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BlueSCSI Questions for Mac Plus

68kPlus

Well-known member
Hi!
I have a Macintosh Plus made in 1990, and want to ask some questions about the BlueSCSI (before I buy one).

First up: What disk image types are supported by the BlueSCSI? I know .hda is supported, but I was wondering if any others (like .vhd) are supported.

Second: I have a HD20 SC with a failing SCSI drive that I use with my Plus and was wondering if putting a BlueSCSI in there and powering it with a molex to berg would be okay for termination power? Does the BlueSCSI need termination power in the HD20 SC?

Lastly: How would I go about transferring files from Macintosh Repositry or Macintosh Garden to a BlueSCSI's disk image? I know Basilisk II works with .hda, but I am having a bit of trouble trying to boot a Macintosh Plus based disk image with the IIci or Quadra 700 emulation. Is it possible to emulate the Plus on Basilisk II?
MinivMac doesn't support .hda so I'm unsure how to go about with that.

Thank you so much for your time. I really hope my questions aren't to much to ask.

-68kPlus
 

pfuentes69

Well-known member
Hello,
I use one with my Plus. It works neatly.

First up: What disk image types are supported by the BlueSCSI? I know .hda is supported, but I was wondering if any others (like .vhd) are supported.
Drive images are supported. HDA is the extension that the BlusSCSI expects, but renaming it should work if its a drive image.

Second: I have a HD20 SC with a failing SCSI drive that I use with my Plus and was wondering if putting a BlueSCSI in there and powering it with a molex to berg would be okay for termination power? Does the BlueSCSI need termination power in the HD20 SC?
I tried this with a Rodime enclosure and it didn't work because the power supply was expecting more consumption than the BlusSCSI needs and as it was a switching power supply it was not turning on.

Please note that the Plus doesn't provide termination power unless you modify it adding a diode, so by default you need to power it.
In theory if you do the mod you could connect the HD20 without powering it and it should work.

Lastly: How would I go about transferring files from Macintosh Repositry or Macintosh Garden to a BlueSCSI's disk image? I know Basilisk II works with .hda, but I am having a bit of trouble trying to boot a Macintosh Plus based disk image with the IIci or Quadra 700 emulation. Is it possible to emulate the Plus on Basilisk II?
MinivMac doesn't support .hda so I'm unsure how to go about with that.
What I do is that I add the Plus image as a secondary disk to Basilisk, so it boots with some other working image and then I copy the files.
 

68kPlus

Well-known member
Thank you very much for the info!

I knew about the diode mod, although unfortunately I'm a little too cautious to do that, so I was hoping the HD20 SC could provide the power.
Perhaps anyone else knows if it would work in the HD20 SC? Do you know anyone with one and a BlueSCSI?

Thank you again for all the help.
 

cheesestraws

Well-known member
Any raw disc image should work. A lot of the stuff on the Internet about disc image formats is straightforwardly wrong. Just create a big file full of zeroes of the right size.

I had issues getting one to work on a Plus until I used Lido 7 to format it. Your mileage will doubtless vary. Prepare for a lot of mucking about (or "iteration" if you want to sound professional about it).

You will note that the BlueSCSI documentation says that Lido doesn['t work on Pluses. This is transparently untrue, at least for some Plus ROM revisions and some versions of Lido. In fact, the BlueSCSI documentation is misleading and the hardware is questionable. Good luck.
 

Wawavoun

Well-known member
Hi,

I have two bluescsi. One with DB25 connector directly powered by the Plus (with a diode) and another one with a IDC50 connector powered by a external hard drive power supply.

Both works well but be careful. If you try to use more than one image at a time the boot disk need an scsi driver < 8. This problem is specific to the Plus and probably come from the rough scsi implementation on this machine.

See here : https://github.com/erichelgeson/BlueSCSI/discussions/83
and here https://68kmla.org/bb/index.php?threads/macintosh-plus-and-bluescsi.40615/#post-440749

Regards.
Philippe
 

68kPlus

Well-known member
Thank you Philippe!
So you think the BlueSCSI would work okay with my HD 20SC? I don't mind if I can't use more than one disk image, as that is something to tackle down the line.
Thanks for all the help everyone!
 

silvi89UD

Active member
Hi! I'm Silvano from Italy.
I have a beautiful Macintosh Plus 1mb with original working floppies: System ver. 5, Utilities 1 and 2, demos, Mac Draw and Mac Write. I've bought a Bluescsi DB25 v2 and I put inside a 4Gb microSD card. I want to install on the SD system 5 version, Draw and Write via floppy. I've been formatted ( with my Ventura M1 iMac ) on exfat the card and open the Apple HD SC setup T1-T1.5 application on my Mac Plus.I've been try also to create a folder .hda with disk jokey. If I try to format the 4Gb card with plus ( without .hda file ) the process seems don't stop ( I leave the Mac 8hours), and if I try to insert the card on Bluescsi and start the computer (with inside .hda file ), the computer don't show the external HDD. For now I haven't provide to insert the Diode,i just use an external power cable. How Can I do? Someone can help me please?? thank you so much!!
 

pfuentes69

Well-known member
Hi! I'm Silvano from Italy.
I have a beautiful Macintosh Plus 1mb with original working floppies: System ver. 5, Utilities 1 and 2, demos, Mac Draw and Mac Write. I've bought a Bluescsi DB25 v2 and I put inside a 4Gb microSD card. I want to install on the SD system 5 version, Draw and Write via floppy. I've been formatted ( with my Ventura M1 iMac ) on exfat the card and open the Apple HD SC setup T1-T1.5 application on my Mac Plus.I've been try also to create a folder .hda with disk jokey. If I try to format the 4Gb card with plus ( without .hda file ) the process seems don't stop ( I leave the Mac 8hours), and if I try to insert the card on Bluescsi and start the computer (with inside .hda file ), the computer don't show the external HDD. For now I haven't provide to insert the Diode,i just use an external power cable. How Can I do? Someone can help me please?? thank you so much!!
Hi Silvano,
For support on BlueSCSI I'd recommend to post in https://tinkerdifferent.com/ as its creators are there.

In principle the process is to format with exFat, then create the HDA file with disk jockey with the right name, and then you should be able to format the disk with the Plus, or format it in Basillisk and put the contents you want.

How big is the disk image you created with Disk Jokey?
It would also help if you check and post here the log txt file that is generated when you turn on the BlueSCSI.
 

silvi89UD

Active member
Hi ok thank you so much!!! The File is 20MB, the name is HD10_512 20MB.hda and the output SCSI is set 1. I will try and I send you the log.txt
 

silvi89UD

Active member
My sd card is 4Gb, I've been created an exfat 60Mb partition, copied the .hda file and launch Apple SC HD Setup T1-T1.5 program. I'm waiting.....
 

silvi89UD

Active member
this is the log report

10ms] Platform: BlueSCSI Pico
[10ms] FW Version: 2023.01.25-release Jan 25 2023 08:22:29
Flash chip size: 2048 kB

=== SD Card Info ===
SD card detected, exFAT volume size: 57 MB
SD Name: SU04G, MID: 0x03, OID: 0x53 0x44

=== Global Config ===
Config file bluescsi.ini not found, using defaults

=== Finding images in / ===
== Opening /HD10_512 20MB.hda for ID: 1 LUN: 0
---- Image ready

=== ROM Drive ===
Platform supports ROM drive up to 1692 kB
---- ROM drive image not detected

=== Configured SCSI Devices ===
* ID: 1, BlockSize: 512, Type: Fixed, Quirks: Apple, Size: 20544kB

Initialization complete!
 

pfuentes69

Well-known member
this is the log report

10ms] Platform: BlueSCSI Pico
[10ms] FW Version: 2023.01.25-release Jan 25 2023 08:22:29
Flash chip size: 2048 kB

=== SD Card Info ===
SD card detected, exFAT volume size: 57 MB
SD Name: SU04G, MID: 0x03, OID: 0x53 0x44

=== Global Config ===
Config file bluescsi.ini not found, using defaults

=== Finding images in / ===
== Opening /HD10_512 20MB.hda for ID: 1 LUN: 0
---- Image ready

=== ROM Drive ===
Platform supports ROM drive up to 1692 kB
---- ROM drive image not detected

=== Configured SCSI Devices ===
* ID: 1, BlockSize: 512, Type: Fixed, Quirks: Apple, Size: 20544kB

Initialization complete!
OK, so the BlueSCSI is recognising it properly.

I would maybe recommend to format the image with Basilisk. It should then appear in the Plus. If you don't have Basillisk, you can ZIP it and put it here, as compressed should be very small.
 

silvi89UD

Active member
ok.thanks it will work if I have a System 5 Files like:
-make Floppies.scr
-System Tools 1 e 2.img
-Utilities 1 e 2 .img
Can I put all in a .zip folder and copy on the sd?
I will also try with your image!
 

silvi89UD

Active member
[10ms] Platform: BlueSCSI Pico
[10ms] FW Version: 2023.01.25-release Jan 25 2023 08:22:29
Flash chip size: 2048 kB

=== SD Card Info ===
SD card detected, exFAT volume size: 57 MB
SD Name: SU04G, MID: 0x03, OID: 0x53 0x44

=== Global Config ===
Config file bluescsi.ini not found, using defaults

=== Finding images in / ===
== Opening /HD10_512 20MB.hda? for ID: 1 LUN: 0
---- Failed to load image

=== ROM Drive ===
Platform supports ROM drive up to 1692 kB
---- ROM drive image not detected

=== Configured SCSI Devices ===
No images found, enabling RAW fallback partition
Limiting RAW image mapping to SD card sector count: 7744512

Initialization complete!

The same thing. When I open Apple HD SC the Mac says that the SCSI's device isn't in Macintosh format......
 

pfuentes69

Well-known member
I see a problem in this new log... it says:
=== Finding images in / ===
== Opening /HD10_512 20MB.hda? for ID: 1 LUN: 0
---- Failed to load image

Is the name of the image ending with "?"

Please note that Apple HD SC will not work with non-Apple drives, and in principle you don't need to use it. The image I sent above is formatted, is should just work.
 

silvi89UD

Active member
Hi, the na e of the image doesn’t end with “ ? “. I use only apple machines, I format the 4Gb SD card with Disk Utility, copy your image and insert the card on the BlueSCSI. I turn on the Plus, insert original system 5 floppy And open Apple HD SC Setup. The drive is found and the 1 address and when I click Format the B/W wheels turns for few seconds and after stops turn.and nothing else ( I leave the plus turned on for many hours)…..
 
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