you can access it through a COM port if you wanted to, it's just slower doing that (programming wise).
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