What is the most compatible 800 Replacement OS?

[+Larry]

I'm making archival copies (ATX where possible) of my original disks, and I'm finding many early titles that won't execute properly. Since these were from the 800 days, some of this may be because of the OS rather than bad disks.

 

Is there a list of commercial titles that require the 800 OS -- and -- what is the most compatible 800 OS? I've always thought that the Omniview OS was quite compatible, but maybe there are other good ones?

 

Thanks,

Larry

[ACML]

I'm making archival copies (ATX where possible) of my original disks, and I'm finding many early titles that won't execute properly. Since these were from the 800 days, some of this may be because of the OS rather than bad disks.

 

Is there a list of commercial titles that require the 800 OS -- and -- what is the most compatible 800 OS? I've always thought that the Omniview OS was quite compatible, but maybe there are other good ones?

 

Thanks,

Larry

I concur, the XL Omniview OS is +95% compatible,

[+Nezgar]

You can always try the Atari Translator disks for a software only option.

 

I found Omniview was good, but also used BOSS XL a lot BITD.

 

I've also seen some others like 'FIXXL' which I think was from CSS, and OldRunner which I think was a European creation?

 

Also saw "The Emulator" doing a quick search just now: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/149566-xlxe-translator-questions/?p=1824732

 

Edit: found downloads for disk based Translator A, B, and Fix XL Disks, OS ROM dumps for "OldRunner" and "XL Fix", as well as (never seen this before) a replacement ROM for the original SDX cartridge: https://sites.google.com/site/ataripal/ataritranslator

[E474]

Hi,

 

I seem to recall that back in the day, some titles would work ok with one translator, while other titles would require a different translator. So, if a particular title fails with one translator, it's worth trying another one (or several) before giving up on the disk.

 

Also, you might want to do the preservation to ATX before testing, as a dump of a marginal disk is best done as early as possible. Also worth keeping the disk drive open and keeping the drive head as clean as possible (isopropyl alcohol), I remember when I started back on the 8 bit my 1050 stopped reading disks almost immediately due to the disk head getting coated with magnetic media.

 

How are you converting disks to ATX, btw?

[+Larry]

RespeQt 4.3 using both Happy and Super Archiver. I love getting these disks archived to images. Hopefully I can get them archived by summer.

[+Nezgar]

Oh my 4.3 ATX write support is news to me!! Excited to try it out!

[SS]

I concur, the XL Omniview OS is +95% compatible,

If all I am looking for is OSb compatibility, is there any advantage to using Omniview or Omnimon with my U1MB vs simply switching to OSb when needed? Right now I have Supermon loaded into one of its slots but I've found that some OSb compliant programs cannot use both Supermon and onboard BASIC at the same time. Mostly I just use real OSb and a BASIC cartridge for the times that I need this combo. Would one of the Omni* OSs fair better?

[ACML]

If all I am looking for is OSb compatibility, is there any advantage to using Omniview or Omnimon with my U1MB vs simply switching to OSb when needed? Right now I have Supermon loaded into one of its slots but I've found that some OSb compliant programs cannot use both Supermon and onboard BASIC at the same time. Mostly I just use real OSb and a BASIC cartridge for the times that I need this combo. Would one of the Omni* OSs fair better?

Yes. The Omniview is highly OSb compatible, but is a true 64K OS and it will run 64K programs. The 80 column feature is nice and it has the Fast Math floating point routines.

Edited January 13, 2019 by ACML

[SS]

Yes. The Omniview is highly OSb compatible, but is a true 64K OS and it will run 64K programs. The 80 column feature is nice and it has the Fast Math floating point routines.

 

I have a number of different versions of Omnimon and Omniview Operating Systems available. Which would you most recommend? Omniview XE?

 

[+Nezgar]

Of those, I would probably pick OmniView XE.. But check the CRC32 of the one you have, there are different versions floating around:

 

• CEC9CA43 - The one I've had installed on my 320XE since the early 90's. Works great. No idea if it has any OS based RAMdisk function, never used it if it does.
• E4BF5B98 - Found this on the net, seems functionally identical to the above one from my testing... Interested to know if anyone knows what's different.
• 5E908DB4 - I found pre-installed on my AtariMax 32-in-1 called "OmniView 80" in the menu selection, but identifies itself as just "OMNIVIEW XE" in the memopad banner (Without the usual full "David Young OMNIVIEW XE ©1985". The memopad mode outputs garbage if you try to type in 40 column mode, and will reset when pressing some edit keys like Shift-Clr. If pressing Ctrl-Reset to kick it over to 80 column mode, the memopad mode works fine. So, I think the 80: E: handler is still active in 40 column mode, so its writing bitmap garbage to the screen memory, and display list.

 

Mathy's site lists 2 CRC's that match the first 2 above, but the 3rd I don't know much about. It just seems to be a buggy version, who knows where AtariMax got it from...

 

These keyboard shortcuts work across the three though. (I only ever knew about X=USR(49152) from BASIC BITD haha)

Use SHIFT+ESCAPE, RESET for 40 Columns E: handler
Use CONTROL+ESCAPE, RESET for 80 Columns E: handler

[ACML]

 

I have a number of different versions of Omnimon and Omniview Operating Systems available. Which would you most recommend? Omniview XE?

 

Omni OS.JPG

I'd go with Omniview 6 (256K)

[SS]

Thanks for the advice. I will give the two Omniview versions a good roadtest in the next few days. I already have the U1MB Omniview flasher ATR built; I just need to find a few hours that I can set aside for some uninterrupted work.

[mr-atari]

MyBIOS will do fine too.

Most patches are done, supporting XL/XE and 400/800.

 

I, myself, have #5 running.

That has some extra adjustments, to comply with some other weird atari-"standards".

 

http://www.mr-atari.com/Mr.Atari/MyBIOS/

>MyBIOS-ROM.ROM or the -FMP that has the mathpack) substituted by the fastmathpack ,

 

Grtz,

Sijmen.

[+Larry]

Hi Sijmen-

 

Good to hear from you!

Does MyBios work as a general purpose OS (without the MyIDE)? If so, I'll give it a try with my project.

 

-Larry

[mr-atari]

Hey Larry,

 

Good to see you are still going strong.

Best wishes for the new year.

May it be full of Atari-goodies.

 

Yes, the latest series MyBIOS without the version-numbers are stand-alone BIOS for the atari.

The MyIDE portion is a plug-in, loaded from the MyIDE-][ cartridge.

 

If you want, I can pm you version #5, with or without FMP.

See below for the change log.

That will be a w.i.p. version, but I have added some patches since my last release, already 02-02-18.....

 

Currently occupied with LiteDOS, coding for the A8 makes me happy.

 

Grtz,

Sijmen.

 

Change-log:

2019 V05

MyBIOS:

-Write to stimer when set to 1hz (reset timer), removes unwanted timer-IRQ's

-#DiskTimeOut -> 7s (atari-standard)

-115k2 does not work on pal... (115k2 completely removed)

-Conditional nmi/vbi-patch on io, modified.

-Config-BYTE, rely on portb-bit2 not BASICFL (ACEYDEUC)

-SIOV-exit, compatibility. (A=0)

Edited January 15, 2019 by mr-atari

[erichenneke]

I've been using MyBIOS for quite some time ever since I first got my MyIDE-II AtariMax cartridge.

 

I like it, and over time I have learned more about it and appreciate the flexibility all the features provide when used together.

 

I added a SysCheck-2 into the mix and loaded MyBIOS as an alternate ROM and that opened up yet another whole layer of flexibility options.

 

Anyway, one thing I have never figured out is how to load up a Translator image first (such as XL-XE Translator, or Ultra Translator) and then swap images to continue loading a game that requires a translator to enable it to run in Atari 400/800 compatibility mode.

 

I've tried every way I could think of with the MyIDE-II + MyBIOS combination but I've never had any success.

 

Is it possible to do this?

 

-Eric

[ijor]

I'm not familiar with modern OSes like MyBIOS. But back on the day, IIRC, the best translator was considered to be XL-FIX by CSS. Omnimon was a great product and I loved it. But for strict translator purposes (again, IIRC) XL-FIX was superior.

Edited January 23, 2019 by ijor

[Gunstar]

I've been using MyBIOS for quite some time ever since I first got my MyIDE-II AtariMax cartridge.

 

I like it, and over time I have learned more about it and appreciate the flexibility all the features provide when used together.

 

I added a SysCheck-2 into the mix and loaded MyBIOS as an alternate ROM and that opened up yet another whole layer of flexibility options.

 

Anyway, one thing I have never figured out is how to load up a Translator image first (such as XL-XE Translator, or Ultra Translator) and then swap images to continue loading a game that requires a translator to enable it to run in Atari 400/800 compatibility mode.

 

I've tried every way I could think of with the MyIDE-II + MyBIOS combination but I've never had any success.

 

Is it possible to do this?

 

-Eric

MyBIOS is 400/800 compatible, you don't need a translator.

[Gunstar]

 

I have a number of different versions of Omnimon and Omniview Operating Systems available. Which would you most recommend? Omniview XE?

 

Omni OS.JPG

Where can you get all these version of Omnimon? I'll be updatingmy 32-in-1 soon and would like the newer versions of Omnimon and Omniview than are currently on the 32-in-1.

[SS]

Where can you get all these version of Omnimon? I'll be updatingmy 32-in-1 soon and would like the newer versions of Omnimon and Omniview than are currently on the 32-in-1.

I'll upload a ZIP file of all of my Omni* versions later tonight. I cannot quite recall where I found them all. I just started stockpiling all of the A8 Operating Systems that I could find once I got an U1MB. Honestly I don't actually use most of them very regularly; they just sit in a folder just in case the need ever arises.

[SS]

Here are the various Omnimon, Omniview, and Supermon OS that I have.

various OMNI OS.rar

[erichenneke]

MyBIOS is 400/800 compatible, you don't need a translator.

Well okay then, that would make a lot of sense.

 

But then what's the problem with Shadow World?

 

When running on my 130XE, I get garbage and it freezes after clearing the first wave.

 

But if I load a translator first then this doesn't happen and it works fine.

 

If I load MyBIOS first and then load Shadow World, it still gets the garbage and freezes after first wave.

 

-Eric

[Gunstar]

Well okay then, that would make a lot of sense.

 

But then what's the problem with Shadow World?

 

When running on my 130XE, I get garbage and it freezes after clearing the first wave.

 

But if I load a translator first then this doesn't happen and it works fine.

 

If I load MyBIOS first and then load Shadow World, it still gets the garbage and freezes after first wave.

 

-Eric

 

 

MyBIOS isn't 100%, but I think they have patched versions of the few that don't work still on the Atarimax forum you can download, I would hazard a guess that you find a patched version of Shadow World there. But if it loads and you can play the first wave, that may not be a 400/800 OS incompatibility issue, that's actually leads me to believe it's a corrupted file or disk/ATR you are using. Have you tried downloading Shadow world from more than one download site to see if another file/ATR of it will work?

 

I don't use MyBIOS much myself, even though I have a MyIDE II, because I use a SpartaDOS X cartridge with battery-backed on-board real-time-clock and MyIDE II connected to the pass-thru port on the SDX cartridge, and use APT partitions with SpartaDOS. Doing it that way I never even see the MyIDE II menu for load up MyBIOS from flash, as SDX boots with either my internal 32-in-1 OS (that doesn't have MyBIOS on it...yet) with APE WARP+ OS mostly, which is also 400/800 compatible or using my Sys-Check's external OS's. So for me, MyBIOS only gets used I guess when I use the FAT32 file loader pretty much. Once I get a version of MyBIOS flashed onto my 32-in-1 I may use it more, since I should be able to use it with SpartaDOS and the APT partitions then.

Edited January 24, 2019 by Gunstar

[SS]

I have never used MyBIOS before tonight but decided to give it a try because of this thread. So far it seems very interesting, although the start-up screen might take some time to get my head around. I am going to have to put it through some more tests later but I did find that I was unable to run the OSa dependent "Ghost Hunter" and the OSb "Bandits". "Bandits" gives a lot of OSs and Translator programs trouble though; it's one that I usually do testing with. I will try to take a look at "Shadow World" tomorrow.

[+Nezgar]

Here are the various Omnimon, Omniview, and Supermon OS that I have.

 

the "Omniview XE.rom" in your archive matches CRC E4BF5B98 I've found online in the past. For completeness, I'm attaching a ZIP of all 3 version of "OmniView XE" I have. Maybe someone out there can diff them...

OmniViewXEs.zip