ToADFish

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ToADFish_v1.adf

Summary

ToADFish is a Workbench boot disk with a compilation of tools that can be used to transfer and write ADF files to floppy disk, from a Windows PC to the Amiga, over the a Serial Null Modem connection.

Amiga Side

The ToADFish boot disk will boot in to Workbench and the following tools are available:

• transdisk

• transwarp - same as transdisk but offerring speeds up to 115200 bps)

• transrom - extra tool to allow dumping of Kickstart ROMs.

• AExplorer - extra tool to allow serial connection to Amiga Explorer.

The target floppy disk must be AmigaDOS formatted first before it can be written to. You can use Workbench to Format or Initialize the floppy disk. If you get a 'Error validating disk Key 880 checksum' error when trying to format/initialize the floppy disk then use a strong neodymium magnet to wipe it first.

PC Side

• If transdisk or transwarp is used:

  • ADF Sender Terminal

• If AExplorer is used:

  • Amiga Explorer

Serial Connection

A Null Modem Cable is required between PC and Amiga machines. The serial settings should be:

• Baud Rate: 19200

• Input Buffer Size: 4096

• Handshaking: RTS/CTS

• Parity: None

• Bits/Char: 8

• Stop Bits: 1

You can set the serial settings on the Amiga side by using the Serial Preferences tool:

A Baud Rate of 19200 is the recommended default. Higher speeds (up to 115200 in theory) can be achieved when using transwarp. and if you have a fast enough Amiga At baud rates of higher than 19200, it is recommended to change the colour depth to 2 to reduce the CPU processing overheads. This can be achieved by using the add21k command before using transwarp.

In theory, up to 115200 can be achieved using transwarp, if you have a fast enough Amiga that can handle those speeds.

I have only successfully transferred, and written an ADF, from PC to Amiga, at the following baud rates:

• A500 (68000 CPU) at 19200 baud rate.

• A600 (68000 CPU), in 2 colour mode using add21k), at 28800 baud rate.

ADF Sender Terminal

ADF Sender Terminal is a giftware solution for transfer of files to the Amiga via the serial interface. This runs on the PC side and requires a suitable Amiga side application (transdisk or transwarp) to be running too.

Here is a summary of the setup.

When you first launch ADF Sender Temrinal you will be presented with this interface:

First the serial port properties needs to be set by going to the menu and selecting CommPort -> Properties...

You will be shown the Properties windowL

Select the appropriate port that your serial link is on and set the serial settings to:

• Baudrate: 19200

• Connection Preferences:

  1. • Data Bits: 8

     • Parity: None

     • Stop Bits: 1

• Flow Control: RTS/CTS

Press the OK button to apply the settings.

On the main window you can now connect to the serial port by selecting from the menu CommPort -> Port Open.

If the serial port is connected without any issues then the status icon on the right hand side will turn green and the other buttons will become active.

After you initiate transwarp on the Amiga side, click on the Send button and select the ADF file you want to send. ADF Sender Terminal will now wait for the Amiga side to receive the file:

Transwarp

On the Amiga side, make sure the serial settings is set accordingly:

Open a Shell window by clicking on the Shell icon when you open the ToADFish disk icon.

If you only have one floppy drive, it is recommended to copy the transwarp program to Ram Disk

copy c:transwarp ram:

and change to this location:

cd ram:

To get some usage information by just using 'transwarp' without any parameters:

You now need to run transwarp so that you can receive the ADF file and write it to floppy on DF0 (-1 = single drive mode):

transwarp -w ser: -b 19200 -1

Alternatively, and more conveniently, if you have an external floppy drive as DF1, you can use that instead:

transwarp -w ser: -b 19200 -d trackdisk 1

For one disk mode, DF0, you will be asked to insert the blank AmigaDOS formatted disk in to DF0 and hit RETURN:

When you have put in the blank AmigaDOS formatted disk in to DF0 and hit RETURN it will start to write the received ADF file to the floppy disk:

Then on the PC side, use ADF Sender Terminal to start to sending the ADF file:

Once the ADF file has been written, you will have the option to send/receive another ADF file.