TBXL & MyDos "M" (Run at Address)

[+Larry]

This came up in the "TurboBasicXL Problem" thread:

 

http://www.atariage....asicxl-problem/

 

Didn't want to muddy that one up, so here is a new thread.

 

Over the years, a number of folks have posted that they can go back to Turbo Basic XL from Dos by using the "Run at Address" command. I've never had much luck with that other than with the TBXL cartridge version. The cartridge version is a special cartridge -- it has a special loader menu that allows you to select from regular TBXL or the Compiler. As far as I can tell it loads all the parts of TBXL in the same places as the disk version. I'm guessing that it works properly because when the cartridge re-initializes, it reloads all the code in the $2080 region. (?)

 

It was commented that MyDos MEM.SAV had to be active for the M command to be successful. Certainly that makes sense since part of TBXL loads "low" at $2080, and gets clobbered by DUP.SYS. But it still doesn't work (for me) with MyDos 4.50. For me, MEM.SAV is always active since it is part of the ramdisk system. But if I use the M command, it puts up the "TURBO" prompt, but is locked up. So I tried to use MEM.SAV without the ramdisk. It behaves a little differently, but still is damaged and will not execute properly.

 

So.... for those folks that have had success in getting TBXL to reinitialize from the DUP.SYS menu -- how did you do it? What Dos were you using?

 

-Larry

[Mathy]

Hello Larry

 

Not sure if this solves your problem. But there was a problem with MEM.SAV in "older" versions of MyDOS. This should be fixed in the cartridge version of MyDOS and all versions of MyDOS newer then 4.53.

 

Mathy

[+Larry]

Hi Mathy-

 

Thanks! I've been looking into this MEM.SAV issue that you mention, and it seems that I keep coming up with more questions than answers!

 

Maybe you know the answer to this, or perhaps Lee will read it and respond.

 

The version of 4.55 that I found at your site has only the DOS.SYS and DUP SYS files + source. There is no ramdisk file. Did Lee intend that MYRAMD2 would be used? If so, it does not appear to work correctly with 4.55, at least with BASIC active. It puts DUP.SYS on the ramdisk, but no MEM.SAV, so any BASIC program is lost when leaving to the DUP.SYS menu.

 

In reading the docs to MYRAMD2, it says "MyDos 4.50 and above (4.5x) does not do BASIC with a ramdisk." (He goes on to show a patch so that it will work.) Taken verbatim, that can't be correct -- Charles Marslett's RAMBOOT.AUT works perfectly with BASIC (not RAMBOOT3.AUT). Maybe Lee means that MYRAMD2 won't work without patching MyDos? Even that doesn't seem right, since I've used 4.50 with MyRD2 and the ramdisk and BASIC seem to work fine together.

 

Can you shed any light on this?

 

-Larry

[russg]

I didn't use a ramdisk. I think your ramdisk is the problem. MEMSAV in MyDOS

4.53 load TBXL 1.5, N option loads TBXL 1.5. Then DOS/DUP.SYS gets back

to 4.53 menu, then M at 2080 works. I guess I don't understand the problem.

I'm working in atari800winplus 4.

Edited February 24, 2012 by russg

[+Larry]

Excellent, Russ! You have solved my mystery!

 

I have always used the regular MEM.SAV file -- 58 SD or 29 DD sectors as the mem.sav for this exercise. You use the actual TBXL as the (binary load) MEM.SAV. Sure enough, when it goes to the DUP.SYS menu and I use the "M" at $2080, it loads the part that gets clobbered and works perfectly. Evidently, I never understood how the MEM.SAV was changed from the earlier versions (3.07, etc. that were like Dos 2) to be more flexible like it is now. I don't think the manual is all that clear about this, so I'm definitely going to put some notes in mine. BTW, this works for either real hardware or Atari800WinPlus4.

 

Thanks!

-Larry

 

I didn't use a ramdisk. I think your ramdisk is the problem. MEMSAV in MyDOS

4.53 load TBXL 1.5, N option loads TBXL 1.5. Then DOS/DUP.SYS gets back

to 4.53 menu, then M at 2080 works. I guess I don't understand the problem.

I'm working in atari800winplus 4.

[Roydea6]

Excellent, Russ! You have solved my mystery!

 

I have always used the regular MEM.SAV file -- 58 SD or 29 DD sectors as the mem.sav for this exercise. You use the actual TBXL as the (binary load) MEM.SAV. Sure enough, when it goes to the DUP.SYS menu and I use the "M" at $2080, it loads the part that gets clobbered and works perfectly. Evidently, I never understood how the MEM.SAV was changed from the earlier versions (3.07, etc. that were like Dos 2) to be more flexible like it is now. I don't think the manual is all that clear about this, so I'm definitely going to put some notes in mine. BTW, this works for either real hardware or Atari800WinPlus4.

 

Thanks!

-Larry

 

I agree Excellent. Thanks 'Russ'.

Larry have you ever used MyDOS 4.51 or any of the newer versions of MyDOS. I just wonder why you keep mentioning 4.50 version.

[+Larry]

Hi Roy-

 

I have tried some of them, and for one reason or another, I've always gone back to 4.50. Guess it's like a comfortable old pair of shoes. However, I don't recall ever seeing 4.51 or 4.52. What was fixed or improved? IIRC, for most of them, they kept getting a little bigger with each revision. (?)

 

4.53 seems to work well, and 4.55 beta 3 seems fine. Do you have a particular reason for liking 4.53? (IIRC, you mentioned before that you mostly use that one.)

 

-Larry

 

 

I agree Excellent. Thanks 'Russ'.

Larry, have you ever used MyDOS 4.51 or any of the newer versions of MyDOS. I just wonder why you keep mentioning 4.50 version.

[Mathy]

Hello Larry

 

As I said elsewhere, I'm not using the Atari much at the moment (only on meetings and only for playing games). Lee will have to answer most of your questions.

 

4.51 is on my MyDOS page, AFAIK 4.52 doesn't exist. 4.53/3 and 4.53/4 (a patched version for 4.53/3) use the auto run system (IIRC) that smart-DOS introduced, where FILENAME.AR0 is autoloaded first, then FILENAME.AR1, etc. AUTORUN.SYS (which doesn't say much about what the file does, except autoload) doesn't autoload anymore. /3 uses 3 digits minimum, /4 was introduced because some software that was patched to use MyDOS's 4 digit minimum didn't work anymore. 4.55 kills a lot of bugs and does away with the need for separate versions (you can now choose if you need the 3 or the 4 digit minimum).

 

IIRC you can switch on and off the use of MEM.SAV. IIRC with "L" and "N", it's somewhere in the manual I guess. I never really got how and why we need MEM.SAV, but that might have something to do with the fact that my first computer was a 130XE (read: had a RAMdisk). MyRD(2) should work with all later versions of MyDOS, at least all those that Lee wrote. Don't use RAMBOOT3. It's got so many bugs, if it would be a piece of PC-software you'ld call it a virus. Or Windows. :-)

 

Mathy

[Roydea6]

Hi Roy-

 

I have tried some of them, and for one reason or another, I've always gone back to 4.50. Guess it's like a comfortable old pair of shoes. However, I don't recall ever seeing 4.51 or 4.52. What was fixed or improved? IIRC, for most of them, they kept getting a little bigger with each revision. (?)

 

4.53 seems to work well, and 4.55 beta 3 seems fine. Do you have a particular reason for liking 4.53? (IIRC, you mentioned before that you mostly use that one.)

 

-Larry

 

 

I like 4.53/3 because of the three digit sector count. and 4.55 beta 3 &4 for the same reason.. I don't use any ramdisk loader because I rarely use a ramdisk. But with a freshly loaded atr or disk I can just use option 'I' and set one up..when needed...

[+Larry]

In looking at the MyDos 4.53 files, the author included a .DSK image. (Apple and TI and ST?) Easily handled by copying the files to an ATR, but I was curious if there is a conversion tool to change it to an ATR? Just looking at it quickly it looks like a "short" XFD. BTW, APE can be a little picky at times, but it readily accepted this DSK.

 

-Larry

[Roydea6]

In looking at the MyDos 4.53 files, the author included a .DSK image. (Apple and TI and ST?) Easily handled by copying the files to an ATR, but I was curious if there is a conversion tool to change it to an ATR? Just looking at it quickly it looks like a "short" XFD. BTW, APE can be a little picky at times, but it readily accepted this DSK.

 

-Larry

I use Diskcom to enlarge this type of DSK or Imagic by APE 'classics' software. Just rename xxxxx.dsk to xxxxx.dcm and drop it into the window of Imagic.

 

Also there is an Older dos program call DCM2ATR.EXE that did this back in PC DOS or WIN95 days.

Edited February 25, 2012 by rdea6

[+Larry]

Hi Roy-

 

Yes, that works. Thanks!

Brings back memories of all those different 80's image formats like Scrunch, Shrink, Crusher, etc. My "WHATIS" program didn't recognize the DSK, so I'm glad you knew. Learned two new things yesterday -- a good day!

 

-Larry

[Fox-1 / mnx]

Also there is an Older dos program call DCM2ATR.EXE that did this back in PC DOS or WIN95 days.

 

Quoted from http://home.planet.nl/~ernest/atarixle.html

 

 

 

DCM2ATR

The Diskcomm archive to SIO2PC archive converter

 

Convert files that are in the .dcm format to the .atr format. This program for the PC lets you convert the .dcm files that you can download from various places to the format used by SIO2PC and almost all of the emulators. Version 1.01.