Writing Gotek QL Image Disks

[Jeff$]

Thanks, but shouldn't it be 1.44Mb in size as a formatted image?, I tried it anyway and it doesn't show as format and still gives a "Format failed" after about 60 seconds.

I may be missing something and the Thor can't support 1.44mb floppies. It does seem to report 1440 sectors though.

Is it possible to get a blank QL formatted file thats 1.44Mb in size. I may just be wrong and the Thor can't support 1.44Mb.......

[XorA]

Isnt 1440 512 byte sectors 720K?

[XorA]

blank.zip

(1.71 KiB) Downloaded 46 times

HD disk blank!

[NormanDunbar]

Thanks, but shouldn't it be 1.44Mb in size as a formatted image?, I tried it anyway and it doesn't show as format and still gives a "Format failed" after about 60 seconds.

Did I screw up? The file was created with the -fhd option which should have worked. There are three options, -fdd gives 720Kb, -fhd gives 1.440MB and -fed which is 3.2M. Hang on, checks bash history....

Code: Select all

qltools ./image_1.44.img -fhd "1.44 Image"

Also:

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ls -l *.img
-rw-r--r-- 1 norman norman 1474560 Mar  3 14:25 image_1.44.img

So that should have been ok? 1474560 bytes being 1.4MB.

I may be missing something and the Thor can't support 1.44mb floppies. It does seem to report 1440 sectors though.

1440 sectors? It should be 2880 for a 1.4MB floppy. Hang on, checks with QPC2... dir flp2_ gives:

Code: Select all

1.44 Image QDOS HD
2871/2880 sectors

So it's definitely correct.

Is it possible to get a blank QL formatted file that's 1.44Mb in size. I may just be wrong and the Thor can't support 1.44Mb.......

I think you are correct about the Thor, given the above. I obviously can't confirm as I never had one. Wanted one though.


Cheers,
Norm.

[Jeff$]

Okay I tried to dig further and tried a few QL emulators to try and generate formatted disk images, finally settled on Qemulator, which when I tried to register for Pro says you can't but gives you a free code for Pro until April, so useful if anyone wants to check it out. Seems to work fine.

So I generated 720k and 1.44k formatted images, when I go to look at them on the Thor they are 1440 and 2880 Sectors, when I format a 720k Disk on the Thor its 720 Sectors.

So does the QL native floppy Disks have a different sector size?.

Curiously if I mount a 720 Sector img on Qemulator it reads it fine, allows me to add files and writes it, which I am then able to load and run on the Thor.

So I'm now more confused and think I'll stick with 720k images.

Will attach a Thor formatted 720k disk image with 712/720 Sectors (please note you need to change the file extension back from zip to img, I don't seem to be allowed to upload ".img"), I'd be interested to know if this works on a normal QL and if it still shows 720 sectors.

Or is all this quirks with the Gotek and I need to change some configs........

[RalfR]

The Thor just have a WD1772, so no more than 720k.

[Jeff$]

The Thor just have a WD1772, so no more than 720k.

Thanks, so I was only mad for trying

And I'll use 720 sector disks.

[dex]

And I'll use 720 sector disks.

360 K, one sided?

[Martin_Head]

The FDI Driver 2, and the Image files utilities https://dilwyn.qlforum.co.uk/utils/index.html can create blank floppy disk images.

Also does your Thor have single sided drives, or do you need to enter something special to force it to do double sided.

[RalfR]

Also does your Thor have single sided drives, or do you need to enter something special to force it to do double sided.

I think he equated sectors and amount of memory.

As far as I know, the Thor has always had 720k floppies.