What other stand-alone monitors are there for the A8?

[+Larry]

I'm thinking about ML monitors like Omnimon that are not tied into a language program/cart. That excludes AsmEd and most of the other debuggers.

 

Did anyone ever successfully put Omnimon in a cartridge or ram-based program? Or perhaps into the XL/XE or other OS? QMeg? Don't know much about it. The Monkey Wrench maybe had some very limited monitor functions (IIRC)?

 

-Larry

[Rybags]

By my reckoning "stand-alone" monitor infers it's resident and has minimal intrustion on the memory and system config, which largely rules out carts.

 

There's Ominmon available for XL, there was also the Supermon OS - I've got it on the 400, I think they did an XL version but I've not seen it.

 

In theory you could do a Ram-based OS replacement using a monitor OS but it's a fiddly way of going about it - RAM based OSes are prone to be overwritten or simply disabled.

 

Also "in theory" you could do an "unobtrusive" cartridge monitor - my thinking there is have it disabled unless you switch it on and press Reset. The cart could operate in diagnostic mode, contain some of it's own RAM which could allow you to play about with the system without disturbing anything.

But simply pressing Reset is destructive to many programs, for starters you have no idea what piece of code you've just interrupted.

[+bob1200xl]

DDT is available as a standalone program in APX, isn't it?

 

Bob

[+David_P]

The BlackBox has such functions, AFAIK.

[+slx]

I wrote one that can be loaded to any address and includes a mini-assembler in the mid 80s which was not accepted by the magazine(s?) I submitted it to. I think about re-releasing it for ABBUC. As it was written on the 800 it needs updating to support bank-switching, so it will be next year at the earlies.

[Stormtrooper of Death]

I had supermon in my Atari 130XE. LAter i had Omnimon on my Atari 130XE. Worked perfect.

[+Larry]

Thanks for the suggestions. slx -- hope you do find time to resurrect your monitor; it sounds very interesting.

 

Of the ones I've tried, Omnimon is amazingly good and thorough. Easy to use, with good docs. The only downside is that it is SIO-only since it is tied into the 800 replacement OS. I had forgotten about the APX issue of Extended DDT. I have it out, and will read through the docs and see if it looks like something useful to me. I did get out the Monkey Wrench manual, and the monitor in there is pretty good, but it has the same limitation as Omnimon -- it must be run with a 800 OS. But all-in-all, with the regular Monkey Wrench features, it is a pretty good package.

 

-Larry

[+bob1200xl]

??

 

Monkey Wrench has an 800XL version.

 

So does OmniMon.

 

Yes?

 

Bob

[Rybags]

Omnimon/Omniview I'm quite sure is available for XL.

 

Monkey Wrench & Monkey Wrench II - I don't think so, the doc for 2 on Atarimania describes it still being right cart for 800 only.

Always the chance though that someone has combined it with Basic on a 16K cart or made an executable of it.

[+Larry]

Yes, both Omnimon and Omniview were also available as 800 replacement OS's for the XL/XE. I have both, although I think Omnimon is much more useful than Omniview with its software 80-column display. But since both are 800 replacement OS, they are SIO-only. Many folks would not consider that any significant limitation, but I really like the speed of a PBI drive.

[+bob1200xl]

There is a Monkey Wrench XL version from Eastern House. It sits in the cart slot 'under' internal BASIC.

 

Bob

[+slx]

If you need a Monitor only Monkey Wrench has a lot of overhead as it contains basic enhancements as well and at least the 800 cart version needs fixed cart address space.

[Mclaneinc]

And don't forget that Ultimon II will be available at some point, John Lawson can't give a time due to work commitments but its not forgotten about..

[+Larry]

I thought of another set of possibilities -- magazine type-in programs. Analog published at least two, IIRC. I need to check the other mags, also.

 

-Larry

[+Allan]

DDT is available as a standalone program in APX, isn't it?

 

Bob

I just scanned and posted the APX manual for this on Atarimania.

 

http://www.atarimania.com/utility-atari-400-800-xl-xe-ddt-dunion-s-debugging-tool_29075.html

 

Allan

 

[+Larry]

And don't forget that Ultimon II will be available at some point, John Lawson can't give a time due to work commitments but its not forgotten about..

 

Thanks for mentioning Ultimon. John still maintains his Ultimon web pages, so I downloaded it and the nice docs. Will take a look.

 

-Larry

[Mclaneinc]

My pleasure Larry, the new one sounds great, from what John said, its nigh on finished so I hope he gets some free time at some point to polish it up and release.