PBR Print Buffer Routine (anyone ever seen one?)

[RobPattonDotCom]

Has anyone ever seen, or possibly have one of these: I'm trying to find a copy of the software for it.

 

 

[RobPattonDotCom]

Has anyone ever seen, or possibly have one of these: I'm trying to find a copy of the software for it.

 

 

 

I guess I should have explained what that is.

 

Take two atari computers, connected by a joystick cable. Install a driver in the main machine to redirect printer io, put the cart in the slave machine, attach the printer to the slave machine. Blamo, very expensive print buffer (back in the day)

[kenfused]

There was info or it was reviewed in either Antic or Analog (I forget which but don't see it in Antic archives). Seems like the company had another cart like a disk emulator or something in the same article.

[+David_P]

There was info or it was reviewed in either Antic or Analog (I forget which but don't see it in Antic archives). Seems like the company had another cart like a disk emulator or something in the same article.

 

I seem to recall an ANALOG review. This was similar to the "Atari Zucchini" series of articles by Lee Brilliant, on converting an 800 to a printer buffer - a custom SIO cable between the parent computer and the slave 800; the 800 would act as a printer buffer and print out via the joystick ports to any Centronics parallel printer (in other words, it would act as the P: device).

 

I also recall another cart from the same company that would have your second computer act as a RAMDISK.

 

Anyone interested in learning to program SIO / CIO could do much worse than reading the Atari ZUcchini articles from ANALOG.

[Rybags]

So, the cart just has some sort of server-side type software?

 

If you could dump it, it would probably be able to be examined to work out just what it does.

[RobPattonDotCom]

Having found the cart and disk, and dumped them to the best of my ability, I'd like to see if I can engage someone to help look at what I've done and see if it is usable.

PPPPPPPPP BBBBBBBBB RRRRRRRRRR

PPPPPPPPPP BBBBBBBBBB RRRRRRRRRRR

PP PP BB BB RR RR

PP PP BB BB RR RR

PP PP BB BB RR RR

PPPPPPPPPP BBBBBBBBB RRRRRRRRRRR

PPPPPPPPP BBBBBBBBB RRRRRRRRRR

PP BB BB RR RR

PP BB BB RR RR

PP BB BB RR RR

PP BBBBBBBBBB RR RR

PP BBBBBBBBB RR RR

PRINT BUFFER ROUTINE

COPYRIGHT 1984

B.L.ENTERPRISES

PAGE 1

This document contains information on P.B.R. (print

buffer routine). The P.B.R. is a software program and a

hardware package that allows a 2nd Atari® Home Computer

to be used as a print buffer.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1 HARDWARE INSTALLATION

System options,Cabling PAGE 2

CHAPTER 2 SOFTWARE INSTALLATION

Program options,Disk creation PAGE 4

CHAPTER 3 OPERATION

Running cartridge,disk and cassette

programs PAGE 8

CHAPTER 4 TROUBLE SHOOTING

Hardware,Software PAGE 10

APPENDIX A

Limited 90 day Warranty

B.L.Enterprises warrant the disk or cassette media,

the cable and cartridge to be free of defects for 90 days

after purchase. It is up to B.L.Enterprises as to whether

the product is to be replaced or repaired. The purchaser

should return the product prepaid to: B.L.Enterprises

P.O.Box 4282

Louisville, KY 40204

Disclaimer of Warranty

The products are sold on an "as is" basis with no warr-

anty as to thier performance. B.L.Enterprises shall have no

liabilities or responsibilty to the purchaser for any lia-

bility, loss, or damages caused directly or indirectly by this

hardware, software, or documentation package. The warranty

shall not apply if the products returned show signs of misuse,

excessive wear or modification.

Atari is a trademark of Atari Inc.

PAGE 2

CHAPTER 1

HARDWARE INSTALLATION

The 1st thing to do is to determine which computer you

will use as your main computer and which will be used as

the print buffer. It makes no difference if either one is

an XL series or a 400/800 series so use your favorite one

for the main computer.

Now for the Hardware installation. Refer to Fig 1-1

for help with this section. Printer and Printer Interface

(if needed) are to be connected to the Print Buffer. Disk

drives will still be connected to the main computer. Take

the cable that comes with P.B.R. and plug one end into Joy-

stick Port #1 on the Main computer. The other end plugs

into Joystick Port #1 on the print buffer. The cartridge

that comes with P.B.R. is to be inserted into the Print

buffer.

____________________________________________________________

------- -------

! ! ! ! ---------

! main ! ----- !print ! ----- ! !

! comp. ! ! ! !buffer ! ! ! ! printer !

! !---!disk ! ! !--- !print!---! !

! ! !dr. ! ! ! !inter! ! !

!JS1 ! ! ! !JS1 ! ! ! ! !

------- ----- ------- ----- ---------

! !

! !

----------------------

P.B.R. cable

FIGURE 1-1

___________________________________________________________

Now it's time to connect the video(TV)outputs of the 2

computers. Two TV/computer switch boxes are required if you

wish to see the video output of the print buffer. This is

not really necessary during normal use but makes trouble

shooting much easier. Under normal operation the print buffer's

screen editor is disabled after a 2 second title screen.

Refer to Figure 1-2 to connect the TV/computer switch boxes.

Table 1-1 shows how the switchs will need to be set in order

to view the TV, or the main computer, or the Print buffer.

We recommend labeling the switch boxes to prevent confusion.

___________________________________________________________

TO VIEW SW1 SW2

------- -------- ---------

TV TV TV

MAIN COMPUTER COMPUTER TV

MAIN COMPUTER COMPUTER COMPUTER

PRINT BUFFER TV COMPUTER

TABLE 1-1

___________________________________________________________

PAGE 3

----------

! !

! !

! !

! !

------ T.V. !

! ! !

! ! !

! ! !

! ! !

! ----------

!

!

!

! -----------

! ! !

! ! !

-------- ! --------

! TV ! ! ! TV !

! ! ! ! !

!COM TV ! ! !COM TV ! ANT.

! ====== ! ! ! ====== ! OR

. ! !A ! ! !A CABLE

! !N- ! !N IN

----!C.IN !T ---!C.IN !T<---

! -------- ! --------

! SW1 ! SW2

! !

! !

! !

! !

-------- --------

! !

! !

-------------- --------------

! ! ! !

! ! ! !

! MAIN ! ! PRINT !

! COMPUTER ! ! BUFFER !

! ! ! !

! ! ! !

-------------- --------------

FIG. 1-2

--------------------------------------------------

PAGE 4

CHAPTER 2

SOFTWARE INSTALLATION

SECTION 1

This section is for disk based systems having 24K or

more of memory. Section 2 is for disk based systems having

16K. Section 3 is for loading P.B.R. from cassette.

On th P.B.R. disk you receive are several programs.

The 1st is DISK.PBR. This is the program that is loaded into

the main computer. It is the standard version that will be

used. We will install and run this version 1st.

It is B.L.Enterprises policy not to copy protect our

disks. We feel that you, as the purchaser, have the right to

make backup copies for your own use. The P.B.R disk you re-

ceive is write protected. You should leave the disk this way

and copy the files onto your Atari DOS disk. Then put the

master disk away for safe keeping. Insert the work disk you

just made into the disk drive and boot the system. When DOS

comes up copy DISK.PBR to AUTORUN.SYS. Turn the main computer

off and insert your BASIC cartridge (on non XL machines).

Set the TV switch Boxes to view the Print Buffer video

(tv) output as per Table 1-1. Make sure the P.B.R. cartridge

is inserted in the Print Buffer. Turn on the Printer and

make it ready. Turn on the Printer Interface (if you have

one). Turn on the Print Buffer. The Print Buffer should

display this title screen:

PRINT BUFFER ROUTINE VERSION 2.00

Copyright 1984, B. L. ENTERPRISES

for about 2 seconds. The buffer's RESET key will display the

title screen again for 2 seconds. The blank screen is the normal

condition for the Print Buffer. If these things do not happen

refer to CHAPTER 4.

Next set the TV switch Boxes to view the main computer

as per Table 1-1. Insert the work disk in drive 1 and turn on

the main computer. The disk should boot and you should see

this title screen:

FROM PBR: © 1984 B. L. ENTERPRISES

PRINT BUFFER STATUS = OK.

nnnnn BYTES AVAILABLE.

READY

nnnnn = The amount of memory available in the Print Buffer.

If the title screen does not appear or any errors are

displayed go to CHAPTER 4.

The P.B.R. is now installed and ready to be used with

your favorite Basic program. For example try:

LPRINT "0123456789"

You should see this print on the printer. Now hit the START

key on the Print Buffer. The printer should go to top of form

(some printers will not recognize the top of form control code).

SELECT is a single line feed and OPTION is a double line feed.

Pushing RESET on the main computer will take you back to

the title screen. There is no need to reboot P.B.R. when using

DISK.PBR.

.

PAGE 5

SECTION 2

This section covers machines that have less than 24K of

memory and are disk based. The program we will be concerned

with is SLIMDISK.PBR. It must be an AUTORUN.SYS file to run.

It is B.L.Enterprises policy not to copy protect our

disks. We feel that you, as the purchaser, have the right to

make backup copies for your own use. The P.B.R disk you re-

ceive is write protected. You should leave the disk this way

and copy the files onto your Atari DOS disk. Then put the

master disk away for safe keeping. Now insert your work disk

and boot the system. DOS files should be on this disk but,

it is a good idea to remove DUP.SYS. SLIMDISK.PBR will

not accomodate the use of the DUP functions because it was

designed for minimum memory size. Removing DUP.SYS will

help you remember this. If a DUP function is used a reboot of

SLIMDISK.PBR will be needed. We recommend using Atari DOS 2.0

(3.0 will work too). Rename (or copy to) SLIMDISK.PBR to AUTO-

RUN.SYS.

Set the TV switch Boxes to view the Print Buffer video

(tv) output as per Table 1-1. Make sure the P.B.R. cartridge

is inserted in the Print Buffer. Turn on the Printer and

make it ready. Turn on the Printer Interface (if you have

one). Turn on the Print Buffer. The Print Buffer should

display this title screen:

PRINT BUFFER ROUTINE VERSION 2.00

Copyright 1984, B. L. ENTERPRISES

for about 2 seconds. The buffer's RESET key will display the

title screen again for 2 seconds. The blank screen is the normal

condition for the Print Buffer. If these things do not happen

refer to CHAPTER 4.

Next set the TV switch Boxes to view the main computer

as per Table 1-1. Insert the AUTORUN disk in drive 1 and turn

on the main computer. The disk should boot and you should see

this title screen:

FROM PBR: © 1984 B. L. ENTERPRISES

PRINT BUFFER STATUS = OK.

nnnnn BYTES AVAILABLE.

READY

nnnnn = The amount of memory available in the Print Buffer.

If the title screen does not appear or any errors are

displayed go to CHAPTER 4.

The P.B.R. is now installed and ready to be used with

your favorite Basic program. For example try:

LPRINT "0123456789"

You should see this print on the printer. Now hit the START

key on the Print Buffer. The printer should go to top of form

(some printers will not recognize the top of form control code).

SELECT is a single line feed and OPTION is a double line feed.

Note that anytime RESET is pressed on the main computer

using SLIMDISK.PBR a reboot will be needed to re-install P.B.R.

.

PAGE 6

SECTION 3

This section will tell you how to create and load DISK.PBR

from a boot load cassette.

It is B.L.Enterprises policy not to copy protect our

disks. We feel that you, as the purchaser, have the right to

make backup copies for your own use. The P.B.R disk you re-

ceive is write protected. You should leave the disk this way

and copy the files onto your Atari DOS disk. Then put the

master disk away for safe keeping. Insert the work disk in

drive 1 and do a binary load on the program CASSETTE.PBR.

This program will load in and will also load in DISK.PBR so

make sure this program is on the disk. The title screen will

display (see Fig.2-1) and the computer will beep twice. The

prompts will ask you to insert a blank cassette into the drive.

After doing so press PLAY, RECORD on the cassette drive and

RETURN on the computer. CASSETTE.PBR will then write DISK.PBR onto

a bootloadable cassette. After the cassette is finished you will

be returned to DOS.

-------------------------------------------------------

© 1984 B. L. ENTERPRISES

P.B.R. BOOT CASSETTE MAKER

VERSION 2.00

This program will create a BOOT

CASSETTE TAPE of the DISK VERSION

of P.B.R. Remember, this version

requires a minimum of 24K MEMORY.

LOADING D1:DISK.PBR

INSERT BLANK CASSETTE, PRESS REC PLAY

THEN PRESS RETURN

------------------------------------------------------

Figure 2-1

Having DISK.PBR on cassette is used mainly for disk boot

software that allows for a cassette boot.

Set the TV switch Boxes to view the Print Buffer video

(tv) output as per Table 1-1. Make sure the P.B.R. cartridge

is inserted in the Print Buffer. Turn on the Printer and

make it ready. Turn on the Printer Interface (if you have

one). Turn on the Print Buffer. The Print Buffer should

display this title screen:

PRINT BUFFER ROUTINE VERSION 2.00

Copyright 1984, B. L. ENTERPRISES

for about 2 seconds. The buffer's RESET key will display the

title screen again for 2 seconds. The blank screen is the normal

condition for the Print Buffer. If these things do not happen

refer to CHAPTER 4.

.

PAGE 7

Next set the TV switch Boxes to view the main computer

as per Table 1-1. Insert the cassette into the drive and

turn on the computer while holding down the start key. The

computer will beep once. Insert your program disk into the

disk drive, press PLAY on the recorder, and RETURN on the main

computer. The tape will load and you should then get the

P.B.R. title screen:

FROM PBR: © 1984 B. L. ENTERPRISES

PRINT BUFFER STATUS = OK.

nnnnn BYTES AVAILABLE.

The disk drive will come on and your program will load.

The P.B.R. is now installed and should work with the program

just as the printer did.

Pressing RESET will reinstall P.B.R. without having to re-

load from tape. If the P.B.R. does not appear to be working

correctly it could be that the program does not allow a boot

from cassette.

.

PAGE 8

CHAPTER 3 OPERATION

As you can tell from the proceeding Chapters there

are several different versions of P.B.R.. This is done to

achieve compatiblity with as much software as possible.

The 1st version you should try using is DISK.PBR. This is

the normal version that will remain in memory after a reset.

The easiest way to use P.B.R. is to use it in an AUTORUN.SYS

file.(1) This can be just P.B.R. or it can be appended to an

existing AUTORUN.SYS file. The method of appending the file

is easy, however precautions should be taken to not destroy

an AUTORUN.SYS file that cannot be replaced. Before append-

ing the file you should copy AUTORUN.SYS to AUTORUN.ORG (ORG

for orginal). That way if appending does not work you still

have the orginal AUTORUN.SYS file to copy back. Next copy

DISK.PBR to AUTORUN.SYS. Then copy AUTORUN.ORG to AUTORUN-

SYS/A. The /A is very important because that is what tells

DOS to append. More simply put:

COPY AUTORUN.SYS TO AUTORUN.ORG

COPY DISK.PBR TO AUTORUN.SYS

COPY AUTORUN.ORG TO AUTORUN.SYS/A

This way when you boot the disk you will load P.B.R.

just before you boot your program. If there are any errors

with the print buffer or the printer the errors will be

displayed before your program loads.

Of course DISK.PBR can also be loaded by using the DOS

option BINARY LOAD. DISK.PBR loads itself into the uppermost

4K of memory and then changes MEMTOP to just below itself. A

4K block must be used due to restrictions of the operating

system. On machines with more than 48K the 4K above the cart-

ridge, normally wasted, is used. It then checks to see if the

print buffer has been connected and determines the memory size

of the buffer. This is then reported back to you on the title

screen. It also checks to see if the printer is connected,

turned on, and ready. Any errors with either the buffer or

the printer are reported on the main computer's screen.

If your software does not work with DISK.PBR (for ex-

ample it acts as though it prints but the printer does noth-

ing) then you should try using SLIMDISK.PBR. This program is

a "slimmed" down version of DISK.PBR. It was design for min-

imum memory size, requiring only about 1K of memory. This

program works quite well with cartridge type programs such

as Basic, Assembler/Editor, Atariwriter etc... Because this

version was designed for minimum memory size it does not allow

for the use of DUP functions under DOS. This would require a

reboot of SLIMDISK.PBR.

SLIMDISK.PBR must be an AUTORUN.SYS file to run and the

same precautions on protecting files that cannot be replaced

apply here also.

There may be some cases when you would want to load the

P.B.R. from cassette. The DISK.PBR version can easily be put on

cassette as described in Chapter 2 Section 3. Be forewarned

that while any cassette can be booted before the disk some

programs will not allow the booted program to remain in memory.

(1) We use Atari DOS 2.0 with P.B.R.

.

PAGE 9

The P.B.R. also has some nice features for use while printing.

After you have sent one print-out to the printer you can insert

a top-of-form command(1) in the buffer to insure the printer will

be at top-of-form for the next print-out. And don't wait for

the printer to finish, if the computer is ready to send more

data over go right ahead. The buffer will finish the 1st print-

ing, go to top-of-form or what ever console key you pressed, if

any, and then start the next print job.

If you decide that you don't want the print-out you are print-

ing you can press RESET on the buffer. This will erase the contents

of the print buffer and leave it ready to receive data from the main

computer again. If you decide you don't want the print-out as it's

being sent to the buffer (or the main is hung) press the BREAK on

the main computer. You will be returned to the program.

(1)Note: Hold console key until printer pauses and

when key is released the function will be

loaded and the printer will continue printing.

.

ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ

PAGE 10

CHAPTER 4

TROUBLESHOOTING

SECTION 1 HARDWARE

Hardware problems will generally display themselves in

one of four different error messages. These messages are:

# 1.

FROM PBR: ** ERROR ** - TURN ON

PRINT BUFFER, RETURN

# 2.

FROM PBR: ** ERROR ** - CHECK PRINTER,

RESET PRINT BUFFER, RETURN.

# 3.

FROM PBR: ** ERROR ** - BAD LOAD.

PLEASE RELOAD P.B.R.

# 4.

FROM PBR: This version requires 24K

minimum - use SLIM version.

These messages will be displayed on the main computer's

screen at load time of P.B.R. Assuming no actual hardware fault

exists and the cabling is correct, all that is needed is to

follow the error messages instructions. In the case of error

message #1, you are asked to turn on the print buffer, then

press return on the main computer.

For error message #2, you are asked to check the printer.

Is it turned on, paper loaded and on line (ready)? Next you

should reset the print buffer. This will cause the print buff-

er to recheck the printer status. Then you should press return

on the main computer.

After correcting any problems and hitting return on the

main computer, P.B.R. will check the memory size of the buffer

and report it back to you. "PRINT BUFFER STATUS = OK" will

be displayed.

ERROR MESSAGE POSSIBLE CAUSE

------------- --------------

TURN ON BUFFER 1. Print buffer not powered on.

2. P.B.R. cable not plugged into joystick #1

on both computers.

3. P.B.R. cartridge is not inserted in print

buffer.

4. Make sure printer is ready.

5. Print buffer needs to be reset.

.

PAGE 11

PROBLEM STILL EXISTS

If the buffer appears to be cabled correctly and is pow-

ered on you should then set the TV switches to view the print

buffer's video output as per Table 1-1 on Page 2. When the

buffer is turned on you should see the title screen for about

2 seconds. The screen will then go blank as the screen editor

is disabled. Holding down the SELECT key (on the buffer) while

the title screen is on will display the title screen until the

key is released. If the title screen is not displayed set the TV

switch's to view the main computers screen and plug the P.B.R.

cartridge into the main computer. After powering on and you do

get the title screen, this means the P.B.R. cartridge is good.

A possible problem exists in the 2nd Atari computer.

Another way to troubleshoot this problem is to change

computers. Use your main computer as the print buffer and the

print buffer as the main. Of course you will have to recable

the peripherals to the correct computer as per Fig. 1-1.

ERROR MESSAGE POSSIBLE CAUSE

------------- --------------

CHECK PRINTER 1. Printer not turned on.

2. Printer not ready.

3. Printer interface not turned on.

4. Printer not cabled to interface.

5. Interface not cabled to print buffer.

If you have eliminated these items and the problem

still exists you can troubleshoot using the basic cartridge.

Remove the P.B.R. cartridge from the print buffer and insert

the basic cartridge. (If the buffer is an XL simply power

on after removing the P.B.R. cartridge). Set the TV switch's

as per Table 1-1 on page 2. When you power on the buffer

you should now get the Basic "READY" screen. Try using

Basic to get the printer to print. For example try:

LPRINT "0123456789"

If the printer prints "0123456789" a fault exists in

the P.B.R. cartridge. If the printer does not print, then the

problem is in the hardware. Either the printer, printer

interface, or print buffer computer could be at fault.

The print buffer computer can be eliminated as the problem

by swapping it with the main computer and again use the

basic cartridge to do a print operation.

.

PAGE 12

SECTION 2 SOFTWARE TROUBLESHOOTING

This section deals with troubleshooting software

problems. Presumably any software problems will occur

when you are trying P.B.R. with your software for the 1st

time. The problem could be that P.B.R. loads and appears

to be working. Your program even sounds as though it's

sending information to the printer, but in a steady tone,

not the usual beeping tone. This may happen because the

software has corrupted P.B.R. or reconfigured the Joystick

ports.

Another way a failure may present itself is by

hanging when attempting a print operation. This may

happen when the software overwrites P.B.R. in memory. Some

programs do not look at MEMTOP when determining memory

size but do an actual write and read from memory. This

of course corrupts the P.B.R.

So, you should attempt to bypass these problems

by the steps outlined in the Operations chapter. In

fact, they are the exact steps you should take to find

a version of P.B.R. that will run with your software. If

DISK.PBR does not work, try SLIMDISK.PBR. If that does

not work, try loading P.B.R. from cassette. The method's

for loading these other versions are found in chapter 2.

You may also use Appendix A to determine software

compatabilities. It is a list of some programs we have

tried and how P.B.R. is used with them. If you have specific

questions concerning P.B.R. please feel free to write us. We

will make every effort to answer your questions.

.

APPENDIX A

PROGRAM COMPATABILITIES

BASIC(1)

-----

All versions of P.B.R. work with basic.

ASSEMBLER/EDITOR(1)

----------------

All versions of P.B.R. work with Assembler/Editor.

ATARIWRITER(1)

-----------

All versions of P.B.R. work with AtariWriter,

however only SLIMDISK.PBR works with 48K or less.

Remember when using the SLIMDISK.PBR RESET will require

a reboot of P.B.R. On a XL series using DISK.PBR (with

Atariwriter) the Atari translater should be used.

BANK STREET WRITER(2)

------------------

DISK.PBR loaded from cassette works quite well.

RESET will not destroy P.B.R. Bank street with P.B.R.

requires over 48K.

VISICALC(3)

--------

Works with DISK.PBR loaded from cassette.

SYNCALC(4)

-------

P.B.R. will not work with Syncalc, however by saving

the spread sheet using the text option, you can print

it out using the DOS copy function. Simply boot the

P.B.R. disk and copy the saved text file to the printer.

"<file-id>,P:" This may still save you time if the

spread-sheet is extensive.

LJK DATA PERFECT(5)

----------------

P.B.R. will not work with Data Perfect. Data Perfect

appears to corrupt memory above MEMTOP when loading.

HOME FINACIAL MANAGEMENT(1)

------------------------

SLIMDISK.PBR runs fine. Remember it must be an

AUTORUN.SYS file to run.

DATACOMM (using an 850 on the main computer)

--------

Load DISK.PBR from cassette.

1. Atari,Inc.

2. Broderbond

3. Personal Software,Inc. VisiCorp.

4. Synapse

5. LJK Enterpries,Inc.

.....

[RobPattonDotCom]

Here is what I've got. I assume the .rom file has extra bytes on it somehow, as no emulator seems to like it as a cart, but I dont know enough to fix it.

 

Anyone?

 

PBR Files.rar

[1050]

By what means did you dump the cart? Because all I

can see under any file name that might be that is a

standard load from disk executable file which is not

the way cart code would exist.

 

It's also not the proper size for a cart image.

More information will be necessary to move on from

here.

 

A bit later and inside pbr.rom we are instructed to:

turn on CART CLONE,

hit any key.

 

I see direct jumps into OS code, and cart area code

too. So I wonder if it isn't part cart and part RAM?

Lots of repeated code segments which seems senseless

for now.

 

Other file appears to be RANA DUP.SYS?

Edited July 30, 2018 by 1050

[RobPattonDotCom]

The PBR.rom file that was in the archive is the file that the cart dumper I used spit out. I can see PRINT BUFFER ROUTINE VERSION 2.00õõ Copyright 1984, B. L. ENTERPRISES info in the file, so I assume its an actual dump.

 

Have another cart dumper on the way if this doesnt work...

[1050]

Does this dumper have a name?

 

How about the dumper that's coming?

 

I sure hope you are not spending good money for these

dumpers.

 

That text snippet is repeated several times and that

part makes little sense to me.

 

It is not an actual dump of the cart area by the file

header info stored within the file. It appears to be

a DOS SAVE memory from $3B24 thru to $5BFF with a run

address vector of $3B24 which happens to be the load

address as well.

 

A cartridge save would be from $8000 thru to $BFFF if

16K cart or $A000 thru to $BFFF if an 8K cart. It would

not have an appended run vector address with it either.

This illogical difference earmarks it as a pretty lousy

dumper then. Which is why I asked for some kind of method

used to get the dump. Dumper is not an adequate response

that informs me of anything. Sort of like yes for answer

to 20 questions that can't all be answered with one yes.

[_The Doctor__]

Maybe a step by step on dumping and a couple of dump programs would be useful.... the forums are littered with threads about it and the dumping software too. He could just use his Atari then... so many solutions

[RobPattonDotCom]

It was a software cart dumper that I found an ATR image of, I dont recall the name, but I can check.

 

I purchased one of the Atarimax USB readers/writer for another project, but will try it with this project as well.

 

The wiggle the cart, plug it part way in, etc method was problematic for me, I used 3 different dumpers, and was only able to get this one to "work" clearly the forum is telling me it did not work as well as I had hoped. I'm new to cart dumping, I'll try harder next time. I was going to desolder the chip and read it on my eeprom programmer, but didnt want to risk the chip since I've never seen another one of these.

[_The Doctor__]

a very clean card edge and port will help incredibly, and once lined up a quick move should do the trick. The atarimax reader should have made quick work of it as well, if it didn't we may have a new or different cart scheme, I drop a not to Steve at Atarimax, and consult the jindroush (spelled it wrong I bet) cart list to see if the scheme it uses is listed, If it is select it if it isn't Steve may need to add it... either way I'm sure it will work out eventually. super clean is key lined up just so with a deft insertion is the other. I bet you'll get it no problem..

[RobPattonDotCom]

Some pics of the cart. I expect there is nothing fancy there, and would be easy to duplicate.

Edited July 30, 2018 by RobPattonDotCom

[+Nezgar]

2716.... So looks like only a 4KB EPROM. It would occupy the 8K cartridge space, but would have data in half of it.

[1050]

More better information helps a lot, thanks. Yes 4k

in size would be a DOS (K.) Save file from $B000 thru

$BFFF, if you can boot a DOS disk while the cartridge

is plugged in. One of the easiest ways to copy a

cartridge rom too as you need nothing other than DOS

and a disk to write the file to. But some cartridge

code won't allow a disk boot so this aspect can be

an issue.

 

You may need to read up on the DOS commands though.

Page 47 here

http://www.atarimania.com/documents/Atari%20DOS%202.5%20-%201050%20Disk%20Drive%20Owner's%20Manual.pdf

 

Don't worry about being new to the game, I pretty much

had that part guessed at already. No telling what some

software is doing right or wrong and it might be more

trouble to find out than to just let it go for a better

method.

 

As stated there are so many ways it would just be confusing

to name them all. My favorite hands down every time is

Omnimon XL OS. But that would be because I'm used to it.

And it gives excellent results usually. In this particular

case, IF it's as easy as booting a DOS disk while the

cartridge is inserted then I would opt for the

DOS (K.) SAVE method myself.

 

I would not desolder this one either, if DOS (K.) SAVE

doesn't do it then Omnimon XL would so risking heat

damage to a rare one of a kind rom is NOT the thing to

do. Good instincts there.

[_The Doctor__]

wow that needs some cleaning, look like it got wet and made some slight issues...

[BillC]

2716.... So looks like only a 4KB EPROM. It would occupy the 8K cartridge space, but would have data in half of it.

16k bit is only 2k Byte.

[1050]

Quite right BillC and I'm guilty of not engaging a

working brain stem in double check the facts first

mode as well. Thanks for catching that mistake.

 

So new DOS (K.) SAVE addresses would be for $B800

thru $BFFF for this 2716 based cart.

[RobPattonDotCom]

Ok, here is my 2nd dump attempt.

 

It seems to work in the emulator!

 

 

PBR.bin

Edited August 13, 2018 by RobPattonDotCom

[1050]

Very much better but still in error due to repeated

segments of same information. BUT the emulator is not

prepared for a 2K file at all and it's very likely this

form is the only one that would fly there anyway.

 

Here is the 2K version for those wanting to duplicate

it exactly. I already tested it by adding it to itself

three more times and then testing that file against your

file for no differences encountered report from MS-DOS

file compare program. Nicely done.

 

pbr2k.zip

[RobPattonDotCom]

Lots of ways to do this, but if I take this file, should I be able to just burn a 2716 with this? I guess at this point it cheaper just to use one of Tucker's MaxFlash carts

[1050]

Yes if you use my file only.

 

The MaxFlash would need your file. I assume.

 

But we don't know exactly how it all works just yet

either. If I was doing it, I would have the Atari

protect the 8K area where the 2K cart is and then

use the empty area as ram for the buffer. Printer

buffers are supposed to use ram and it's supposed

to be ram that can't be already be in use which is

kinda the point to adding a printer buffer in the

first place. But this all just conjecture that I

probably won't be investigating because it's too

much work and the interesting part for me is over.

I don't need a printer buffer you see.

 

This is pretty old hardware/software while being

a solution I don't even need. I wonder why they

needed it to be honest. I see problems with my

own suggestion above too, I simply don't know

how it all works. Very glad to see this archived

on several hard drives just the same - all Atari

software deserves that much consideration.

[RobPattonDotCom]

I ordered a 5 pack of max flash, just to have to play with, but I have eeproms, just need to find a blank cart, to see if I can do it is what pushes me. I havent used this pbr thing since 89 ish, and even then it was more just to prove it worked. There is a joystick cable that I havent yet found so I couldnt actually "use" it even if I wanted to.

Now to see if I can find someone that has the disk emulator ver of this

[+Larry]

In addition to this one and several hardware add-on devices (such as the MIO and BB), wasn't there a magazine program to use the extra 64K of an XE as a printer buffer? I'd swear that I remember it from Analog or Compute!, but can't find it in online searches. Anyone remember it?

 

-Larry