gozar

Lol, that's what I thought, I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything. :-) So is the XEGS jumper on the U1M used for XEGS installations?

Last post for the night... Using the myide.sys driver for SDX, you can start atari800 with the -ide disk.img and use it with 512 byte sectors. It's the fastest so far, 56KB/sec. I rolled my own SDX cart rom with the myide.sys driver and used fdisk to partition the disk, setting the boot drive to D3:. My Pi800 project moves forward...

Ok, my speed issue was because I accidentally set it to single density. Switching to double density doubled my speed. Is there a way to use 512 byte sectors?

Success! In the config file, the correct setting is: BB_SCSI_DISK=/path/to/image Once that's in there, you can start atari800 with the -bb switch to turn on Blackbox emulation, and can then follow tschak909's directions above. Unfortunately, on the Raspberry Pi, I'm seeing have the speeds he's getting. :-( (On a side note, is there any documentation project for Atari800? I had to dig through the pbi_bb.c file to get the above setting.)

So how can I use the XEGS slots?

I created the disk image and added the BIOS to the configuration file. It's finding the rom because I can start Atari800 with the -bb flag and bring up the BB configuration. But, there isn't any setting in my .atari800.cfg to tell it about the hard disk. A quick grep through the source didn't turn up anything either, I'll dig deeper.

What's the configuration settings for atari800 to point to a hard disk image?

I'm going to second Allan's idea, although make it shorter than the 1090XL was going to be (I'd say Apple IIgs height) and sturdy enough to hold a monitor. From what I understand, it should use the cartridge port and PBI port on the XL series (which is not needed with the ECI on the XE models) so it would also need a cartridge port on the front.

If you set a ROM to a drive letter, I think SIO2SD will set it up so you can boot that rom, and you won't be able to see it in Uflash. You'll need the ROM in an ATR file.

For us barely programmers, does this mean it can be modified to use extended memory so that we can use Action! (editor and compiler) loaded from disk?

No, just commands. Put sprite 1 at location 10,10. Upload background data to device and set background to the uploaded picture. Or generate the picture programmatically. then the device handles the display. Turn off ANTIC for more speed.

I have a VBXE that I need to install, the reasons I want it are for the RGB output (I already have an ST monitor) and for 80 columns. The rest of the features are just extras. Could a product be made that just gives 80 columns and RGB out? Will it be markedly easier to install and cheaper? Probably not. The idea above of adding to an SIO2USB device is even easier. A Raspberry Pi can be connected to the SIO with four wires and a line leveler. You'd then have HDMI and composite that is not compatible with any A8 software (if someone writes the software for the Pi and the A8 that is). $30 and you have a plug and play solution. Is it useful?

Use Flashjazzcat's UFlash to flash it. It's an awesome piece of software. I flashed Assembler/Editor into one slot and Deluxe Invaders into another. Probably should put Star Raiders into the last one. :-)

Oh wait, Midi Maze is a 128K rom? How would I use it on a real computer?

You could just spend $100 at Atarimax and get 5 8Mb carts, then you can use them for whatever games you want. :-)

Any limits on controllers?

Here's where I made the connections to the CPU on my 1200XL: Of course, I can't remember where each one goes, but if you're doing a 1200XL upgrade it's easier than I thought to follow the traces on the motherboard. (The electrical tape is because that pin is almost on the resistor.)

I think if there is a cartridge in it, then it will only show 40 squares.

I used male to female jumper wires for mine.

It looks like they're planning on releasing this as a cartridge so anyone can make games for it and distribute them as downloads to anyone else that has the cartridge. That doesn't mean you can't do a game on cart with it, but it's not really going to stop any complaints since anyone with this cart will still want to buy downloads...

I lucked out, my 1200XL already had 28 pin sockets, so it was really easy. (Especially once I stopped trying to over think it. :-)

Duh, why do I always make things hard then they are. I didn't want to solder onto the CPU directly, and didn't realize how easy it is to trace the cpu pins out to a pad to solder onto. U1MB is installed in my 1200XL. If you told me 20 years ago that I would have a 1MB Atari, I would have laughed in your face. :-) Thanks everyone!

Where did you make the CPU connections?

This does look amazing, especially if it can be produced for under $20. Just shut up and take my money!

Which version are you running?