For more information see https://www.retrotechnology.com/herbs_stuff/s_sd_vfii.html#sale
This document copyright Herb Johnson, Bart Hirst. 

Jan 10 2026, Bart Hirst to Herb Johnson, VF II disk-image manipulation.

Hi Herb, got my S-100 system going here.  The amount of space that can be had on a 3.5" floppy drive using Jonathan's V2BIOS is really amazing.  1658K total capacity.  I'm still booting up on the IMD file from the github.  I had the AI create a python program for me that can move files to/from the IMD, but it's not reliable.  Luckily I found the vector graphic versions of PCGET & PCPUT, and was able to transfer the HEX file and create the COM using LOAD on the IMD.  So now I'm finally getting some good software on there to play with.

The other thing this custom python program will do (and works) is patch the spdtab within the IMD to configure it for different drives.  I can't hardly remember how the AI came up with that feature, I swear it's doing things without me even asking.  It came up because for the life of me I couldn't get V2FORMAT to work correctly with 8" simulated disks on 3.5".  Turned out the IMD is configured for 5" disks across the board.  

Additionally,  I'm going to ask the AI to add a feature to patch the IMD serial ports like we discussed originally.  I'll send you an updated copy once that and the file movement is worked out. - Bart Hirst

Jan 11 2026, Bart Hirst to Herb Johnson

I was able to get the AI to fix the issue with creating and deleting files (updated python script attached.)  AI is pretty good at fixing things if you can give it a "smoking gun".  I gave it an IMD file that PCPUT used to put a file, vs. its own.  I haven't tested it extensively, but it passed the smoke test.  I "put" the file, created a physical floppy, and successfully launched the binary (MBASIC.COM.)

Attached is the C port of the python script.  Again, I haven't tested it extensively, but the smoke tests passed. - Bart Hirst

