HFE to DMK problems??

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pbureau66
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Joined: Wed Aug 05, 2020 4:15 am

HFE to DMK problems??

Post by pbureau66 »

Hello, I use TRS80 computers and am a Register owner pf HxC (using on gotek) and it runs nicely,.
I have been troubled a little when trying to convert to and from HFE to DMK I get lots of issues (blank disk or bad conversions possibly).
So I have to resort to using HFE to DSK and another app from DSK to DMK or HFE to IMD to DMK which both work fine but is a roundabout what I see a possible issue.
I can provide files for your inspection, and I have use other apps from dsk to dmk (jv2dmk.exe for example) that convert the file without issue, but I hate using 3rd party when I could be using your application only.

Jeff
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Re: HFE to DMK problems??

Post by Jeff »

pbureau66 wrote:
Wed Aug 05, 2020 4:50 am
Hello, I use TRS80 computers and am a Register owner pf HxC (using on gotek) and it runs nicely,.
I have been troubled a little when trying to convert to and from HFE to DMK I get lots of issues (blank disk or bad conversions possibly).
So I have to resort to using HFE to DSK and another app from DSK to DMK or HFE to IMD to DMK which both work fine but is a roundabout what I see a possible issue.
I can provide files for your inspection, and I have use other apps from dsk to dmk (jv2dmk.exe for example) that convert the file without issue, but I hate using 3rd party when I could be using your application only.
I will have a look but i think that the main problem is the DMK format itself : it expect that all sectors, id marks , data mark are byte aligned. But of course this is not the case in the real world (on floppy disks & machine formatted hfe files...). This limitation means that the DMK tracks need to be regenerated from scratch...

Jeff
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Re: HFE to DMK problems??

Post by Jeff »

Please share your images.

Which firmware version are you using exactly ?

pbureau66
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Joined: Wed Aug 05, 2020 4:15 am

Re: HFE to DMK problems??

Post by pbureau66 »

Jeff wrote:
Wed Aug 05, 2020 11:58 pm
I will have a look but i think that the main problem is the DMK format itself : it expect that all sectors, id marks , data mark are byte aligned. But of course this is not the case in the real world (on floppy disks & machine formatted hfe files...). This limitation means that the DMK tracks need to be regenerated from scratch...
Not to be harsh, but have you ever use/seen JV2DMK? (JV to DMK) it does it correctly, every time. and I understand its about priorities and you have a lot of people asking for a lot of things, all the time. If it is not possible to have HxCsoftware convert JV3(DSK) to DMK properly due to limitation, I can live with that.
Jeff wrote:
Wed Aug 05, 2020 11:58 pm
Which firmware version are you using exactly
I use HxCSoftware Emulator for my conversions from JV3 to DMK and HFE.
Image

Firmware: HxCFEUSB_V3_4_16_8a
Jeff wrote:
Wed Aug 05, 2020 11:58 pm
Please share your images.
Okay, so my process is copied using copycat software from actual floppy disk to HFE on Gotek.
this gives me an HFE image I can manipulate.
Then I use HXc Software Emu. to convert HFE to DSK (JV3) and that works s just fine. (zero issues) because the TRS80GP emulator doesn't support HFE yet (I requested the author. if they could)
but from JV3 or HFE to DMK (prefered format for TRS-80 series Machine (model 3-4-and up) the images are "messed up" and never work

Anyways, you can get the zip from my google drive at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/10ix0Lb ... sp=sharing
the zip file contains;
OS M4 SSDD Montezuma CPM v22.HFE is the original file.
OS M4 SSDD Montezuma CPM v22.DSK is the HFE to JV3 Conversion (GOOD)
HFEDMKCPMv22.dmk is the same file above but HFE to DMK conversion using HxC Software Emulator. (BAD)
JV2DMK-CPMv22.dmk is the same file above converted with JV to DMK software (GOOD)

Side note: someone told me they handle it by going fro HFE to IMD then to DMK and the end product is a proper DMK (using HxC Software EMU.)
I have other in my TRS-80 community that can confirm this "issue".

thank you for your product and support.

Jeff
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Re: HFE to DMK problems??

Post by Jeff »

pbureau66 wrote:
Fri Aug 07, 2020 2:18 pm
Jeff wrote:
Wed Aug 05, 2020 11:58 pm
I will have a look but i think that the main problem is the DMK format itself : it expect that all sectors, id marks , data mark are byte aligned. But of course this is not the case in the real world (on floppy disks & machine formatted hfe files...). This limitation means that the DMK tracks need to be regenerated from scratch...
Not to be harsh, but have you ever use/seen JV2DMK? (JV to DMK) it does it correctly, every time. and I understand its about priorities and you have a lot of people asking for a lot of things, all the time. If it is not possible to have HxCsoftware convert JV3(DSK) to DMK properly due to limitation, I can live with that.
JV2DMK just regenerate the DMK track from scratch from a sector based file image. The HxC software is working with real representation/content of the tracks :

DMK is only good for software emulator, but not really "reliable/straightforward" for floppy emulators / floppy disk writer: Look at the hxc dmk load/read code : I have to guess where are the sync words and have to generate the missing clocks from these guessing. This is supposed to be a full track dump but half of the track information is missing in the dmk format to generate properly a physical track. The clock information is missing, the HxC software is stream based solution, so it need all the information present on the magnetic support.

I will see what i can do on this DMK export issue. If i don't find any reliable solution i will probably disable this feature in the next release.

Jeff
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Re: HFE to DMK problems??

Post by Jeff »

Well, i have finally a "fix". Not sure how reliable is this patch but in your present case this appears to work... (i just shift the whole track if needed before exporting it to the DMK).
So for JV3 or others raw image this should be fine. But i guess that stream images (SCP, KF...) to DMK need more work.

pbureau66
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Re: HFE to DMK problems??

Post by pbureau66 »

thank you, kind sir, for considerations.
much appreciated and will keep you informed, I assume a new version of the HxC tool software is now out.?

Jeff
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Re: HFE to DMK problems??

Post by Jeff »

pbureau66 wrote:
Tue Aug 11, 2020 5:27 am
thank you, kind sir, for considerations.
much appreciated and will keep you informed, I assume a new version of the HxC tool software is now out.?
The modification is on the repository. So this will be included in the next build version.

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