BlueSCSI Toolbox

[eric]

Now that we're coming out of beta I wanted to have a dedicated thread for BlueSCSI toolbox!

GitHub - erichelgeson/BlueSCSI-Toolbox: A collection of retro apps to use with your BlueSCSI

A collection of retro apps to use with your BlueSCSI - erichelgeson/BlueSCSI-Toolbox

github.com

BlueSCSI Toolbox is a set of 68k apps for Macintosh to help you get the most out of your BlueSCSI (V1 or V2!)

BlueSCSI Transfer Utility

It's solving an all too common problem - how do you get files from the Macintosh Garden or anywhere to your vintage mac. Not everyone has a bridge machine, a network card, the ability to write disks, or the know how to get an emulator setup - they just want their mac to work! We want to make the process of getting Oregon Trail onto your Mac Plus, or Open Transport to your Quadra as easy as drag and drop.

As the name suggests the BlueSCSI SD Transfer Utility allows you to place those files you download on your modern computer directly on the SD card in a shared directory. Once you boot up the vintage computer you can then Download files from the SD card to your Mac. We'll even try to fix the file type and creator for you.

You can also upload files from your vintage mac to your SD card to backup those Claris documents or Quicktake images from the 90's.

BlueSCSI CD Changer

Put up to 100 ISO/Toast/etc images in a folder and be able to switch the next one to be mounted! Make use of that 1TB SD card you have

To actually make the switch just eject the current CD and the next CD will be inserted.

Note this will be in BlueSCSI v2 first, but be ported back to v1.

Planned Utilities
BlueSCSI Configurator - allow you to set some configuration so you don't need to pull out the SD Card to update a config file.
BlueSCSI Mounter - Allow you to scan and mount drives, as well as add drives to the bus at runtime.

Considering
DD type disk image to hda file.

What other utilities would you like to see?

Releases:
Beta 1 - For BlueSCSI v1 - out now
Beta 2 - For BlueSCSI v2
1.0.0 - 2023-10-12 - First prod release.
1.0.1 - 2023-11-12 - Fixed an issue with listing files.

 

[JDW]

@eric

It all sounds quite spectacular.

Two questions:

1. I am familiar with config files on my MacSD units, but when I use v1 BlueSCSI hardware, the only files are my drive images and the auto-generated log file. As such, is the "config file" mentioned in your opening post something unique to v2 hardware?

2. BlueSCSI Mounter. Will that be used in a case where you have multiple BlueSCSIs attached to the same Mac but have their SD cards ejected, then you boot the vintage Mac, and after that you insert the SD card, but because it won't mount automatically in that case, you would need the BlueSCSI Mounter? Such a feature is important to me because I often have situations where I boot a vintage Mac off a spinner drive or MacSD, but I also have a BlueSCSI attached with the SD card ejected, and I've always thought it would be great if I could put the SD card back into BlueSCSI and then have it mount while the vintage Mac is still booted (no restart required). Or does mounting happen automatically on V2 hardware now that you have the SD Card Hot-Swap feature? (I'm trying to harmonize the usefulness of BlueSCSI Mounter in contrast to the new Hot-Swap feature.)

Thanks.

 

[ZeFrenchToon]

What other utilities would you like to see?

Hi Eric !

I was thinking about a tool to dump a spinner disk connected on the bus where the BlueSCSI is.
A sort of "dd" to backup a (dying ?) HDD onto our SD card.

Thanks for all your work guys !

 

[eric]

1. I am familiar with config files on my MacSD units, but when I use v1 BlueSCSI hardware, the only files are my drive images and the auto-generated log file. As such, is the "config file" mentioned in your opening post something unique to v2 hardware?

Ini config files are used in v2 and asking a user to create an ini file is terrible so we created https://ini.bluescsi.com to help with that a bit, some pre-sets and some definitions (more coming). (for 99% of "happy path" you dont need to worry)

V1 has some advanced config values that you would never normally need too. See - https://github.com/erichelgeson/BlueSCSI/wiki/Advanced-Settings - note @jokker is looking at unifiying this under one ini system.

Or does mounting happen automatically on V2 hardware now that you have the SD Card Hot-Swap feature? (I'm trying to harmonize the usefulness of BlueSCSI Mounter in contrast to the new Hot-Swap feature.)

Mounting a drive is something the operating system has to do - has nothing to do with bluescsi - hence why I'm looking at building this utility to re-scan the bus and mount new drives. There actually may be an existing utility that does this, and if there is and it runs on most classic OS's I'll just refer people to that. These are just ideas I'm thinking about.

A sort of "dd" to backup a (dying ?) HDD onto our SD card.

I've thought about this too, read a sector from a drive, write it to a new image file on the SD. I'll add it to the list as a "thinking about" because on a mac atleast just select all - copy works just as well, so the usefulness is a bit less.

 

[ZeFrenchToon]

I've thought about this too, read a sector from a drive, write it to a new image file on the SD. I'll add it to the list as a "thinking about" because on a mac atleast just select all - copy works just as well, so the usefulness is a bit less.

Thanks for your quick answer.
I was thinking this functionnality more in a forensic way so "select all copy" does not allow that.

 

[JDW]

Mounting a drive is something the operating system has to do - has nothing to do with bluescsi - hence why I'm looking at building this utility to re-scan the bus and mount new drives. There actually may be an existing utility that does this, and if there is and it runs on most classic OS's I'll just refer people to that.

SCSI Probe

 

[Fizzbinn]

To actually make the switch just eject the current CD and the next CD will be inserted.

I'm likely missing something obvious but how do you control which CD image is "next"? Is it highlighting one of the images in the CD Changer app interface list? Reordering it?

 

[eric]

You select the item you wish to be next and click "Next". A dialog pops up and says "Myst.iso will be used next"

I re-used the UI from the transfer app, but yes this could be expanded to indicate in the UI. Though I feel you'd open the UI, select the next one then close it - not something your continually managing.

 

[Fizzbinn]

You select the item you wish to be next and click "Next". A dialog pops up and says "Myst.iso will be used next"

I re-used the UI from the transfer app, but yes this could be expanded to indicate in the UI. Though I feel you'd open the UI, select the next one then close it - not something your continually managing.

Got it and I'm sure folks figure it out just fine once in there. Not an interface expert by any means but maybe labeling the button as "Set as Next CD" would add context? I guess that's kinda wordy for a button though. I can't wait to find time to play with all these wonderful new features that have come out lately.

I continue to be beyond impressed with everything you and the BlueSCSI contributors are doing! So amazing!

 

[luminescentsimian]

I've thought about this too, read a sector from a drive, write it to a new image file on the SD. I'll add it to the list as a "thinking about" because on a mac atleast just select all - copy works just as well, so the usefulness is a bit less.

I thought I saw that in git already. It probably doesn't work but it looks like somebody started down that path

 

[eric]

I have beta 3 ready to go - this is likely what 1.0 will be. I'd like 2-3 people to give it a test before I unleash it on the world.

Please DM me if you have time to test and can provide feedback.

Also all the code has been published on the BlueSCSI firmware side so other platforms can start building clients (though if you're reading this and considering building a client please contact me as the API will be changing after 1.0).

Sorry this all has taken so long, many competing priorities. Thanks to everyone who's tested so far!

 

[eric]

This is merged and in the latest release, go play!

 

[CubeTheory]

Hi. I have embraced BlueSCSI and think it's amazing, Thanks for your hard work on this! I have a question about the toolbox. I have an SE/30 and a Classic both with internal V2 desktop versions, and a PowerBook 170 with an internal V2 also. I also have a DB25 external V2.

My idea was to create a shared folder on the SD card of the external and then use the toolbox to transfer files from that to the internal blue scsi, however when i run it, it only detects the internal and complains that there is no shared files on it.

I've tried the "Next Device" option in the menu, but it doesnt find the external. This is working fine as the images on it are mounted.

Is it possible to do what im trying to do? I must add, i've only tried this on the SE/30 so far, running 7.5.5

Thanks

 

[eric]

I've tried the "Next Device" option in the menu, but it doesnt find the external. This is working fine as the images on it are mounted.

Does your external BlueSCSI have any drive images on it? At least one image is needed so there's a SCSI ID on the bus to talk to. If that doesn't work please enable debug logging (with the toolbox debug app) then try again, then send me the log from both the external bluescsi and the debug.txt from toolbox.

 

[CubeTheory]

Does your external BlueSCSI have any drive images on it? At least one image is needed so there's a SCSI ID on the bus to talk to. If that doesn't work please enable debug logging (with the toolbox debug app) then try again, then send me the log from both the external bluescsi and the debug.txt from toolbox.

Yes. got 2 images mounted, the BlueSCSI PICO W image and the BlueSCSI Toolbox image.

I've just tried it with debugging on. took a screenshot of the output, hope that's ok

I get this when I first start up. there is no shared folder on the internal BlueSCSI, but there is on the external. It only has one file, the stuffit archive for your Wifi App

And when I select device, I get this:

I tried it on the Classic (4mb, running 6.0.8) but the transfer app didn't seem to start up properly. said that no BlueSCSI devices were found on that. The Classic one has a standard Pico on it, and a fairly recent firmware, but not the one with the DaynaPort additions.

The SE/30 is running 7.5.5, and has 16mb and a 32-bit clean Purple ROM


*** EDIT ***

The Log from the external BlueSCSI. This is also a standard Pico

[10ms] Platform: BlueSCSI Pico
[10ms] FW Version: 2023.08.10-release Aug 11 2023 01:25:40
Flash chip size: 2048 kB

=== SD Card Info ===
SD card detected, exFAT volume size: 29655 MB
SD Name: SD32G, MID: 0x27, OID: 0x50 0x48

=== Global Config ===
Config file bluescsi.ini not found, using defaults
Active configuration:

=== Finding images in / ===
== Opening /HD2 BlueSCSI v2 PicoW Setup.hda for ID: 2 LUN: 0
---- Image ready
== Opening /HD3 BlueSCSI Toolbox 1.0.hda for ID: 3 LUN: 0
---- Image ready

=== ROM Drive ===
Platform supports ROM drive up to 1692 kB
---- ROM drive image not detected

=== Configured SCSI Devices ===
* ID: 2, BlockSize: 512, Type: Fixed, Quirks: Apple, Size: 102464kB
* ID: 3, BlockSize: 512, Type: Fixed, Quirks: Apple, Size: 20544kB

Initialization complete!
INFO: Pico Voltage: 3.161V.

Thanks

 

[eric]

You are not on the latest release. The only supported combination is firmware v2023.10.12 and toolbox version 1.0.

 

[CubeTheory]

You are not on the latest release. The only supported combination is firmware v2023.10.12 and toolbox version 1.0.

Ah. That'll be it then

I'll update and have another go. will explain why the one in the Classic was undetected too!

I'll report back in a bit

Thanks!

*** EDIT ***

Yes, it works now! thanks!!

 

[eric]

I've released version 1.0.1 - no firmware update required. This fixes a bug when there is over 13 files in a dir they were being truncated incorrectly and causing the list to have garbage in it. You can grab it from here https://bluescsi.com/toolbox

 

[JDW]

@eric
I have 4 questions for you below.

QUESTION #1

The README says:
"Debug Toggle - Used to turn on SCSI debugging. Only use if directed to."

I've only tested the "BlueSCSI Debug Toggle" app within Basilisk II, which of course cannot detect a BlueSCSI. Even though the word "toggle" is in the filename, every time I double-click it, it gives me the same dialog box...

So is it really a "toggle" or is it only an Enable?
And, does Debug mode disable itself automatically when you restart your vintage Mac (with BlueSCSI attached)? (I ask to know how it gets turned off.)

---

QUESTION #2

I know it's OK to download SIT files and save them into a folder on your SD card named "shared", but we need to first decompress ZIP & SIT "CD-ROM files" (TOAST, ISO, etc.) before putting them into a folder named "CD3" correct? (Where CD3 uses SCSI ID3, and that cannot be changed to another ID.)

---

QUESTION #3

Your opening post makes it clear that BlueSCSI v1 hardware devices are compatible with Toolbox, but it's not clear what v1 FIRMWARE is required.

Your official TOOLBOX page says:

Requires BlueSCSI firmware v2023.10.12 or later.​

But v2023.10.12 only applies to BlueSCSI v2, not BlueSCSI v1, hence my question.

---

QUESTION #4

I've only ever used flash-mac.command to do firmware updates on my BlueSCSI v1 units, as per this page:

GitHub - erichelgeson/BlueSCSI-Updater: Bootloader & Firmware Updater

Bootloader & Firmware Updater. Contribute to erichelgeson/BlueSCSI-Updater development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

But per that page's instructions, I downloaded QMK Toolbox.

According to LOG.txt on my SD card, my v1 hardware is: VER: 1.1-20221203-USB-96MHz
(96MHz overclocked WCH clone)

So I downloaded "BlueSCSI-v1.1-20231116-STM32F1-USB-96MHz.bin" from here:

Releases · erichelgeson/BlueSCSI

A small SCSI device based on stm32. Contribute to erichelgeson/BlueSCSI development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

After that, I did this:

1. Removed the SD card from my BlueSCSI v1.
2. Launched QMK Toolbox
3. Clicked the Open button to select "BlueSCSI-v1.1-20231116-STM32F1-USB-96MHz.bin"
4. Connected BlueSCSI v1 via USB to my M1 MacBook Pro running macOS Sonoma.
   The RED & GRN LEDs lit and the GRN LED flashed rapidly for a second or so. After that, a line of yellow text saying "...device connected..." appeared. Then after that, the GRN LED stopped flashing for a little bit and a second line of yellow text appeared saying "device disconnected." The RED LED remained lit, but then the GRN LED then started flashing 5 times repeatedly.

I then disconnected the USB cable and inserted my SD card and repeated the above steps. This time, the RED & GRN LEDs light when first connected and the GRN LED flashes rapidly for about a second, and the yellow "connected" text appears. After that the GRN LED turns off completely, and only the RED LED remains lit, and the second line of yellow text appears saying "device disconnected." I've got two known-good cables, so if something is wrong here, I can assure you it is not the cable.

I didn't touch the jumpers on the BlueSCSI or push any buttons at all. Not sure what should be chosen in that popup which says ATmega32U4.

As shown in the screenshot above, the "Flash" and "Clear EEPROM" and "Exit DFU" buttons are always dimmed and are never clickable. That tells me my BlueSCSI v1 was never flashed, nor do I know how to flash it.

Isn't there a step-by-step procedure online somewhere that details exactly what to do when updating the firmware of BlueSCSI v1 via QMK Toolbox on a Mac?

Thank you.

 

[eric]

#1 Debug

I cant say how it would behave in Basilisk II, as there is no BlueSCSI attached. This isn't really an issue as I don't see why someone would be trying to enable in an emulator, and also pre the instructions they were not told to . If you attach it to a real BlueSCSI it will toggle. It will not clear until next power off or next toggle (as you might want to capture logs when booting)

#2 Compressed CD's

Yes you need to decompress files as BlueSCSI just reads the bits from a file. I'm confused on your comment on ID3 - the folder can be any ID, eg: CD1, CD5, etc.

#3 Toolbox versions

That page is for v2 docs. The latest firmware for v1 is required. Please note that v1 does not support CD switching or Debug toggle. The same toolbox transfer app works for both.

#4 Flashing

Click "Auto-Flash" and when it's rapidly flashing it will update the firmware. Rapid flashing is the bootloader waiting to see if you will be flashing for ~2 seconds. Any doc updates are welcome in the wiki.