the autoswap.lst disk swapping concept not working with SD2IEC

newTIboyRob · June 27

As I am more familiar with the Sdrive I and II for the Atari and the Nanopeb for TI 99 4/A, I am trying to understand the concept of how multiple disks work with the SD2IEC and C64 combination. Perhaps you can shed some light as you walk with me through the following 2 examples?

This situation I understood:

I have a folder called C64BIZPROG, and in it is a D64 disk image of the word processor easy-script.d64 whose program I wanted to try out. So, after eventually loading the FB64 browser menu, I scrolled down and selected the C64BIZPROG directory, pressed return to get into that folder, scrolled down and selected the easy-script.d64 disk image, pressed return and it successfully loaded and ran the program file prg. But I suppose it's because that it didn't ask something like "insert data disk", that it just successfully saved a sequential data test file (that I had named "junk" while in the program) directly onto the easy-script.d64 disk image. I saw in C64 basic that the file had been saved there. (I would have rather used a separate data disk for the data file saving old school style, but since I am having trouble with the autoswap.lst procedure, for now I will just have to keep it that way.)

This situation I didn't understand:

From this same C64BIZPROG folder, I extracted what turned out to be a very nice trifecta program called 64 power pack, a d64 disk image containing powerword, powercalc and power filer (their functions obvious.) I created its own folder for the disk image naming said directory 64powerpack. I also had created an AUTOSWAP.LST file in Notepad on my PC, and put that file in the same directory with the 64 power pack disk image. That list contained:

64-powerpack-side1.d64
64-powerpack-side2.d64
datapword.d64
datapcalc.d64
datapfile.d64

the last 3 were just renamed blanks in case the program asked for separate data disks

I loaded the FB64 menu and opened the 64powerpack directory containing the disk images. Instead of selecting a disk image, I pressed Q to exit the program, pressed the "NEXT" button my SD2IEC (it has no actual DiskSwap button) to select the first disk, and I entered LOAD "*",8,1 then RUN..... but got a syntax error.

With this fail, I instead tried loading and running the FB64 and loading and running the MENU1 file which contained the power pack main menu. I was able to use the really great program Powerword only because it was on side 1. Unfortunately my data file only saved to the program disk however, and why that is happening often is a whole other post!

When I tried for 2) Powercalc from the main menu, it asked me to insert disk 2. This is where I was essentially "trapped" in the software, with no possible way back to the FB64 menu; just an instant dead end. I thus wouldn't be able to use powercalc or power filer either. I tried pressing NEXT on the SD2IEC thinking it might swap the disks for me, but no dice.

As I understand, the swapping with the autoswap.lst file only works if you haven't yet mounted the first disk. I even tried pressing and holding both swap buttons at the same time til the light on the SD2IEC flashed thinking it would create the swap list for me and mount the first file... but no bueno.

You may be thinking: another answer, a simpler way around all this is to just load and run the actual powercalc file from the side 2 disk on the FB64 menu. I did just that, and the program did load and run after about a minute. But that's not what I am after here.

Any thoughts here as to where I am going wrong with the disk swapping? I did notice 1 thing: the file names I typed in my autoswap list were full out, whereas on the FB64 when I saw the first file it substituted the PI symbol in the middle of the file name. Not sure if that comes into play here or not, but otherwise I would really like to grasp the concept of how to use mulitple disks with the SD2IEC and autoswap.lst, because many games have a side 1 and side 2 as well as many business programs such as the above, often with prg main and a data disk for the data file saving, which keeps things more separate and organized and less anxiety-prone.

Wishful thinking: the best way to test this is if someone has an SD2IEC and an actual C64 and would be willing to troubleshoot along with me on this outstanding 3 part software to try to get it to load and run from the FB64 menu. It really is a fantastic software package and I think it would be worth the trouble if we can see if we can get it to load and run from the damn FB64 menu. You may wind up using it yourself for equipment inventory!