Baybench 1.3 - UNZIP and ADF.
I downloaded these files from Aminet
yesterday and placed them on a 720K
formatted PC disk using MultiDOS.
Later I will copy over the ADF ZIP
from the PC to the same disk.
Note that by using the ZIP tool on
the PC this reduces the size of the
ADF file from 880K to 256K. Had I not
done this the ADF would not have fit
onto a 720K disk.
I am still using 1.3 on a 500Plus Amiga
with a ROM switcher allowing me to use
the 1.3 ROM. Albeit with my own Workbench.
And there she is. ' Don't call me BayB '
A line from Barbe Wire .. Anyhoo. This
is BayBench and is my own Workbench disk
for 1.3 using files from Amiga Computing
cover disks. It has been enhanced with
MultiDOS and Disk Master... all on one disk.
OK first thing I do is mount the PC drives
MD0: and MD1: using the command line thus.
The Workbench loads with a CLI[shell]
at the bottom of the screen. As should 1.3.
The 'Bayb' on the BayBench disk is Clara Veiga.
I am scuzz and that is a PC disk on MD1:
It looks empty but it is not as I will show.
Next I fire up Disk Master II which is
incorporated into my BayBench disk.
Having clicked MD1: from the drive list
I get the contents of the PC disk shown.
I next copy the files into RAM so I can
extract all the software.
Next I use Disk Master to format an
Amiga DD disk which is a copy of an
old Amiga Computing copy disk.
Note the Formatting progress at the
head of the screen.
With an empty disk I now LHA extract
the files in RAM.
The extracted files are now on the floppy.
Note that the date is correct at the top
of the screen and the computer is a Plus
and I did not set the date. It has a battery.
I now copy adf2disk and UnZip to RAM.
I change directory to RAM and enter
the command to UNZIP the PC file.
Stop and think a moment. An Amiga 500
UnZipping a file created on a modern PC
by simply using a tool in the CLI.
I now have a 901120 ADF file that
came to the A500Plus on a 720KB disk.
And the final challenge.... Can I
create an Amiga disk from an image.
I enter the command for adf2disk ......
It didn't work. But then I already knew
that it wouldn't. Worth a try.
Not even ADFBlitzer worked.
I was able to transfer and de-crunch
all the LHA files though. So not all
a waste of time.
FINAL WORD: Apt indeed.
ADF is a tool of the emulator. You really
don't need the emulator if you are willing
to obtain the media as we did back when there
was no emulator. I know it's a bit more tricky,
but I believe with a bit of effort it can be
done. The Amiga works best as a real Amiga
with real disks and real software. It really
is so so much easier. For one I wouldn't
have wasted the last four days creating my
very own BayBench disks.
Anyhoo.. all done. Time to put those disks
to bed as I seriously don't need them.
