End of unzip woes?

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robheaton
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End of unzip woes?

Post by robheaton »

I'm hoping this saves some headaches, i've created two self extracting disc images of 'unzip' for the QL.
It's simple to use, here's a quick guide;

1. Format a floppy disc on the QL
2. Put the formatted floppy in a PC running Windows
3. Download the correct disk image below, and run it
4. Press the 'Create Floppy' button

Done! :D

DD Floppy Image (720K) - http://www.qlforum.co.uk/downloads/unzip.exe
HD Floppy Image (1.44MB) - http://www.qlforum.co.uk/downloads/unziphd.exe



Note! - I am unable to test the HD floppy image, as I don't have a HD floppy drive for my QL. Can somebody please test it on a real QL and let me know if it works!



(I would like to acknowledge that this is the port of unzip created by Jonathan Hudson, and all credit for the QDOS/SMS port goes to him, I simply made a disc image!)


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If vanpeebles parps in the woods and there is nobody around, does it make a sound?
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dilwyn
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Re: End of unzip woes?

Post by dilwyn »

robheaton wrote:I'm hoping this saves some headaches, i've created a self extracting disc image of 'unzip' for the QL.
It's simple to use, here's a quick guide;

1. Format a floppy disc on the QL
2. Put the formatted floppy in a PC running Windows
3. Download the .exe file below and run it
4. Press the 'Create Floppy' button

Done! :D

Download Link - http://www.qlforum.co.uk/downloads/unzip.exe
Almost, Rob!

In true Dilwyn versus Windows fashion it wouldn't work on my Windows 7 PC (which has a USB floppy but that may not be relevant). The image seems to need a DD disk and fails miserably on Windows 7 because (a) the self extract disk image won't self-extract to a HD disk, and (b) DD disks don't work on Windows 7. So I'd suggest a HD disk image as well then awkward s?ds like me could choose which was best for our system.

But this is an excellent idea though - I'll look forward to trying the HD version if you make one!

Dilwyn


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robheaton
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Re: End of unzip woes?

Post by robheaton »

Thanks for the input Dilwyn, I never considered the DD/HD issue!

I'll make a HD version later tonight, and get it uploaded!


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If vanpeebles parps in the woods and there is nobody around, does it make a sound?
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polka
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Re: End of unzip woes?

Post by polka »

For me, it worked nicely, because I am a keeper and still use Windows XP on my PCs : fortunately, may I say, because my QL floppy drive does read/write only DD discs. Also : for the moment I did try it only with the very old PC that I received from my daughter, which still has an internal 3"5 floppy drive (and a COM port and a parallel port, etc.), but I am still curious to see how the USB floppy drive that I am expecting, will behave with my newest old PC - for DD discs in general and peculiarly when Qdos formatted.

Actually, the issue is : planned obsolescence...

But with the help of the coming world wide crisis, hopefully we will soon be liberated from the urge (and/because financial means) to upgrade so hastily all our gadgets... and all become keepers again.

:mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: Bye Paul


May the FORTH be with you !
POLKa
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robheaton
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Re: End of unzip woes?

Post by robheaton »

I've created an HD image of unzip, and edited the original post.
Can someone please test this on a real QL and confirm it works?


Could this be the end of the unzip fun??!!


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If vanpeebles parps in the woods and there is nobody around, does it make a sound?
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dilwyn
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Re: End of unzip woes?

Post by dilwyn »

robheaton wrote:I've created an HD image of unzip, and edited the original post.

Could this be the end of the unzip fun??!!
Spoilsport, it worked first time with an HD disk :!:

Dilwyn Jones


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dilwyn
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Re: End of unzip woes?

Post by dilwyn »

polka wrote:For me, it worked nicely, because I am a keeper and still use Windows XP on my PCs : fortunately, may I say, because my QL floppy drive does read/write only DD discs. Also : for the moment I did try it only with the very old PC that I received from my daughter, which still has an internal 3"5 floppy drive (and a COM port and a parallel port, etc.), but I am still curious to see how the USB floppy drive that I am expecting, will behave with my newest old PC - for DD discs in general and peculiarly when Qdos formatted.

Actually, the issue is : planned obsolescence...

But with the help of the coming world wide crisis, hopefully we will soon be liberated from the urge (and/because financial means) to upgrade so hastily all our gadgets... and all become keepers again.

:mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: Bye Paul
Some people will need DD disks and some will need HD disks, so Rob is right to do the two versions.

The USB floppy drive on my Windoze 7 PC is a bit temperamental. Some times it works well, sometimes it struggles to read disks which work fine in the old PC. It also seems slower than both a QL disk drive when accessed by QPC2 or QemuLator and takes ages making a rattling noise (probably self-testing for format etc) before it eventually reads fine. I couldn't get Rich's DOS format tip to work with it on Windows 7 PC, but the old XP PC worked fine.

Probably nothing more sinister than the lack of support for DD disks in Windows 7!

Dilwyn


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dilwyn
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Re: End of unzip woes?

Post by dilwyn »

But this is an excellent idea though - I'll look forward to trying the HD version if you make one!

Dilwyn
Just tried the HD version, it worked fine on my Windows 7 PC with a HD USB floppy drive. My QL hasn't got a HD drive, but my Minis-QL (Aurora) system does, when I get time to fetch it from the attic to test it I will.

The QL disk created seems to work OK in QPC2 and Q-emuLator.

Dilwyn Jones


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robheaton
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Re: End of unzip woes?

Post by robheaton »

dilwyn wrote: The QL disk created seems to work OK in QPC2 and Q-emuLator.
Excellent! The more systems it's tested on the better!! :D


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If vanpeebles parps in the woods and there is nobody around, does it make a sound?
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qxl-kumbah
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Re: End of unzip woes?

Post by qxl-kumbah »

Okay, question:

How do I tell my QXL to format a 720K disk rather than a 1.44mb one?

[ I have some 720k disks, but they are MS-DOS formatted ]

- It keeps trying to format a DD floppy as a 144 mb and fails ...

If I can test both images, then you have two more tests done. :)


* qxl-kumbah *
"TS-1000, Eighty-One,TS-2068, Spectrum Anywhere, QXL, QLay, and Qemulator on board"
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