Hi All!
I posted a while ago about making Apple IIGS disks in general and have basically solved that problem with what I have. I have an unusual setup in that I don't have a Floppy Emu, I have a prototype smartport device that is capable of 4X32mb HD images and that's about it. So, to make 3.5 disks I merely converted the images to .po and then copied in GS/OS. Worked like a charm especially for games that need to run from startup or don't work from HD image/aren't present on HD images for some reason. So, great--that worked.
Then I tried to make 5.25 disks. This has a very different result.
If I convert any sort of .do or .dsk image to .po in ciderpress, that goes fine--but when I fire up GS/OS I get an error that the system doesn't understand the file structure. My device can't daisy chain anything after it, so I was planning to copy to 3.5 then to 5.25. However, I'm kind of at a halt now. Does anyone know anything I can do to get GS/OS to read these images? I'm also an extreme newby to this and don't know if these images contain prodos or what, as I've been more of a Commodore guy up to this point...this is much more complicated (but I like that in some perverse way, so I probably am in the right hobby).
My follow-up to this is regarding ADTpro. I don't know anything about this. Can I make disks merely from having the right cables? Is there anything else I'd need to do? Not even sure if I'd have to buy a disk as I can make 3.5 but not 5.25. I'd be willing to do things this way but I'd need the USB convertor cable for sure. I'm a big RPG fan and those games are not featured on any of the 32mb images I see floating around. I don't know how to make these myself, as that would be a good solution too except that many of those use so many disks. If anyone knows if there are images around with games like Magic Candle and the Wizardry series on them that would be helpful as well!
Thanks all!
When you are getting [back] to running 8 bit software on an IIgs, unfortunately, you will run into some headaches without a floppyEMU. Put very briefly, a LOT of early Apple II software depends on the 5.25 Disk controller and format for $reasons including copy protection.
If you have a working drive and disk, and usb / null modem cables, then you should be able to image disks with ADTPro, but if you're more interested in spending time playing the games, just get a floppyEMU. Toss a massive library of disk images on there and call it a day. The new RevC can do dual 5.25 mode which is very convenient for games like the Ultima series.
In Ciderpress you need to first create a ProDOS disk image of the correct size. In this case a 140K 5.25" floppy.
Then copy the needed files (including PRODOS.SYS) from whatever disk image you're starting from.
Why are you changing the .do and .dsk images into .po images? .po is Prodos order disk images and both .do and .dsk are DOS 3.3. DOS 3.3 programs can't run under Prodos without some changes. There is a folder on the Asimov Archive that contains lots of DOS 3.3 programs, mainly games, that have been revised to run under Prodos. Here's the link to that:
https://www.apple.asimov.net/images/games/collections/san_inc_prodos/
If your proto type board will only load 32mb images I'd suggest you go here:
https://archive.org/details/TotalReplay
and download the Total Replay 32mb hard drive image. This is the latest version of this disk image and it comes with 431 Apple II games on it. There are several other places online where you can download 32mb disk images of Apple II games, utilities and applications.