Heaven/TQA Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 Since Revision party I have setup my Atari 800 and XE machines. I got sio2usb interface by ABBUC/RAF but what is annoying for me is only being able to boot ATRs. Is there any chance to load directly XEX files in any of the SIO2USB/SIO2SD interfaces? If so... which one so I can grab a new one? What about direct USB access with the mentioned SIO2USB interface? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Westphal Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 Sio to sd will do .atr and .xex, respectively. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Westphal Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 Lotharek has nice ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heaven/TQA Posted April 28, 2015 Author Share Posted April 28, 2015 ordered... let's see how fast I can get it from Lotharek. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 With the interfaces that go to PC, either USB or RS232 based, it's up to the host software on the PC to provide that functionality. Typically when you mount an XEX the software should then interpret an access to sector 1 as being the start of the boot process, at that stage the loader should be sent to the Atari. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marius Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 (edited) Best feature related to your wish is that Sio2SD also 'mimics' a DOS disk with the XEX file on it. So you can also copy binaries very easily from Sio2SD to an atari Harddisk. I find that a very handy extra. Sio2USB from Abbuc Raf is excellent, but has some limitations. I miss the ability of mounting D1: ... D9: on Sio2USB, and there is a huge problem with the buffer and large ATR's. The higher the sector #, the slower I/O gets on Sio2USB. On the other hand, I find Yash (the tool to control Sio2USB) way more user friendly than the Sio2SD tool. Another pretty cool feature is the RTC in The Sio2USB. Also the lack of easily swap D1: <> D2: in the newer Sio2SD firmware s*cks bigtime (you have to mount your ATR's first to Virtual Disks to be able to swap). I could easily downgrade to a lower version of the firmware, but then I lose the ability of creating fresh new ATR files on my SD card, which is a feature I really like. Sio2USB swaps way more easy between disks. So I find it hard to chose between Sio2USB (Abbuc / RAF) and Sio2SD. They both have their pro and cons. But to come back to your original question: Sio2SD indeed boots XEX files. Edited April 28, 2015 by ProWizard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heaven/TQA Posted April 28, 2015 Author Share Posted April 28, 2015 yup. as developer I need a fast way to start/load XEX files even I could setup a toolchain like when coding Arsantica 2 where it automaticly created an ATR with latest files plus xbios loader. Can the USB content (SD/thumb drive) accessed directly from A8? like a HDD? sio2usb is good device but usabiltiy is well... with mount/unmount... it scrolls so slow through the list of ATRs... then on the display it can not show the long names but only the truncated names (check Ultima 4 or Alternate reality discs)... then sometimes it hangs. don't get me wrong... I really love this devices (I connected my 1979 built PAL Atari800 with 2007 edition of SIO2USB and was suprised that it worked harmless ) but I guess everything is better than c64 and others have? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 (edited) There's extra SIO commands for SIO2SD that allow getting directories of image files etc. and I think you can mount as well - all via the Atari. I'm not sure that sort of thing has been duplicated on the PC-based ones. Though isn't there a feature in APE that allows similar functions from the Atari computer? Though the problem of handling mounts from the Atari side is you need to load the software to do it first. It can become a chicken/egg situation and usually it's easier to just control things from the PC side. I guess if you had a flashcart or special OS on the Atari side then it'd be worthwhile handling from there. Edited April 28, 2015 by Rybags Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heaven/TQA Posted April 28, 2015 Author Share Posted April 28, 2015 smart thing on SIO2SD/USB is that it is not connected to laptop... so I can take the Atari HW to other places without having my laptop nearby. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMontezuma Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 With SIO2BT you only need a Smartphone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mathy Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 (edited) Hello Marcin Small correction: With SIO2BT you only need an Android smartphone. Sincerely Mathy Edited April 28, 2015 by Mathy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMontezuma Posted April 29, 2015 Share Posted April 29, 2015 I wrote smartphone (do you consider iphone to be a smartphone? ), but you are right, I should write android smartphone to be precise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mathy Posted April 29, 2015 Share Posted April 29, 2015 Hello Marcin Do you consider an Android phone to be a smart phone? Sincerely Mathy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marius Posted April 29, 2015 Share Posted April 29, 2015 Hello Marcin Do you consider an Android phone to be a smart phone? Sincerely Mathy Well... I have been using iOS for around 6 years, and now I moved to Android, and I experience this as a BLESSING. No more iOS for me! So yes, my Samsung is a very smart phone. I appreciate the atari 800 emulator and Sio2BT on it too. But please don't let us get into another stupid ... vs ... fight here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marius Posted April 29, 2015 Share Posted April 29, 2015 With SIO2BT you only need a Smartphone Have been using Sio2BT again today. It is so freaking cool to see the faces of the visitors seeing my Atari booting from my phone. Thanks Marcin, it's an amazing invention! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mathy Posted April 29, 2015 Share Posted April 29, 2015 Hello Marius I never needed an iPhone, although I bought my first iMac a decade ago. Way to expensive for what I need a mobile phone for. So when I needed to replace my Nokia 6600 after nine (yes, NINE) years, I bought an Android phone. I went from Android 2.5 to 4.0 and 4.1. Each version had it's troubles with seemingly basic stuff. Service (OK, not Android related but Sony) was terrible. There's a different version of Android for each Android phone. And each upgrade has to be released for each country. Plus you need Google for everything. So I bought a second hand iPhone. Which was more expensive then the Xperia Go when I bought it new. Android is a hobby, I need a real phone. Sincerely Mathy (who'd go back to his 6600 if he hadn't heard his own father say, over the phone, that the line was busy) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMontezuma Posted April 30, 2015 Share Posted April 30, 2015 (edited) Coming back to the original question: Another possibility is an SDRIVE device. SIO2BT uses SDRIVE loader for direct XEX loading (this is fully transparent and applies if you have a patched OS and do not use XBIOS loader). It also 'mimics' a DOS disk with the XEX file on it and the SDRIVE XEX loader is very small (has only 2 sectors). XBIOS loader can load XEX files as well, from the 'emulated' DOS disks (like mentioned above). Edited April 30, 2015 by TheMontezuma Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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