32 in 1 OS from AtariMax

[tjlazer]

They are in nezgars 32 in 1 image.

I want to make my own with the Atarimax configurator.

[flashjazzcat]

I didn't see anything as obvious as continually repeated pages in the dump, but sure enough the dump is garbage and I should have read the chip more than once. I think it took a few tries to get the chip to read at all, however, and the Amic flash ROMs are crap: they were used in early U1MB boards and I think out of six chips I had floating around here, all but one failed and was thrown away. It makes sense that Steve stopped using them in the later boards and now favours AMD instead.

 

In any case: the snap conclusion that there was some kind of trickery going on in early revisions of the boot menu was a bad call. If Brenski wants to send me his 32-in-1, I'll be happy to flash the selection of operating systems he asked for.

Edited November 22, 2018 by flashjazzcat

[Guest]

thanks Jon ^

 

I'll have a go with the web config with an AMD and see.

if still playing up, i'll box it up the Cold North East

 

cheers

[Guest]

My chips are:

• AM29F040B-120JC V - Acquired via eBay. Erases and programs OK in TL866 when ID check is ignored. 'Mostly' works in the Atari, but unstable, and I could see some pixels 'shimmering' on Gr.0 text, which was my hint at a memory timing issue. I presume this is because 120ns access time is faster than the original 150ns, and is too fast for the Atari...
• AM29F040B-150JC - Original chip from AtariMax. Works perfectly after erasing & programming custom ROM image with TL866.

I used the AtariMax APE Warp+ OS Builder tool to take my first stab at making my own custom 32-in-1 ROM with the following highlights:

• 1200XL Rev 11 is no longer incorrectly named Rev 5
• Edited all the XL/XE revisions for less confusing titles.. ie "XL/XE Rev.B,RB" instead of "XL/XE R-B,RB", and "PAL" instead of "P"
• Option P. XL/XE OS Rev.2 with Highspeed SIO patch V1.30 by Matthias Reichl, Reverse BASIC, shift-reset coldstart, fast math pack, corrected checksums for self test ROM check - from this post: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/206880-130xe-reverse-option-key-for-basic/page-2?do=findComment&comment=3944284
• Option 2. Shoestring's Atari 8bit RAM tester v1.5 - as per this thread: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/282022-shoestrings-atari-8bit-ram-tester/?p=4103968

And some others to fill the slots:

• Option Y. OldRunner (FAQ says by Irata Verlag, 1985) - not really familiar with this one
• Option Z. CSS XL Fix
• Option 0. Omniview XE (80 Column Eleanor: handler)
• Option 3. Ramrod XL - newell fast math routines
• Option 4. Omnimon XL (ROM resident monitor)

Maybe next I can figure out where the background colour byte is in the config OS to patch, and maybe even patch the font "just because"

 

My ROM image is attached.

 

 

if you ever do figure out how to change the screen/font colours and or the actual font used, that would be great.

[+Nezgar]

Anyone have the RamRod XL and A8Diag ROM? I found a RAMROD.ROM, not sure if that is the same one.

 

You likely found the same Ramod.rom I had... mine is CRC32: 64B77137

 

Post #86 in this thread includes links to posts with the HSIO and a8diag downloads.

[_The Doctor__]

you could post your share link...

[+Nezgar]

you could post your share link...

 

http://ftp.pigwa.net/stuff/collections/nir_dary_cds/ROMS/

[_The Doctor__]

Thank you, but I meant you atarimax 32 in 1 configurator share link/word.... it is provided when you make a new 32in1 combo... to keep for yourself and records and also share with friends... it's sort of like a personal for friends password...

Edited November 22, 2018 by _The Doctor__

[+Nezgar]

Ah, I see. it's "Nezgar1".

[tjlazer]

Thanks, that is where I found the ramrod.rom too, thought it might be the 800 version and not the XL. Also on the configurator, I think to download the ROM you have to reupload your custom ROMs otherwise it won't work. Been there done that.

[tjlazer]

I saw some say Nezgar's ROM was corrupt, is that not the case? I could just try to burn his ROM, as I like how he got it configured

[+Nezgar]

I saw some say Nezgar's ROM was corrupt, is that not the case? I could just try to burn his ROM, as I like how he got it configured

FJC/brenski's ROM dump was corrupt. Both my original and customized ROM image I posted previously in this thread should be good to program as-is to yours.

[tjlazer]

ok thanks. I was able to erase and flash one of my chips from an Atarimax 8Mbit cart, so I hope the new chips on eBay also work. I guess I had a bad chip!

[tjlazer]

Good news, new chips from eBay work fine and I was able to program them! They do erase at 12% though. But check out as blank and program fine to 100%.

[+Nezgar]

1st try got me a non-bootable OS, 2nd try mostly good! Got the menu OS modified with:

• Custom font (SIMPLEX.FNT from http://atarionline.pl/v01/index.php?subaction=showfull&id=1236639234&archive=&start_from=&ucat=7&ct=poczatki) - not the best choice I see now looking at the slashes turned to ÷'s
• Background colour changed to my fav 'utility' grey like MIO, DiskRX, etc.
• added 1 more line character to the line across the top, and 2 at the bottom (same line is printed 3 times)
• modified the header bar, but oops forgot one inverse space at the end

 

Phaeron indicated it was just a modified OS-B, so all I had to do was replace the font in the usual place $2000-23FF ( = $E000 to E3FF in the Atari )

 

I found the LDA $70 (decimal 112) then STA $02C6 (decimal 710) for the purplish blue background at $1A08 in the file / $DA08 in the Atari - just changed the $70 to $02

 

Replaced 1 extra space character with a line character to center it better - $1C42 ($DC42 in the Atari), changed $20 to $12

 

and lastly the title string is from $DBF6 through $DC1B.. can do whatever you want

 

Anyhow.. I am pretty familiar with PowerShell scripting from my admin work, and found it was pretty easy to extract portions of the 'compiled' OS to get just the menu OS into a 16KB file for instance without using the hex editor... Which means it should be not much harder to extend the script to modify specific byte offsets like those above..

 

For example... 3 lines to extract the last 16KB of a binary file and save it to another file:

$os = Get-Content -Encoding byte '32-in-1 Nezgar1-font.rom'
$lastos = $os[($os.count-0x4000)..$os.count]
$lastos | Set-Content -Encoding byte '32-in-1 Nezgar1-font-lastOS.rom'

Maybe I'll extend this so its easy for others to make customizations like background colour, header text, pick font file, etc, and the script can apply the patches. Hmmm.. Could also have an option to break out existing 512K compilations out to 32 separate 16KB OS files, or re-combine, etc. We'll see!

 

 

Thinking now AltirraOS would be a good option to load on my next round. Oh, attaching this ROM if others are interested in trying it.

32-in-1 Nezgar1-font.zip

[tjlazer]

Nice going! Yeah it would be cool if you wrote something that we could customize.

[_The Doctor__]

Nice going! Yeah it would be cool if you wrote something that we could customize.

oh I think I get it, you would like a program to select colors and font and all that and make the changes then save out the image, rather than poking them and and using rom save program all by hand...

[Roydea6]

Splits is a file splitter to copy out the desired chunks size (i.e.) 16 for Atari rom os size..

 

Command line driven for Windows 7..

 

splits romname 16

 

Will split a 512 rom into 32 separate files named (romname).000 thru (romname).032

 

splits.zip

 

 

Comes with a text info file also..

Edited November 30, 2018 by rdea6

[scotty]

Now that Altirra supports Ape 32-in-1, why not post more rom images? John, any chance you can repost a good dump of your original? Speaking of original, does anyone have the original dump that Steve shows in the picture?

Edited April 9, 2019 by scotty

[+Nezgar]

Now that Altirra supports Ape 32-in-1, why not post more rom images? John, any chance you can repost a good dump of your original? Speaking of original, does anyone have the original dump that Steve shows in the picture?

 

I still plan to work more on my PowerShell based ROM builder/extractor/menu customizer, but it may be a while still as time and brain power allow... I'll be sure to post here when I have something presentable.

 

I think the Screenshot from the AtariMax site must have been an early selection of OS's he included. I bet that the 'stock' OS selections included from AtariMax has changed over the years, especially the last few slots. Would be interesting if anyone else out there that has purchased the 32-in-1 in the earlier years of it's availability could compare its selections.

[Kyle22]

Splits is a file splitter to copy out the desired chunks size (i.e.) 16 for Atari rom os size..

 

Command line driven for Windows 7..

 

splits romname 16

 

Will split a 512 rom into 32 separate files named (romname).000 thru (romname).032

 

splits.zip

 

 

Comes with a text info file also..

 

Works on WinXP32 also.

[+Nezgar]

Thanks to brenski who kindly sent me another original ROM to try to dump, for which I was successful. It is an AMD 29F040-90JC (Not the "B" variant). I programmed it into an AMD AM29F040B-150JC, and it also works fine.

Comparing to my original, everything is the same except a subtle change in the U-X MyIDE options:

brenski's original:
U. MyIDE 4.2i
V. MyIDE 4.2e
W. MyIDE 4.0e
X. MyIDE 4.0i

My Original:
U. MyIDE 4.3i
V. MyIDE 4.3e
W. MyIDE 4.2e
X. MyIDE 4.2i

So we now have one more good dump of a slightly older original ROM.



The mystery of the ROM and menu seen from the AMIC chip in FJC's post here still intrigues me: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/165161-32-in-1-os-from-atarimax/?p=4160452

 

Just to rule out for myself the possibility of an AMD/AMIC incompatibility, I just placed an order for a few AMIC chips to try out... I really can't see any incompatibility, as the specifications are pretty much identical according to the datasheets:

 

AMIC A29040BL-70F - 5.0V, eight sectors of 64 Kbytes each, Compatible with JEDEC-standards
AMD Am29F040-90JC - 5.0V, Eight uniform sectors of 64 Kbytes each, Compatible with JEDEC-standards
AMD AM29F040B-150JC - 5.0V, 8 uniform sectors of 64 Kbytes each, Compatible with JEDEC standards

 

And in other news... I also solved some other technical mysteries with my first replacement chip... The chip ID being reported by the TL866 was not consistent for the AMD 5V chip, but finally identified it as an ST 3.3V variant, so it's totally a chinese counterfeit, or at least just a re-labelling...

 

The AMD Am29F040-90JC & AMD AM29F040B-150JC both identify with Chip ID of "01A4".

 

My first eBay AMD AM29F040B-120JC identifies itself with Chip ID "20E3" which with some searching I found was really an ST M29W040B - from the datasheet: "2.7 to 3.6V, 8 UNIFORM 64 Kbytes MEMORY BLOCKS". So who knows what the actual access time is.

 

I can't believe they go through the effort to basically scrape the surface of the chip off to label it as something else, but the programmer doesn't lie. explains the strange 'snowiness' with pixel flickering I'd see on some combinations of Gr.0 text... Reprogramming it with the correct chip configured did not help. It's surprising the chip works at all at 5V.

brenski's original 32-in-1.BIN

[+Nezgar]

Thanks, that is where I found the ramrod.rom too, thought it might be the 800 version and not the XL. Also on the configurator, I think to download the ROM you have to reupload your custom ROMs otherwise it won't work. Been there done that.

 

Looks like that ramrod.rom is really just another OmniMon XL from my actually trying it today... So option 3+4 appear to basically be the same in my "32-in-1 Nezgar1-font.zip"

[tjlazer]

Looks like Altirra 3.20 supports the 32-in-1 firmwares now!  But how do you use it?  Can't seem to boot with it.

[tjlazer]

I kinda got it working.  Have to enable it as a XL ROM not the 32-in-1 in the Firmware manger.  But I cannot seem to enter the configuration menu (SELECT) on startup?  Something is not right.

Edited August 17, 2019 by tjlazer