Unexpected hard disk ordering between CFFA vs. SCSI

[inexorabletash]

I'm not sure if this should be considered an Ample issue or a MAME issue.

1. Configure an Apple IIe system with a CFFA card in slot 7.
2. In the Hard Drives list, choose 2 bootable disk images in order: A, B
3. Boot the system. Note that disk A boots.
4. Now in Ample configure an Apple II SCSI Card in slot 7.
5. In the 3-dash menu for the drive, configure a second Hard Disk.
6. In the Hard Drives list, verify that the disks remain in order: A, B
7. Boot the system

Expected: disk A boots

Actual: disk B boots

Ample is passing the disks in order as --hard1 A --hard2 B, and presumably MAME is putting them in the SCSI chain so that B is last and hence the boot volume.

[inexorabletash]

Similar issue:

1. Configure an Apple IIgs system with a CFFA card in slot 7.
2. Put a GS/OS live install disk in the first space in Hard Drives
3. Put a non-bootable disk in the second space in Hard Drives
4. Launch the system. Note that GS/OS starts. Exit MAME.
5. Back in Ample, put a second CFFA card in slot 6.
6. Put a non-bootable disk in the third space in Hard Drives
7. Launch the system.

Expected: boots
Actual: does not boot

Swap entries 1 and 3 and it will boot.

Root cause:

• With a single CFFA in slot 7, that CFFA is associated with hard1 and hard2.
• With a CFFA in slot 6 and slot 7, the slot6 CFFA is associated with hard1 and hard2, and the CFFA in slot 7 is associated with hard3 and hard4.

[ksherlock]

I don't think there's good solution for either problem. The Ample launcher keeps track of how many hard drives/CDs/3.5"
/5.25" are available but not which device or slot they're associated with.

The Apple II scsi card boots off the highest SCSI id, which would be the last one. That seems to be an apple II thing since the mac internal HD is ID 0.

Which slot actually boots depends on your control panel settings so there's another wrinkle.

And none of this was a problem back in the day you would have one physical hard drive partitioned up.

I'm starting to think the best way to handle it would be a new pseudo hard drive card that could support a large number of disk images (like scsi) but kept them in the obvious order (like cffa).

[inexorabletash]

I added some documentation to https://wiki.mamedev.org/index.php?title=Driver:Apple_II#More_configuration

[ksherlock]

I started working on a high-level emulation of the A2retroNET card for MAME (just the disk support so far) and was able to boot off it so that should make it into Ample soon. That will provide support for 8 disk images.

[ksherlock]

The newest (284) version includes a2retronet support but it's not enabled in the UI yet, pending more testing (I've managed to destroy disk images writing so keep a backup!). Here's the rom if you want to test it from the command-line -
a2retronet.zip

-sl7 retronet enables 8 hard disks and 1 rs23s port (which would need further configuration like -sl7:retronet:rs232 null_modem

https://github.com/oliverschmidt/a2retronet/releases has a disk image with a utility to enable/disable the ssc for in#7 style support.