Why the "k" on boot?

[mechanerd]

No - it's for "K"en Siders, who sadly passed away this year.

Sad to hear that. I hope the source is out there.

 

I like your avatar... " SHAKA! When the walls fell !"

[Chri O.]

 

Sad to hear that. I hope the source is out there.

As someone who is in the middle of designing my own SIO2SD Atari 8bit Disk Drive emulator based on Teensy 3.5 MCU I was able to dig some information about the K Boot loader.

// The KBoot loader was written by Ken Siders (atari@columbus.rr.com)
// RIP. Ken; you'll always be remembered in the community; thanks for everything. Condolences to your family.
// Obituary page where condolences can be posted: Kenneth Lee Siders (February 12, 1968 - August 12, 2017):
// http://www.boydbornfuneralhome.com/obituaries/Kenneth-Siders/
//                                  ,,,,,
//                             #WWWWWWWWWWWWW*
//                         ,WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW:
//                       *WWWWWWWWWW+,    .*WWWWWW#
//                     +WWWWWWWW+           W  :WWWW.
//                    WWWWWWWW                    WWWW
//                  :WWWWWWW,                W      WWW
//                 WWWWWWW#                  :W      :WW
//                WWWWWWW,                   , W       WW
//               @WWWWWW                       .#       WW
//              :WWWWWW                      *  *.       WW
//              WWWWWW,                      *   W        W#
//             WWWWWW#                                     W
//            ,WWWWWW                       .     ,        #W
//            WWWWWW,                             .         W.
//            WWWWWW                              ,         +W
//           :WWWWW:                                         W
//           WWWWWW                                          W#
//           WWWWWW                                          :W
//           WWWWW+                                           W
//           WWWWW+                                           W
//           WWWWW+     .......,       ****+   WWWWWW*,       W
//           WWWWW+      #WW   WW       WW,     WW   @WW      W
//           WWWWW+       W@    WW      WW      WW    WW      W
//           WWWWW+       W@    WW      WW      WW    WW:     W
//           WWWWW+       W@    WW      WW      WW    WW,     W
//           WWWWW+       W@    WW      WW      WW    WW      W
//           WWWWW+       W@   WW       WW      WW   WW       W
//           WWWWW+       WWWWW,        WW      WW**W@        W
//           WWWWW+       WW  ,W+       WW      WW            W
//           WWWWW+       WW   WW       WW      WW            W
//           WWWWW+       WW   :WW      WW      WW            W
//           WWWWW+       WW    WW,     WW      WW            W
//           WWWWW+       WW    *WW     WW,     WW            W
//    .:     WWWWW+      WWW*    @WWW  WWWWW   WWWWW          W
//     @:    WWWWW+                                           W
//      W    WWWWW+                                           W
//      :W   WWWWW+                                           W
//       W:  WWWWW+                                           W   +      W
//       +W  WWWWW+                                           W   #     W,
//        W, WWWWW+                                           W  ,,    W+
//        WW WWWWW+                                           W  W    :W
//    *.  ,W WWWWW+                                           W  W W  W
//     .W  W.WWWWW+                                           W  W+  W,
//      ## WWWWWWW+                                           W  *W +W
//       W,:WWWWWW+                                           W ++. W
//       ,W WWWWWW+                                           W WW WW
//        WWWWWWWW+                   :WW*                    W WW,W
//        ,W@WWWWW+                 #WWWWWW                   W W.WW
//         WWWWWWW+               .WWW    WW                  W W*W
//         *WWWWWW+              WWW      +W.                 W,WWW
//          WWWWWW+             WW*        WW         .**,    W+WW
//           WWWWW+           *WW           WWW:#WWWWWWWWWW   W@WW
//             WWW+          WWW             WWWWWW:      W,  WWW
//               @@WWWWWW  #WW,                           .W  WWW
//              *W      WWWW@                              WWWWW,
//             W          .                                 +WWWWW+
//  Disk Formats Explained, By Ken Siders -  http://atari.fox-1.nl/disk-formats-explained/#vtoc1
//  K_Boot Disk Loader:
// Only single density disks (128 byte sectors) are supported.
//   Sector Ranges
// Sectors    Function
// 1 to 3    Boot Sectors
// 4 to ???  Data Sectors
//   Boot Sectors
// Sectors 1 to 3 contain necessary information to boot the disk and load the executable file located at sector 4 and above.
// The function of the first 13 bytes of sector one is indicated in the table, the remaining bytes of sector one,
// as well as sectors two and three contain the code to load the file.
//
// Byte Offset  Function
// 0 Unused. Usually 0.
// 1 Number of sectors to initially boot.  This is set to three
// which is enough to get the loader into memory
// 2 to 3  Boot Load Address. 1792 ($700)
// 4 to 5  Initialization Address. Called after booting requested number of sectors.
// 6 to 8  JMP to Boot Continuation Address. This is a 6502 jump
// instruction (76/$4C) followed by the address to jump to after
// booting the requested number of sectors. This routine will then
// load the actual file which is located at sectors 4 and above
// 9 to 11 Number of bytes to load (number of bytes in original
// executable)  This is a three byte value.  The least significant byte is stored first.
// 12  Unused.  Set to 0
//
//  Data Sectors
// Each sector holds a full 128 bytes of
// data — there is no sector link information stored in a sector. The
// file contains all of the bytes verbatim from the original file
// including the $FF $FF header, multiple load segments, initialization,
// and run addresses.  The file should be processed exactly as it
// would be by Dos.  The last sector may only be partially filled
// and may be padded with random data.  The length to load is
// determined from sector 1 (the KBoot), bytes 9 to 11.  Extracting the
// original file is easy.  If processing from an ATR file read and
// verify the 16 byte ATR header.  Read the first three sectors
// (384 bytes).  Get the length from bytes 9 to 11.  Read that
// many bytes from the KBoot file and write to the output file.
// Done.

byte KBOOT_LOADER[] = {
  0x00, 0x03, 0x00, 0x07, 0x14, 0x07, 0x4c, 0x14, 0x07, 0xAA, 0xBB, 0xCC, 0x00, 0xa9, 0x46, 0x8d, 0xc6, 0x02, 0xd0, 0xfe, 0xa0, 0x00, 0xa9, 0x6b,
  0x91, 0x58, 0x20, 0xd9, 0x07, 0xb0, 0xee, 0x20, 0xc4, 0x07, 0xad, 0x7a, 0x08, 0x0d, 0x76, 0x08, 0xd0, 0xe3, 0xa5, 0x80, 0x8d, 0xe0, 0x02, 0xa5,
  0x81, 0x8d, 0xe1, 0x02, 0xa9, 0x00, 0x8d, 0xe2, 0x02, 0x8d, 0xe3, 0x02, 0x20, 0xeb, 0x07, 0xb0, 0xcc, 0xa0, 0x00, 0x91, 0x80, 0xa5, 0x80, 0xc5,
  0x82, 0xd0, 0x06, 0xa5, 0x81, 0xc5, 0x83, 0xf0, 0x08, 0xe6, 0x80, 0xd0, 0x02, 0xe6, 0x81, 0xd0, 0xe3, 0xad, 0x76, 0x08, 0xd0, 0xaf, 0xad, 0xe2,
  0x02, 0x8d, 0x70, 0x07, 0x0d, 0xe3, 0x02, 0xf0, 0x0e, 0xad, 0xe3, 0x02, 0x8d, 0x71, 0x07, 0x20, 0xff, 0xff, 0xad, 0x7a, 0x08, 0xd0, 0x13, 0xa9,
  0x00, 0x8d, 0xe2, 0x02, 0x8d, 0xe3, 0x02, 0x20, 0xae, 0x07, 0xad, 0x7a, 0x08, 0xd0, 0x03, 0x4c, 0x3c, 0x07, 0xa9, 0x00, 0x85, 0x80, 0x85, 0x81,
  0x85, 0x82, 0x85, 0x83, 0xad, 0xe0, 0x02, 0x85, 0x0a, 0x85, 0x0c, 0xad, 0xe1, 0x02, 0x85, 0x0b, 0x85, 0x0d, 0xa9, 0x01, 0x85, 0x09, 0xa9, 0x00,
  0x8d, 0x44, 0x02, 0x6c, 0xe0, 0x02, 0x20, 0xeb, 0x07, 0x85, 0x80, 0x20, 0xeb, 0x07, 0x85, 0x81, 0xa5, 0x80, 0xc9, 0xff, 0xd0, 0x10, 0xa5, 0x81,
  0xc9, 0xff, 0xd0, 0x0a, 0x20, 0xeb, 0x07, 0x85, 0x80, 0x20, 0xeb, 0x07, 0x85, 0x81, 0x20, 0xeb, 0x07, 0x85, 0x82, 0x20, 0xeb, 0x07, 0x85, 0x83,
  0x60, 0x20, 0xeb, 0x07, 0xc9, 0xff, 0xd0, 0x09, 0x20, 0xeb, 0x07, 0xc9, 0xff, 0xd0, 0x02, 0x18, 0x60, 0x38, 0x60, 0xad, 0x09, 0x07, 0x0d, 0x0a,
  0x07, 0x0d, 0x0b, 0x07, 0xf0, 0x79, 0xac, 0x79, 0x08, 0x10, 0x50, 0xee, 0x77, 0x08, 0xd0, 0x03, 0xee, 0x78, 0x08, 0xa9, 0x31, 0x8d, 0x00, 0x03,
  0xa9, 0x01, 0x8d, 0x01, 0x03, 0xa9, 0x52, 0x8d, 0x02, 0x03, 0xa9, 0x40, 0x8d, 0x03, 0x03, 0xa9, 0x80, 0x8d, 0x04, 0x03, 0xa9, 0x08, 0x8d, 0x05,
  0x03, 0xa9, 0x1f, 0x8d, 0x06, 0x03, 0xa9, 0x80, 0x8d, 0x08, 0x03, 0xa9, 0x00, 0x8d, 0x09, 0x03, 0xad, 0x77, 0x08, 0x8d, 0x0a, 0x03, 0xad, 0x78,
  0x08, 0x8d, 0x0b, 0x03, 0x20, 0x59, 0xe4, 0xad, 0x03, 0x03, 0xc9, 0x02, 0xb0, 0x22, 0xa0, 0x00, 0x8c, 0x79, 0x08, 0xb9, 0x80, 0x08, 0xaa, 0xad,
  0x09, 0x07, 0xd0, 0x0b, 0xad, 0x0a, 0x07, 0xd0, 0x03, 0xce, 0x0b, 0x07, 0xce, 0x0a, 0x07, 0xce, 0x09, 0x07, 0xee, 0x79, 0x08, 0x8a, 0x18, 0x60,
  0xa0, 0x01, 0x8c, 0x76, 0x08, 0x38, 0x60, 0xa0, 0x01, 0x8c, 0x7a, 0x08, 0x38, 0x60, 0x00, 0x03, 0x00, 0x80, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00
};