Hi Folks,
I'm wondering if someone can possibly give me a hand with building a cable and pointing out the correct tools needed to connect an FDS drive to either a Mac or a PC (running XP or DOS as required) and write disks with it. I prefer the Mac route, but I don't know if any SW exists to do this from MacOS X, so I'll go the Windoze way if I must.
Before you even ask, NO, I don’t plan to pirate tons of FDS games, as I have almost every single FDS game that I want or can play, but I do have some problems that I need to resolve and I need a way of writing FDS disks to do that.
Problem #1: I don't speak and thus cannot read Japanese. This puts a big blockade in my way of enjoying FDS RPGs like "Deep Dungeon". Yet, there is hope, as TR-Patches exist for many of the games that I can't understand...and maybe even for games I shouldn't understand, such as "Dandy"...
I will even, once I have a working writer setup, be willing to let folks from nesdev send me (original) disks for TR patching as a bonus "Thank You" to the community for helping me out.
Patching the FDS images is fine, but I would like to put the patched game back onto the disk and PLAY IT ON THE REAL HARDWARE!
The same goes for hacked/modded games. Heck, I might e en want to make an original FDS game some day, too, so I need a way to write the disks from images.
Secondly, I have some disks that have bad sectors, or at least I assume so from the errors (in Japanese) that I've gotten while either loading or playing them. I have dups of some titles, but not all of them, and I’d rather not rebuy a game that has gone bad when I can re-write over the disk (assuming the media is not bad itself) or write over a known good disk (of a terrible game) as a backup.
Thus, I would really appreciate if someone can either point me to plans to build a cable and tell me what software actually works for doing this, of if someone has a cable and the software and is willing to sell me a cable or a complete setup for doing it.
If anybody has the parts and is willing to build a cable, I am willing to trade some extra FDS disks (random selection of my extras) for one.
I have a normal FDS and a red Sharp FamiTwin. I don't know the drive model numbers on the FamiTwin, but I can always mod the original FDS or grab another if I need to do that.
Additionally, does anybody know the true nature of Port 2 (the one with the sliding black cover on the side of the Twin)? Wiki claims that this port allows you to connect the Twin to another Famicom and use its DD there, but other sources claim that you can link it to another FDS via thus port.
Neither of these makes a lot of sense and both are unconfirmed. Does anybody know what this port actually does?
Thanks in advance!
-Xious
Famicom Disk System (FDS) - Writing Disks from a Mac/PC?
Moderators: B00daW, Moderators
Re: Famicom Disk System (FDS) - Writing Disks from a Mac/PC?
Nobody but the author has been able to get FDSLoadr to write disks, and even so that requires a true DOS environment and a true parallel port making Macs out of the question. There aren't any USB solutions right now apart from the USB CopyNES, which I don't think has a FDS plugin, but definitely could.
In all you'd need to modify your FDS (7201 are easier), for which plans are available on the main site, and also the software and hardware, which are not.
The true nature of the second port is just a 7-bit general purpose I/O port. To my knowledge only unlicensed software/hardware made use of it to copy FDS disks in one pass instead of two using only the internal RAM.
In all you'd need to modify your FDS (7201 are easier), for which plans are available on the main site, and also the software and hardware, which are not.
The true nature of the second port is just a 7-bit general purpose I/O port. To my knowledge only unlicensed software/hardware made use of it to copy FDS disks in one pass instead of two using only the internal RAM.
Re: Famicom Disk System (FDS) - Writing Disks from a Mac/PC?
Is there any tool for this, other than the fabled FDSLoadr method, which I;ve read about?
I don't understand why the coder would claim that he can get his software to do this, but nobody else can. What isn;t he telling thwe rest of us?
Frankly, the fact that nobody else seems to be able to get his SW to work makes his claims smell of salmon, else he has a special version that he's not releasing, which is rather bogus...
That aside, if it is possible to read FDS media to a PC, it shouldn;t be *that hard* to write back to it, should it?
I can easily set up a system with DOS7, so that's not a problem. Parallel port is also a snap. I have all the requisite systems hardware, but not the proper cable and software.
Is there any detailed documentation on how to even attempt the proceedure? I mean, why would there be hacks to make an FDS drive writable and cables to attach it to a PC and yet no software to write from a PC to a QuickDisk?
Anybody else have some suggeestions?
-X|S
I don't understand why the coder would claim that he can get his software to do this, but nobody else can. What isn;t he telling thwe rest of us?
Frankly, the fact that nobody else seems to be able to get his SW to work makes his claims smell of salmon, else he has a special version that he's not releasing, which is rather bogus...
That aside, if it is possible to read FDS media to a PC, it shouldn;t be *that hard* to write back to it, should it?
I can easily set up a system with DOS7, so that's not a problem. Parallel port is also a snap. I have all the requisite systems hardware, but not the proper cable and software.
Is there any detailed documentation on how to even attempt the proceedure? I mean, why would there be hacks to make an FDS drive writable and cables to attach it to a PC and yet no software to write from a PC to a QuickDisk?
Anybody else have some suggeestions?
-X|S
kyuusaku wrote:Nobody but the author has been able to get FDSLoadr to write disks, and even so that requires a true DOS environment and a true parallel port making Macs out of the question. There aren't any USB solutions right now apart from the USB CopyNES, which I don't think has a FDS plugin, but definitely could.
In all you'd need to modify your FDS (7201 are easier), for which plans are available on the main site, and also the software and hardware, which are not.
The true nature of the second port is just a 7-bit general purpose I/O port. To my knowledge only unlicensed software/hardware made use of it to copy FDS disks in one pass instead of two using only the internal RAM.
I have spoken to the author at length in the past and he is honest and truthful. He has a 3206 model FDS that he modded with a very similar mod as that found in the copy tool doc on the main site. He made the mod himself with no outside knowledge of others having done the same. His mod works GREAT with writing disks using FDSLoader. That's why only his mod works. It is a slightly different mod than say, the mod in the copy tool doc, which was actually from Famicom Kaizou Manual Vol.3 (only 3 volumes released...it was a one-off, or rather, 3-off mag/book that awas a sister publication of Backup Technique, a popular system hacking publication from Japan in the 80s and early 90s.)
Now, that said, I have a version I translated of that particular doc. Anyone who wants it needss only post here and/or send me a PM. I'll post a megaupload link for the pdf.
There is no Mac FDS dumper. As for PC, FDS Loader is you best bet. You can still load images directly to the FDS Ram adapter and play them on real hardware using it. Also, if you have a copier like a TGD 6+ you can do the mod for your system to make it write-capable, load up a disk copying tool like Disk Hacker or Copy Master (or send the image of the copy tool using FDSLoader to the RAM adapter), have it ask for a disk to copy, send it an image you want to copy onto a disk with FDSLoader, and voila, your disk is written. I have the images for these copy tools if needed. As for the copying hardware (TGD6 and FDSLoader cables), you're on your own in finding/making those.
-Rob
Now, that said, I have a version I translated of that particular doc. Anyone who wants it needss only post here and/or send me a PM. I'll post a megaupload link for the pdf.
There is no Mac FDS dumper. As for PC, FDS Loader is you best bet. You can still load images directly to the FDS Ram adapter and play them on real hardware using it. Also, if you have a copier like a TGD 6+ you can do the mod for your system to make it write-capable, load up a disk copying tool like Disk Hacker or Copy Master (or send the image of the copy tool using FDSLoader to the RAM adapter), have it ask for a disk to copy, send it an image you want to copy onto a disk with FDSLoader, and voila, your disk is written. I have the images for these copy tools if needed. As for the copying hardware (TGD6 and FDSLoader cables), you're on your own in finding/making those.
-Rob