The fastest,eaysiest,cheapest way to transfer adf images between pc and amiga 500!

ikonsgr

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Sep 21, 2011
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Greece
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[UPDATE] I've just received feedback for using the kit with AMIGA 500+ : Transfer times are reduced ~50% against AMIGA 500! You can copy an adf image to the disk in just 75 seconds!!
(Finally found something that ECS chipset along with kickstart 2.0 made a REAL difference from OCS kick 1.3: I/O ports work faster! :) )


-Man this amiga game is really awesome!And it sure bring up memmories too!
-I wish it wasn't 5 disks... i have a serial cable to transfer it and play it on my amiga 500,(winuae is great but,to be honset, can never give you the REAL magic, of playing it on a REAL amiga...)
-But the mess of moving amiga,monitor,psu by the pc, and mostly the unbearably long time it needs for the transfer...
-Man,i wish there was a faster way to do it....

That's how all started!

If you happen to have a "humble" Amiga 500 only with 512k extra ram and (perhaps) a second floppy, like myself, you would probably tempted many times by the numerous games that are widely availiable today, in the form of adf images,and how you could enjoy them on your beloved A500. Or perhaps, you have some programs or games (even saved games...:)) that you'd like to transfer them as adf images and use them with winuae or just take adf backups!Up untill now, the options we have where:
1) Use a serial cable and some porgram like amiga explorer which is probably rather easy procedure, but,unfortunately the poor 68000/7.16Mhz of an A500 can't give you nothing faster than 19.2kbps transfer rate e.g. at least 8 MINUTES to transfer one adf image!!!
2)Use some floppy emu with sd card.Again,this "solution" is rather expensive (~100euro),it's "read only",and it doesn't give you any noticeable speed improvement,as the use of a fast sd card might suggest, it's speed is more or less of a classic floppy disk drive.
Having to face this situation, i decided to do something about it, and i've come up with a solution that i think you might find it VERY interested and helpful!

FIRST THE "INGRIDIENTS" for the..."recipe":

1) An amiga 500 and it's psu :) .Frankly you wont be needing ANYTHING else for the procedure,not even a monitor or tv connected to your amiga !(extremely usefull if there is a realtive big distance between your amiga and pc or if you dont have enough space for the monitor near your pc)
2) A PC running windows 32bit/64bit (XP,VISTA,7) equiped with a parallel port. (On vista/7 you must run adf_transfer as administrator).If your motherboard doesn't have any parallel port, you can find countless pci/pcie parallel cards almost for nothing, (bought mine for less than 3euros....). Also if you have windows vista/7 installed you can use a vm software with parallel support (like vmware) to do the "trick".
(All the tests i have made, up untill now, where using an amiga 500 1mb and a rather old pc (athlon xp, 1gb ram, motherboard with on board parallel port), running windows 32bit (xp and 7).The program seems to function allright on vmware (windows xp 1gb virtual machine) on a modern powerfull pc with windows 7/64bit using a virtual parallel port.In the next weeks i will get a pci parallel card to fully test it, and i will give you an update).
3) A special kit i make for this, where you can find it HERE (bellow i give you all the neccesary info to try and make it yourself too!)
4) Many amiga formated 3.5" disks to transfer your beloved games adf images!

Before we proceed, download this and uncompress it anywhere in your hard disk.

Now for the "cooking":

FOR TRANSFERING ADF IMAGES FROM THE PC TO AMIGA 500:


1) Connect amiga and pc with the cable (beware to plug the right end on each side,if you put it either way it will not work!)
2) Power on your amiga
3) Insert the boot disk of the kit, and wait untill floppy led turns off
4) Insert the first empty amiga disk.
5) Go to the uncompressed folder and Run adf_transfer.exe.
6) Press "open file" button and select the adf image you want to transfer
7) Press "transfer" button.
8) On the cli window that will appear on you screen of your pc, you watch the procedure of the transfer.For an adf image it will take about 1 minute and 50seconds!! (compare it with the at least 8minutes you need using a serial cable for the transfer...)
9)After the transfer is completed,insert another empty amiga disk to your A500 drive
10)Goto step 6)

By this method i manage to transfer more than a dozen adf images to amiga disks, IN LESS THAN 30 MINUTES!


FOR TRANSFERING DISKS FROM AMIGA 500 TO ADF IMAGES ON YOUR PC:

1) Install the special dosbox megabuild release, found in the uncompressed folder.USE THE DEAFULT INSTALL DIRECTORY (otherwise amiga->pc transfer will not work)
1) Connect amiga and pc with the cable (beware to plug the right end on each side,if you put it either way it will not work!)
2) Power on your amiga
3) Insert the boot disk of the kit, and wait untill floppy led turns off.Press <esc> and then <enter>.Wait untill floppy led turns off.
4) Insert the first amiga disk you want to transfer.
5) Go to the uncompressed folder and Run adf_transfer.exe.Select direction "AMIGA-->PC"
6) Press "transfer" button.
7) After the transfer is completed,you will have a newly created adf image in the folder of the adf_transfer programm.insert another amiga disk you want to transfer, to your A500 drive.
8 ) Goto step 6)

The expected speed improvement over transfers using a serial cable would be about:

110 seconds using AMIGA 500 (~470sec. for serial transfer)
75 seconds using AMIGA 500+ (~240sec. for serial transfer)
4
0
seconds
using AMIGA 1200
(~160sec. for serial transfer)

As you can see, the hole step procedure is so plain and simple that,if you follow exactly the steps above, you can transfer many disks in a row, without even having a monitor connected to your amiga!

Now, if you are more of a "do it your self" guy, you can try and make the special parallel calble yourself:

You wil need 2X 25pin D male connectors and make the cable (using a multistrand cable with at least 10 inner cables) according to this:

=============================================
AMIGA SIDE | Pins | PC SIDE
----------------------------------------------
Data bit 0 | 2 <---> 2 | Data bit 0
Data bit 1 | 3 <---> 3 | Data bit 1
Data bit 2 | 4 <---> 4 | Data bit 2
Data bit 3 | 5 <---> 5 | Data bit 3
Data bit 4 | 6 <---> 6 | Data bit 4
Data bit 5 | 7 <---> 7 | Data bit 5
Data bit 6 | 8 <---> 8 | Data bit 6
Data bit 7 | 9 <---> 9 | Data bit 7
Busy | 11 <---> 11 | Busy
Paper Out| 12 <---> 1 | Strobe
Ground | 25 <---> 25 | Ground
==============================================



Also you must take the file "paradise" which is in the folder "TOAMIGA" (inside the "adf_transfer" folder that you previous download),transfer it to an amiga disk and execute it in wb's amiga shell.For more information read the included paradise.doc and "Cli_usage_of_paradise_on_windows_xp.txt".
I hope this new method of phenomenal fast adf transfer (especially when using a plain AMIGA 500) would make many of you to get your old amiga's out of the closets and trunks :), and enjoy once again your beloved programs and games you want!;):)


*some usefull notes:

1) On the amiga-->pc transfers you may notice that sometimes pc and amiga can't start the connection.In that case press <esc> and <enter> on amiga and "transfer" button on pc program.
2) The modern gui program is only an interface that "covers" the very old software that lies underside, which also needs a lot of "tricks & hacks" to function properly on a modern pc.So i can't guarantee that this kit will work for sure on your pc.
3) The program utilizes a combination of dosbox application, paradise utility and porttalk driver, which are all freeware, as my program too ;)
4)Check out the attached photo of the program, "on duty". Notice that having transfered ~25% of the adf file to disk,the ramaining time expected, is less than 85seconds!!
 

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Thanks for this info (y)
It seems the ADF Transfer software only works on 32bit windows. Looks like I'm out for this one lol.
 
Thanks for this info (y)
It seems the ADF Transfer software only works on 32bit windows. Looks like I'm out for this one lol.
Indeed, windows xp 32bit is a "must" for the procedure to function properly. Unfortunately porttalk driver can't function under windows 7, and the paradise utility can't function under 64bit windows (that's why i prevent running the program on systems other than windows xp/32bit).
But you might overcome this problem by running the program on a virtual machine that supports parallel port! I already try it on a pc windows 7/64bit with vmware (it supports parallel ports too). I made a windows xp virtual machine and run the program there, and it seems to function well. The problem is that, for the moment, i dont have any pci parallel card to fully test it. But as already mention at my first post, as soon as i get the one i rdered, i will make a full test and give you an update! ;)
 
Is it possible to run this with the Amiga fully booted into Workbench on a HDD, so that files larger than a disk image can be transferred ?
 
I've just finished testing on windows 7 32bit,it works great! :)
The steps are exactly the same,the only extra thing you need to do on 7/vista is run adf_transfer as administrtor. I also updated the first post and ebay listng.
@WonkeyDonkey The paradise utility (that is actually doing the transfers) is very versatile. It gives you the ability to transfer apart from adf images,files and even hole directories. For more info, please read the paradise.doc which is included in the compressed file i give you at my first post.
 
Nice work, will it work on win7 64bit too?


Almost forgot, does it work in workbench 3.1 as well so you can transfer files straight to an Amiga hdd?
 
Yes, i believe that soon i will manage to make it work even on 64bit windows!
The possibilities are:
1) Using vmware (supports parallel port) on a windows xp 32bit virtual pc.
2) Using a special dosbox version (SVN daum) made by a korean guy: http://ykhwong.x-y.net/ . His verison of dosbox can achieve direct access of i/o ports (a "must" in order for the hole procedure to function properly) even on 64bit versions of windows.
I'm currently waiting for an addon pci parallel card to use it on my modern pc (AMD FX,8GBRAM, WIN 7/64bit) and test the hole procedure. As soon as i have some results i will give you an update!
The automated process with the boot disk, is mainly for use with plain amiga 500 (which is were we have mostly the problem to transfer adf images, due to hardware limitations)
I think that paradise freeware utility (that does the actual transfer) can be executed on any amiga. Also it is very versatile. You can use it through amiga shell and cli window to transfer anything you want!For info on how you can do that,please read the paradise.doc included in the compressed file.
Ultimately, only if you try it for yourself you will know for sure! ;-)
 
Might this work under Windows XP Mode, with Windows 7 64-bit? I'm running 7 Professional 64-bit on my main PC and I have XP Mode installed for older software, but I'm unsure as to if XP Mode as a virtual machine has the port access you mention.
 
For the moment,i cant tell you that, because i'm wating for the pci parallel card i ordered, to do the testing on my win7 64bit modern pc!
WIndows xp mode is using microsoft's virtual pc, right? I think that m$ virtual pc DOES NOT support direct access to parallel port so probably couldn't do the "trick".
Ofcourse, there is always the possibility to give it a try yourselfs and post here your findings! :wink::-D
Look, the problem is that, in order for the procedure to function properly,paradise must be granted direct access to parallel port! This is forbiden on all windows OS after win98, e.g. windows xp,vista,7. Moreover paradise utility can only run from cli, on 32bit windows! These problems can be solved, using a special driver/service (porttalk) which grants direct access of parallel port to paradise, and for 64bit windows ,using special versions of dosbox that support I/Odirect access. The problem is that for the moment, the special driver i'm using, can only work on 32bit windows, and dosbox megabuild must use this special driver in order to do the "trick".As i wrote in my previous post,i recently found another special dosbox version that might work on 64bit (it uses other method for direct access of I/O ports which works on 64bit too).
As you can understand,all these need first to be tested!
For the moment i can guarantee you that the procedure functions well under windows xp/vista/7 32bit.
 
Thanks, I think Merlin and I are just curious to know the precise details (Im a TL of Windows Server Admins at HP so used to asking my guy's for explanations). :D
 
Thanks for a good and detailed post. Only one criticism. Its a little unfair to claim that the floppy emulator costs €100 - seems to be €80 to me

http://www.lotharek.pl/product.php?pid=13

Otherwise, great guide.

Is the cable really something different from a parallel laplink cable though?
 
Yes, the cable is not an ordinary laplink parallel cable.If you happen to have one, you need to "customize" it according to the pinout diagram i give you in the 1st post. Of course you can always try and make a new one yourself! ;)
As for thefloppy-emu,if you add postage cost ,the total price is closing the 100euro "order of magnitude" :). Also you'll be needing a 5volt power supply in order to use it, which is not included in the price right? Anyway i only mention it at start, just as another way of using adf images to an amiga 500!
I really dont see by any means floppy-emu, as a "competitor" to my adf_transfer kit.
- Floppy emu is a rather expensive commercial electronic product of mass production.
- My kit is a very cheap hobby project, and besides, anyone can try and do it himeself,as all the nessecary programs (including my windows app) are given for free! ;)
 
New programs uploaded! Now there is a full support for any windows os xp,vista,7 ,both 32bit and 64bit!:)
Also i succesfully test the kit using a modern pc equiped with a parallel port on a pci card running windows xp/32bit and windows 7/64bit!
 
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