On May 6, 11:26 am, KP <kjpm...@gmail.com> wrote:
On May 6, 11:21 am, schmidtd <schmi...@my-deja.com> wrote:
On May 6, 11:05 am, KP <kjpm...@gmail.com> wrote:
On May 6, 11:01 am, schmidtd <schmi...@my-deja.com> wrote:
On May 6, 10:49 am, KP <kjpm...@gmail.com> wrote:
If you have a physical card in some of the slots, could you override
recognition of that card and use the slot as a virtual slot for the
CFFA3K?
The CFFA3k will insert virtual ROM in the slot you tell it to. So, if
your card already has ROM in that space, they'll collide.
For example, if I have a Z80 card in Slot 4 but I want (for some
reason) to mount a disk image from the CFFA3K in Slot 4, do I have to
physically remove the Z80 card, or can the Apple be told to ignore the
physical card and recognize the virtual card?
In the GS through the control panel, you can configure a slot to
either behave with the internal definition or instead to obey what's
plugged into it. In order to get the CFFA3k's virtual Disk II slot
working, you have to set that slot to "your card" so the ROM can be
inserted in that memory space. If there's a physical card in that
slot already, it wouldn't work. So I think the short answer to your
question is, "no."
But it's endlessly configurable... you can set the CFFA3k to emulate
the Disk II in the slot that the '3k is already occupying, too. It'll
disable the SmartPort drive capability, but it's possible.
So if I have empty slots 5 (except for the smartport 3.5" drive), 6
(except for the smartport 5.25" drive), and the CFFA3K is in 7, then
that should be more than adequate?
More than adequate. Keep in mind there are four possible things at
work here, and three useable slots - you only get to use three. You
lose one of the four. You pick which one.
Slot 5: physical 3-1/2" disk drive or the phantom Disk II
Slot 6: physical 5-1/4" disk drive or the phantom Disk II
Slot 7: CFFA3k SmartPort or the phantom Disk II
In no case can you have both in a slot at once.- Hide quoted text -
- Show quoted text -
I assume that Slot 5 and Slot 6 can just as easily be "phantom 3.5
disk" and "phantom hard disk"?
No, the CFFA3k SmartPort (or the native CF partitions, if you have
those) always show up in the slot it's plugged into. If you plug it
into slot 7, all SmartPort "drives" show up in slot 7. So there's
really no phantoming (fake slots appearing) with the SmartPort.
That's only for the Disk II emulation. Refer back to this post:
http://dreher.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=457&sid=80d4cc30e0e8575366c7d7289f19ea89
Also, how does the CFFA3K smartport work? Is that the CF hard disk?
Or is that where the phantom 3.5 and phantom hard disks go?
Setting the USB aside for the moment, a CF card can either be FAT
formatted and hold virtual images - .2mg, .po, .do, whatever you have;
or if it lacks a master boot record, it can be used as "native"
partitions of 32M each, just like the original CFFA.
If you have a FAT formatted CF card, any of the virtual disk image
files you place on it can be "mounted" as SmartPort drives - you pick
them, you pick the order they appear, and all that. If your card is
inserted in slot 7, then the first virtual disk image you pick will
show up in slot 7, drive 1. Second image - slot 7, drive 2. And so
on. The usual SmartPort rules apply in ProDOS for finding an open
slot/drive combination as things fill up. It's so versatile that you
can also mount a regular 5-1/4" disk image as a SmartPort drive too...
and it'll be faster, since it bypasses the Disk II emulation.
So here's a way to think about all this virtualization:
Given any arbitrary disk image, it can be mounted as a SmartPort drive
starting with the slot the CFFA3k is plugged into.
Given a 5-1/4" disk image, either normal sectors or .NIB format, it
can be mounted and presented as a faithful reproduction of the Disk II
hardware and firmware in an otherwise unoccupied slot you choose.