End of unzip woes?

[robheaton]

I'm hoping this saves some headaches, i've created two self extracting disc images of 'unzip' for the QL.
It's simple to use, here's a quick guide;

1. Format a floppy disc on the QL
2. Put the formatted floppy in a PC running Windows
3. Download the correct disk image below, and run it
4. Press the 'Create Floppy' button

Done!

DD Floppy Image (720K) - http://www.theqlforum.com/downloads/unzip.exe
HD Floppy Image (1.44MB) - http://www.theqlforum.com/downloads/unziphd.exe



Note! - I am unable to test the HD floppy image, as I don't have a HD floppy drive for my QL. Can somebody please test it on a real QL and let me know if it works!


(I would like to acknowledge that this is the port of unzip created by Jonathan Hudson, and all credit for the QDOS/SMS port goes to him, I simply made a disc image!)

[dilwyn]

I'm hoping this saves some headaches, i've created a self extracting disc image of 'unzip' for the QL.
It's simple to use, here's a quick guide;

1. Format a floppy disc on the QL
2. Put the formatted floppy in a PC running Windows
3. Download the .exe file below and run it
4. Press the 'Create Floppy' button

Done!

Download Link - http://www.theqlforum.com/downloads/unzip.exe

Almost, Rob!

In true Dilwyn versus Windows fashion it wouldn't work on my Windows 7 PC (which has a USB floppy but that may not be relevant). The image seems to need a DD disk and fails miserably on Windows 7 because (a) the self extract disk image won't self-extract to a HD disk, and (b) DD disks don't work on Windows 7. So I'd suggest a HD disk image as well then awkward s?ds like me could choose which was best for our system.

But this is an excellent idea though - I'll look forward to trying the HD version if you make one!

Dilwyn

[robheaton]

Thanks for the input Dilwyn, I never considered the DD/HD issue!

I'll make a HD version later tonight, and get it uploaded!

[polka]

For me, it worked nicely, because I am a keeper and still use Windows XP on my PCs : fortunately, may I say, because my QL floppy drive does read/write only DD discs. Also : for the moment I did try it only with the very old PC that I received from my daughter, which still has an internal 3"5 floppy drive (and a COM port and a parallel port, etc.), but I am still curious to see how the USB floppy drive that I am expecting, will behave with my newest old PC - for DD discs in general and peculiarly when Qdos formatted.

Actually, the issue is : planned obsolescence...

But with the help of the coming world wide crisis, hopefully we will soon be liberated from the urge (and/because financial means) to upgrade so hastily all our gadgets... and all become keepers again.

Bye Paul

[robheaton]

I've created an HD image of unzip, and edited the original post.
Can someone please test this on a real QL and confirm it works?


Could this be the end of the unzip fun??!!

[dilwyn]

For me, it worked nicely, because I am a keeper and still use Windows XP on my PCs : fortunately, may I say, because my QL floppy drive does read/write only DD discs. Also : for the moment I did try it only with the very old PC that I received from my daughter, which still has an internal 3"5 floppy drive (and a COM port and a parallel port, etc.), but I am still curious to see how the USB floppy drive that I am expecting, will behave with my newest old PC - for DD discs in general and peculiarly when Qdos formatted.

Actually, the issue is : planned obsolescence...

But with the help of the coming world wide crisis, hopefully we will soon be liberated from the urge (and/because financial means) to upgrade so hastily all our gadgets... and all become keepers again.

Bye Paul

Some people will need DD disks and some will need HD disks, so Rob is right to do the two versions.

The USB floppy drive on my Windoze 7 PC is a bit temperamental. Some times it works well, sometimes it struggles to read disks which work fine in the old PC. It also seems slower than both a QL disk drive when accessed by QPC2 or QemuLator and takes ages making a rattling noise (probably self-testing for format etc) before it eventually reads fine. I couldn't get Rich's DOS format tip to work with it on Windows 7 PC, but the old XP PC worked fine.

Probably nothing more sinister than the lack of support for DD disks in Windows 7!

Dilwyn

[robheaton]

The QL disk created seems to work OK in QPC2 and Q-emuLator.

Excellent! The more systems it's tested on the better!!

[qxl-kumbah]

Okay, question:

How do I tell my QXL to format a 720K disk rather than a 1.44mb one?

[ I have some 720k disks, but they are MS-DOS formatted ]

- It keeps trying to format a DD floppy as a 144 mb and fails ...

If I can test both images, then you have two more tests done.

[Derek_Stewart]

Assuming that you have setup the BIOD correctly for 1.44Mb drives.

You have to explicitly tell the SMSQ system the density of the floppy disk being formatted. It can be done in the FLP_DENSITY command:

FLP_DENSITY "H"

and

FORMAT "FLP1_DISKNAME*H"

If I can remember, I used both commands before it would work.

But SMSQ, was a very buggy OS, maybe best to try SMSQ/E for the QXL which is downloadable from Wolfgang Lenerz's Web Site:

http://www.wlenerz.com/smsqe/

Where the SMSQ/E source is available the compiled binaries for all SMSQ/E machines, including the QXL.

[qxl-kumbah]

Hiya Derek,

So, would the converse be true?

If I wanted to use low density, I specify "L" (instead of "H") in the 2 commands?

I just want to be sure, although, I have the smsqe.exe (also have one that adds VGA
to the name) I want to move carefully, since I've been away for quite some time
and have to adjust to the new environment again.

Also, I have no trouble with high-density disks, I just want to use the low density
ones I have as well, and I hasn't been able to format them before - only in MS-DOS
since that's what I am accustomed to.

I'll go back and take some more notes ...

Thank you.