Dal_1978

I have had to take the forum offline while I investigate a potential security breach. I noticed some top level forum labels had been altered - consequently I need to go through and figure out if anything else has been 'amended'. Once I'm happy the site is secure again, I will bring it back online. In the meantime, any attempt to access Atari-Forum will result in a 403 error. Sorry for the inconvenience.

I recently purchased one of these VME cards and have not had too much luck getting it fully installed on my MSTE. After following the installation procedure (setting jumpers, installing the VIP and two VDI PRG's into the Auto Folder), I rebooted the system and I get 2 followed by 4 bombs when the VDI PRG is run. I know that: CM16_VIP.PRG is the main driver for the card - it locates the card on the bus and performs some initialisation and diagnostics. M16VDI8B.PRG is for 256 colour mode VDI (8bit) M16VDITC.PRG is for True Colour mode VDI Running the system up without either VDI PRG allows the card to initialise and I can get to the desktop on my standard monitor output to flash it with new settings etc. If I flash the card with a 256 colour mode vtg file, then M16VDI8B.PRG crashes with 4 bombs, but M16VDITC.PRG runs without crashing. If I flash the card with a True Colour mode vtg file, then M16VDI8B runs without crashing, but M16VDITC crashes with 4 bombs. I am using the disks supplied with the card and am told this worked ok on a TT. I have traced a copy of this on devdocs and it is the same version, but devdocs says it is for TT (no mention of MSTE). So, I'm starting to wonder whether two versions of the VDI PRG's exist (one version for TT and another for MSTE?). Google isn't returning any downloads other than those found at Devdocs (v1.41c) so I'm pretty stuck. Does anyone have an older copy of the drivers or perhaps can offer some advice?

Not true. Using the USB version of the HxC floppy emulator, PASTI (STX) files can indeed be run on real hardware. Hey Dal. Okay, now I"m confused. How do I run a "usb version" of the HxC floppy emulator on my Atari ST? That's "real hardware" to me... Thanks! Not sure I understand you Darklord? If you purchase the USB version of the HxC Floppy Emulator and install it into your ST in place of the internal floppy drive, then you can use it to run STX images on real hardware. If you want to take things a step further, follow my tutorial for hardware-hacking it to work as Drive A from the external port: http://www.septicsurgeon.net/Hardware_Mods/Entries/2011/8/31_Floppy_A_B_switch_mod_on_STE.html and if you want to make it look pretty: http://www.septicsurgeon.net/Hardware_Mods/Entries/2011/9/6_Case_for_HxC_Floppy_Emulator_(USB_version).html The USB version of the HxC connects up to a PC running a special tool that mounts the disk images onto the Floppy Emulator. Although it always requires connection to a 'slave' PC, it is more versatile than the SD-card version.

I have an UltraSatan plugged into the external ACSI port on my MSTE and that has an 8GB card in it. All of it is accessible. I believe the 1GB limit is only on the internal SCSI bus?

Not true. Using the USB version of the HxC floppy emulator, PASTI (STX) files can indeed be run on real hardware.

If you're getting a blank white screen, then the good news is most of the system is up. So, basics first: Check the PSU, make sure you're getting a solid 5v and 12v output. Then get your ESD protection on (anti-static wrist strap bonded to earth) and start going around the board ensuring all chips are well seated. These socketed IC's work their way loose over time, a good press on them should get them back where they belong. Also check the TT RAM and ST RAM a well seated (remove and re-seat the SIMMs, get rid of any dust while you're there).

I've just pulled it back online temporarily. My online storage account failed to take the full backup (5.5GB). I've had two goes at it and logged a support call - they reckon they'll have it set for me to try again tomorrow. Sorry, but it will be going down again, but not before I've had some sleep

Well this was my Atari workspace (the desk behind the IBM thinkpad has my soldering station on it). However we're moving soon and want to let our house out - so I have reduced it down to one Falcon for now. The new place will have a much better space for this stuff

Hi, please send me an email with your username and email address and I'll look into it. AdminTeam (at) Atari-forum (dot) com Cheers.

I went for hostpapa - Their servers are US / Canada based but they also have a support presence in the UK. There has always been somebody on hand to answer my support queries through live chat - my 3 support tickets were responded to in under two days and they have a client base of around 30,000. Good enough for me!

Yup - I hope it's better managed too!

Done - although rather amusingly I don't have admin access on the forum at the moment so my update post needs to be approved by a moderator lol! Too much effort at this time of night to hack the backend on my new user account - much easier to wait until Silver has a chance to do it for me ina couple of clicks! Anyway - there's still a few bits I need to do, but enjoy...

OK - Files are in place - the Databases need a little tweak before they install. Thought I'd have time to do this today while waiting for things to happen at a customer. However, I cannot get to the backend from within my customer's network due to the PORT that's used. So this will happen tonight instead...

I've decided I don't want to further frustrate people. It's clear that waiting any longer isn't an option for some key users - so I am currently dropping whatever files are in the backup archive into the public_html directory. Database will follow and then we'll see what we've got. I'll lock the forum down for now. Can all Mod's get in touch with me via PM?

As Desty says, the restoration is now made more difficult by virtue of the fact the archive is truncated. I have the wiki database, but none of the attached files or the web app. I don't have the phpBB web app in the archive either, so it will be a case of installing phpBB and a Wiki site, then rolling the data in. After this we would know what's missing and then if possible try and fix stuff as we go along (I have had offers of help for this which is appreciated). Now I have an alternative that could result in the opportunity to obtain a complete an valid full backup from 250host. I know we all want the forum and Wiki back, but while there is a hope that I can get everything back with as little faffing about as possible, I am keen to stick it out to see what this guy can come up with... Also chatting to him, he also has an Atari past, so may be keen to help from this perspective also. We're going to explore a few ideas and see what comes out of it. I think this is worth my effort and if all else fails, then at least I know that I explored every avenue and did my absolute best to restore the forum and wiki to it's former state. I would be a little frustrated to put a load of work into getting a partial backup restored and working to some degree only to find that the full backup was obtainable given a bit more patience.... To answer on AstFan's post, I think we all need to be mindful of the fact that everyone involved in the Forum in terms of Admin and Moderation do so in their free time. In fact it was only after I was given the Admin job in December that I realised the previous Admin (Silver Surfer) had been quietly paying the hosting fees without ever asking or expecting a penny in return. He, like others (MugUK and Aly included) have found themselves with less and less time to devote to the Forum as the pressures of life change and priorities get re-alligned accordingly. Mug posted a message on the Forum asking for somebody to continue his role (which I took along with the Admin in the short term). I think you have a point that there needs to be some management in place to ensure that moderation and admin duties are sufficiently covered and this will need to be dicussed when the Forum is back up again (maybe if a moderator/admin goes AWOL for a set period of time, then the 'next-in-line' takes over?). Also, as for the FAQ idea, I have always envisaged the Wiki to fulfill this role (topics/projects/mods/how-to's discussed in the forum and then somebody should formalise this into a Wiki article once it has been discussed to a natural conclusion). There's a lot of info in there that ought to be harvested and added to the Wiki IMHO. All this is purely academic at present of course! I'm as frustrated as everyone else at the length of time this is taking, but I hope you will all agree that given the circumstances (especially with an incomplete backup archive), it is worth pursuing the chance of getting a full backup if it's on the table. Especially if we gain another member out of it Thoughts (supportive or otherwise) please?

Here's my email correspondence so far between myself and the guy who is looking to purchase 250host:

Silver Surfer reckons the only backup he has is the 4th December. He will have a dig around, but that may be it. In the meantime, I have established contact with the guy who is looking to buy 250host out...

If you can get the Wiki in any state, then that would be a bonus. I'm doing some work on a customer's server today so apart from assessing the damage, I've done nothing else on AF. I'll get the backend up by the end of the weekend and see what's what...

Already compared the file i have with Silver, it is exactly the same... He gets the same result when unpacking also.

Form follows function GroovyBee

Looks like I have the forum databases and 7533 files (attached to posts) along with most (if not all) avatars etc... that's the good news. Annoyingly, no php files to be found so I will have to roll the data into a new instance of phpBB. I think the skin has gone too so may take a little while to get it looking as it was. Real bad news is no Wiki :-(

What Brian was saying was that because the servers aren't physical, he has no access to them. The virtual servers would have been taken offline - liquid web can get to them through the account but only Brian has the password and they'll probably want the debt settled first. Two grand may sound cheap, but don't forget that is for the business (including debts). So even at $1000 revenue per month, only Brian knows how many months you'd need to survive in order to be at 0 again...

UPDATE!!! Right, i'm unrolling the backup archive. gunzip generated an unexpected End of File error so there maybe something missing - at this point I don't know what. I am extracting the TAR now and then I will have a better idea of what is/isn't there. I have been doing some further digging and I have found this: http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=1013310&page=2 I wish I had seen this in December as I would have got this moving straight away. Brian's last post was yesterday. We just need to hope someone takes the plunge and purchases 250free/250host and settles with LiquidWeb to get the data back...

Sorry guys, I've had a busy schedule: Was in the Netherlands on business from Sunday to Tuesday night, At a customer yesterday and will be again all day today (over 200 mile round trip) Add to this, my 'trusty' MacBook pro has suffered a hard disk failure (happened Sunday evening). For this reason alone, I have not been able to update the blog on the current landing page. I simply haven't had the opportunity to buy a replacement drive and restore my Time Machine backup to it. I have received an email from the new host (they got back to me well within their 48 hour response time). They were unable to restore the backup. This is because, 250host used a different hosting platform (250host used DirectAdmin while hostpapa uses Cpanel). This leaves me having to do the process by hand after I understand the structure of the backup. Just before I went to bed, I wrote a small script on my NAS drive and cron'd it for the middle of the night when I have little else on the go. it will grab the backup archive from the backend, check it's integrity and also unpack it. I'm waiting for the job to finish (it will email me when it's done).

This all rings a distant bell with me but I can't remember why right now. How exactly are you transferring the file and what file format are you transferring?