PILOT.rom with real hardware?

[Smokeless Joe]

Is there any way to use the PILOT.rom file from atarimania.com on real Atari hardware?

 

I have an 800XL, an SIO2PC USB cable that I use successfully with a registered version of APE, and a shiny new 1010 that I just got from Video 61 (Lance is awesome). I also just scored the tapes from an Educators' Package of PILOT. So I have this fantasy that I can upload the tape contents to atarimania.com and play a small part as an Atari archiver.

 

Yes, the easy way to do this would be to get a physical PILOT cartridge, and I'm working on it, but I don't have one RIGHT NOW.

 

So... can I use the PILOT.rom on some real hardware, or do I have to wait to get a physical cartridge?

 

Or is there any way to hook a 1010 up to an emulator with the SIO2PC cable?

 

Thanks!

 

- Joe

[+Allan]

You need a file version Pilot if you don't have any programmable cart. I have one of LOGO but can't seem to find one for Pilot. I may still have it but just can't find it. PM about posting stuff to Atarimania.com.

 

Allan

[Xuel]

You could try the PILOT.XEX that I posted in this thread: Looking for an XEX version of Atari Pilot language for XL

[Smokeless Joe]

I can get the PILOT.XEX file to load (using APEloader) but it freezes if I try to do much. If I type in gibberish I can get a *** WHAT'S THAT *** error, but if I try a valid command like "list" or "t:" or "load c:", the whole system becomes unresponsive.

 

Any idea what I'm doing wrong?

[Roydea6]

Atari PILOT for Beginners.pdf

 

Probably no help but fun to read anyway.....

 

[Smokeless Joe]

Ooo, that is fun to read. Thanks!

 

I'm using Xuel's pilot.xex on Altirra 2.40 and it works just fine, so I'm pretty sure his file is good.

 

Is there maybe an incompatibility between the XL series and Atari PILOT? It looks like Atari put out PILOT in 1979, so maybe the XL OS doesn't like it? Has anyone successfully put a PILOT cartridge in an XL and had it work?

[atari8warez]

Ooo, that is fun to read. Thanks!

 

I'm using Xuel's pilot.xex on Altirra 2.40 and it works just fine, so I'm pretty sure his file is good.

 

Is there maybe an incompatibility between the XL series and Atari PILOT? It looks like Atari put out PILOT in 1979, so maybe the XL OS doesn't like it? Has anyone successfully put a PILOT cartridge in an XL and had it work?

 

If you have an Ultimate1MB you could load PILOT ROM in one of the BASIC slots and use it in place of BASIC, it works with XL/XE series. If you don't have an U1MB it's a good upgrade to get, it also gives you a built-in clock for date/time, choices of OS ROMS you can use, for example high-speed OS is one of the most useful for me, and 4 memory size options up to 1088K.

Edited January 26, 2014 by atari8warez

[atari8warez]

Duplicate

Edited January 26, 2014 by atari8warez

[+Allan]

I can get the PILOT.XEX file to load (using APEloader) but it freezes if I try to do much. If I type in gibberish I can get a *** WHAT'S THAT *** error, but if I try a valid command like "list" or "t:" or "load c:", the whole system becomes unresponsive.

 

Any idea what I'm doing wrong?

Can you extract it from that DOS and try another DOS?

 

Allan

[+Allan]

Ooo, that is fun to read. Thanks!

 

I'm using Xuel's pilot.xex on Altirra 2.40 and it works just fine, so I'm pretty sure his file is good.

 

Is there maybe an incompatibility between the XL series and Atari PILOT? It looks like Atari put out PILOT in 1979, so maybe the XL OS doesn't like it? Has anyone successfully put a PILOT cartridge in an XL and had it work?

It definately works with the XL/XE OS. It must be something else that is making it crash.

 

I have used Pilot many times in my 800XL and 130XE.

 

Allan

[Smokeless Joe]

With much help from Xuel and others, I got this to work.

 

The problem was that I was using ApeLoader to boot the PILOT.xex file directly.

 

If I first boot a DOS (I use DOS 2.5), then use DOS menu item L to binary load PILOT.xex, everything works fine.

 

I dunno why one works and the other doesn't, but I have a workable solution so I'm happy.

 

Thanks to everyone for their help!

 

-Joe

[atari8warez]

With much help from Xuel and others, I got this to work.

 

The problem was that I was using ApeLoader to boot the PILOT.xex file directly.

 

If I first boot a DOS (I use DOS 2.5), then use DOS menu item L to binary load PILOT.xex, everything works fine.

 

I dunno why one works and the other doesn't, but I have a workable solution so I'm happy.

 

Thanks to everyone for their help!

 

-Joe

 

It may simply be incompatible with the Apeloader

[Rybags]

Language ROMs are usually special case carts in that you can't just load and run without extra preparation.

 

Generally you need to change RAMTOP and re-open E: such that the screen is ~ $9C00, if the screen is left ~ $BC00 as in a 48K config then the program overwrites it and the user typing will corrupt the language program and probably crash it.

 

An easy way to do it can be to disable Basic while it loads, then re-enable Basic and have a CASINI routine that disables Basic again, calls DOSINI if required then runs the language via the cart vectors after disabling Basic via PORTB.

 

Doing it like that means the OS automatically will open E: in lower memory. Generally with a cart you need a DOS, so it not working via menu loader isn't really a problem.