tep392 Posted January 11, 2017 Share Posted January 11, 2017 I did some testing of the ramdrive speed comparing RAMDRIVE.SYS with RAM in Axlon mode vs. RAMD816L.SYS with linear mode and it actually performed a little slower in linear mode. I would say about 5% slower. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GlowingGhoul Posted January 19, 2017 Share Posted January 19, 2017 Do we have any idea how many games used illegal opcodes? If I understand correctly, anything that does will crash the 65C816, is that right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tep392 Posted January 19, 2017 Share Posted January 19, 2017 Do we have any idea how many games used illegal opcodes? If I understand correctly, anything that does will crash the 65C816, is that right? I've asked the same question but I didn't get a clear answer. I believe it's possible for illegal opcodes to cause a failure. I don't know what games have that problem. I was testing some programs in emulation with 65C816 enabled, and I found the copy program Disk Magic would fail. I traced it to a bug, likely caused by a poorly done crack, that caused the CPU to jump to a location in the code that was in the middle of and opcode/operand. The operand was treated as an illegal opcode. This didn't cause the program to fail on a 6502 so nobody ever noticed. So that is sort of an example were an illegal opcode could cause a program to fail on a 65C816. I thought I read that the 65C816 can be put in a 6502 mode. If that's true, then maybe that's a solution. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xxl Posted January 19, 2017 Share Posted January 19, 2017 Do we have any idea how many games used illegal opcodes? If I understand correctly, anything that does will crash the 65C816, is that right? e.g. http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-mazezam_28629.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+bob1200xl Posted January 19, 2017 Share Posted January 19, 2017 Illegal op-codes will cause a failure if you run them into a 65816, whether you are in 6502 mode or not. All op-codes are legal in a 65816 but they execute differently on the 65816 than the 6502. Your software isn't going to like that... Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+bob1200xl Posted January 19, 2017 Share Posted January 19, 2017 I didn't mean to imply that legal 6502 code runs differently, only the un-supported 6502 op-codes do that. Very few commercial programs use illegal op-codes. Almost none, I would say. Some programs fail for other reasons. 98% of existing software works OK. The 65816 powers on in 6502 mode, by the way. You have to use special op-codes to force it into 65816 (16-bit) mode after a power-on. This adds a bunch of cool features to your system, but you need a special OS (at least) to run in 65816 mode. Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GlowingGhoul Posted January 20, 2017 Share Posted January 20, 2017 I didn't mean to imply that legal 6502 code runs differently, only the un-supported 6502 op-codes do that. Very few commercial programs use illegal op-codes. Almost none, I would say. Some programs fail for other reasons. 98% of existing software works OK. The 65816 powers on in 6502 mode, by the way. You have to use special op-codes to force it into 65816 (16-bit) mode after a power-on. This adds a bunch of cool features to your system, but you need a special OS (at least) to run in 65816 mode. Bob That's a relief. I'd hate to think I was making my machine significantly less compatible with this upgrade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyle22 Posted January 21, 2017 Share Posted January 21, 2017 Konrad's excellent 816 OS is here: http://drac030.krap.pl/en-pliki.php Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
p0ke Posted May 11, 2017 Share Posted May 11, 2017 maybe stupid question but, would it works with 800xl too ? I could be interested Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tep392 Posted May 12, 2017 Share Posted May 12, 2017 maybe stupid question but, would it works with 800xl too ? I could be interested It works great in mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
p0ke Posted May 12, 2017 Share Posted May 12, 2017 Oh great, another question, is the 800xl address the whole memory ? or ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tep392 Posted May 12, 2017 Share Posted May 12, 2017 Oh great, another question, is the 800xl address the whole memory ? or ? I'm not following your question, but I've tested all the memory modes the board supports and they work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
p0ke Posted May 13, 2017 Share Posted May 13, 2017 Well I thought about programming. The way the 800xl can access it. Do the 800xl has access to the complete memory and use it ? Like in case of a demo, would it be possible to store 3 mo of gfx or music and access it (for example) ? Or does it has to access it page by page ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyle22 Posted May 13, 2017 Share Posted May 13, 2017 Yes, if you code the demo using the extended 816 opcodes. You have all the linear RAM you want. No bank switching required. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
p0ke Posted May 13, 2017 Share Posted May 13, 2017 aaaah awesome To get these opcodes you need to use another OS I imagine ? If so is it retro compatible with everything else ? (I guess yes ?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyle22 Posted May 13, 2017 Share Posted May 13, 2017 KMK has a very good OS that allows the 816 to run in native mode without the need to disable interrupts. http://drac030.krap.pl/en-specyfikacja.php I have found it to be very compatible with almost everything I use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+bob1200xl Posted May 13, 2017 Share Posted May 13, 2017 The 65816 powers up in 6502 (8-bit) mode, which runs the stock OS just fine. Without changing modes, you can address all 16MB of memory, using the 24-bit addressing op-codes. These are available in any mode, 8 or 16 bit. I use the Atari ASM/ED cart to place an LDA ($xx),y (or a STA ($xx),y. These are 16-bit addressing modes that the cart will compile OK and use zero-page regs $xx and $xx+1. I then manually alter the compiled code to the 24-bit opcodes, which will then use zero-page regs $xx, $xx+1 and $xx+2 as an address. They have 65816 compilers, but I find this is adequate for most needs. Bob 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drac030 Posted May 15, 2017 Share Posted May 15, 2017 (edited) The MAE http://atariki.krap.pl/index.php/MAE is a native assembler which allows to use the extended opcodes without additional trickery. It also has a full-screen, E: compatible editor, which should work with XEP80 or VBXE 80-column display as well. The extra memory ("high RAM") past the first 64k is always available as data memory. But if you want to run code in it, you need either to disable all interrupts or use some form of extended interrupt services and switch the CPU into the (so called) native mode. One way to accomplish that is to use a 65C816-compatible OS. The other is to disable the internal OS and install the extended interrupt vectors in the RAM underneath, but it is a bit more troublesome if you still want to use the OS services like file access via the DOS and such stuff. Edited May 15, 2017 by drac030 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Nezgar Posted May 17, 2017 Share Posted May 17, 2017 (edited) Antonia boards are still available. Boards with the first version of firmware didn't cooperate with SIDE2. With new firmware already works. Just got mine today, up and running in NTSC 600XL, but my SIDE2 cart does not work. (MEMORY TEST at power-on) Where can i get this new firmware? Also the Antonia board seems to 'pop-out' of the CPU socket easily if bumped or moved. Any suggestions to secure it better? (Solder? haha) I stuck a rubber foot under the motherboard so when pressing down, it doesn't flex. Seems to have helped a lot. Just don't want it to happen once i close it all up. I presume everyone else is ditching the shielding once this is in as well? Edited May 17, 2017 by Nezgar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simius Posted May 17, 2017 Author Share Posted May 17, 2017 Just got mine today, up and running in NTSC 600XL, but my SIDE2 cart does not work. (MEMORY TEST at power-on) Where can i get this new firmware? You should have this firmware already. Also the Antonia board seems to 'pop-out' of the CPU socket easily if bumped or moved. You have a weak CPU socket. Replace it with precision socket. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Nezgar Posted May 17, 2017 Share Posted May 17, 2017 (edited) You should have this firmware already. Any other suggestions how to make SIDE2 work? It just goes to Self-Test memory test, and even reports some bad spots with cart inserted. SDX 4.48 on the SIDE2 currently if that matters. Maybe it will improve when I replace the socket with precision socket, but using disk-based SpartaDOS 3.2f I was able to make a 1MB RAMBO ramdisk, and run ANT.EXE ok. Edited May 17, 2017 by Nezgar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simius Posted May 20, 2017 Author Share Posted May 20, 2017 Firmware with SIDE2 support is here. Ant800XL.zip 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariGeezer Posted May 20, 2017 Share Posted May 20, 2017 Firmware with SIDE2 support is here. Does this include the SIDE v1 cart too ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simius Posted May 23, 2017 Author Share Posted May 23, 2017 Does this include the SIDE v1 cart too ? I can't confirm. I didn't have the SIDE v.1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dottorgonzo Posted June 5, 2017 Share Posted June 5, 2017 I would be interested in one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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