Kaypro 2x with a Gotek

[tradde]

Ok, my Gotek arrived and it already has the latest FlashFloppy installed. Had a few issues using the USB stick I had selected. I think it was due to it was formatted for Linux use and not formatted FAT32. Finally fixed that. One other USB stick I had would not allow me to format and I stuck it back on the shelf not sure why. I finally got some files on my USB for use with the Kaypro. One image being the basic boot disk for 2.2g. And a few games and Kermit. About 6 or 8 total. With having the drive as A and SR0 jumpered it will not boot the basic CP/M nor anything else. The files show up on the tiny LED display fine so I know the Gotek is working. I can turn the knob and select others. So I moved it to B and jumpered SR1. Now I can do a DIR of B and most work fine. One of the games images reports "No Files". And one other does too. The base CP/M disk reads just fine and I can run stuff on it from B. So the Gotek works well as B. Put it back to A and same issue. I don't know what I must be doing wrong, but it just sits at the "Install boot disk prompt". Any ideas? I fiddles with many FF.CFG and IMG.CFG changes. Nothing helped. My boot ROM is a 81-292. The system works fine with the 2 floppies.

 

[kurt_kayger]

Hi,
try this.
Format Fat32.
Copy FF.CFG and hb75d_forum.dsk into the main directory.
Should boot.

Was SYSGEN made for those applications?

greeting
Kurt

 

[tradde]

The stick is formatted FAT32. FF.CFG is in the root directory. Originally I put some .DSK files on it and they did not show up at all. Only when I tried .HFE files did anything show up. So I am not sure this will work any better. I know the images are there and readable as I can use them from B:. Just don't understand what it's not seeing to boot. Not sure what you are asking about "Sysgen made for these application"? I used the image I made my real floppy from so it should boot.

My FF.CFG has "host=kaypro" already in it. I thought that might be the issue.

 

[kurt_kayger]

Hi,
can you upload an example of how i did it.
I am testing with my Kaypro 4/84.

Maybe we can fix the problem.

Kurt

 

[kurt_kayger]

Hi,
I create the Kaypro 'DSK' with cpmtools.

cpmls -f kay2 your.dsk
- is something displayed?

Look here:
dd if=/dev/zero of=test.dsk bs=128 count=3280
mkfs.cpm -f kay2 test.dsk
cpmcp -f kay2 test.dsk *.* 0:
cpmls -f kay2 test.dsk

fsed.cpm -f kay2 hb75d_forum.dsk

Kurt

 

[tradde]

Maybe that makes a difference. I just used existing .DSK files I found online for Kaypro's. Thought those would work. I have never used cpmtools. What was odd is they don't even show up as available on the Gotek. I will try your first suggestion and replace my FF.CFG with yours and put that .DSK file on my USB stick and see if it works. I may have tried .TD0 files and not .DSK files. I was looking for those but could not find any. The .TD0's did not work at all. I may have to experiment with cpmtools. Can it convert .HFE files to .DSK? If not what can read those?

 

[tradde]

I have cpmtools on my Linux box but not quite configured like yours. I don't have the diskdefs where mkfs.cpm expects them to be. I'll have to play with this a bit. My diskdefs has Kay2x as my Kaypro is a 2x. So this works. I'll have to try to create a disk and add some programs to it and see what happens. How do I make it bootable? Thanks for your help.

 

[tradde]

Put your FF.CFG on the stick. Had to add the line to rotate the LCD 180 degrees as it was upside down. I did this for my FF.CFG too. It does not load your image you provided. Just sits. A few others it reports it can not read the disk. Those are likely to be the empty images I saw when trying to do the DIR B:. I have to get my diskdefs over to this laptop so I can try to build an image. I have the cpmtools installed but it does not know what a Kaypro is here.

 

[durgadas311]

cpmtools has had a bug in it that manifests on Kaypro disks. Kaypro uses a reserved area in the directory blocks to store part of the boot image. Adding files to a Kaypro sysgen'ed disk image will overwrite part of the boot, causing it to crash when booting. Not sure if those are your symptoms or not. There is a fix in the latest cpmtools, along with a change to the kaypro diskdefs:

# setfdprm /dev/fd0 zerobased SS DD ssize=512 cyl=40 sect=10 head=1
# Kaypro II
diskdef kpii
  seclen 512
  tracks 40
  sectrk 10
  blocksize 1024
  maxdir 64
  dirblks 4
  skew 0
  boottrk 1
  os 2.2
end

# setfdprm /dev/fd0 zerobased DS DD ssize=512 cyl=40 sect=10 head=2
# Kayro IV
diskdef kpiv
  seclen 512
  tracks 80
  sectrk 10
  blocksize 2048
  maxdir 64
  dirblks 2
  skew 0
  boottrk 1
  os 2.2
end

The fix includes the new param "dirblks".

Also be aware that the 2X has double-sided drives, same as the 4, so you normally want to use "kpiv".

 

[tradde]

Yes, I have copied over the diskdefs from my Linux machine to this laptop (Macbook). I was able to use cpmls to list the directory of the provided image. It looked Ok.
But it does not boot. It just sits at the prompt "Insert floppy disk" or whatever it actually says. Yes, I know the 2x has double sided. I am glad it does. Single sided is just too limiting. One of the reasons I got the 2x. I will have to see if my copy of diskdefs has that fix or not. I have not used my Kaypro much and never did when they were new and have never used a Gotek before either. Hard to say if the Kaypro is trying to boot or not, but I'd say no since the display does not change from the original line, except when the disk is "empty" or it thinks it is. Then it seems to display "I can not read your disk". EDIT: Yes, my copy of diskdefs has this line so my cpmtools should have the fix too.

 

[tradde]

I am still confused by the kpii tracks=40 and the kpiv tracks=80. Don't they both have 40 tracks but the SSDD has one head and the 2x has two heads?

 

[durgadas311]

cpmtools doesn't have the concept of sides. The concept of "track" originally (mainframe harddisks) referred to a "cylinder" on a given surface (head), but in the world of floppies on micros this got confused and sometimes means the same as "cylinder". But cpmtools is using "tracks" as was used by mainframes, so a single-sided (1 head) 40 cylinder floppy drive has 40 tracks while a double-sided (2 head) 40 cylinder floppy drive has 80 tracks. You will sometimes see floppies referenced in terms of cylinders and heads (instead of tracks and sides), which arguably is the "correct" way.

 

[kurt_kayger]

Hi,
here is my diskdefs.
Since I work with Linux this file is located
in the path /etc/cpmtools.

The above in #9 also work.

Kurt

Kaypro 484 mit Gotek - CP/M Forum

HB75d Haushaltsbuch - CP/M Forum

 

[tradde]

Your diskdefs is much like mine with the extra comments removed in yours. I saw no differences that I would need. Thank you though. I can list the above disk image with cpmls which is good, but it still does not boot. I added a few other game images that are of the HFE type. They seem to try to boot as I see the screen blink but it just goes back to the "insert floppy" prompt and then repeats the blink over and over. So it's trying to do something. I just don't know what. I am going to try to build an image using cpmtools to see what happens there. It will take some time as I don't know how to use this tool yet.

 

[tradde]

Hi,
I create the Kaypro 'DSK' with cpmtools.

cpmls -f kay2 your.dsk
- is something displayed?

Look here:
dd if=/dev/zero of=test.dsk bs=128 count=3280
mkfs.cpm -f kay2 test.dsk
cpmcp -f kay2 test.dsk *.* 0:
cpmls -f kay2 test.dsk

fsed.cpm -f kay2 hb75d_forum.dsk

Kurt

This is weird. I can create the base test.dsk file with the dd. No issues. I can make the file system with no issues. But on trying to copy to it or list it I get a
"Cannot open test.dsk (No such file or directory)". It's there I checked. Trying to list it gives the same. I'd expect and empty directory and not this message.
I am not sure if this is a message from cpmcp or something else. I am also running this on a Macbook. Maybe it doesn't work quite right there. This error is from
cpcpm, so I will have to figure out what it does not like.

 

[tradde]

I rebuilt cpmtools and now I get a "device full" when trying to copy files to my new image. I guess this is an improvement. And yet doing a cpmls it shows files on the test.dsk image. Weird.

 

[durgadas311]

Note that booting is very different from listing the directory. Booting requires that the "boot tracks" (and in Kaypro formats, the reserved space after the directory) be filled with a valid boot image. That boot image must match the ROM version, too. Unfortunately, you can't always be certain an image is bootable based on its name, so it might require confirming that the image is actually bootable.

 

[tradde]

Yes, I noticed in the manpage for cpcpm about the boot option. And I do know booting is totally different from listing. But being able to list the image is still an important step. I had just wanted to verify the images were at least valid to CP/M even though they would not boot. I don't have to a clue of how to add the boot tracks as it really does not get into that. I have seen nothing in my travels on doing that either. How does one check "bootability"? And if I need "boot tracks" where does one get them and how does on put them in the correct spot on the image? I'd assume the -b option of the mkfs.cpm tool. At least I feel I am moving forward on this. If I can't make it the A drive and to boot, at least I can make it B and be able to move files around.

 

[kurt_kayger]

Hi,

I have a bootable file (boot.zip) for Kaypro 484 with FF.CFG
Posted. The file was created with diskdefs kay2 or kpiv
made.

If these two files on the FAT32 or FAT16
formatted stitch is saved and nothing else
it must work.

Try it as described

Which Kaypro do you actually have.
Can your Kaypro use these formats at all?

greeting
Kurt

.

 

[tradde]

I can't say if my Kaypro can use them. I don't know enough about the tools and the Gotek. I have a very early 2x (DSDD) with 2 half height drives. It's so early as it only has a 2x round sticker on the back. But I have verified it is a real 2x. ROM is 81-292. I tried your boot.zip, but it does not work. I have use information from Larry Kraemer to try to set up my system properly for use with Gotek and creating files (diskdefs and all that). I must still have something wrong. I'll figure it out eventually.

Kurt, I put your FF.CFG and your boot image on the stick. Still does not boot.