Sinclair ZX80 / ZX81 / Z88 Forums

Here in the states we never got the speccy, but always wanted one. Microdrives were especially magical to me back then which also never came here. Fast forward, and I have both a nice (mint) 48k speccy with new membrane and composite mod, and interface one, and a vdrive in a 3d printed case (and a couple real microdrives with refelted carts too). I popped in a 4gig SD, and formatted without issue. Now for the dumb questions:

1. Do I have to enable the toolkit every time I power it up? (type run at boot) or is that a one time thing?
2. I got a .MDR of a random game to try out. I dropped it on the root of the SD card and that didn't work. If I look for all files, it shows, but doesn't recognize it if I try to load it. I thought maybe I had to have a directory, so I made a directory (GAMES) and dropped it in there, but still same result.

How do I actually load the . mdr file? I thought it was .ld"gamename" or .ld"gamename.mdr" but neither works. what's the secret sauce? I realize its simple, but not if you've never used this stuff!

I'll be quite chuffed to finally load off the vdrive onto a real speccy (instead of an emulator). Once I can do that, I'm on to writing some games in .asm (moving up from doing the same on the zx81)

Thanks!

You should consult the vDrive ZX manual for that. You do have to install the toolkit first (and always, at least if you want to change what images are assigned to the virtual drives - but once you have all 8 setup with different images then you can load them without the loading the tk).

You have to also make sure you are in the directory that the .mdv file is contained within, with the .cd command.

And you have to specify the virtual drive number, so .ld 1 "name"

Manual is here, is does take a bit of getting used to:

https://vdrivezx.files.wordpress.com/20 ... -v1-16.pdf

Thanks. I have the manual, I guess I just don't understand it. I installed the toolkit, formatted the card, created a directory, put a MDR in it, changed to the right directory and listing the files shows my file there, but .ld 1 "filename" just gave me a flashing question mark like it wasn't parsing the command. Hmm. more faffing about I guess.

If it doesn't accept .ld 1 "filename" then that could indicate that the toolkit is not loaded.

With no SD card in the vdrive, reboot the Spectrum and enter RUN (the keyword).

Or, is there perhaps an image already assigned to vdrive 1?

Toolkit says its installed. Do I have to assign my file to vdrive one? I can't just drop it in there?

Spinnetti wrote: ↑Sat Apr 03, 2021 11:50 pm Toolkit says its installed. Do I have to assign my file to vdrive one? I can't just drop it in there?

The .ld 1 "filename" is what should assign the image to vdrive 1. Assming the file is on the root of the SD card and you haven't changed directories. Have you initialised the SD card? That will format it and setup the config file.... only then can can put the .mdr files onto it.

Thanks. Hmm.. Will try a different file.

SD card initialized fine. and I can create and switch to directories - maybe just a bum file.