The Rwin disk controller can automatically set the appropriate sectors per track for any Floppy disk (IMD) inserted. 

The emulator allows any format of IMD to be inserted and used, however, the emulator only supports certain hard disk formats (RAW) that are normal for the VME10 or the emulator's special disk controllers (not the RWIN). Also added all formats described in the IOS manual. 

For the RWIN, the hard disks supported are always RAW images and the FLOPPY disks must be IMD files or RAW files. It is now (1.0.15) possible to put unknown RAW disks in the Drives. The specs will be determined by the CNFG area on the omage in the VOLID. if no config then specs are set for a disk. the Software must know how to use it..  

Starting with 1.0.15, when inserting CPM disks (actually any RAW disk) since, for HDs  CPM does not put correct info in the Config area, and the info in the confg does not match pre-defined defaults, the emualtor will ask if you want to use the info in the disks config area. The info in the CNFG area is probably WRONG and should not be used to configure the disk parameters...most CPM HD's CNFG specifies that it is a FLOPPY.. WRONG!!!! You should put Floppies in FDs and Hard disks in the HDs .. The RWIN can access some RAW flopies, but only if the CNFG area is correct

The BIOS for CPM 1.2 is the standard VME10 BIOS and uses the RWIN disk controller.

There are a few RAW images specifically for the emulator-only disk controller(not RWIN). these can be used by the special emulator BIOS for CPM 1.3. This BIOS will treat all disk drives the same, and can use RAW or IMD in any drive. The RWIN must have RAW images used as HDs; and only IMD images for floppies.  The special emulator only disk controllers can access the emulator's pre-defined raw images and any IMD disk format.  The BIOS MUST know how to access.. no magical intervention...

many RAW images are predefined to the emulator. The emulator can figure out IMD images. Disks with the motorola magic can be auto detected and the emulator will set the specs. While disk images without magic can be used, it is very dangerous and discouraged. but Still the software MUST know how to use..

The special disk formats and the emulator-only disk controller exist to facilitate transfering files from various other format disks that were not for use on the VME10. For instance you can access 8 inch ExorMACs disks (CPM 1.3 was on 8 inchers) and PC 1440 format disks.  

If you need to transfer CPM files from other formats, not supported on the VME10 emulator, you can either use 22 disk, CPMtools or the Z80 emulator for windows. The Z80 emulator for windows can tranfer files between just about any two formats.  It does this by using a CPM program (Disk Configure - DC) to redefine the DPB and reprogram the emulator's disk controller for each of the 16 drives. A program simular to this could be written for the VME10 emulator to redefine the DPBs. but no need to reprogram the disk controller as the disk controllers will allow any format of IMD files to be used; and program the controller to properly access pre-defined RAW images. The emulator FORCES you to only use pre-defined RAW images.

WARNING - most of the emulator's menu operations on disks, assume a versados 256 SPT and can NOT access any other. However, it is possible to put disks with other sector sizes, but only if the disk's config areea properly specifies the size. the RWIN is modified to access all standard sector sizes 128, 256, 512 and 1024 on HDs, but the RWIN 's drivers do not understand. Only different size sectors are supported by the FD's. if a disk with NOT 256 byte sector size is inserted the RWIN will treat the sector as the new size. Hopefully the Driver will reconize the error and complain. 

In CPM, the RWIN always reads tracks(actually usually half tracks).. In Versados and UNIX, the RWIN reads variable number of blocks of 256 bytes(or blocks or 128 bytes on track 0, for floppies)

This is due to the way the RWIN device drivers are written. It expects that the track 0, on a floppy, is FM and all others are MFM. The "real" RWIN only knows the SPTs for 8 inch disks and 5 inch DD, 48 and 96 TPI. The emulator's RWIN will scan the disk and set the SPT spec to whatever it finds (AUTO selected) 

This would allow for a NEW RWIN device driver to be written that is capable of accessing any type of floppy disk, but the existing device driver only knows 8 inch and 5 inch DD. Based on data in the versados 4.61 manuals, it looks like 5 inch HD is formated as 8 inchers(but with 80 instead of 77 tracks) and can be accessed as though they are 8 inch disks. Their attributes bit for disk size is set to 8, not 5. And a real RWIN would need to use a clock of 500, same as 8 inchers.

To access other formats in Versados, you must modify the versados device driver for the RWIN disk controller. This is not intuitively obvious and not easy. 

Another way to access the filesystem on a non-supported disk is to tranfer the filesystem to a supported disk type. Let's assume that you have a 1.44 MB 3 inch disk with more than 26 SPT. (don't actually know what a 3 inch disk looks like for versaods 4.61...don't have any samples and the only people i know with them won't share) (i need the 5 inch 4.6 and the 3 inch 4.61 versados disk sets ... only by snail-mail )

Versdos does not use different file structures for different types of disks. All pointers are 32 bits, even if on a small floppy. So, you could format a 5mb hard disk. The 5 mb is supported by the versados hard disk driver. a freshly initialized 5 MB drive contains a Configuration area that properly descibes how the device drive should access it. A 5Mb raw image will be recognized by the emulator as a supported disk type. You could simply copy all the 256 byte LSNs (except the configuration area) from the unsupported disk to the 5 MB image, making sure NOT to overwrite the congiguration area on the 5MB image (usually LSN 1.. the second 256 bytes on the disk image.) You can copy the 256-byte LSN 0 (the VID) and copy all the 256-byte LSNs 2 through "end of disk" from the unsupported 1440 mb image to the 5 MB image (use DD after converting the 1440 IMD file to a RAW image with IMDU). Now you have a 5MB RAW image that contains the filesystem from the 1440 image. Versados treats all disk drives as removable, even the fixed non-cartidge HDs. If you can take a HD off line, you can Dismount. If it is on-line, you can Mount it. In the emulator, opening a disk image file puts it on-line and closing it takes it off-line. Simply sysgen a versados with two HDs and use the HD01 to access the 5mb IMAGES as you would use a floppy.

You could even tranfer a mag tape image to a HD in this manner; and it will work. Mag tapes have the same filesystem as is on disks.

NOTICE- the above is probably not needed anymore.. the RWIN and the RWIN driver seems to be able to correctly re-program itself to access any HARD disk with the correct MAGIC. Also any RAW floppy. IMDs require more than just what the OS does.. WARNING - might not work with all floppy configurations.

Don't know how to do this in unix. But looks like Unix might already allow other unix formats.