Copying software from site onto cassette

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welshie
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed May 16, 2018 2:50 pm

Copying software from site onto cassette

Post by welshie »

Hi,
New to the site, just picked up my MZ80A, always wanted one. Used an MZ80K back in the day in Uni but always fancied the 80A.

The computer i bought didn't come with any software, so i was pleased to find this site and even more pleased to see the stacks of software available to download.

Am i doing something silly here because i cannot get the software to load into the 80A.
Step 1, plug a cassette recorder into my main PC.
Step 2, play the .WAV file of my chosen programme and record it onto cassette.
Step 3, load the cassette into the 80A in the usual way.

This is my first time of trying but i don't yet know if the 80A has a problem or not so the fault may not be the cassette i recorded.

I cleaned the tape heads (a bit) and did then get a checksum error during loading, so a more thorough clean may help.

Any other suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks.
welshie
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed May 16, 2018 2:50 pm

Re: Copying software from site onto cassette

Post by welshie »

Update on this for anyone who is interested.

I finally succeeded in getting my first tape to load. Problems were as follows:

1. Make sure the cassette heads are clean, i used a standard head cleaning cassette and that worked well.
2. I initially copied the software onto tape at full volume and this resulted in the checksum error i mentioned in my original post.
3. I recopied the software at about 80% volume and then it loaded fine. Only tried this with Basic to get the principle tested but that was it.

I hope this helps others.

Cheers.
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mz-80a
Posts: 403
Joined: Thu Jan 25, 2018 10:46 am
Location: Devon, UK
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Re: Copying software from site onto cassette

Post by mz-80a »

Hi, welcome!

Glad you got the software working in the end. The method I use is to use one of those cassette adapters you used to get for car stereos. Plug the jack into the laptop (with volume at 50%) and place the tape in the MZ-80A. Works very successfully. The only downside is you have to remove the lid from the MZ-80A's cassette deck to fit the adapter plus its audio cable into the cassette deck.
MZ-80A Secrets
https://mz-80a.com/

Sharpworks (Sharp MZ homebrew)
https: //mz-sharpworks.co.uk/
hlide
Posts: 681
Joined: Thu Jan 25, 2018 9:31 pm

Re: Copying software from site onto cassette

Post by hlide »

Never tried but that kind of device may work with the real tape device. Put an SD card on that cassette and just play it. But the price is quite... not cheap. Obviously, you need to convert MZF files into MP3 files if not WAV files.

https://www.amazon.com/Promotion-Vintag ... SA17CBYQXC
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welshie
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed May 16, 2018 2:50 pm

Re: Copying software from site onto cassette

Post by welshie »

Looks like a great idea, i might give it a try.

Thanks.
MooZ
Posts: 38
Joined: Thu Mar 01, 2018 9:39 am

Re: Copying software from site onto cassette

Post by MooZ »

I bought one of those sd card cassette. Unfortunately all I got when I try to load a tape is "Check sum err".
S_U_C
Posts: 69
Joined: Sun Feb 17, 2019 6:41 pm

Re: Copying software from site onto cassette

Post by S_U_C »

MP3 files are compressed and when played back they are not good enough.
Try a MP3 Car Cassette adaptor and play WAV files from the phone jack of your PC at 20% volume.
There are utilities on the website to convert MZF files to WAV files.
I use this technic for downloading and testing machine code files that I am developing.

The MP3 Car Cassette adaptor has one problem, it is for use in a car cassette player and the cable stops the MZ tape decks lids closing fully.
But it can be rerouted to the front righthand side of the lid, and it will close, tested with MZ80K, 80A, 700 and 800 tape decks.
See SUC magazine 2018 vol 1.
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