etownandy Posted August 26, 2016 Share Posted August 26, 2016 I have two slots free in my 4A config on MAME. One of the pieces of hardware I never got to use when I had real hardware was the Horizon RAMdisk. I'd like to play around with such a beast in my virtual setup. It was easy enough to drop a couple of HRD 4000s in slot 6 and 7 of my virtual PEB, but of course, nothing happens. I was half-hoping they'd "magically" appear as DSK5 and 6, but I did remember something about a ROS that needed to be loaded. I found a BudMills folder in the PC99 disk images section of whtech, but have no idea what I'm looking for or what it might be called. Can someone help guide me through the setup process and what I'd need to get these rolling? Once that (whatever it is) is complete, will MAME see the HRDs as the next drive numbers in series (5 and 6 in my case, using the BWG controller with 4 DS/DD drives)? Do the drives retain their contents between sessions like a disk or hd image? My main goal is to get a pretty well stocked FWeb system going, with such niceties as Asgard's Spell-It on the Horizon. I'm simply out of storage with emulating floppies and want something a lot bigger than 360K. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shift838 Posted August 27, 2016 Share Posted August 27, 2016 I think I may have a setup procedure for the HRD and Mame. It will save your contents basically to a file if I recall. Let me look. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shift838 Posted August 27, 2016 Share Posted August 27, 2016 I have two slots free in my 4A config on MAME. One of the pieces of hardware I never got to use when I had real hardware was the Horizon RAMdisk. I'd like to play around with such a beast in my virtual setup. It was easy enough to drop a couple of HRD 4000s in slot 6 and 7 of my virtual PEB, but of course, nothing happens. I was half-hoping they'd "magically" appear as DSK5 and 6, but I did remember something about a ROS that needed to be loaded. I found a BudMills folder in the PC99 disk images section of whtech, but have no idea what I'm looking for or what it might be called. Can someone help guide me through the setup process and what I'd need to get these rolling? Once that (whatever it is) is complete, will MAME see the HRDs as the next drive numbers in series (5 and 6 in my case, using the BWG controller with 4 DS/DD drives)? Do the drives retain their contents between sessions like a disk or hd image? My main goal is to get a pretty well stocked FWeb system going, with such niceties as Asgard's Spell-It on the Horizon. I'm simply out of storage with emulating floppies and want something a lot bigger than 360K. So I thought I had it, but i did not so I pounded one out real quick. This is what i used. Now with the TI if you have 4 Floppy drives hooked up then you will max out one HRD with DSK5,6,7,8,9 maxing the sectors out to 1600. So, putting in a second RAM disk does not look possible. Maybe Michael Zapf can chime in to make sure I am right on that part. But here is a PDF with a step by step that I did. Horizon RAM Disk Setup with MAME.pdf 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+InsaneMultitasker Posted August 27, 2016 Share Posted August 27, 2016 RAMdisk drives can also use letters. ROS allows a maximum of 10 drives. 8.14F allows 10 drives each a maximum 1600 sectors. ROS 8.32 variants increase the per-drive capacity to 3200 sectors. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shift838 Posted August 27, 2016 Share Posted August 27, 2016 (edited) That's right. Thanks Tim! I forgot. So with more than one RAMDISK you should be able to go through the same process in the doc, just make sure the CRU is changed for the second HRD. I think I used 1200 and then 1400 CRU in MAME before. Tim, Is ROS 8.32 available for download somewhere now? I know 8.14F is on the FTP site. Edited August 27, 2016 by Shift838 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+InsaneMultitasker Posted August 27, 2016 Share Posted August 27, 2016 Is ROS 8.32 available for download somewhere now? I know 8.14F is on the FTP site. Good question. I thought I posted the in-process revision 8.32e or 8.32f here on AA, though I could be wrong... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shift838 Posted August 27, 2016 Share Posted August 27, 2016 Good question. I thought I posted the in-process revision 8.32e or 8.32f here on AA, though I could be wrong... Is this the one you are talking about: HERE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shift838 Posted August 27, 2016 Share Posted August 27, 2016 Good question. I thought I posted the in-process revision 8.32e or 8.32f here on AA, though I could be wrong... I found a 8.32e executable file and the 8.32 CFG files which is dated 3/22/2014 in my emails. Not sure if the CFG files are the latest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atrax27407 Posted August 27, 2016 Share Posted August 27, 2016 Here is the pertinent thread for CFG/ROS832 http://atariage.com/forums/topic/222710-horizon-ramdisk-ros-and-cfg/page-6?hl=%2Bcfg832&do=findComment&comment=3290674 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Schmitzi Posted August 27, 2016 Share Posted August 27, 2016 As I also tested the newer ROS 832xyz this time, I couldn´t find out until today which one is the newest version. There maybe was an "e" and an "f" confused inside one of the DSKs, or on the ZIP-name ? Or something like this. Or a newer interim-version came with an older date/name, and rested. But I am not sure about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+InsaneMultitasker Posted August 27, 2016 Share Posted August 27, 2016 I do not see the most recent version in the CFG/ROS thread. VDP dependencies and forcing Ubergrom carts to a 'known' page (to ensure XB and other carts play nice with the ROS startup) were the last changes I recall making. For now, the final release has fallen victim to other priorities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mizapf Posted August 27, 2016 Share Posted August 27, 2016 So I thought I had it, but i did not so I pounded one out real quick. This is what i used. Now with the TI if you have 4 Floppy drives hooked up then you will max out one HRD with DSK5,6,7,8,9 maxing the sectors out to 1600. So, putting in a second RAM disk does not look possible. Maybe Michael Zapf can chime in to make sure I am right on that part. Ehm ... I'm not sure whether you can set up two HRD in parallel. Does it work in the real system? Concerning your Howto, could you send me a package of your images and text so that I can add this to Ninerpedia? It's a bit cumbersome to copy that out of the PDF file. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+InsaneMultitasker Posted August 27, 2016 Share Posted August 27, 2016 Ehm ... I'm not sure whether you can set up two HRD in parallel. Does it work in the real system? Multiple, physical RAMdisks will work in the same system, so long as each card is assigned a unique CRU address via its respective on-board DIP switch. Drive letters are expected to be unique within the system, though CFG does not try to determine which are in use. The user must keep track of what drives were already allocated within CFG when configuring/formatting RAMdisk drives. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shift838 Posted August 27, 2016 Share Posted August 27, 2016 Ehm ... I'm not sure whether you can set up two HRD in parallel. Does it work in the real system? Concerning your Howto, could you send me a package of your images and text so that I can add this to Ninerpedia? It's a bit cumbersome to copy that out of the PDF file. I will be updating the instructions tonight to show 2 ram disk in the same system and probably using the new 8.32 ROS. Once i have it done I will send the source word doc to you privately so you can copy the text and all easier. Sound good? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
etownandy Posted August 27, 2016 Author Share Posted August 27, 2016 That all worked fine (thank you very much) but then I re-discovered that from the central menu, you can't specify various drives for various programs. But I think I can work around it by having the E/A side go to the RAMdisk and the TIW side go to a floppy image. I'll have to try the new ROS, too...setting these to 1600 gives me 400K, or not a whole lot more than a DS/DD disk image would give me anyway. Really appreciate the help. It's great finally getting to play with an HRD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
etownandy Posted August 27, 2016 Author Share Posted August 27, 2016 Oh, and I did manage to get two HRDs in the system. The ROS detected both, but refused to let me partition the second one out. I maxed out the drive numbers, but still have letters to play with. The ROS sees them, but the only one I can set Disk parameters for seems to be the first one. The second is set at CRU 1700 (this is a 4A with BWG, RS232, speech card [no cru there, right?], and the EVPC). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shift838 Posted August 27, 2016 Share Posted August 27, 2016 That all worked fine (thank you very much) but then I re-discovered that from the central menu, you can't specify various drives for various programs. But I think I can work around it by having the E/A side go to the RAMdisk and the TIW side go to a floppy image. I'll have to try the new ROS, too...setting these to 1600 gives me 400K, or not a whole lot more than a DS/DD disk image would give me anyway. Really appreciate the help. It's great finally getting to play with an HRD. Also with the new ROSCFG832 you can get up to 3200 sectors per drive. I did verify that. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atrax27407 Posted August 27, 2016 Share Posted August 27, 2016 CFG'ROS832 has been stable for a couple of years now. The late Great Gazoo used it and I have had it installed for quite some time. The thread dealt mainly with the ability of the CFG program to identify any other cards installed in the system. Having, for example a 3200-sector workspace partition allows for the temporary storage of a multitude of materials. I used it as an intermediate stop to store 7 or so archived disks prior to transferring them to my PC for permanent backup. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
etownandy Posted August 28, 2016 Author Share Posted August 28, 2016 Also with the new ROSCFG832 you can get up to 3200 sectors per drive. I did verify that. Did you verify that you can write to the drives? I set up 3 partitions - 2 of 3200 and one of ~1700. DSK5 gives a consistent device error although DSK6 seems to work fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shift838 Posted August 28, 2016 Share Posted August 28, 2016 Did you verify that you can write to the drives? I set up 3 partitions - 2 of 3200 and one of ~1700. DSK5 gives a consistent device error although DSK6 seems to work fine. yes, I verified I can save and load files. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
etownandy Posted August 28, 2016 Author Share Posted August 28, 2016 I wonder if Funnelweb is doing something wonky. Last time I tried, I was in DiskReview when I started getting device errors. So I reconfigured/formatted everything and tried again, but this time used DM-1000. I was able to copy files just fine. I got all the files I needed on the drive, and used FWeb Config to point everything to DSK5. When I saved the config back to the drive, I got an error. Whenever these errors occur, the drive is completely gone - nothing can see it and everything reports errors. Anyone aware of any incompatibilities between Funnelweb and HRDs? It seems like that would have caused quite a stir back in the day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
etownandy Posted August 28, 2016 Author Share Posted August 28, 2016 Did some more exploring, and managed to blow the ROS with Disk Utilities 4.2 as well. DM-1000 hasn't given me the slightest trouble. At any rate, I managed to get everything to fit on a DS/DD disk, with the HRD in use for the Spell-It dictionary. Strange the DR and DU seem to pretty consistently mess things up, while DM does not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atrax27407 Posted August 28, 2016 Share Posted August 28, 2016 All of those programs work fine together on real hardware. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+InsaneMultitasker Posted August 28, 2016 Share Posted August 28, 2016 I wonder if Funnelweb is doing something wonky. Last time I tried, I was in DiskReview when I started getting device errors. So I reconfigured/formatted everything and tried again, but this time used DM-1000. I was able to copy files just fine. I got all the files I needed on the drive, and used FWeb Config to point everything to DSK5. When I saved the config back to the drive, I got an error. Whenever these errors occur, the drive is completely gone - nothing can see it and everything reports errors. Anyone aware of any incompatibilities between Funnelweb and HRDs? It seems like that would have caused quite a stir back in the day. What version of ROS and CFG are you using? And from what source? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
etownandy Posted August 28, 2016 Author Share Posted August 28, 2016 (edited) ROS 8.14 was what I started with, then I used CFG832E to get the size up from 1600 to 3200. I got CFG832E from the post referenced above. 8.14 I got from a mirror of WHTECH (www.disavowed.jp/mirrors/whtech.com/emulators/pc99/utils/) With DM-1000 I can read and copy to/from the HRD all day long (using MAME). The moment I try to read from DSKU or DR I get a device error, and the drive is unreadable by anything after that. For the playing around I want to do, this works just fine for me (I don't want to sound like I'm whining about it). But it is curious. Edited August 28, 2016 by etownandy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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