n00b seeking help...

[sir_beaker]

I wonder if you can help, I am new to the x68000 and completely overwhelmed to be honest, and it probably doesn't help that I don't read or speak a word of Japanese.

I've got a couple of x68000's among various other retro gear; an original twin tower one with the dual 5 1/4" floppies that I've sent off to my friend in Wales to be recapped last week, and a XVI compact which he's already recapped. The compact has 6MB RAM, an external SCSI hard drive running a CF adapter, a MIDI board and I bought an XPC-4 that arrived yesterday so I can use it on my monitor.

I don't know if anyone can help me with the following questions or point me in the right direction?

1. Can I change a setting to boot off the external SCSI rather than the floppy drive?
2. When I installed the MIDI board a few weeks back I wasn't able to get any sound from my Roland MT-32 or SC-55. Dracula brought up the MIDI options and Street Fighter 2 allowed me select MIDI so I believe the board is working and being seen. I checked the continuity of the home made cable and it seemed fine. I know the Rolands work with my Atari ST. Does anyone have any suggestions of what else I can try? I'll have a go at installing it again tomorrow after I've played around with some games and the XPC tonight 
3. Can someone explain how 2hdboot works? Every time I start a game from the hard drive that seems to use it I get the following message in the attached photo.

Thanks in advance

[skpstmgs]

I'm no expert, but to my knowledge:

1. run SWITCH.X and change BOOT setting?
2. AFAIK, I don't think games really have a way of detecting MIDI cards, so they give those MIDI selection screens regardless. Maybe try re-seating the card in the slot if you're sure the cable is correct. What MIDI board model are you using?
3. That error doesn't seem specific to 2HDBoot. Looks like Human68k doesn't recognize the command entered, which probably means the pathing in autoexec.bat is not set to the right drive as judging by your screenshots you are running the image as if it's drive C, though normally the images expect everything in drive A. Also double check that you have a 2hdboot.x existing in your BIN folder. I think as a quick workaround you could copy 2hdboot.x to the same folder as the game but it's a better idea to fix the pathing if that's the issue.

Edit: also, since you are new to the XPC-4 and there don't seem to be any comprehensive guides or anything for it, here's a link to some tips I've given before which might help: http://nfggames.com/forum2/index.php?topic=5373.msg36258#msg36258

[sir_beaker]

Thanks for the quick reply and the link for the XPC-4. I'll have a read of that a bit later.

What option should I select for booting from the HDD? I assume SCSI0 although the SCSI_ID setting at the bottom is 7 so maybe it's SCSCI7? Will it cause any problems if that's wrong?

I added c:\Bin to the autoexec.bat path on my boot disk for the moment and ImageFight which uses the 2HDBoot works perfectly, thanks   

[skpstmgs]

Try the second option from the top called "BOOT" - change it from STD to HD(X). Also, I think you can force the system to boot off the floppy by holding OPT 1 when rebooting, in case you want to override this.
If you eject the floppies, does it boot to your external SCSI drive?

[SuperDeadite]

Okay, where to start.  First off you are getting your drive letters confused.

The first partition of the boot drive is ALWAYS A:
Meaning if you boot from floppy, Floppy Drive 0 = A:, Floppy Drive 1 = B:, HDD1 = C:
But if you boot from HDD, HDD1= A:, Floppy 0 = B:, Floppy 1 = C:
If you use HDD partitions and boot from HDD, then HDD1 = A:, HDD2 = B: Floppy 0 = C:, Floppy 1 = D:

So if you boot from HDD, and tell 2HDBOOT to run from drive C:, you are telling the computer to look at the floppy drive,
hence it can't find the files.

Special note for the Compact.  The Compact has a switch on the back which swaps the internal floppy drives with external
floppy drives.  This is so a Compact owner could connect external 5.25 drives to the back, and easily have them be the main boot
drives for running floppy software.  Be sure this switch is in the correct position.

Next, be aware the next information I am referring to the Compact as it is a true SCSI computer.  You did not mention what model your twin tower is.  If it is not a Super, XVI, or X68030, then is is not SCSI, it is SASI and a totally different beast.

As for boot sequence, the default is to check for floppies, then check the SCSI chain.  If you have your switch.x boot setting set to STD (standard), this is what it will do.  You can also select a specific SCSI id here too if you want, but STD is normally the way to go.

Typically your boot HDD should be set to SCSI id0.  The SCSI ID setting at the bottom of switch changes the id for the computer's internal SCSI Controller, hence it should always be set to 7, and no SCSI devices you connect should ever be set to id7.

As for MIDI, Dracula will only show the MIDI screen if it finds a compatible interface, so the board appears to be working.  However we need more information here.  Which board are you using, do you have proper adapter cables, how are you hooking everything up exactly?

One thing to check is that most MIDI boards have a dip switch (sometimes jumper) that sets the board as MIDI device 1 or 2.  This is because the computer can use 2 MIDI boards at once for full on music compositions.  Games always output over MIDI device 1.  So if this dip is in the wrong position, the games will see the card but will be outputting over a port that doesn't exist.

[sir_beaker]

Hi there,

Thanks for the information. I've left ithe boot as STD but regardless of which position the switch at the back is on while booting (from powering on) I just get the picture of the floppy drive (enclosed), do I somehow need to clear it with a keypress?

Better news on the MIDI, it looks like it was just the home made cable which possibly isn't the best. I played around with it and suddenly got sound from Super Street Fighter 2, so I tried Dracula/Castlevania next and it sounded amazing  I've emailed my friend in Wales to see if he's prepared to make me a new cable from the specs on the site.

The twin tower is this one (http://www.amibay.com/showthread.php?65224-Oh-boy!-Another-X68000-Keyboard) I bought last September but I've only used it the once out of fears of blowing the caps. It's a CZ-600C with 1MB RAM upgrade so any suggestions on other cards go get would be appreciated. I was thinking of a combined RAM + SCSI and maybe another MIDI board. Speaking of which, the board I have is a SX 68M 2.

[caius]

SCSI ID 7 is always reserved to the host controller so you must not use it

[X-Col]

If it is not a Super, XVI, or X68030, then is is not SCSI, it is SASI and a totally different beast.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of SASI V's SCSI? 
I have a SASI machine and an SCSI machine and I've not noticed any differences in functionality once the SXSI driver is installed in SRAM.
In fact I prefer SASI as it boots quicker...

[sir_beaker]

I changed the boot to SCSI2 and it boots from the HDD now so I'll leave that as is for the moment 

[caius]

Hi there,

Thanks for the information. I've left ithe boot as STD but regardless of which position the switch at the back is on while booting (from powering on) I just get the picture of the floppy drive (enclosed), do I somehow need to clear it with a keypress?

Better news on the MIDI, it looks like it was just the home made cable which possibly isn't the best. I played around with it and suddenly got sound from Super Street Fighter 2, so I tried Dracula/Castlevania next and it sounded amazing  I've emailed my friend in Wales to see if he's prepared to make me a new cable from the specs on the site.

The twin tower is this one (http://www.amibay.com/showthread.php?65224-Oh-boy!-Another-X68000-Keyboard) I bought last September but I've only used it the once out of fears of blowing the caps. It's a CZ-600C with 1MB RAM upgrade so any suggestions on other cards go get would be appreciated. I was thinking of a combined RAM + SCSI and maybe another MIDI board. Speaking of which, the board I have is a SX 68M 2.

According to the attached picture you have a CompactXVI and not an earlier model CZ-600C.

[sir_beaker]

Indeed, I believe I have both. The CZ-600C was the first one I bought last year which is currently in the UK being recapped and then I bought the CompactXVI in the pictures.

I tend to buy different versions of machines and among my collections I have:
Megadrive 1, Mega CD 1 and 32x as well as a WonderMega, Sega Nomad and Megajet.
Master System 1 Japanese model with FM sound chip as well  as a UK Master System 1 and Master System 2.
PC Engine Core Grafx as well as a Turbo Duo R, PC Engine LT and PC Engine GT
Amstrad CPC 464, 664, 6128, GX4000, 464+ and 6128+
and so on lol.