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Finally had a chance and got a PC-8801 FA

Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2018 10:17 pm
by Artemio
Only some of you guys will care, but I finally could get this machine to play the games I had, including Snatcher of course.

I love FM synthesis, so this was a natural draw for me to the system. And of course since Yuzo Koshiro used a PC-8801FA to compose the music for Bare Knuckle (Streets of Rage) and The Super Shinobi (The Revenge of Shinobi)

So I decided to share some pics for the curious, all are photos no direct captures:

Re: Finally had a chance and got a PC-8801 FA

Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2018 6:44 pm
by Mr357
That is absolutely awesome, Artemio! I can't think of anyone better to have gotten their hands on one.

Re: Finally had a chance and got a PC-8801 FA

Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2018 4:27 am
by SegaSky
That's cool! What's the other game in the photos?

Re: Finally had a chance and got a PC-8801 FA

Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2018 4:56 pm
by Artemio
Thanks guys

The first one is Snatcher. The second one is Star trader

Re: Finally had a chance and got a PC-8801 FA

Posted: Sat Nov 10, 2018 3:21 am
by powderehss
Oh my god! So cool Artemio! :D
I hope I can get a PC-98 in the future to play Policenauts and other old VNs someday.

Re: Finally had a chance and got a PC-8801 FA

Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2018 4:32 am
by nickdaring
It lives!! Amazing!

Re: Finally had a chance and got a PC-8801 FA

Posted: Sat Feb 06, 2021 12:10 pm
by krelian
how did I miss this thread I just don't know
2 years late, however congrats Artemio
hope you are still enjoying it

I wanted to get an 8801 forever but never had a chance really
I am still confused about which model to get
FA or MA
major difference would be a 2HD compatible floppy on the MA model

I have gathered some info around and found out that discs recorded on a 2HD drive could not be read on a FA (which only has a 2D drive)
on the other hand some games are not compatible with the MA, as a form of copy protection (they used all available space)

a bit confusing
here is the wiki page
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/PC-8800%E ... C%E3%82%BA

and here the text of much interest
2HDと2Dの読み書きに両対応したFDD[注 6]、JIS第2水準の文字まで含んだ漢字ROMを搭載するなど、当時としては非常に先進的な部分もあった。ソフトウェア的にはほぼ完全な互換性が維持されていたものの、2Dと2HD/2DDではヘッドのトラック幅の違いがあることから、2HD/2D兼用ドライブで書き込んだ2Dディスクが2D専用ドライブで読めない場合があったり、コピープロテクト対策や極限ともいえる容量までディスクを使用することが多かったゲームソフトの中には動作しないものがあるなどの問題が露呈することがあった。

google translate
There were some very advanced parts at that time, such as FDD [Note 6] that supports both 2HD and 2D reading and writing, and a Kanji ROM that included JIS level 2 characters. Although the software was almost completely compatible, the 2D disc written by the 2HD / 2D dual-purpose drive cannot be read by the 2D dedicated drive due to the difference in the track width of the head between 2D and 2HD / 2DD. In some cases, problems such as copy protection measures and some game software that often used disks up to the limit capacity did not work were exposed.

if anybody could shed more light on this, it would be very appreciated
it is very important for me, as my intention would be to use real floppies, either originals (for top games such as Snatcher or the Enix ones) or blank floppies for...aheam..you know, those other games you find here and there in rom format

Re: Finally had a chance and got a PC-8801 FA

Posted: Mon Feb 08, 2021 9:07 pm
by Artemio
krelian wrote:how did I miss this thread I just don't know
2 years late, however congrats Artemio
hope you are still enjoying it
Yep, I have it just next to me since I captured some footage today. And I made these: which I plan to remake in a higher quality: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qearAUsfAXQ
krelian wrote: I have gathered some info around and found out that discs recorded on a 2HD drive could not be read on a FA (which only has a 2D drive)
on the other hand some games are not compatible with the MA, as a form of copy protection (they used all available space)
I've never used or found 2HD discs, but then again, I've been using 2D discs and drives all the time

krelian wrote: if anybody could shed more light on this, it would be very appreciated
it is very important for me, as my intention would be to use real floppies, either originals (for top games such as Snatcher or the Enix ones) or blank floppies for...aheam..you know, those other games you find here and there in rom format
I've only used real floppies so far, but I could but some 2D NOS locally and have a KF/SCP setup with 2HD and 2D drives for preservation. I used the discs to create the MUCOM88 floppies and run the original Koshiro music from it (as seen in the videos above).

There is also the option of using a Gotek or similar, as Koshiro did.

Re: Finally had a chance and got a PC-8801 FA

Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2021 5:36 pm
by krelian
thanks a lot Artemio
and sorry for late

that vid is absolutely amazing
and wow, I had no idea you could listen to Yu-No on an 8801, that made my day

I tend to over-complicate things
the original idea was to also get a PC98 and write PC88 floppies on an external 2D drive
reason being I have heard on many sites that modern floppy controller are no good, discs can give issues on older machines
so to use an old PC (from the 486 era) with a proper NEC controller

but I guess a USB converter should work ok?

really don't know what a KF/SCP setup, but you do not need to tell me...lol
I will do some search

only if you have the time, can you tell me what USB to floppy are you using
and software?
reading this thread on Tokugawa
http://fullmotionvideo.free.fr/phpBB3/v ... ?f=4&t=721
it seems SAMDisk works ok

and especially what 2D drive?
I have heard old Panasonic ones are the best at writing, at least, C64 games

I'd like to get a Gotek as a last resort, really

Re: Finally had a chance and got a PC-8801 FA

Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2021 2:29 am
by Artemio
krelian wrote:
but I guess a USB converter should work ok?

really don't know what a KF/SCP setup, but you do not need to tell me...lol
I will do some search

only if you have the time, can you tell me what USB to floppy are you using
and software?
KF: https://www.kryoflux.com/
SCP: https://www.cbmstuff.com/proddetail.php?prod=SCP

I use these with TEAC drives
TEAC FD-55GFR 7192-U
TEAC FD-55GFR 570-U

And for 360kB : TEAC FD-55BR