I'm in the process of purchasing an X68000-XVI, and I have a question for you guys. Is there a tool that will let me write my large collection of .dim files to 5-1/4 inch disk and use them on the real X68000. Keep in mind it does come with the original system disks, so if that's a requirement, then that's ok. I've searched, but come up empty handed every time. Thanks alot guys. EDIT: Please note I'm not asking for help with software piracy. I'm talking about public domain software as well as downloaded images of commercial games that I own. I own several X68000 Games New-In-Box that I would rather not open just to play, I would rather write the image to floppy and play it that way. Can anyone help me out?
I solved this issue on my own, so I'll post the solution here for anyone else who needs it. First, convert the disk image to xdf format using Virtual Floppy Image Converter then write it to 5-1/4" floppy (or 3-mode 1.2MB 3-1/2" floppy) using xFloppy. Keep in mind xFloppy will only work on Windows 9x. This is only due to a driver incompatibility issue, so it may be possible to use a virtual machine running Windows 9x on-top of an NT-based Windows or Linux. I'm currently using an old P-III running Windows 98SE, and it does the job quite well. So anyone else who needed help with this, here's how to get it done.
Well thanks ASSEMbler, I'd like to be an active member of this community so I will post my solutions from now on. By the way, the 2 programs I referenced in my previous post are linked, you can click on the names of the program and it will take you to where you can download them. I should have made that clear in my first post. Anyway thanks, I'll post all my solutions from now on.
Well thanks man it's nice to know that. Here's another piece of info regarding the X68k. For those who have the compact models, they need a 3-mode 3-1/2" floppy drive to write the disks for it, yet those are pretty rare in the west, or so everyone seems to think. What no-one seems to know is that just about every USB floppy drive is 3-mode, and all you have to do is use it on a Windows 98 machine (Windows XP doesn't support 3-mode). I have 2 usb floppy drives that I've acquired over the years randomly, and I just found out that both of them are 3-mode. Just about every USB floppy drive I have looked up is 3-mode, so just pick up a cheap one if you need a 3-mode drive. For those who are unfamiliar, 3-mode floppy drives are just 3-1/2" drives that mimic the behavior of 2HD 5-1/4" drives. All they do is spin the 3-1/2" floppy at 360 RPM as opposed to 300 RPM, and the disks will format as 1.2MB, just like a 5-1/4" drive. They're very common in Japanese computers.
I missed this but we did talk about this earlier, both are the same way of doing so. I can use Window XP to write to mode 3 floppy discs fine. http://www.assemblergames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23954
I'm not using 3 mode floppies, I'm using regular 5-1/4" disks on my X68k XVI. I don't have my monitor yet, it will arrive on thursday (wed is a holiday in Canada) and then I will try, but I have written several images to disk and read them back to image and they boot in the emulator fine, so I'll take that as a good sign. I have a SCSI drive I'm going to set up with SX-WINDOW, and I have 10 Megs of RAM for my XVI (I have an XsimmVI) so I think I should be good:icon_bigg My images are from the TOSEC set, and are DIM format images, so that might tell you something as to why mine seem to work. Every image I have tried works fine if I write it to floppy, read it back to image, and try it in an emulator.
Have you tried using xFloppy on a PC to write the disks that won't boot? I have heard that makes all the difference. Thank you for the advice though. I was so surprised when my computer came with 10 Megs installed. The guy I bought it from just said it had at least 4 installed. When it arrived I heard something rattling around inside the case, so I assumed something had come unseated in shipping, so I opened it to find out and it turned out that the unseated part was an XsimmVI with an 8MB simm installed. Pretty awesome eh? Also, when you said I would need a SCSI card, I have an XVI, so I have SCSI built in:>
Excellent, I will try out your instructions and let you know how it works out. I was concerned if I was going to be able to find a way to set up a hard disk, as when it comes to the Japanese language I am a novice at best (I can read katakana and hiragana, but only know a few kanji characters, and just because I can read the kana it doesn't mean I can understand the words.) So thank you, your directions will be a great help. Also, I was looking for information on which games are hard-disk installable, so your list will be a great help too, thanks. If anyone has any info on the XsimmVI it would be a great help to me. THIS site has some info, but most of it is lost in translation when put through OCN or Google or Babelfish, so if anyone who speaks japanese can help me translate it would be a great help. EDIT: One part of your directions are a bit unclear: Could you please clarify exactly what I should do? Specifically the part that says I should remove all floppies, reboot, then the computer should boot from floppy and if it doesn't I should boot from floppy. That seems kind of contradictory.
Ok great thanks, that's what I thought it should say but I wanted to make sure. As for the SIMM, I think those directions are not for an Xsimm unit, it's distinctly different from that unit. I think mine is already configured for an 8Meg simm, as that is what is in there now (a SIMM with 2Mwords of 32 bits each word as near as I can tell) I also have some 8 meg simms lying around if I turn out to be wrong, so I will attempt trial and error if it turns out I need to upgrade.
Well the X68k monitor arrived today, but there's an issue with it. The power light won't come on and you can hear arcing electricity inside the case. You can hear part of it power up, so I think there is a cold solder joint somewhere, the tube comes on but the actual image processor doesn't seem to work. I'm taking it to Monitor King tomorrow, they quoted me roughly $70.00 Canadian dollars to fix it. *sigh* one more day with out an X68k
I made a VGA cable, and that combined with my 15KHz to 31KHz box I've been able to use the X68k! I have had no problems copying games from XDF image to disk and running them. I've been playing Final Fight for the last hour and a bit. It seems xFloppy makes all the difference here. I'm getting my monitor repaired tomorrow. xFloppy has the ability to write bad sectors, that's probably why it works.
