Jarek Adamski recently announced a new version of his Spectrum emulator ZXVGS for the Sam Coupe. I tried to install the emulator, but ran into some problems with the disk format he uses (CPM 2.2 QED 820Kb format). It seems there might be some compatibility issues between the disk drives on his machine and on mine.
Jarek would like some people to try installing his emulator, to see how many people have trouble with the disk format, or whether it's just me. ;-) Installation requirements == * A PC, or other internet connected computer that can write to a 720Kb FAT (= PC type) disk. * Ability to UU decode and UNLHA (the LHA program is supplied for PC. UU encoding is a common format). * A Sam with 512Kb memory and at least one disk drive. * 2 blank double density disks. * Some spare time (15 to 30 minutes?) Installation method == 1/ Acquire CPM22QED.LHA & LHA.EXE, from http://nautilus.uwoj.krakow.pl/zxland/ 2/ Un UU encode CPM22QED.LHA (your e-mail program might do this for you) 3/ Un LHA it (resulting in the file CPM22SAM.106) 4/ Copy this file to a recently formatted 720Kb PC disk (this file _must_ be the first file on the disk) 5/ Boot your Sam Coupe from the PC disk (yes, really). If you have a Sam hard-disk, it would be best to disconnect it first. 6/ Make yourself a cup of tea. (While the disk is booting up, you should expect to see a lot of dots printed on the screen, this is caused by using a PC disk, but is not a problem. Also, the extensions on file names will appear corrupted, this is not a problem either.) 7/ Insert a new disk in Sam (or you can re-cycle the old one). 8/ Enter "QFORMAT 0:name /QED820" 9/ Once it's finished formatting, and you've returned to the command prompt, press CTRL+C 10/ Enter "DIR B:" - all going well, it should say something like "No File", otherwise there has been an error, so stop here. 11/ Enter "PPIP *.* B:" - it should finish copying files without giving an error message, otherwise stop here. 12/ Enter "CPM22SYS B:" 13/ Try to boot from the new disk. If all this works, you can run the emulator by typing "VGSSAM". (Note that if this doesn't work, you would still be able to run VGSSAM from a ProDOS disk as I am doing. Although the instructions for doing this are not included here. Also note there is technicial information available in the file "VGSguide.lha", from the same web site.) Whether or not it works, please tell us exactly how you got on. Also, we would like to know: * The amount of memory on the machine (will only work with 512Kb) * The number of disk drives * The version of the diskdrives, if you know (or if not, where they pre-installed or added-on, and when?) * The name of the manufacturor printed on the case (MGT, Sam Co., West Coast) * The name of the computer (Sam Coupe, Sam Elite) * The serial number (printed on the underneath) * What devices you had plugged in (eg. mouse, joystick, Sam bus, video through scart, etc.) * The frequency of your power supply (50Hz, 60Hz, etc.) send replys either to Jarek Adamski mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] or me mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] -- James Gasson
