tschak909 Posted July 6, 2014 Share Posted July 6, 2014 Need a little help here. Attaching an Ultimate 1MB from the Memory menu, brings up an alternate Altirra BIOS, which asks to put in a flash disk. Which I understand, gotta put the firmware in memory so I can save it with Save Firmware... What am I supposed to use here? Am I supposed to also use the SDX 4.46 Ultimate1MB ROM? I'm wanting to compare an extended memory XL with an IDE Plus 2.0, with an Ultimate1MB and a SIDE2, in terms of performance and functionality. Thanks, -Thom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phaeron Posted July 6, 2014 Share Posted July 6, 2014 Ultimate1MB has a 512K flash that includes SDX, BIOS, PBI, BASIC, game, and kernel ROMs. You could flash this via an ATR-based flasher like you would on a real machine, but if you have the raw image handy it's faster just to bind it directly in System > Firmware > ROM Images. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tschak909 Posted July 6, 2014 Author Share Posted July 6, 2014 Ultimate1MB has a 512K flash that includes SDX, BIOS, PBI, BASIC, game, and kernel ROMs. You could flash this via an ATR-based flasher like you would on a real machine, but if you have the raw image handy it's faster just to bind it directly in System > Firmware > ROM Images. That's just it, i've seen several different things, and am not sure what to actually use, anybody got a link? -Thom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted July 6, 2014 Share Posted July 6, 2014 Here's mine: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/222149-myide-ii-and-ultimate-2k14-lotharek/page-4?do=findComment&comment=3017091 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tschak909 Posted July 6, 2014 Author Share Posted July 6, 2014 Thank you. *HUG* -Thom p.s. I will document this so others can set it up. Question is, where would I put it? on cas's wiki??? Here's mine: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/222149-myide-ii-and-ultimate-2k14-lotharek/page-4?do=findComment&comment=3017091 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tschak909 Posted July 6, 2014 Author Share Posted July 6, 2014 Ok, was able to flash just fine... I can see the U1MB menu (takes a few tries to get the key combo to register), but if I define a Hard Disk in Altirra, set it to SIDE 2, then turn on SIDE in the U1MB menu, SDX seems to hang. -Thom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted July 6, 2014 Share Posted July 6, 2014 Make sure that under System->Console switches, cartridge SDX is turned off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tschak909 Posted July 7, 2014 Author Share Posted July 7, 2014 Oh wow, that did it. What does that do? -Thom Make sure that under System->Console switches, cartridge SDX is turned off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted July 7, 2014 Share Posted July 7, 2014 Oh wow, that did it. What does that do? The SIDE cartridge has SDX on it, just as Ultimate 1MB does, but you only want to use one at a time (otherwise they clash). Moreover, when "SIDE Hardware" is enabled in the Ultimate BIOS, the SIDE cart has to be in "Loader" mode (i.e. not SDX mode). The console switch in Altirra roughly corresponds to the two-position switch on a real SIDE cartridge, and needs to be in the "Off" position. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tschak909 Posted July 7, 2014 Author Share Posted July 7, 2014 Thanks so much for the hard work that you and Candle and Phaeron have done for this. I'll document this for others, so they can set it up, as i think this may be one of the best ways to run any Atari 8-bit, emulated or native. Next, I'll try to see if i can get Windows to mount the vhd's that Altirra makes, and try to shove some ATR's on them to test with the SIDE Loader. Question, I did find out that in addition to the on-menu commands in the main menu, "L" loads the SIDE Loader. What does "C" do? (Cold start?) -Thom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted July 7, 2014 Share Posted July 7, 2014 Thanks - and yes: "C" performs a cold start. You should have success with the VHDs; I played with them a few months back and they worked pretty good. I still wish Avery would unleash direct writes to physical disks in Windows, although I can understand his hesitancy to let users wipe out their C: drives by accident. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tschak909 Posted July 7, 2014 Author Share Posted July 7, 2014 Damn, now L doesn't do anything. No change in screen or anything... I do remember it loading the loader at one point... (I have an external partition that i've made into FAT32, and formatted by attaching the VHD and running FDISK and format on it).... Thanks - and yes: "C" performs a cold start. You should have success with the VHDs; I played with them a few months back and they worked pretty good. I still wish Avery would unleash direct writes to physical disks in Windows, although I can understand his hesitancy to let users wipe out their C: drives by accident. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted July 7, 2014 Share Posted July 7, 2014 You have to really hold that "L" down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tschak909 Posted July 7, 2014 Author Share Posted July 7, 2014 Yup, got it.. Thanks. Is it possible to flash an Atari 800 rev B OS onto the U1MB to run alongside the loader? (I'm gonna guess probably not, I know the Incog can) -Thom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted July 7, 2014 Share Posted July 7, 2014 (edited) Unfortunately not: the 800 OS is only 10KB long. Note also (since I forgot to mention it before) that SDX must be enabled in Ultimate 1MB for the loader to work. The same dependency on SDX does NOT apply to the Incognito's loader. EDIT: You got me thinking now... perhaps a padded version of the 800 OS (as per the Translator) could be flashed to an Ultimate slot? Edited July 8, 2014 by flashjazzcat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tschak909 Posted July 8, 2014 Author Share Posted July 8, 2014 Unfortunately not: the 800 OS is only 10KB long. Note also (since I forgot to mention it before) that SDX must be enabled in Ultimate 1MB for the loader to work. The same dependency on SDX does NOT apply to the Incognito's loader. EDIT: You got me thinking now... perhaps a padded version of the 800 OS (as per the Translator) could be flashed to an Ultimate slot? Yeah, it would be nice, mostly because there still are some A800 games that haven't been cleanly fixed, yet. -Thom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tschak909 Posted July 8, 2014 Author Share Posted July 8, 2014 So far, so good, although I am noticing one peculiarity when I first set up the hard disk image, and get the U1MB working with the SIDE: I have an APT partition I Have assigned as D1:, marked bootable, 512bps and 65535 sectors. This is my massive game loader running MicroSpartaDOS. I can enable SDX, and bounce all over the drive, but when I disable SDX, it tries to load from SIO D1:, failing that, it drops to BASIC (instead of even Self Test, which is weird)... Also, if I enable SDX and use the loader, Select a game, it also drops immediately to BASIC... very strange... -Thom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted July 8, 2014 Share Posted July 8, 2014 I have an APT partition I Have assigned as D1:, marked bootable, 512bps and 65535 sectors. This is my massive game loader running MicroSpartaDOS. I can enable SDX, and bounce all over the drive, but when I disable SDX, it tries to load from SIO D1:, failing that, it drops to BASIC (instead of even Self Test, which is weird)... Also, if I enable SDX and use the loader, Select a game, it also drops immediately to BASIC... very strange... Is MicroSpartaDOS even capable of booting from a 512bps disk? Feel free to send anything you like across so I can take a look at it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tschak909 Posted July 8, 2014 Author Share Posted July 8, 2014 Oh yeah, works just fine. Fast as hell (when it does work.) I'll send my VHD, suitably compressed, gonna upload to my home server. (privmsg coming) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted July 8, 2014 Share Posted July 8, 2014 Got the VHD (thanks), and just set it up in Altirra and it works fine. Not only that, but I love the set-up. I tried launching a few games and all went according the plan. Obviously I'll test on real hardware tomorrow just to be sure. Does the loader go to BASIC all the time, or only when launching certain titles? Which OS are you using? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tschak909 Posted July 8, 2014 Author Share Posted July 8, 2014 Pretty much all the time, I don't know what I did the last time, to get it OUT of this mode, I could try recording a video... -Thom Got the VHD (thanks), and just set it up in Altirra and it works fine. Not only that, but I love the set-up. I tried launching a few games and all went according the plan. Obviously I'll test on real hardware tomorrow just to be sure. Does the loader go to BASIC all the time, or only when launching certain titles? Which OS are you using? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tschak909 Posted July 8, 2014 Author Share Posted July 8, 2014 ... I had Disk Drive disabled under System. Enabling it, and the menu came up. DERP. (I also disabled all SIO patching) -Thom Pretty much all the time, I don't know what I did the last time, to get it OUT of this mode, I could try recording a video... -Thom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted July 8, 2014 Share Posted July 8, 2014 Ah - good stuff. Glad you got it sorted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morelenmir Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 I cannot seem to wrap my head around the U1MB device. The MyIDE's and SIDE's I can cope with and I have tried U1MB before - but just ended up pointing Altirra to a pre-prepared ROM. However I always like to set these things up from scratch and flash them myself. It helps me understand how they work, but I am really struggling. On booting in Altirra, as tschak909 says - it asks for a 'BIOS Flash Disk'. Now, there is an SDX flasher in the latest 4.46 release. However it also needs a 'BIOS' image and I cannot seem to find the 'official' one. Can any one point me in the right direction? I am absolutely NOT - I repeat NOT - in any way dissing your code flashjazzcat. I just want to stress that!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 The complete ROM is a few posts back in this thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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