Learn how to use Disk Jockey disk picture creator and analyser for macOS – Uplaza

Retro computing is standard nowadays, and one facet of classic computing is managing the varied disk and file codecs one has to cope with when utilizing these machines.

Utilizing Disk Jockey, you’ll be able to create disk photos for quite a lot of retro computer systems. You may also examine the contents of current disk picture recordsdata for international file methods in your Mac or Home windows pc.

Utilizing Disk Jockey, you may as well create picture recordsdata for a lot of of right this moment’s fashionable emulators corresponding to Basilisk II, Mini vMac, the SP2SD machine for Apple II, and the WinUAE Amiga emulator.

Disk Jockey additionally has help for the BlueSCSI and PiSCSI SCSI drive alternative units, and the Floppy Emu machine from Huge Mess ‘o Wires.

Disk Jockey permits you to create disk picture recordsdata for the next computer systems and codecs:

1. Macintosh HFS, HFS+, MFS, Disk Copy 4.2, .iso, and Toast photos
2. BlueSCSI, PiSCSI, RaSCSI
3. Basilisk and Mini vMac
4. Apple II DOS 3.3 and ProDOS photos
5. Apple II SP2SD SD card reader units
6. Atari ST TOS .ST and .MAS codecs and ST Pi emulators
7. Commodore Amiga ADF floppy and HDF WinUAE photos
8. Commodore Amiga partitions utilizing HDInstTools and Workbench
9. AKAI Pattern disk photos

Earlier than the Mac appeared in 1984, two different main firms competed within the 1980’s pc area: Atari and Commodore. Apple bought a pc referred to as the Apple II within the early 1980’s.

The Apple II was designed extra for enterprise customers, and is taken into account the machine that began the private pc revolution. However gaming on the Apple II shortly caught on and have become an enormous market.

Apple II used two disk picture codecs for five.25-inch floppy disks: DOS 3.3 and ProDOS.

Atari had a sequence of non-public residence computer systems beginning with the Atari 400 and 800, the XL line, and the Atari ST, which was the primary Atari residence pc that includes a graphical consumer interface.

Commodore was a Canadian firm that started as a calculator firm. It additionally bought into the private pc area with the VIC-20, Commodore 64, and the Amiga.

The Amiga was thought of the most effective computer systems of the period because of its specs, however it was quickly eclipsed by the Macintosh. Commodore ceased Amiga manufacturing in 1992 – a full eight years after the primary Mac was launched in Jan. 1984.

Earlier than the Mac, Apple launched the Apple III, which was thought of a industrial failure:

Apple III

Just like the early Macs, the Amiga was additionally primarily based on the Motorola 68000 household of CPUs. Every of those machines used its personal disk and file codecs, and so they had been largely incompatible with one another.

As we speak, there are lots of methods you’ll be able to learn and write these disk codecs on fashionable computer systems – after which reuse the pictures on older machines, or on fashionable emulators which mimic the unique {hardware}.

The unique Mac used a file system referred to as Macintosh File System (MFS) which was a bit like present Mac file methods, besides that it did not help folders. All the things was saved at one stage within the filesystem.

MFS was itself derived from the OS used on the Mac’s predecessor, the Apple Lisa.

When the Mac Plus was launched in 1986, Apple additionally launched the Hierarchical Filesystem or HFS. Later within the Nineteen Nineties, an prolonged model of HFS was launched referred to as HFS+ (Mac OS Prolonged) which allowed for bigger quantity sizes and extra recordsdata.

Most older Macs from pre-2000 use HFS+ – and you’ll nonetheless format disks as HFS+ in macOS’s Disk Utility app right this moment.

Lots of right this moment’s Mac emulators corresponding to Basilisk II, Sheepshaver, and Mini vMac use a number of of those codecs. Mini vMac is an emulator which mimics the unique model of the Mac OS which shipped with the Mac Plus (referred to as System 6.0.8):

Mac Plus

Authentic Macs and a few late Apple IIGS computer systems used a disk bus customary referred to as SCSI (Small Laptop System Interface). As we speak, units corresponding to BlueSCSI, PiSCSI, and RaSCSI can help you change your authentic Mac’s SCSI disk with a contemporary SD card-based resolution which is smaller and quicker.

The unique Mac OS had a element within the working system referred to as SCSI Supervisor 4.3 which applied a lot of the SCSI machine command software program in Mac OS 8.5 by way of 9.x.

You should purchase among the SCSI alternative units on Durand’s on-line internet store at onegeekarmy.eu

Disk Jockey can even carry out a bunch of different drive alternative/conversion operations corresponding to:

1. Convert Basilisk II iimages to BlueSCSI, PiSCSI, or RaSCSI
2. Substitute classic Mac OS LIDO SCSI drivers with a basic driver for higher efficiency
3. Copy or extract drive partitions between units
4. Extract recordsdata and folders from disk photos to your Mac
5. Create JSON descriptions of your disk photos

Lido 7.x was a tough disk formatter app for Mac OS 9 again within the day from Surf Metropolis Software program which was much like different disk formatters corresponding to FWB’s Laborious Disk ToolKit, Anubis, Disk Instruments, and others. Utilizing Lido or different disk formatters, you could possibly format arduous drives, floppy disks, and detachable media in the identical manner you employ Apple’s Disk Utility right this moment.

Durand understands easy design and Disk Jockey includes a single utility window for disk operations. To put in Disk Jockey in your Mac, obtain it from diskjockey.onegeekarmy.eu

Should you’re working an older model of MacOS X or macOS from Tiger 10.4 by way of 10.12 Sierra, and solely need to create photos for Basilisk II, Sheepshaver, FloppyEmu, or BlueSCSI use the Disk Jockey 1999 model of the app. Disk Jockey 1999 even helps older PowerPC Macs working 10.4 Tiger constructed for PowerPC processors.

Disk Jockey 1999 for early Mac OS X.

Motorola PowerPC was the unique CPU structure used on mid-to-late 1990’s Macs earlier than Apple made the change to Intel x86 CPUs.

As soon as you’ve got downloaded Disk Jockey, simply double-click it within the Finder to launch it. You will see the principle window seem:

Disk Jockey’s principal window.

To create a disk picture, first click on the pc kind within the tab bar on the high. Whenever you do the UI adjustments for that machine kind.

For all supported pc varieties the UI offers settings for disk title, capability, and file system kind.

Underneath the Macintosh tab there are extra choices for preconfigured disks for a number of basic 1980’s and early 90s Macs which you’ll choose from a popup menu.

Older detachable media can be supported such because the iOmega Zip 100 and Imation SuperDisk drives, though most of those used customary HFS+ partitions of their day.

Within the second pane below the Macintosh tab in Disk Jockey, you’ll be able to set which alternative drive machine you need to use the disk picture for, or which emulator you’ll be utilizing it with. You’ll be able to even set its SCSI machine ID quantity.

Every machine on a SCSI bus has a quantity starting from 0-7.

There’s additionally an Superior Choices tab the place you’ll be able to select which disk driver to make use of. On some older SCSI units, the Mac OS disk driver was saved on the machine itself, not within the working system.

This allowed machine drivers to get replaced and saved with the machine because it was moved between computer systems.

Upon getting all of the settings the best way you need them, click on the Create the Picture button. A regular Mac save sheet will seem the place you’ll be able to choose a reputation and site to avoid wasting the brand new disk picture file to.

On the far proper aspect of the Disk Jockey toolbar is a button named Disk-O-Matic. Clicking this button opens a disk picture analyzer window.

Should you drop a disk picture into the window or open one utilizing the Open button, Disk-O-Matic will present you the contents of the picture. This can be a fast and funky option to see disk picture codecs in your Mac with out having to make use of them on precise {hardware} or in an emulator.

Disk-O-Matic shows Partition Map kind, information on the put in SCSI driver for the disk, and quantity codecs.

The Disk-O-Matic window in Disk Jockey.

If the machine additionally incorporates an ATAPI driver, its particulars are proven as nicely. ATAPI is a packetized model of ATA that’s principally used for optical drives corresponding to CD//DVD-ROM and Blu-Ray.

In some circumstances, a particular auxiliary Apple “patch” driver could also be put in on a disk. It is because Apple’s authentic disk drivers included some options that had been proprietary, which third-party drivers could not replicate.

Durand has executed an excellent job with Disk Jockey and it is easy and straightforward to make use of. On this day of bloated software program and have creep, it is a welcome throwback to the early days of Mac software program – however for contemporary Macs.

Should you’re into retro computing, Disk Jockey is nice. There’s additionally a really concise and easy-to-read assist doc on the Disk Jockey web site.