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Old 28th Jun 2022, 8:22 pm   #1
Swallow
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Default 3" Amstrad disk conversion

Hello

I'm looking to get Locoscript files off a 3" Amstrad disk converted to Word. The man who did a conversion 3 years ago has disappeared (Malcolm at LuxSoft), and another company tells me their 3" machine has given up the ghost.

Googling the problem, I noticed Dave Moll wrote on an old thread
Assuming they are Amstrad PCW discs, I have a machine with both a 3" drive and a 3½" one. The result would still be a CP/M disc, but I have a DOS utility to then convert to PC format,
Do you still have that machine, Dave, and could you do the conversion? And is going from Locoscript to Word something you could do as well? Or at least advise which PC software would do?

Thanks
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Old 29th Jun 2022, 9:17 am   #2
Dave Moll
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Default Re: 3" Amstrad disk conversion

Yes, I still have the machine, but it is currently suffering from the usual Amstrad problem of decayed disc drive belts, so no, I'm not currently in a position to migrate your data. I think someone else on the forum (I can't remember who) performed the conversion in the end.

It is a very long time since I last migrated any data from Locoscript to anything more modern, such as Word, but I think I did that using the PC (DOS) version of Locoscript - which requires a PC running an operating system earlier than Windows XP (preferably something running native DOS, i.e. no later than Windows 3.11).

My problem is that this is an area I haven't been actively pursuing in recent years, so don't have a functional setup for the purpose at present. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.
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Old 29th Jun 2022, 11:04 am   #3
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Default Re: 3" Amstrad disk conversion

Maybe the best way would be to find someone with a greaseweasle to image the disk as a first step to preservation. That image can then be manipulated in emulators which often are much easier to deal with. Not something I currently have sorry.
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Old 29th Jun 2022, 12:36 pm   #4
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Default Re: 3" Amstrad disk conversion

Just Googled those - they look quite cheap - what needs to be on the host PC which will be reading the disc, some kind of companion software? Or does the onboard 'intelligence' make everything look like a simple USB drive to the host OS?
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Old 29th Jun 2022, 1:12 pm   #5
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Default Re: 3" Amstrad disk conversion

Answering my own query, I see there is companion command line software (with third party GUI available) for the major OSes.
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Old 29th Jun 2022, 1:28 pm   #6
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Default Re: 3" Amstrad disk conversion

Thanks for the tips. I've found someone who still offers CF2 Locoscript conversion, and I'm sending him the CF2 today. I'll let you know how it pans out.
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Old 29th Jun 2022, 2:16 pm   #7
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Default Re: 3" Amstrad disk conversion

Good news @Swallow - please do update us - you at least persuaded me to eat my own advice and get a greaseweasle as I have several hundred disks of all sizes to recover... @Sirius will recognise my usual look squirrel project development method.
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Old 29th Jun 2022, 2:32 pm   #8
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Default Re: 3" Amstrad disk conversion

At least you beat me to it so I don't have to impulse-buy one now, Tim. Strikes me as a potential subject for a Youtube video in which you explain to the rest of us why we should buy one. Hope Swallow does meet with success.
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Old 29th Jun 2022, 3:35 pm   #9
Dave Moll
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Default Re: 3" Amstrad disk conversion

I too await with interest progress with greaseweazle - including the hardware interfacing for accessing non-standard media formats. This, however, is a subject for a separate thread.
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Old 30th Jun 2022, 1:54 pm   #10
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Default Re: 3" Amstrad disk conversion

The greaseweazle is an interesting development, enabling a PC to read and even write non-MS-DOS floppy disks. The raw data can be stored on a PC and processed further with additional software, for example, files can be extracted from the disk image or it can be used in an emulator. You no longer need to have a working vintage Amstrad (or whatever) computer to read the disk.

There's one stumbling block: to read Amstrad 3" discs will require a working 3" disk drive connected to the greaseweazle. Finding a working 3" disk drive appears to be the difficult bit. It sounds like the Amstrad 3" drives were belt-driven. The original rubber belts have probably perished by now. The drive will need to be dismantled carefully and have a new belt fitted. Where to buy a replacement belt? Various sellers usually in China offer packs of rubber belts in mixed sizes, typically for cassette players. I think it's a case of ordering a pack then finding the belt that's the best fit. Hopefully Dave Moll will be able to repair his Amstrad 3" drives eventually with some new belts.

The greaseweazle does look like a good solution for the more common 3.5" disks as used on Amiga, Atari etc. which a normal PC cannot read. Working 3.5" disk drives are not too hard to find. It's worth doing now, before the original floppy disks deteriorate too much and become unreadable.
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Old 30th Jun 2022, 2:23 pm   #11
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Default Re: 3" Amstrad disk conversion

You can almost certainly drop the "probably" from the statement about perished drive belts. They are notorious for it. I think there are suppliers of replacements around if you know where to look - and if you're very lucky, you might find a rubber band that's makes a close-enough substitute. I did with my PcW10, which uses a belt-driven 3½" drive.

As I recall, the belt drive isn't the only problem with connecting an Amstrad drive to a PC. I seem to remember that the data interface is non-standard as well.

Without looking at it in detail, Greaseweazle sounds similar to something called Fluxengine that I acquired a while back to enable me to retreive data from 5¼" discs, and eventually 8" ones, though the interfacing for those is not straightforward (including their power requirements), even if I can find a working drive among the ones I have. Maybe getting an Amstrad 3" drive working and hooking it up to Fluxengine might be another way of accessing PCW data.

Anyway, enough of my rambling.
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Old 30th Jun 2022, 4:10 pm   #12
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Default Re: 3" Amstrad disk conversion

Yea you can repair the 3" drives with a new belt (but, watch out for the pin that falls out if you don't do it carefully - read some guides before) I have done so for both my +3 and my 6128 - that does mean if I want one to try on the weasle it will have to be removed from one of those. Annoyed I can't find my Oric drives as drive 2 was just a plain 3" in a posh case.

Reading around Fluxengine software mostly supports the greaseweasle as an alternate interface now which is handy. When mine arrives I will make sure to record my journey blowing up perfectly good vintage hardware while playing with a new toy
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Old 30th Jun 2022, 4:21 pm   #13
Dave Moll
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Default Re: 3" Amstrad disk conversion

My journey with Fluxengine can be seen here.
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Old 5th Jul 2022, 2:07 pm   #14
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Default Re: 3" Amstrad disk conversion

My 3" CF2 disk was converted from Locoscript to Word by Dave Barnes.
As there were a lot of Spanish words in italics, I was interested to see what happened. All the accents and special characters came through fine, although italic and bold were lost. It was done very quickly as well, by return. At Dave's price, I don't think you can go wrong, especially as another company wanted £60 for data recovery from a CF2.
http://www.rfc-rnas-raf-register.org...Conversion.htm
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Old 5th Jul 2022, 5:31 pm   #15
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Default Re: 3" Amstrad disk conversion

Thanks for letting us know, we had another forum user who could have done with knowing this a while back.
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Old 21st Aug 2022, 2:09 am   #16
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Default Re: 3" Amstrad disk conversion

Replacement belts for the 3" drives used in Amstrads / Sinclair +3's etc (and external 3" drive units) are still obtainable off the 'net quite cheap, as I know someone on here who got one not too long ago.

However their drive still didn't function, and I've a suspicion the Index position IR emitter (/ sensor?) may be out of alignment, as I discovered on one of mine that you have to remove this (inc. sealant-locked position adjustment screw), to be able to get enough slack on wires to it, for main board that covers the belt to come out.
And yes, I nearly lost the pin (again) on mine, but theirs was a slightly-different design, without the loose pin through the chassis, that's normally kept in place by a leaf-switch.

Whilst recently finally getting round to fixing a Tatung-Einstein, that I'd got free 25yrs ago and was faulty, I discovered that the Teac 3" drive in these do not have a belt - And it (+ disk that had been left inserted into it for at least 25yrs) miraculously still worked and read OK after all this time in contact with the head (doesn't seem to be any head-load solenoid on these, that some older 5.25" ones had).
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