A number of noob questions - sorry!!

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M68008
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Re: A number of noob questions - sorry!!

Post by M68008 »

roninfourseven wrote: It's definitely v2.0.1 that comes with Q-Emulator, but If I've read all the posts correctly you'll need to convert it by removing the headers before use on a real QL.

I need to test the process tomorrow having run mdump_task through the qltowin_exe utility in QL-Emulator, for which I've just bought a license.
No need for qltowin_exe, what is needed is the COPY command as Dilwyn suggested (just not to RAM):
1. Start Q-emuLator, click on the splash screen to start emulation and press F1/F2
2. Click on MDV slot #1 and attach to it the PC directory containing mdump_task (the original one, not any conversions or modifications)
3. Attach device/container you'll use to transfer to the QL (for example a QL floppy image) to MDV slot #2
4. In the emulated QL, type: COPY mdv1_mdump_task to mdv2_mdump_task
5. Exit the emulator

(I'm Q-emuLator's author)


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bwinkel67
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Re: A number of noob questions - sorry!!

Post by bwinkel67 »

roninfourseven wrote:2. Is there a recommended tool to copy working cartridges across to MDV images using vDrive QL? What would you all recommend? I have Toolkit 2 and 640K of RAM if
So I've done this with most of my old MDV software. With vDrive I would use wcopy in TK2 (or in ICE you can select the order you want to copy stuff and so you can organize a bit) and then have the vDrive MDV image as my destination. The MDV images work in QLAY2 and QL2K and there you can use TK2 again to copy them to a regular PC folder...the executable info is kept in a QLAY.dir file that gets created with each directory and can easily get edited using the qlayt.exe tool that comes with those emulators. If you have an executable that lost its header, it's pretty easy to recreate using the qlayr.exe tool.

So there are plenty of options to manage old MDV carts and capture them. What my method won't accomplish is sector copy of things, so if it is copy protected that won't work...haven't read through everyone else's comments so I don't know if any of those techniques do an actual sector-by-sector copy of the cartridges.


roninfourseven
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Re: A number of noob questions - sorry!!

Post by roninfourseven »

M68008 wrote:
roninfourseven wrote: It's definitely v2.0.1 that comes with Q-Emulator, but If I've read all the posts correctly you'll need to convert it by removing the headers before use on a real QL.

I need to test the process tomorrow having run mdump_task through the qltowin_exe utility in QL-Emulator, for which I've just bought a license.
No need for qltowin_exe, what is needed is the COPY command as Dilwyn suggested (just not to RAM):
1. Start Q-emuLator, click on the splash screen to start emulation and press F1/F2
2. Click on MDV slot #1 and attach to it the PC directory containing mdump_task (the original one, not any conversions or modifications)
3. Attach device/container you'll use to transfer to the QL (for example a QL floppy image) to MDV slot #2
4. In the emulated QL, type: COPY mdv1_mdump_task to mdv2_mdump_task
5. Exit the emulator

(I'm Q-emuLator's author)
That's fantastic, thanks for the info I will try this today :)


roninfourseven
ROM Dongle
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Joined: Fri Nov 05, 2021 2:54 pm

Re: A number of noob questions - sorry!!

Post by roninfourseven »

bwinkel67 wrote:
roninfourseven wrote:2. Is there a recommended tool to copy working cartridges across to MDV images using vDrive QL? What would you all recommend? I have Toolkit 2 and 640K of RAM if
So I've done this with most of my old MDV software. With vDrive I would use wcopy in TK2 (or in ICE you can select the order you want to copy stuff and so you can organize a bit) and then have the vDrive MDV image as my destination. The MDV images work in QLAY2 and QL2K and there you can use TK2 again to copy them to a regular PC folder...the executable info is kept in a QLAY.dir file that gets created with each directory and can easily get edited using the qlayt.exe tool that comes with those emulators. If you have an executable that lost its header, it's pretty easy to recreate using the qlayr.exe tool.

So there are plenty of options to manage old MDV carts and capture them. What my method won't accomplish is sector copy of things, so if it is copy protected that won't work...haven't read through everyone else's comments so I don't know if any of those techniques do an actual sector-by-sector copy of the cartridges.
Thanks, I now have the TK2 manual as well and will have a look at WCOPY for the carts I have with just files, but my main goal is to back up some copy protected software to MDV images I can use with vDrive.

I do now have the latest mdump, so thanks to the instructions from M68000 I should be able to get going properly on those carts. First things first I need to repair the pads on the cartridges as they have all disintegrated.


roninfourseven
ROM Dongle
Posts: 39
Joined: Fri Nov 05, 2021 2:54 pm

Re: A number of noob questions - sorry!!

Post by roninfourseven »

Thanks to everybody who's helped me here, I now have a working floppy disk version of mdump and I've successfully dumped a number of not so good microdrive carts and I'm able to use the images on my vDrive QL.

Here we are in action:

IMG_20211113_143455.jpg

thanks again for everybody's input, you've been fantastic.


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