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Retro Plasma Demo - Page 2 — Parallax Forums

Retro Plasma Demo

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  • pik33pik33 Posts: 2,347
    edited 2021-02-21 10:06

    PC drive/FDD controller cannot be used for reading or writing Amiga disks: Amiga used a different format. These disks can be reformatted to PC format (with data loss of course)

    A PC drive can be connected to the Amiga controller (after a modification)

    There is P1 which seems to be able to do the job of FDD controlling and reading every possible format. There is an object on this forum which reads PC MFM formatted disks using a P1

  • evanhevanh Posts: 15,126

    It's the controllers (in the PC), not the drives, that limited how the formatting went. The drives are as dumb as, which is good for us.

  • evanhevanh Posts: 15,126
    edited 2021-02-21 11:38

    The only significant difference with the drives is the double density verses high density heads. Which might be enough to make it too hard. The signal will likely be weaker when mismatched.

  • Ahle2Ahle2 Posts: 1,178

    Sadly PC floppy drives can not read Amiga disks, but the reverse works fine. It has to do with how the floppy controller works, not the disk drive itself. The Amiga floppy controller was way more flexible than what was found on the PC. It could be configured to read almost anything on a 3.5 inch from any plattform. I used 720 kB formated DOS disks to transfer data between the PC and Amiga back then.

  • Ahle2Ahle2 Posts: 1,178

    BTW, AGA Amigas commonly had HD floppy drives even back then. Because of how the FFS file system worked you could squeeze in a whooping 1.76 MB on such a disk instead of 1.44 MB using FAT16.

  • evanhevanh Posts: 15,126

    We're talking about using the Prop2 as the controller. So there is no barrier on the formatting. I was pondering plugging a high density drive in instead of the now rarer double density. I can still buy a floppy drive at the local shop, albeit packaged as a USB device.

  • evanhevanh Posts: 15,126

    @Ahle2 said:
    BTW, AGA Amigas commonly had HD floppy drives even back then. Because of how the FFS file system worked you could squeeze in a whooping 1.76 MB on such a disk instead of 1.44 MB using FAT16.

    That sounds promising then. :)

  • pik33pik33 Posts: 2,347
    edited 2021-02-21 12:25

    HD should be not a problem: HD drives have a pin which selects a density.

    I have this toy, which now is only a desktop decoration, but the FDD inside is in working condition and waits for better time to be alive again. As P2 has 512 kB of RAM, FDD is a good mass storage device for it. Slow, of course, but the real floppy drive sounds are what every retrocomputer fan wants to hear again.

    The toy is a miniature of Atari 1050 drive to fit 3.5" FDD with a place for the controller inside, found on Thingiverse

  • @pik33 said:
    Do you have an account there: http://www.pouet.net/ ? If yes... post it :) Let the scene knows there is a new platform to write demos on.

    What did you use to record the video from the P2?

    Yep, have a pouet account, will post there. P8XNICCC is already there.

    I use an old TV tuner card with S-Video input. You can get these on ebay very cheap (well, at least I can in germany), but you need a motherboard with a PCI slot (they still make them!). You can get slightly less cheap off-brand USB capture devices but the quality is quite poor. See: Game screen capture — Parallax Forums

  • done.

    https://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=88037

    YT/forum links will take a while to approve.
    If @rogloh and @Ahle2 have pouet accounts, I can link them as credits for the video/sound code

  • pik33pik33 Posts: 2,347
    edited 2021-02-21 18:51

    I work at the university as a teacher and an IT specialist,so we have a lot of old computers in the storage room and if I remember, there is also a video grabber card. So I need to try and search if only the covid vaccine I got yesterday will allow me to go there tomorrow.

  • Ahle2Ahle2 Posts: 1,178
    edited 2021-02-21 19:25

    Yes, I do have an account since like a minute ago! :lol:

  • @Ahle2 said:
    Yes, I do have an account since like a minute ago! :lol:

    Requested credit, will take a while to get approved

  • evanhevanh Posts: 15,126

    @pik33 said:
    ... if only the covid vaccine I got yesterday will allow me to go there tomorrow.

    Nice. What is the schedule you've been given for that? It's some weeks I understand.

    We're taking it slower here - because we have the luxury. First 100 vaccinators in New Zealand just got their first shot a couple days back. Practice round on themselves. Front-liners and border workers are starting today I think.

  • Ahle2Ahle2 Posts: 1,178

    I have read through the scrolltext now...

    I was going to ask you when that fabulous Zelda clone would come out (I have had an exclusive preview of the game some months ago on the P1 and it is by far the most technical impressive game on that platform) and now I know that it is happening in a not too distant future. Great! :smile:

  • Well, I said nothing about it coming out soon. Maybe I'll get a small demo out this or next year, IDK. There's lots that needs to be done. Both from a technical side (have to implement a setup program. Currently all the settings are hardcoded (on P1) or read from an obtuse INI file (on PC). Also of course need to get the P2 runtime going.) and from a content side (as in putting stuff to do into the game.)

  • pik33pik33 Posts: 2,347
    edited 2021-02-22 12:06

    @evanh said:

    @pik33 said:
    ... if only the covid vaccine I got yesterday will allow me to go there tomorrow.

    Nice. What is the schedule you've been given for that? It's some weeks I understand.

    We're taking it slower here - because we have the luxury. First 100 vaccinators in New Zealand just got their first shot a couple days back. Practice round on themselves. Front-liners and border workers are starting today I think.

    I got this as an university teacher (teachers are vaccinated to restore normal work of schools and universities). Vaccinations started in December.

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