• floppy image

    From philo@21:1/5 to All on Wed Jun 19 03:23:55 2024
    Now that I have all my machines up & running it's time to play.
    I was recently informed of a site where can access Xenix and I should be
    able to play a Unix...text based game. https://www.pcjs.org/software/pcx86/sys/unix/sco/xenix/086/2.1.3/


    All I have to do is put it on a floppy image.

    I can create a floppy image by using "dd" or by using Virtual Box.

    It is impossible to write to it.

    What the heck is going on? All I get is access denied.

    I Googled an saw a lot of people asking the same questions.
    Zero answers .

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  • From Grant Taylor@21:1/5 to philo on Tue Jun 18 23:00:07 2024
    On 6/18/24 22:23, philo wrote:
    What the heck is going on? All I get is access denied.

    Check the ownership and permissions of the file that is being used for
    the image.

    Make sure that it's writable by the user(s) that is (are) trying to use it.



    --
    Grant. . . .

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  • From philo@21:1/5 to Grant Taylor on Wed Jun 19 03:33:50 2024
    On 6/18/2024 11:00 PM, Grant Taylor wrote:
    On 6/18/24 22:23, philo wrote:
    What the heck is going on? All I get is access denied.

    Check the ownership and permissions of the file that is being used for
    the image.

    Make sure that it's writable by the user(s) that is (are) trying to use it.





    Cannot change permissions.

    anyway, guy I'm talking to on the Unix group sent me a floppy image with
    games on it. It's going to be interesting seeing how they work.

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  • From philo@21:1/5 to philo on Wed Jun 19 10:30:21 2024
    On 6/18/24 10:23 PM, philo wrote:
    Now that I have all my machines up & running it's time to play.
    I was recently informed of a site where can access Xenix and I should be
    able to play a Unix...text based game. https://www.pcjs.org/software/pcx86/sys/unix/sco/xenix/086/2.1.3/


    All I have to do is put it on a floppy image.

    I can create a floppy image by using "dd" or by using Virtual Box.
    It is impossible to write to it.

    What the heck is going on? All I get is access denied.

    I Googled an saw a lot of people asking the same questions. Zero answers .


    On my Linux machine an use Virtual Box to create a floppy image, I can
    mount it but it's impossible to write to it.


    If I make an image (for use on my Unix machine)


    So I made a file of zeros of the right size (360K - tar-file-size) with:
    dd if=/dev/zero of=partial.img bs=1 count=327680

    then cat aliens.tar partial.img >aliens.img





    # mkdir /usr/games # cd /usr/games # tar -xvf /dev/fd0 # chmod +x aliens
    # chown bin aliens # chgrp bin aliens # /usr/games/aliens



    $ tar -cf a.tar aliens $ dd if=/dev/zero of=partial.img bs=1
    count=327680 $ cat a.tar partial.img >SCO\ Xenix\ aliens.img $ tar -tvf
    ./SCO\ Xenix\ aliens.img


    From Linux, that .img file is NOT moutable but when I can mount it on
    the on-line Xenix emulator and extract it's contents

    I do not understand at all the two DIFFERENT .img files

    What's going on?

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  • From Marco Moock@21:1/5 to All on Thu Jun 20 07:15:42 2024
    On 19.06.2024 um 03:23 Uhr philo wrote:

    I can create a floppy image by using "dd" or by using Virtual Box.

    It is impossible to write to it.

    What the heck is going on? All I get is access denied.

    Run
    ls -la <filename>
    and post the content here.

    --
    kind regards
    Marco

    Send spam to [email protected]

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  • From philo@21:1/5 to Marco Moock on Thu Jun 20 13:58:50 2024
    On 6/20/24 12:15 AM, Marco Moock wrote:
    On 19.06.2024 um 03:23 Uhr philo wrote:

    I can create a floppy image by using "dd" or by using Virtual Box.

    It is impossible to write to it.

    What the heck is going on? All I get is access denied.

    Run
    ls -la <filename>
    and post the content here.




    Her is how I used the floppy option to transfer data to the Xenix
    on-line virtual machine for my "aliens" game


    So I made a file of zeros of the right size (360K - tar-file-size) with:
    dd if=/dev/zero of=partial.img bs=1 count=327680

    then cat aliens.tar partial.img >aliens.img





    # mkdir /usr/games # cd /usr/games # tar -xvf /dev/fd0 # chmod +x aliens
    # chown bin aliens # chgrp bin aliens # /usr/games/aliens



    $ tar -cf a.tar aliens $ dd if=/dev/zero of=partial.img bs=1
    count=327680 $ cat a.tar partial.img >SCO\ Xenix\ aliens.img $ tar -tvf
    ./SCO\ Xenix\ aliens.img


    Even though it was an img file...it was not a mountable image using Mate
    Disk Image mounter.

    That said, it worked


    OTOH if I use Virtual Box to make a floppy image, that is something I
    can mount. The problem is , it's impossible to write to

    On my Windows machine if I use Win Image to create a floppy image, I can
    write data to it or delete.

    That is why I'm puzzled

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  • From Grant Taylor@21:1/5 to philo on Thu Jun 20 14:08:51 2024
    On 6/20/24 13:58, philo wrote:
    OTOH if I use Virtual Box to make a floppy image, that is something I
    can mount. The problem is , it's impossible to write to

    It seems to me like you may have multiple things working against you.

    My experience has been that VirtualBox (along with some other
    hypervisors) want to be able to understand what's on the disk (image).
    Meaning you can't just use them as a raw storage device holding
    whatever. You need to use a file system that VirtualBox understands.

    The next issue you'll likely run into is that the software inside of the
    VM may not know how to work with that same format. -- I wouldn't bet a
    gas station cup of coffee that Xenix would understand a FAT-12 file
    system used on DOS (compatible OS) floppy disks.



    --
    Grant. . . .

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  • From philo@21:1/5 to Grant Taylor on Thu Jun 20 15:07:59 2024
    On 6/20/24 2:08 PM, Grant Taylor wrote:
    On 6/20/24 13:58, philo wrote:
    OTOH if I use Virtual Box to make a floppy image, that is something I
    can mount. The problem is , it's impossible to write to

    It seems to me like you may have multiple things working against you.

    My experience has been that VirtualBox (along with some other
    hypervisors) want to be able to understand what's on the disk (image). Meaning you can't just use them as a raw storage device holding
    whatever.  You need to use a file system that VirtualBox understands.

    The next issue you'll likely run into is that the software inside of the
    VM may not know how to work with that same format.  --  I wouldn't bet a gas station cup of coffee that Xenix would understand a FAT-12 file
    system used on DOS (compatible OS) floppy disks.




    Agreed.

    When I was working on that SCO server, I wanted to get data off it but
    there was no other OS I had that could read HTFS

    I did format a floppy on it but it could not be read from my Windows
    machine so I agree SCO probably does not know FAT-12

    There was too much data to retrieve to use floppies>

    The guy who built it (who was in another state) talked me through doing essentially a tape back up onto another partition, then restoring it to
    my Linux machine.


    Anyway, this is pretty much a moot point because using floppies is
    really nothing I'd do other that simply to experiment.


    OT but BTW, I got a good laugh today.

    I went to get a driver off the Asus site and it was a zip file.

    That's normal and no big deal even for a novice used.

    When I unzipped it, I got a good laugh...the file was a .rar

    At this point a novice user would probably not to too happy

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  • From Paul@21:1/5 to Grant Taylor on Thu Jun 20 17:36:19 2024
    On 6/20/2024 3:08 PM, Grant Taylor wrote:
    On 6/20/24 13:58, philo wrote:
    OTOH if I use Virtual Box to make a floppy image, that is something I can mount. The problem is , it's impossible to write to

    It seems to me like you may have multiple things working against you.

    My experience has been that VirtualBox (along with some other hypervisors) want to be able to understand what's on the disk (image). Meaning you can't just use them as a raw storage device holding whatever.  You need to use a file system that
    VirtualBox understands.

    The next issue you'll likely run into is that the software inside of the VM may not know how to work with that same format.  --  I wouldn't bet a gas station cup of coffee that Xenix would understand a FAT-12 file system used on DOS (compatible OS)
    floppy disks.


    VirtualBox.

    # Things that smell like floppy

    guest ------ 34-pin floppy (physical floppy, 34 pin cable)

    ------ USB packet passthru to USB Mitsui floppy 1440K

    ------ virtual floppy controller, add virtual floppy drive, taking .img file

    $ Things that smell like USB sticks

    guest ------ USB packet passthru to actual USB stick

    ------ virtual USB controller, add USB "disk", taking .vhd file (can be accepted as a "stick")

    There are things in that list that do not support boot.

    Xenix supports 720K floppy of some sort, plus there is
    a Xenix file system. The "disktype" utility reports:

    Regular file, size 720 KiB (737280 bytes)
    XENIX file system (SysV variant), little-endian, 1 KiB blocks

    When you prepare a floppy .img file and put a tarfile first,
    followed by zeros, that's an emulation of a "tape". That's
    what a tape would taste like.

    Would an OS be crazy enough to probe every storage bus for
    "tape behavior" ???

    Back in the day, on SCSI bus, if you stuck something at
    address "6" on a certain OS, it would get probed for tape behavior.
    Do a rewind. Check the mode sense. That sort of thing.

    For an OS to be probing a floppy that way, that's pretty weird.

    It's unlikely that Xenix would know what FAT12 is. but
    you never know.

    Paul

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  • From philo@21:1/5 to Paul on Sat Jun 22 19:59:05 2024
    "Paul" <[email protected]d> wrote in message news:v527ck$2ooer$[email protected]...
    On 6/20/2024 3:08 PM, Grant Taylor wrote:
    On 6/20/24 13:58, philo wrote:
    OTOH if I use Virtual Box to make a floppy image, that is something I
    can mount. The problem is , it's impossible to write to

    It seems to me like you may have multiple things working against you.

    My experience has been that VirtualBox (along with some other
    hypervisors) want to be able to understand what's on the disk (image).
    Meaning you can't just use them as a raw storage device holding whatever.
    You need to use a file system that VirtualBox understands.

    The next issue you'll likely run into is that the software inside of the
    VM may not know how to work with that same format. -- I wouldn't bet a gas station cup of coffee that Xenix would understand a FAT-12 file system used
    on DOS (compatible OS) floppy disks.


    VirtualBox.

    # Things that smell like floppy

    guest ------ 34-pin floppy (physical floppy, 34 pin cable)

    ------ USB packet passthru to USB Mitsui floppy 1440K

    ------ virtual floppy controller, add virtual floppy drive,
    taking .img file

    $ Things that smell like USB sticks

    guest ------ USB packet passthru to actual USB stick

    ------ virtual USB controller, add USB "disk", taking .vhd file
    (can be accepted as a "stick")

    There are things in that list that do not support boot.

    Xenix supports 720K floppy of some sort, plus there is
    a Xenix file system. The "disktype" utility reports:

    Regular file, size 720 KiB (737280 bytes)
    XENIX file system (SysV variant), little-endian, 1 KiB blocks

    When you prepare a floppy .img file and put a tarfile first,
    followed by zeros, that's an emulation of a "tape". That's
    what a tape would taste like.

    Would an OS be crazy enough to probe every storage bus for
    "tape behavior" ???

    Back in the day, on SCSI bus, if you stuck something at
    address "6" on a certain OS, it would get probed for tape behavior.
    Do a rewind. Check the mode sense. That sort of thing.

    For an OS to be probing a floppy that way, that's pretty weird.

    It's unlikely that Xenix would know what FAT12 is. but
    you never know.

    Paul

    Done setting up all my Linux machines.

    Now testing out a Win98 P-1

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  • From Philo@21:1/5 to philo on Sun Jun 23 08:06:19 2024
    Now posting from my NT 3.51 machine

    philo wrote:

    "Paul" <[email protected]d> wrote in message news:v527ck$2ooer$[email protected]...
    On 6/20/2024 3:08 PM, Grant Taylor wrote:
    On 6/20/24 13:58, philo wrote:
    OTOH if I use Virtual Box to make a floppy image, that is something I
    can mount. The problem is , it's impossible to write to

    It seems to me like you may have multiple things working against you.

    My experience has been that VirtualBox (along with some other
    hypervisors) want to be able to understand what's on the disk (image). Meaning you can't just use them as a raw storage device holding whatever.
    You need to use a file system that VirtualBox understands.

    The next issue you'll likely run into is that the software inside of the
    VM may not know how to work with that same format. -- I wouldn't bet a gas station cup of coffee that Xenix would understand a FAT-12 file system used on DOS (compatible OS) floppy disks.


    VirtualBox.

    # Things that smell like floppy

    guest ------ 34-pin floppy (physical floppy, 34 pin cable)

    ------ USB packet passthru to USB Mitsui floppy 1440K

    ------ virtual floppy controller, add virtual floppy drive,
    taking .img file

    $ Things that smell like USB sticks

    guest ------ USB packet passthru to actual USB stick

    ------ virtual USB controller, add USB "disk", taking .vhd file
    (can be accepted as a "stick")

    There are things in that list that do not support boot.

    Xenix supports 720K floppy of some sort, plus there is
    a Xenix file system. The "disktype" utility reports:

    Regular file, size 720 KiB (737280 bytes)
    XENIX file system (SysV variant), little-endian, 1 KiB blocks

    When you prepare a floppy .img file and put a tarfile first,
    followed by zeros, that's an emulation of a "tape". That's
    what a tape would taste like.

    Would an OS be crazy enough to probe every storage bus for
    "tape behavior" ???

    Back in the day, on SCSI bus, if you stuck something at
    address "6" on a certain OS, it would get probed for tape behavior.
    Do a rewind. Check the mode sense. That sort of thing.

    For an OS to be probing a floppy that way, that's pretty weird.

    It's unlikely that Xenix would know what FAT12 is. but
    you never know.

    Paul

    Done setting up all my Linux machines.

    Now testing out a Win98 P-1

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From Philo@21:1/5 to Paul on Sun Jun 23 08:26:22 2024
    and now posting from my ECS machine

    Paul wrote:

    On 6/20/2024 3:08 PM, Grant Taylor wrote:
    On 6/20/24 13:58, philo wrote:
    OTOH if I use Virtual Box to make a floppy image, that is something I can mount. The problem is , it's impossible to write to

    It seems to me like you may have multiple things working against you.

    My experience has been that VirtualBox (along with some other hypervisors) want to be able to understand what's on the disk (image). Meaning you can't just use them as a raw storage device holding whatever.� You need to use a file system that
    VirtualBox understands.

    The next issue you'll likely run into is that the software inside of the VM may not know how to work with that same format.� --� I wouldn't bet a gas station cup of coffee that Xenix would understand a FAT-12 file system used on DOS (compatible OS)
    floppy disks.


    VirtualBox.

    # Things that smell like floppy

    guest ------ 34-pin floppy (physical floppy, 34 pin cable)

    ------ USB packet passthru to USB Mitsui floppy 1440K

    ------ virtual floppy controller, add virtual floppy drive, taking .img file

    $ Things that smell like USB sticks

    guest ------ USB packet passthru to actual USB stick

    ------ virtual USB controller, add USB "disk", taking .vhd file (can be accepted as a "stick")

    There are things in that list that do not support boot.

    Xenix supports 720K floppy of some sort, plus there is
    a Xenix file system. The "disktype" utility reports:

    Regular file, size 720 KiB (737280 bytes)
    XENIX file system (SysV variant), little-endian, 1 KiB blocks

    When you prepare a floppy .img file and put a tarfile first,
    followed by zeros, that's an emulation of a "tape". That's
    what a tape would taste like.

    Would an OS be crazy enough to probe every storage bus for
    "tape behavior" ???

    Back in the day, on SCSI bus, if you stuck something at
    address "6" on a certain OS, it would get probed for tape behavior.
    Do a rewind. Check the mode sense. That sort of thing.

    For an OS to be probing a floppy that way, that's pretty weird.

    It's unlikely that Xenix would know what FAT12 is. but
    you never know.

    Paul

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From philo565@21:1/5 to All on Sun Jun 23 09:42:34 2024
    On 6/20/2024 3:08 PM, Grant Taylor wrote:
    On 6/20/24 13:58, philo wrote:
    OTOH if I use Virtual Box to make a floppy image, that is something I can mount. The problem is , it's impossible to write t
    There are things in that list that do not support boot.

    Back in the day, on SCSI bus, if you stuck something at
    address "6" on a certain OS, it would get probed for tape behavior.
    Do a rewind. Check the mode sense. That sort of thing.

    For an OS to be probing a floppy that way, that's pretty weird.

    It's unlikely that Xenix would know what FAT12 is. but
    you never know.

    Paul

    And now, my crowning achievement,
    Posting from SCO _UNIX

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