+D system files

[TMD2003]

Something I just thought of...

If I was to, say, repackage my Crap Games, BASIC dumps and anything else I might have written on a +D disc (or rather, as an .MGT image), is anyone who was once associated with Miles Gordon Technologies likely to care if the disc contains the system files needed to get an emulated +D working?

If I include those system files, you set your emulator to add a +D, insert the disc, type RUN and away it goes - just like a Beta Disk .TRD image will on a Pentagon or Scorpion.

If I don't, the disc image is the same size, but you type RUN and not a lot happens. So you have to get your system disc first, or you have to make one if you don't already have one from the +D software on tape... and at this point, most people unfamiliar with the +D will already have given up.

All I want to do is make it easy for the end user.

[TomD]

Was thinking exactly this when I created my new utility. In the end I just went with blank disks. I have heard that everything is in the public domain for Plus D but can't find anything official so watching this thread to see if anybody knows.

One question I did have is which version of the system file would be best to include, especially the flashing border which will be based on taste? Also would it cause issues if you selected 2 drives, 80 track, x step rate etc... in the set-up. If somebody then tried to use the image on a different set-up would it work or not?

TomD

[TMD2003]

One question I did have is which version of the system file would be best to include, especially the flashing border which will be based on taste? Also would it cause issues if you selected 2 drives, 80 track, x step rate etc... in the set-up. If somebody then tried to use the image on a different set-up would it work or not?

Hmmm. Everything I've done so far has all been with Spectaculator 8.0 - that is, find the +D tape software, run it, generate a new .MGT image, save the system files to that, keep it safe as a system disc, and use copy of it as the basis for anything else I might want to save in +D format.

I had a look on the two issues of Outlet that I found custom character sets on, and neither of them contained system files. I suppose anyone who was going to subscribe to Outlet back in the day knew what they were doing with +D discs, but I can't make the same assumptions about the general Spectrum-using public now, who'll be used to .TAP, .TZX, .DSK and .TRD images and the odd snapshot, but probably not .MGT.

RUN the system disc, and it'll load G+DOS 2a. The +D ROM v1.A is, I would assume, intrinsic to the .rom file in Spectaculator.

What I have done in my recent dealings with +D-based programs is used LOAD d* rather than LOAD d1 every time a file is called from the disc - but I can't get D2 recognised on any Spectrum model even when it's installed on Spectaculator. I just get a "Wrong DRIVE" error, which isn't in the manual (although all the other errors with one words in CAPITALS are in there).

[TomD]

I used the master tape to create two system disks. One with single drive support, the other with two drives. If I load the one drive system it says Wrong Drive when i try and use Drive 2 (guess by design). The second system disk with 2 drive support works fine with the second drive. Guess the best system file to include would be the one with 2 drive support, although interesting to know if this works ok with a single drive platform.

TomD

[TMD2003]

It would appear I created a system disc for one drive only, probably thinking "when am I going to need two?"
And the answer was, while making my first big +D project...

MORE INFO:
The two issues of Outlet I have (14 and 123) both have AUTOLOAD files but no system files. Loading a System disc, followed by typing RUN with the Outlet disc in, just returns "OK G+DOS, 0:1" on typing RUN - there's no automatic loading process, and I'll have to manually type LOAD d*"AUTOLOAD". It seems pointless to include an AUTOLOAD if there's no way to use it without the system files on the disc, and the +D manual at least implies this is what I should be doing in the first place. Did Outlet users copy all the files to a separate System disc and use it that way?