Playing around with CF cards, V4 image, no luck yet

[sananaman]

Hi Guys,

I'm playing around with CF cards and the V4 image, but no luck yet.

I believe I have to do something in the switch config?

Questions:
1. In Switch: What does BOOT = ROM5 $EEC000 mean? (this came with the machine, it is using a 4GB CF card pre-configured by the previous owner)

2. In Switch: If I want to select ROM5 by hand it does not give me this option? How to I select ROM5 ?

3. I used Win32Disk Imager to create a new Sandisk 4GB CF card with the V4 image. But so far it does not boot. What do I have to do to get it booting?

[sananaman]

Just quick update. I believe I used the wrong imaging software for X68000 disk images.
I read that WinImage should be used and not Win32DiskImager
And indeed this piece of software gives you a lot more options.

I got one step further and that is to extract the partitions from the 4GB image from the previous owner.
I was able to boot from those partitions using the XM6-TypeG emulator on the PC.

But the other way around still fails which is making the V4 image work on the X68000 SUPER-HD.

And I still don't know how I can set BOOT = ROM5 $EEC000 .... in switch.

Any suggestions would be welcome.

[incrediblehark]

Sorry, don't know how much help I can be, but what model X68000 are you using? If its an XVI or similar with SCSI you can set the boot to STD or whatever SCSI ID you have set. If its an older SASI machine I believe you need to use a floppy disk to load SASI drivers in memory to be able to boot from CF.

[Jehuty]

It seems that he uses a X68000 Super HD, so he has scsi onboard.
But which adapter do you use to connect the cf card to the scsi ?
I use a Aztech Monster and it works great with win32imager and set to scsi=0 in switch (Where 0 depends on your scsi ID)
After first boot you can set it to std so the x68000 tries first to boot from Floppy, when none is inserted it boots from the CF.

[sananaman]

I've got a SUPER HD that came with a SCSI-2-CF and a 4GB CF card with some interesting software.
The CF card originally came from a X68030 with a 68060 CPU board (several indicators in the config pointed that out).

I'm not quite sure what kind of SCSI 2 CF I got.
See attached picture, not sure what brand that is.

[sananaman]

I also added the screenshot below.
See the line BOOT with vale ROM5 $EEC000, this is how the machine was configured by the previous owner.

Once I change the option I can never put it back on ROM5. I can only select ROM but then I'm unable to enter the value $EEC000.

Does anyone know what ROM5 is and how I can configure this ?

[Jehuty]

Look here seems to be the same CF adapter

[sananaman]

I can confirm I got the HENKAN BANCHO PRO (it was hidden under the CF card).

Written on the PCB is:

Image file to SASI/SCSI Converter v3.2.2.1" , "Classic
ClassicPc.ORG

Looking it up shows some Japanese retro parts website.

https://classicpc.org/

[sananaman]

Look here seems to be the same CF adapter

Thanks Jehuty, that was a good read.

With all the suggestions I got here on the forum and on Discord I figured it all out.

• The ROM5 thingie, not sure where that came from (probably a alterative tool the previous owner used instead of switch.x).
  I have put the BOOT on STD and that works now for all my cards instantly, just swap the CF card and instant GO!. No fiddling around anymore.
  
  
• Then I figured that the HENKAN BANCHO PRO is using image files on a FAT32 instead of the image file as raw image on a CF. Once I figured this out it is so easy. You just place a bunch of HDS files and you are ready to go A: B: C: D: devices easy!
  
  
• The HENKAN BANCHO PRO uses some form of naming convention. So I my case I just copied what the previous owner did on the other CF. For Example:
  HDDIMAGE[scsi0][h15][s63][512].hds
  You can easily use other SCSI units like [scsi1], [scsi2], [scsi2] ... etc.
  You can even select SCSI-Luns [lun0].
  
  One thing to bear in mind. Format the CF with FAT32 with the highest cluster size.
  I did not do that at first and it was terribly slow. Like you are on a disk drive.
  But then I read in the manual to increase the cluster size to the max.
  And instantly the speed was as it should be -snappy-
  

Guys, I'm very happy to come to this point , The SUPER HD is now running like a charm.
Now the fun begins in exploring all the content.

Thanks for all your feedback.