New Zealand Vintage Computer Forums

How's it going? Is it getting around the people who wanted to see it?

matsondawson wrote:How's it going? Is it getting around the people who wanted to see it?

Yes, I had a good go with it on PC and Amiga, and was most impressed with it!

The provided software is Windows only, but I installed the software under Linux using WINE and it ran like a champ. The web site listed it as being compatible with .IPF (Interchangeable Preservation Format) files, but it wouldn't recognise the Amiga IPF files I tried. Sadly this meant I wasn't able to try out the original Xenon 2, and had to run a cracked version instead! Xenon 2 was a title that was written using extra tracks, so it's actually bigger than a floppy was supposed to hold. Standard drives can read the extra tracks, but can't write them, so crackers had to split the game over two disks. It was fun mounting both disk 1 and 2 in the same "slot" on the HxC, and switching between them when prompted to change disks

Chris (cjr) has had a good bat on Amiga as well.

Would you like to catch up this week to get it back, or is there someone else you'd like us to pass it on to?

ahem, yeah.. I know where that is. /me looks slightly guilty.
I was trying to diagnose my faulty A1000 with it, or at least eliminate a bad FDD or kickstart disk.
Seems to behave the same either way though so I probably don't need to hang on to it.
I'll be ordering one, just hanging out to see the new rev F. before choosing which model.

Good to hear about your experiences. This little device is on my "to get" list at some stage.

lizardb0y wrote:
Would you like to catch up this week to get it back, or is there someone else you'd like us to pass it on to?

Nah, I think Tezza wants a play. Can you not firmware upgrade it to support the IPF files?

No don't worry. I'll stay my curiosity a little longer. Just too many other (i.e. no vintage computer) activities cluttering up my lesiure time at the moment. I wouldn't get around to looking at it for ages.

Like my Semi-virtual diskette for the System 80, these things are good to have. However, I still like the genuine article when I can get it...such as these BBC drives from Matthew Goode won on Trade Me recently.

matsondawson wrote:

lizardb0y wrote:
Would you like to catch up this week to get it back, or is there someone else you'd like us to pass it on to?

Nah, I think Tezza wants a play. Can you not firmware upgrade it to support the IPF files?

It was the software that threw the error trying to open the IPF files, so it didn't occur to me to try a firmware upgrade. I tried both the latest stable and snapshot versions of the software.

For my use I'd want it to work with Commodore 1541, Atari 1050, Apple II and Mac drives before committing to a purchase. I suspect these are a long way off - if ever - as all but the Atari drive use GCR encoding rather than FM/MFM.

Holy heck, Andrew reminded me about this today. It's been sitting on my workbench for 6 months.
Where does it need to go next? Back to Matt?

Yeh, may as well, I don't think anyone else is jumping up and down for a go.

I don't really need a look. The device seems to work well. Something I intend to get at some stage.