My IIfx progress

[Phipli]

Does the blue scsi work
Similarly to the SCSI2SD?

The SCSI2SD uses the SD card as raw media. The BlueSCSI uses disk image files on a FAT formatted SD card.

 

[LaPorta]

The SCSI2SD uses the SD card as raw media. The BlueSCSI uses disk image files on a FAT formatted SD card.

Which sort of disk images does it use? How does it prioritize which ones to mount?

 

[Phipli]

Which sort of disk images does it use? How does it prioritize which ones to mount?

The file name sets the SCSI ID. Is the file with "0" is SCSI ID 0 etc.

 

[LaPorta]

Ok, are they .img or .dmg format?

 

[SophieRose]

I just know they have a HDA extension and work with the Basilisk emulator.

Eg..
HD10_512.hda
For scsi ID 1

 

[Phipli]

Ok, are they .img or .dmg format?

Neither. Raw disk images.

 

[LaPorta]

Neither. Raw disk images.

So semi-useless for a regular Mac user, I suppose. Oh well, I was looking into it as an alternative to the SCSI2SD.

 

[Phipli]

So semi-useless for a regular Mac user, I suppose. Oh well, I was looking into it as an alternative to the SCSI2SD.

I'm not sure why you think that. They work in late versions of Disk Copy, Shrink Wrap and many other retro programs.

But you don't have to get one if you don't want I don't have one.

 

[joshc]

.hda is meaningless - its just a raw disk image with a boot partition and data partition, a more common file extension for those is .dsk but regardless the file contents would be the same, the file extension is arbitrary. I think the BlueSCSI firmware was just coded to expect .hda for some reason.

BlueSCSI is an alternative to SCSI2SD, just not a very good one, for various reasons. Check out ZuluSCSI which uses the same type of file for the disk contents.

 

[Phipli]

Also, you don't see the disk image on the old computer, it doesn't matter what format it is. It only matters if you choose to put the SD card in your modern computer... What that format file is absolutely fine.

I'm a little confused.

 

[LaPorta]

Well, for instance with the SCSI2SD, I can pop the SD card from it in, say, my G4, and read/write to the HD partitions like any other disk. With these .dsk files, will Disk Utility on OS X 10.4 be able to open it and write to it? I’ve never had good luck with that.

 

[Phipli]

Well, for instance with the SCSI2SD, I can pop the SD card from it in, say, my G4, and read/write to the HD partitions like any other disk. With these .dsk files, will Disk Utility on OS X 10.4 be able to open it and write to it? I’ve never had good luck with that.

I don't think it is as much of an issue as you think it is, although you don't have to use one

 

[LaPorta]

Oh no of course I don’t have to, just seeing if it was a viable alternative for me. Having only Macs, my general method is when setting up on a new machine, I put the SD in the G4 or whatever and copy everything I need in two minutes, rather than manually installing things on the target machine or having to create something via an emulator.

 

[Phipli]

Oh no of course I don’t have to, just seeing if it was a viable alternative for me. Having only Macs, my general method is when setting up on a new machine, I put the SD in the G4 or whatever and copy everything I need in two minutes, rather than manually installing things on the target machine or having to create something via an emulator.

I've always used ethernet or CDs, so it only looks more convenient because I could optionally plug it into modern computers. What puts me off getting something like that is the cost. With the tax and shipping to Europe they are a bit pricy.

But seriously, I think you might find that the image files are easier to work with than you think. I'm not a Mac OS X user as if about 10 years, so I can't explicitly give you guidance, but the format is so trivial that there is no way you can't just mount and use an appropriately formed image file. Just perhaps a bit of research and writing down a step by step until you learn it.

 

[LaPorta]

I've always used ethernet or CDs, so it only looks more convenient because I could optionally plug it into modern computers. What puts me off getting something like that is the cost. With the tax and shipping to Europe they are a bit pricy.

But seriously, I think you might find that the image files are easier to work with than you think. I'm not a Mac OS X user as if about 10 years, so I can't explicitly give you guidance, but the format is so trivial that there is no way you can't just mount and use an appropriately formed image file. Just perhaps a bit of research and writing down a step by step until you learn it.

Absolutely willing to give it a go. Can you send me a small, blank .dsk (or whatever the extension may be) to try?

 

[Phipli]

Absolutely willing to give it a go. Can you send me a small, blank .dsk (or whatever the extension may be) to try?

BlueSCSI Images - BlueSCSI v2 Documentation

BlueSCSI v2 Documentation.

bluescsi.com

 

[LaPorta]

Thanks very much!

 

[jmacz]

Oh no of course I don’t have to, just seeing if it was a viable alternative for me. Having only Macs, my general method is when setting up on a new machine, I put the SD in the G4 or whatever and copy everything I need in two minutes, rather than manually installing things on the target machine or having to create something via an emulator.

Another technical option for modern Macs is hfsutils. You can install on modern Macs via Brew, and it gives you command line tools for working with those raw disk images. Pop your SD card into your modern Mac, hmount to mount the file, hcopy to transfer files to/from it, hls to list directory contents, etc.

 

[SophieRose]

Here's the IIfx being unusually stable

 

[Melkhior]

Here's the IIfx being unusually stable

Congrats! When they work, IIfx seems to be very nice machine...

But in my opinion, they are way too complicated for their own good. Too many (unexploited) I/O processors, too many buffers, a PDS that isn't 'direct', weird memory, ... I still wish I had one though