Does Windows 10 support MSX floppy disks

“Does Windows 10 support MSX FDDs?”

Answer is “Yes & No”. I explain this.

 

Here is help message of windows 10 format command.

C:\Users\kumo>format /?
Formats a disk for use with Windows.

FORMAT volume [/FS:file-system] [/V:label] [/Q] [/L[:state]] [/A:size] [/C] [/I:state] [/X] [/P:passes] [/S:state]
FORMAT volume [/V:label] [/Q] [/F:size] [/P:passes]
FORMAT volume [/V:label] [/Q] [/T:tracks /N:sectors] [/P:passes]
FORMAT volume [/V:label] [/Q] [/P:passes]
FORMAT volume [/Q]

volume Specifies the drive letter (followed by a colon),
mount point, or volume name.
/FS:filesystem Specifies the type of the file system (FAT, FAT32, exFAT,
NTFS, UDF, ReFS).
/V:label Specifies the volume label.
/Q Performs a quick format. Note that this switch overrides /P.
/C NTFS only: Files created on the new volume will be compressed
by default.
/X Forces the volume to dismount first if necessary. All opened
handles to the volume would no longer be valid.
/R:revision UDF only: Forces the format to a specific UDF version
(1.02, 1.50, 2.00, 2.01, 2.50). The default
revision is 2.01.
/D UDF 2.50 only: Metadata will be duplicated.
/L[:state] NTFS Only: Overrides the default size of file record.
By default, a non-tiered volume will be formatted with small
size file records and a tiered volume will be formatted with
large size file records. /L and /L:enable forces format to
use large size file records and /L:disable forces format to
use small size file records.
/A:size Overrides the default allocation unit size. Default settings
are strongly recommended for general use.
ReFS supports 64K.
NTFS supports 512, 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192, 16K, 32K, 64K.
FAT supports 512, 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192, 16K, 32K, 64K,
(128K, 256K for sector size > 512 bytes).
FAT32 supports 512, 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192, 16K, 32K, 64K,
(128K, 256K for sector size > 512 bytes).
exFAT supports 512, 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192, 16K, 32K, 64K,
128K, 256K, 512K, 1M, 2M, 4M, 8M, 16M, 32M.

Note that the FAT and FAT32 files systems impose the
following restrictions on the number of clusters on a volume:

FAT: Number of clusters <= 65526
FAT32: 65526 < Number of clusters < 4177918

Format will immediately stop processing if it decides that
the above requirements cannot be met using the specified
cluster size.

NTFS compression is not supported for allocation unit sizes
above 4096.

/F:size Specifies the size of the floppy disk to format (1.44)
/T:tracks Specifies the number of tracks per disk side.
/N:sectors Specifies the number of sectors per track.
/P:count Zero every sector on the volume. After that, the volume
will be overwritten “count” times using a different
random number each time. If “count” is zero, no additional
overwrites are made after zeroing every sector. This switch
is ignored when /Q is specified.
/S:state Specifies support for short filenames (enable, disable)
Short names are disabled by default
/I:state ReFS only: Specifies whether integrity should be enabled on
the new volume. “state” is either “enable” or “disable”
Integrity is enabled on storage that supports data redundancy
by default.
/DAX[:state] NTFS Only: Enable direct access storage (DAX) mode for this
volume. In DAX mode, the volume is accessed via the memory
bus, boosting IO performance. A volume can be formatted
with DAX mode only if the hardware is DAX capable.
State can specify “enable” or “disable”. /DAX is considered
as /DAX:enable.

There is no description nether about “FAT12” which MSX supported and floppy disk sizes of  “720”, “640”, “360” and “320”.

Windows 10 does not support 2DD floppies any more?

 

I do and confirm format floppies related to 2DD options.

Results are below. There are many interesting responses.

Option “/F:720” is valid and can be formatted!

Then, does it work with other options? I tried this.

Yes. Option “/F:360” is valid and can be formatted as well, but because of FDD itself, caused error this time.

Windows does not officialy support 2DD/1DD but works!

That is very interesting for us, old MSX survivors, isn’t it?

 

MuSICA command instructions2

Voice Editor Mode

MuSICA is consisted by 3 modes.

  1. Text Editor Mode
  2. Voice Editor Mode
  3. Disk Mode

Here describes about commands of “Voice Editor Mode”

Press ESC key and then V on Text Editor Mode


Voice Editor Mode
* Voices means tone of sounds on MSX here

Voice Edit Mode has 3 modes inside it.
FM Mode
PSG Mode
SCC Mode

These commands are common through these 3 modes.

ESC Return to command mode
C Copy Voice(#of copy from->to)
S Swap Voice(#of swap from->to)
M Mode change(FM->PSG->SCC)
SPACE Increase #
N Decrease #
* Pictures are captured on 1.02A unofficial (English patched 1.02)

============
FM
============

*MuSICA 1.02A(unofficial contains unnatural translation and unusual abbreviation because of limitation of space(and my poor English). Refer below what means these abbreviations.
Total Level(TOTALLV)
Feed Back(FEEDBACK)
Envelope Type(ENVELOPETYPE)
Atack(ATACK)
Decay(DECAY)
Sustain(SUSTN)
Release(RLSE)
Rate Key Scale(RATEKEYSC)
Level Key Scale(LEVELKEYSC)
Tremolo(TRML)
Vibrato(VIBRATO)
Distortion(DISTORT)

Means of parameters should be reffered other documents
about YM2413(OPLL) on the Web.

Voice data is not saved with MML data.
Save voice data separately on Disk Mode when you edit voices.

============
PSG
============

Atack(ATACK)
Decay(DECAY)
Sustain(SUSTN)
Release(RLSE)

Tone(TON)
Noise(NOIZ)
Frequency(FREQ)

Means of parameters should be reffered other documents
about AY-3-8910(PSG) on the Web.

============
SCC
============

MuSICA needs SCC+

Snatcher”RA004″
SD Snatcher Sound Cartridge “RA011”

*I plan to make patch for normal SCC
Atack(ATACK)
Decay(DECAY)
Sustain(SUSTN)
Release(RLSE)

SCC can set wave form.

Set wave with editing binaries.

Means of parameters should be reffered other documents
about SCC+ on the Web.

MuSICA command instructions3

Disk Mode

MuSICA is consisted by 3 modes.

  1. Text Editor Mode
  2. Voice Editor Mode
  3. Disk Mode

Here describes about commands of “Disk Mode”

 

Press ESC key and then D on Text Editor Mode

MuSICA holds MML and voice data separately.
When you worked on MuSICA, save both.

Menu 1,3 “load/save MUSIC”

Save MML as .MSD file. This file is Ascii text data
and you can read it on PCs if change .MSD into .TXT.
When you save it, .MSD is automatically added so
input 8 characters only for file name.

Menu 2,4 “load/save VOICE”

Save Voices as .VCD file. When you edit voices on
Voice Editor Mode, you should save it separately.
When you save it, .VCD is automatically added so
input 8 characters only for file name.

Menu 5 “save BGM”

MuSICA can generate binary data (.BGM files) for
embedded purpose into games.
.BGM files needs loader or player programs
when you play.
When you embedded .BGM files into your programs,
BGM.BIN is needed. This file is not provided when you
ganerate MuSICA on Dante2. Get it on “MSX Magazine
Eikyuu Hozonban 1-3” or “MSX Disk Tsushin Issue 1(’90-10)”

MuSICA command instructions

MuSICA Editor Mode commands

MuSICA is consisted by 3 modes.

  1. Text Editor Mode
  2. Voice Editor Mode
  3. Disk Mode

 

Here describes commands of “Editor Mode”

F1:Goto top
F2:Goto bottom
F3:Stop BGM
F4:FF BGM
F5:Play BGM

INS:Toggle insert/overwrite
DEL:Delete
BS:Back space
ESC:Enter Command Mode
CTRL+W:Scroll 20 lines up
CTRL+Z:Scroll 20 lines down
CTRL+E:Delete to end of line
CTRL+Y:Delete line
CTRL+O:Insert line

CTRL+P:Paste from buffer

*When you Copy or Move lines, strings remain in buffer. After loading another file, you can paste it.

*Put “_” on command mode (push ESC on MuSICA editor) to toggle width 80 and width 40. This mode is not so popular. (This picture captured on ver.1.00)

 

IPS Patch for MuSICA 1.02

=================
What is this?
=================
This is English IPS patch for MuSICA 1.02. After applying this patch, messages are changed from Japanese into English.

=================
Usage
=================
example:
ips MUSICED.BIN MUSICED_102a.ips

*I reccomend your ips command options not to override your original file
*Check version before patching.
Version number is indicated on right bottom of screen.
” [MuSICA] ” ->ver. 1.00
“MuSICA1.02” ->ver. 1.02

=================
Caution
=================
*MuSICA ver.1.00 unofficial English version existed.
Both of 1.00(official) and 1.00(unofficial Eng. ver.) is
not applicable with this patch

*MuSICA ver 1.02 generated from unofficial English version
of Dante2 is different from 1.02 official.
If you have this version, patch MUSICEDDANTE2ETODANTE2J.ips
before patching 1.02a and make your file same as
1.02a official.

=================
Disclaimer
=================
* This is not official one!
* Some messages are not natual translation and contains unusual abbreviation because of limitation of space

=================
Contact
=================
@kumokosi at Twitter

=================
MUSICED.BIN Update history
=================

Official version
* 1.00
Bandled with
“MSX Disk Tsushin Issue 1(’90-10)”
* 1.02
Bandled with
“Dante2″,”MSX Magazine Eikyuu Hozonban1,2,3”

Unofficial patched version
* 1.02a 2017/3/21
Translated to English messages

MUSICED102a_ips.zip