Disk Jockey, a disk image file maker for your retro stuff - Beta for version 3!

OneGeekArmy

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Oct 31, 2021
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Version 3 Beta!​

I've been working at this new version of Disk Jockey for months and I wanted to share a beta with you all.

It's shock full of new stuff and there are too many to list. But here are some highlights:

  • Create disk images for not only Macintosh, but also Amiga, Apple II and Akai samplers
Screenshot 2023-11-06 at 11.46.07.png
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  • Look inside DOS 3.3 disks

Screenshot 2023-11-06 at 11.47.08.png

  • And Amiga images
screenshot-2023-11-06-at-11-47-41-png.13991

  • Identify that weird ROM you have found
Screenshot 2023-11-06 at 11.58.42.png

  • And metric tons more!

Grab a copy of the beta here:
https://diskjockey.onegeekarmy.eu/files/diskjockeybeta/Disk-Jockey.dmg

The (succinct) release notes are here:
https://diskjockey.onegeekarmy.eu/files/diskjockeybeta/Disk-Jockey.html

And if you find issues (which is likely), you can report them here (please tag them with the Beta tag):
https://github.com/OneGeekArmy/Disk-Jockey-Community/issues

Version 2.5​

It's out!

Multiple partitions, much better ProDOS support and a bunch more things (like auto-updating!) are included.

Get it here: https://diskjockey.onegeekarmy.eu/
The full release notes are here: https://diskjockey.onegeekarmy.eu/files/diskjockey/Disk-Jockey.app.html

Version 2.5 Preview​

(Because this is pretty exciting stuff)

I just wanted to share this before the official release in a week or so because it's pretty neat. Disk Jockey now has a built-in partitioner that allows you to add volumes to your disk image. "Sure", I hear you say, "but HD SC Setup also allows me to partition my disk so why would I need this"? Well, can HD SC Setup do this?

Screen Shot 2022-09-21 at 15.24.02.png


As you might deduce from the screenshot (which is completely non-contractual, things might, and will, change before release), not only can you create empty volumes, you can also insert *existing* volumes (HFS or ProDOS) in your disk image.

For example, Eric has just created a disk image with a regular HFS partition and the Total Replay 5 ProDOS disk image:

IMG_2815.jpg
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Finally, as the screenshot also shows, Disk Jockey will be bundled with a couple of volumes containing bootable versions of System 6.0.8 and System 7.1, so that you have everything you need on the same disk image when you're rebuilding a machine from scratch.

PS: and unlike the official partitioner from Apple, Disk Jockey will let you use every byte of your 32 MB ProDOS partition :)



Version 2.1 - now 100% nerdier!​

Disk Jockey now has a little buddy called Disk Jockey Jr (djjr). It's a command-line version to automate your disk image creation. Have you always wanted to create 200 disk images of increasing sizes? Now you can :)

It can be installed from Disk Jockey (it's in the File menu), or you can download just the installer at https://bluescsi.onegeekarmy.eu/diskjockey/

jeanmi@Macintosh bin % djjr --help USAGE: djjr [-sB <sB>] [-sM <sM>] [--output-name <output-name>] [--device-image] [--version] OPTIONS: -sB, --size-in-bytes <sB> Size in bytes of the image. -sM, --size-in-mb <sM> Size in megabytes of the image. -o, --output-name <output-name> File name of the image. If you omit this parameter, your image will be named "untitled.img" or "untitled.hda" -d, --device-image Create a device image. This will install a SCSI driver and a partition map. You need this for BlueSCSI or RaSCSI. -v, --version Show version information. -h, --help Show help information.

Also, this version fixes a bug that caused some HFS partitions to mount as read-only when the SCSI driver of their image had been converted by DJ from Lido to HD SC Setup 7.3.5.



Version 2!​

After weeks of pretending to work at my desk job and doing this instead, I'm very happy to report that version 2 of Disk Jockey is out!

Not only can you create new disk images, you can now dig through existing ones using Disk-O-Matic! Drag a disk image on the Disk Jockey window (or its icon), Disk-O-Matic starts up and shows you what's inside your image.

It understands simple volume images (like the ones used by Basilisk II) and device images that contain SCSI drivers (like the ones used by BlueSCSI and RaSCSI). It can also open Disk Copy images and most Macintosh ISOs and Toast images. Do you want to know what's on the Apple Legacy CDs but don't want to bother mounting them in an emulator, or burning them? This is for you.

It allows you to browse the contents of HFS and MFS partitions and volumes, and can give you detailed info on the files and directories inside.

Also:
  • It can convert an existing volume image (Basilisk II and others) into a device image (BlueSCSI / RaSCSI) in one click.
  • It also does the reverse and allows you to extract a volume from a device image and make it a volume image.
  • If your device image has a Lido driver that slows you down, it can replace it with the classic HD SC Setup 7.3.5 driver for increased performance.
  • An issue that caused Disk Jockey images to not mount properly on some Mac configurations (your Mac never prompted you to initialize the new drive) is fixed. Disk-O-Matic will detect those images and fix them for you if you want.
  • There's a new preference pane to fine-tune a couple of defaults that you might disagree with :)
Existing disk images are never written to. Disk Jockey only creates new images, either from scratch or by using an existing image as a starting point. Your data is safe.

It's still completely free.

Nab it here: https://bluescsi.onegeekarmy.eu/diskjockey/

dj-simple-lg.png
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Version 1​


Hi everyone,

For #MARCHintosh2022, I've put together Disk Jockey: a macOS application that creates disk images of (almost) any size and takes the guesswork out. https://bluescsi.onegeekarmy.eu/diskjockey/

You can either specify the disk image size you want or, because Disk Jockey knows about most SCSI Macs, it can create disk images that perfectly match your machine.

If your disk image is going to be used in a BlueSCSI or a RaSCSI, Disk Jockey will partition it as one large volume and install a SCSI driver for you. No more wondering if your disk image is the right kind! It will also name your disk image properly, according to the preferred naming convention of what you'll use it with.

Disk Jockey runs on Intel and M1 Macs (macOS 11 and up), supports dark mode, it's notarized (Apple signed it and sorta guarantees that it won't do bad things to your computer) and it's written in Swift.

It's completely free.
 

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OneGeekArmy

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Very cool! Especially the partitioning and driver install. I had just assumed that had to be done on a Mac (or Mac emulator) Curious, what SCSI disk driver are you using?
Thanks! I wrote the partitioner in Swift, following the spec in "Inside Macintosh: Devices". It's interesting to use Apple's latest language to recreate its old stuff :)

Right now I'm going for the earliest Apple driver I could find (1.7.3), to guarantee the lowest common denominator.

But in an upcoming release, and thanks to an anonymous donor (Eric Helgeson of BlueSCSI fame), I have a collection of the 5 most important SCSI drivers. Advanced users will be able to choose which one they want to install.
 
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OneGeekArmy

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What a great tool! And I love the straightforward UI. Well done.

My only niggle is that it won’t run under High Sierra. 😶
Thanks!

The high OS requirement is due to my decision of using SwiftUI as the interface library. It's been a mixed blessing.
It's very cool and fast for 80% of the work, and it allowed me to work quickly (I wanted to meet the MARCHintosh deadline). On the other hand, on macOS, it's very frustrating for the other 20%. And it prevents compatibility with macOS before 11, which isn't great.

However, the interface is completely decoupled from the actual brains of the application. Maybe I'll take a stab at doing the interface using AppKit instead, when I have a little time. I'll try and go back to High Sierra. Before that, Swift lacks too many of the niceties I rely on.

By the way, I've posted an update that fixes a little bug that prevents Mac OS to see the volume in some configurations with a BlueSCSI or a RaSCSI.
 
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rjkucia

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That looks awesome! Great work.

Does it allow you to add files to the image? That's a big feature that's currently a challenge with these images - the only thing I've found to work reliably is CiderPress, which is old and clunky and only for Windows (and Wine, but that makes it clunkier haha).
 

OneGeekArmy

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That looks awesome! Great work.

Does it allow you to add files to the image? That's a big feature that's currently a challenge with these images - the only thing I've found to work reliably is CiderPress, which is old and clunky and only for Windows (and Wine, but that makes it clunkier haha).
Thanks!
No, at this stage, it only creates empty images. To be able to add and remove files would mean that DJ understands how to handle the HFS format, which it can't...

... yet :)
 
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OneGeekArmy

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How about the MagicSD setup for SCSI2SD ?
https://68kmla.org/bb/index.php?threads/magicsd-for-scsi2sd-owners.38576/

after reading it i thought about programing the steps described in the post. ....


where its a trick to make it look like disk images when in a modern computer. (for emulators) but its disk partitions when in a scsi2sd
That's a cool trick but it's not necessary here.

A disk image containing an actual SCSI device (like the ones Disk Jockey creates for BlueSCSI and RaSCSI) is useable by an emulator like Basilisk. Just change the extension to .img and off you go.

Basilisk only presents the HFS partition and skips over all the SCSI stuff.
 
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Patrick

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but that image won't work in scsi2sd. which does not support disk images.

edit: what would prolly be most needed. is how to configure scsi2sd to have start and end of the disk images on the sd card.
So like the simple case would be for disk jokey to report the start and end of each disk image thats ON the sd card. which then one could input into the scsi2sd config
 

OneGeekArmy

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but that image won't work in scsi2sd. which does not support disk images.

edit: what would prolly be most needed. is how to configure scsi2sd to have start and end of the disk images on the sd card.
So like the simple case would be for disk jokey to report the start and end of each disk image thats ON the sd card. which then one could input into the scsi2sd config
As you're pointing out, SCSI2SD works in a completely different way and there's a need for a tool to simplify users' lives (I can attest, having a SCSI2SD myself). However, Disk Jockey is not meant to be that tool.
Once I have a few more releases of DJ under my belt (there are some more things I'd like it to do), I'll take a look at the SCSI2SD situation. But no promise! :)
 
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OneGeekArmy

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What a great tool! And I love the straightforward UI. Well done.

My only niggle is that it won’t run under High Sierra. 😶
Hi! I have good news for you!

Disk Jockey has been updated and now runs on Mac OS 10.11 El Capitan and up!

Enjoy!

 

drzeissler

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Jun 6, 2022
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This is indeed very cool, but why can't I use this on 10.6.8 on my retro-mini.
Any chance to get this running on 10.6.8 or is it impossible due to limitations?

Thx!

EDIT: Beside that, when formatting SD-Cards for preparation exFAT with what boot record (e.g. MBR, or GUID or ?)
 
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OneGeekArmy

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This is indeed very cool, but why can't I use this on 10.6.8 on my retro-mini.
Any chance to get this running on 10.6.8 or is it impossible due to limitations?

Thx!

EDIT: Beside that, when formatting SD-Cards for preparation exFAT with what boot record (e.g. MBR, or GUID or ?)

10.11 is the earliest Mac OS version supported by Disk Jockey at this stage. Before that, the frameworks are sensibly different (mainly the interface and the data accessor stuff) and maintaining backwards compatibility becomes a huge impediment.
I had to choose a cut-off point, and 10.11 seemed sensible since it's supported by most machines from the late 2000s.

Building a version for earlier Intel and PPC Macs would be fun (for some very specific values of "fun"), and I've had requests for Linux and Windows versions. So, it's in the wish list but I have several neat features to include before I get there. If I ever get to release a version that supports 10.6, I'll let you know.

As for your question on boot records, you should format the card on which you put the disk images as GPT (GUID). I don't see a reason to use MBR at this point.

EDIT: After some testing, I seem to have better success with MBR. So yeah. Maybe use that :)
 
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drzeissler

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Jun 6, 2022
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Next thing for me is getting an external bluescsi one to hook it up on my GVP controller on my A2000.
I don't think I can use DJ to produce 1GB SCSI-Drives that are usable on the Amiga?