(Editor's note: This works with the CrossDOS version that comes bundled with
AmigaOS 2/3, but for best results, I recommend using the full version of
CrossDOS 7 which makes mounting the PC drive much simpler. Also remember that
when both computers are actively accessing the drive, you should do a Diskchange
on the drive to avoid corrupting the drive structure. Also note that CrossDos 7's
auto mounting utility seems to change the DOSType after it's done, sometimes
preventing the PC from booting. In this case, simply change it back to JanusTool's
setting.)
From: Jordan Krim
It has come to my attention that the procedure that I explained in a post
and uploaded to Aminet as CDJanusTools.lha needs to be changed for SCSI
drives. I would appreciate those of you who have problems with SCSI drives
in conjunction with JanusTools, please try this amended procedure and see if
if works.
1. Set up the partition you wish to use with the Bridgeboard or PC-Task
on your Amiga hard drive according to the JanusTools documentation
*except* you must set the DOSType for the new partition to 0x4D534400
*not* 0x4D534800 as stated in the JanusTools documentation. CrossDos
will not work with the 0x4D534800 DOSType, but JanusTools will work with
the 0x4D534400 DOSType. This should be possible to do with HDTools
or the utilities that came with your Amiga hard drive.
(Editor's note: changing the DOSType to other than JanusTool's settings
may not allow you to format the drive from DOS if you have to use a
hard drive installation program, ie. DiskManager, for a drive larger
than 500MB. )
2. Obtain PCDISK91B (from Aminet). In it is a utility called DISKINFO.
Run DISKINFO to obtain the Mountlist parameters for the JanusTools
drive. It is best to redirect this to a file so that it can be imported
into your Mountlist. I use something like: DISKINFO DH2: >DH2.PARMS.
3. Add this entry (DH2.PARMS in my case) to the end of your Mountlist.
The Mountlist usually resides in SYS:DEVS/Mountlist (where SYS: is the
boot partition and usually a hard drive, but could be a floppy).
If you have an SCSI drive do 4A. If you have a IDE drive go to 4B.
4A. Modify 2 of the parameters in the Mountlist entry that you just added for
the JanusTools partition. Change the name of the entry. If it is DHx:,
you can change it to something like PCA:, PCB:, or whatever.
Change the DosType parameter to 0x4D534400 (but, it should already be set).
Add a parameter entry (or change any existing one for FileSystem):
FileSystem = L:CrossDosFileSystem (or L:MessyFileSystem)
DO NOT CHANGE THE LOW CYLINDER, HIGH CYLINDER OR BLOCKSPERTRACK ENTRIES!
Now, put the name of this partition (PCA: etc.) in the ABOOT.CTRL file.
Boot the Bridgeboard after mounting the partition (either manually or in
your startup-sequence). You should be able to FDISK it and get the entire
amount that you want. If a requester comes up and says "Not a DOS disk",
just hit cancel. Once FDISK is run and the partition is formatted on the
Bridgeboard side, then go to step 4B and make a new entry based on the
translation scheme to 1 head (surface). When you have completed this,
your new entry (see step 4B) should be put in the ABOOT.CTRL replacing
the entry from this step (4A). After completing the rest of the steps,
rebooting the Bridgeboard should still work on the translated geometry.
Also, this drive should work via CrossDOS.
(*** Editor's note: please see note at the end of this page ***)
4B. Modify 5 of the parameters in the Mountlist entry that you just added for
the JanusTools partition. Change the name of the entry. If it is DHx:,
you can change it to something like IBMC:, IBMD:, or whatever.
Change the DosType parameter to 0x4D534400 (but, it should already be set).
Now the entries for LowCyl and HighCyl should be modified according to
the formulas (taken from PCDISK91B):
NewPCLowCyl = (AmigaLowCyl * Surfaces) + 1
NewHighCyl = (AmigaHighCyl + 1) * Surfaces) - 1
where AmigaLowCyl is the LowCyl parameter of the unmodified Mountlist entry
AmigaHighCyl is the HighCyl parameter of the unmodified Mountlist entry
Surfaces is the Surfaces parameter of the unmodified Mountlist entry
Replace LowCyl and HighCyl with these values and replace Surfaces with 1.
5. Add a parameter entry (or change any existing one for FileSystem):
FileSystem = L:CrossDosFileSystem (or L:MessyFileSystem)
6. If you plan to use this partition with any of the various Bridgeboards,
you will need to edit the ABOOT.CTRL file which is usually in the PC/SYSTEM
drawer. Put in this file the name of your PC partition (i.e IBMC:, IBMD:
etc.) Be sure you have the ":", but do not put a carriage return (newline)
at the end. Thus, you should have one line only in the file.
7. Now, when you boot your Bridgeboard, you will have to go through the usual
steps to initialize and format the new partition. Please see you MS-DOS
documentation if you are not familiar with this.
8. If you have done everything correctly, you can now Mount this entry (add
a statement in your startup-sequence such as MOUNT IBMC:) prior to
invoking the Binddrivers command to boot the Bridgeboard and when you
do a DIR on it from AmigaDOS, you should see the PC files. You should
also be able to add this entry as a primary (C:) or secondary (D:) hard
disk entry in the PC-Task startup menu and access it when in PC-Task.
If you have problems or are reading garbage, go back and carefully
check the parameters.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
As an IDE example, I have an IBM 728 MB IDE drive partitioned into
DH0: (200 MB), DH1: (200 MB), DH2: (200 MB) and DH3: (99 MB). I used
DH2: as my PC DOS partition.
My DH2 entry (from DISKINFO) looks like this:
DH2: Device = ExpSys.device
Unit = 80
BlockSize = 512
Surfaces = 16
BlocksPerTrack = 63
Reserved = 2
PreAlloc = 0
Interleave = 0
LowCyl = 818
HighCyl = 1224
Buffers = 32
BufMemType = 1
MaxTransfer = 0x7FFFFFFF
Mask = 0x00FFFFFE
BootPri = 0
DosType = 0x444F5301
#
My JanusTools PCE entry (modified from DISKINFO) looks like this:
PCE: Device = ExpSys.device ;<- changed
FileSystem = L:CrossDosFileSystem ;<- added
Unit = 80
BlockSize = 512
Surfaces = 1 ; <- changed
BlocksPerTrack = 63
Reserved = 2
PreAlloc = 0
Interleave = 0
LowCyl = 13089 ; <- changed
HighCyl = 19599 ; <- changed
Buffers = 32
BufMemType = 1
MaxTransfer = 0x7FFFFFFF
Mask = 0x00FFFFFE
BootPri = 0
DosType = 0x4D534400 ; <- changed
#
My ABOOT.CTRL has PCE: and I can access PCE: from the Bridgeboard, if I
disable my PC IDE drive via the CMOS settings, or I can access it from
PC-Task, or I can access it via AmigaDOS (CrossDOS).
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
As a SCSI example, I have an Quantum 100 MB SCSI drive on a GVP controller.
There is only 1 partition to be used.
My DH4 entry (from DISKINFO) looks like this:
DH4: Device = gvpscsi.device
Unit = 0
BlockSize = 512
Surfaces = 6
BlocksPerTrack = 34
Reserved = 2
PreAlloc = 0
Interleave = 0
LowCyl = 1
HighCyl = 1004
Buffers = 32
BufMemType = 0
MaxTransfer = 0x7FFFFFFF
Mask = 0x00FFFFFE
BootPri = -10
DosType = 0x444F5301
#
My first entry to format the drive from the BB (or PC-Task) looks like this:
PCF: Device = gvpscsi.device ;<- changed
FileSystem = L:CrossDosFileSystem ;<- added
Unit = 0
BlockSize = 512
Surfaces = 6
BlocksPerTrack = 34
Reserved = 2
PreAlloc = 0
Interleave = 0
LowCyl = 1
HighCyl = 1004
Buffers = 32
BufMemType = 0
MaxTransfer = 0x7FFFFFFF
Mask = 0x00FFFFFE
BootPri = -10
DosType = 0x4D534400 ;<- changed
#
After the PCF: partition is mounted and the Bridgeboard
accesses it to FDISK it and format it. Then I change the
entry to the following:
IBMF:Device = gvpscsi.device ;<- changed
FileSystem = L:CrossDosFileSystem ;<- from before
Unit = 0
BlockSize = 512
Surfaces = 1 ;<- changed
BlocksPerTrack = 34
Reserved = 2
PreAlloc = 0
Interleave = 0
LowCyl = 7 ;<- changed
HighCyl = 6029 ;<- changed
Buffers = 32
BufMemType = 0
MaxTransfer = 0x7FFFFFFF
Mask = 0x00FFFFFE
BootPri = -10
DosType = 0x4D534400 ;<- from before
#
My ABOOT.CTRL now has IBMF: and I can access IBMF: from the Bridgeboard,
PC-Task, or I can access it via AmigaDOS (CrossDOS).
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Jordan Krim
*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=
>
>If you have an SCSI drive do 4A. If you have a IDE drive go to 4B.
>
>4A. Modify 2 of the parameters in the Mountlist entry that you just added for
> the JanusTools partition. Change the name of the entry. If it is DHx:,
>
>
I forgot that I had changed 3 of the parameters. It turns out that the
original mountlist (DH4:) needs to have Interleave changed to 1. Then change
ABOOT.CTRL with the new partition name (DH4:), mount
it, boot the BB, FDISK, and format the partition. Then change to the CrossDOS
partition (IBMF: in my case), which should have an Interleave parameter
which is identical to the original drive's mountlist (probably it will be 0).
Mount the CrossDOS partition, change ABOOT.CTRL, boot the BB and hopefully
your partition will work. CrossDOS should read it as well. (Sheesh, will I
ever get it right! Sorry, guys and gals).
Jordan Krim