abraXXious Posted April 4, 2013 Share Posted April 4, 2013 Hey guys, now that a new batch of Ultrasatans is becoming available I thought this might be a good time to bring up something that would be of great help to users of these devices. We need some new SD images. The ones available are missing quite a few of the DBug installable games and as are such incomplete. A 4gb image with all games, demos, music and utils would be great. Happy to pay for someones time in doing this. I would create a new image myself, however my two STes that are fitted with Satandisks have the faulty DMA, so if I try to write to the SD cards on them (to add the missing games for instance) I get file corruption. and because the currently available images are set up so that the first partition is small enough to be read by earlier TOS versions, there is not enough room on there to add the games with the SD card mounted in Windows. I wonder if some general fellow would consider creating a couple of new images for use with Satandisk / UltraSatan? If so, would it be possible to have versions with the main partition (that is visible to Windows) to be 1GB as Im sure a lot of users would have a later TOS that can handle that. If, on the other hand, there is already some 4gb images on the 'net with all the later games that I am unaware of, could someone please point me in the right direction? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie_ Posted April 4, 2013 Share Posted April 4, 2013 You don't really need an image. Just setup your SD card for TOS and PC. Here is a good thread on it. http://atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=15764#p137364 They you can dump all the game on the SD card you want. DO it right at my PC. http://dbug.kicks-ass.net/patch.php Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abraXXious Posted April 4, 2013 Author Share Posted April 4, 2013 Well that would be great.... if my two STes didnt have the buggy DMA. As soon as I try and write to the SD card when it is placed in the ST (via HDDriver) the card will become corrupt. So this guide is no good to someone like myself, or others in the same situation. A shame really as I have already purchase HDDriver (8.4) and it seems very easy to use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNameOfTheGame Posted April 5, 2013 Share Posted April 5, 2013 I think Official Ninja was trying to point out that you can write on the PC and read in on the ST...unless you don't use a PC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abraXXious Posted April 5, 2013 Author Share Posted April 5, 2013 (edited) Yessum, but how am I preparing the SD card in the first place? As far as I am aware you cannot prepare an SD card for use in a Satandisk via PC, it must be formatted on the PC THEN prepared on the Atari via HDDriver..... and as soon as you attempt to do that on an STe with buggy DMA your card is then corrupted. Then you could transfer the SD card to your PC (of which I have several) to copy across your data..... but what would be the point since the card would be at corrupted from being prepped in the STe? Do you see what I mean? Unless there is a way to format, prep AND install data without using the STes at all, it is impossible to create an SD card for use with a Satandisk with my setup. Edited April 5, 2013 by abraXXious Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abraXXious Posted April 5, 2013 Author Share Posted April 5, 2013 If there was a drive image of say a 4gb card, empty with just 4 x 1gb partitions THEN I would be right. I could image this empty drive image to a 4gb card, place this in my PC and copy across all the data to the 1gb parition that is visible on the PC, make an image of this card (in case it later gets corrupted) and then transfer to the Atari for usage. Does anyone have a HDDriver created 4gb blank card image (4 x 1gb empty partitions)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie_ Posted April 5, 2013 Share Posted April 5, 2013 I thought 512mb was the partition limit. Well, my STe uses TOS1.62 and I think 512mb is the limit. If you can point me to an imaging software, I'd be happy to create a 2gb image with 4 partitions of 512mb for you. I don't have any 4gb cards... You can always grab PP's 1gb image here: http://atari.8bitchip.info/DiskImgPP1.html That can get you started. It uses his own driver and has the card partitioned in 3. With several of his patched games on the 1st. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abraXXious Posted April 5, 2013 Author Share Posted April 5, 2013 Hey there, thats very generous of you kind sir. The laters versions of TOS can handle boot partitions of up to 1GB, but at 512 Mb it keeps compatibility with older machines. A 2GB Image with 4 x 512Mb partitions would be fine. Please find the imaging program attached to this post. Do you use HDDriver to prep the card? Thanks for your help. drimg13.zip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abraXXious Posted April 5, 2013 Author Share Posted April 5, 2013 Oh, and I already have that 1gb image - thats what I have been previously using but found it is out of date and is missing a lot of the newly added DBug games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNameOfTheGame Posted April 5, 2013 Share Posted April 5, 2013 (edited) Yes, I see what you are saying...so we can make an image for you...I think I have a 2gb from my satandisk cd...but I think Official Ninja is on the case... Edited April 5, 2013 by TheNameOfTheGame Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abraXXious Posted April 5, 2013 Author Share Posted April 5, 2013 Thanks for the heads up! I just purchased one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNameOfTheGame Posted April 5, 2013 Share Posted April 5, 2013 Thanks for the heads up! I just purchased one! Oh crap...I posted that and then I wondered if that was the official fix for the dma so I edited my post Glad it is what you need...St-Freakz has some good stuff so keep an eye on his inventory. I looked at my satandisk cd and this is the 2GB image 2GB disk image TOS/DOS compatible partitioning with autoboot on Atari ST(E), Falcon with Satan, UltraSatan or IDE hard disk IF. There is 5 partition : 232MB, 232MB, 480MB, 510MB & 450MB. Last will be not visible on Atari if card capacity is less than 1904MB . Binary MB ! Or 3899896 sectors. I can send it to you on a dvd if you want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abraXXious Posted April 5, 2013 Author Share Posted April 5, 2013 Hi TNOTG, thats ok, thanks for the offer though. I updated the TOS rom in these STes so that I could access larger partitions - 230mb boot partition is too small to be usable to me as I use a PC to copy across files and i will run out of room too quick. 512mb should be okies though. Thanks for your help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParanoidLittleMan Posted April 5, 2013 Share Posted April 5, 2013 Oh, and I already have that 1gb image - thats what I have been previously using but found it is out of date and is missing a lot of the newly added DBug games. There were more images earlier, but they lost when Megaupload is shut down. I could up them again, but maybe to do something with newer hd game releases ? It will miss "newly .. Dbug games" - from 2 reasons - there is no such (no new, and no Dbug game ), then I have no right to publish their stuff . So, what image size, how partitoned ? For games see: http://atari.8bitchip.info/fromhd.php Of course, it will be ready to use - with installed driver. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abraXXious Posted April 5, 2013 Author Share Posted April 5, 2013 Hi there PLM, I have upgraded my STes to TOS 2.06 which supposedly can handle partitions up to 1 gb in size. I would LOOOOOOVE a 4gb image (it is practically impossible to purchase 1 and 2 gb SD cards here, they pretty much start at 4gb) divided up into 5 x 800 mb partitions (to be safely under the 1gb limit). 1st partition with all HD installed games - I have that 1gb image file set up on an sd card and it IS missing quite a few of the games from the dbug site. So it would be nice to have the complete collection from the dbug site on there. I would then make the 2nd parition AUDIO and put a heap of chip music and a folder with a couple of good players on there. Partition 3 I would make as IMAGES and put some nice ST generated images with a folder containing some viewers. Partition 4 would be UTILS with a bunch of useful utilities organised in folders. Partition 5 would simply be TEMP and would just be a holding partition for files being worked on (unzipping etc). Oh, is there a program like Directory Opus on the ST? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abraXXious Posted April 5, 2013 Author Share Posted April 5, 2013 I just checked out your link PLM - there are a LOT of games there. Are some of them the same as on the DBug site or are they all differently installed/cracked? Are they all able to be run from the Satandisk? If so, a 4gb image with all those games on an 80mb partition would be amazing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParanoidLittleMan Posted April 5, 2013 Share Posted April 5, 2013 (edited) Only Falcon TOS (4.0x) can handle partitions of 1GB. TOS 2.06 can max 512MB. And it is better to not go on 1GB anyway - there is more space waste with so large partitions, as shorter files will occupy more space (1KB file will take 32KB for instance). So, 4GB card must be partitioned into 8 partitions. And no way that 700 games fit on only 1 part - of 512MB. Probably need 2-3 partitions. "Are some of them the same as on the DBug site or are they all differently installed/cracked? Are they all able to be run from the Satandisk?' Not same at all. Different approach, different solutions. Installation is here only copying DIR with game somewhere. Cracking is less hard part. Browse on site around for more info. Fixing games for hard disk is not only cracking - you need to replace floppy code with hard disk access code, solving RAM conflicts, TOS, TT, Falcon compatibility etc. Long story. Not running from Satandisk would be very stoopid Edited April 5, 2013 by ParanoidLittleMan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abraXXious Posted April 5, 2013 Author Share Posted April 5, 2013 I dunno, 700 games would come close to fitting in 512 MB - most ST games seem to be between 200kb and 800 kb. Some can be as large as 1.5mb or more, but that is definitely not the norm. Still even 700 games over 2 partitions would be cool - one partition A-K, one partition L-Z. It would be great if the two partitions used for games were not the boot partition so it could remain free to for purpose of being a system partition and allowing moving of files from PC (since only the first partition is visible on a PC). So are there 700 games that are presently running from HD? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParanoidLittleMan Posted April 5, 2013 Share Posted April 5, 2013 Some games take 6MB or like. Don't know exact sum at moment, but it is not so relevant in fact, when you have 4GB card. Certainly is better to leave C partition free. And there is a way to make all partitions visible on PC, better said under Windows (Linux will see them all) : http://atari.8bitchip.info/multpremxp.html I would rather put games on partitions not by Alphabet but by used system - what changed, evolved by time. Because of some restrictions, you can not have all game DIRs in ROOT, so need couple category subDIRs on parititons for sure. More than 900, I guess. Counting all done by Dbug, Klaz and me. And there are some older ones, by Superior, from 90-es. But they can run only from max 32MB partition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abraXXious Posted April 5, 2013 Author Share Posted April 5, 2013 Well, seems like you are the man in the know to get it done. Interested in doing us all a favour and creating a nice 4gb image? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abraXXious Posted April 5, 2013 Author Share Posted April 5, 2013 Could even create 9 partitions - one being a 30 Mb to hold those few older games that will only run from that if newer versions do not exist... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParanoidLittleMan Posted April 5, 2013 Share Posted April 5, 2013 (edited) Nice thing with SD cards (Flash cards generally) is that you can easily write them - and even fast with newer card readers - my old one could max. 2.5 MB/sec, while new one can up to 15 MB/sec . Considering Superior hd fixes: they can run only from AHDI partitioned disk, so this TOS/DOS compatible is not good for. But it would be good to make special compilation with their stuff, what would need likely some 128MB, so 4 partitions of 32MB, with some older driver. I will see about it later ... Then may write it on some bigger card for try. And it reminds me (as there is no possibility to save game states with Superior fixes) that you should replace that bad DMA chip - otherwise can not save gamestates, what means for instance that will hardly finish many of them. I even have spare good DMA chip, so if postage is not too much we can deal. And if it is socketed - easy to replace. Edited April 5, 2013 by ParanoidLittleMan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abraXXious Posted April 5, 2013 Author Share Posted April 5, 2013 Hey there PLM. yes please! Please PM me with the total cost of your DMA chip including postage to Australia along with your PayPal address! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnakiMana Posted April 5, 2013 Share Posted April 5, 2013 I'm looking forward to this also. I love Atari gaming! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParanoidLittleMan Posted April 5, 2013 Share Posted April 5, 2013 I made some test with Superior HD fixes: They work with UltraSatan, on Mega STE . Created 4 x 31 MB partitions, and used AHDI driver. But transferring from floppy images is little troublesome - files belonging to one game are often on diverse floppies, mixed with other game's files, so not easy to make nice, separated DIRs . Hard disk runnable ones should be on their menu disks at aprox 100 to 165 . But it is much more floppy - as they may be on multiple floppies. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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