mr-atari

How do I use FDISK on a stock 64k machine?

Yep, no problem, I added a crude APT-table when FAT32 is directed. This will be on the MyBIOS-SIDE firmware only. Formula (roughly) half for MyIDE (starting @ boundary LSR [cyl_high]). Unallocated for PC. 64mb FAT32 (fixed) ID: $0c for PC 256 sectors reserved (fixed). Rest for APT ID: $7F for PC. Tested on altirra. After Init in the MyIDE-menu, rebooted with SDX FDISK now says: un-init disk. -NICE- was only 16 extra bytes in the menu :-) Later guys.

I tried APT (FDISK) yesterday. It does not run from a stock XL, you need a 130XE (?) >error out of memory. On a 130XE, started FDISK, enter APT, only option is to init card and erase all data. Then reserve space for FAT32/APT. Rewriting the MBR. So APT to my conclusion does not read the MBR and extract an already present FAT32-area. Time to write a MBR-tool that does this (FAT32 adding with APT/MyIDE). About the unallocated MyIDE-partition: I had an entry ID=$26 "reserved", but after formatting on a PC (windowsXP) it formatted the reserved space to FAT32, leaving the empty FAT32-area unuasable..... Not sure why. Swapping the entries worked, so $26 first, $0c second. Unfortunately I needed room for the selftestversion of MyIDE-menu, so I only write one valid FAT32 in the MBR. Later, Sijmen.

Ok, I finished the setup. And ready for a new beta-release. Since I didn't hear from you until now this is the layout I use. I write a MBR with one valid partition, this is the space for FAT32 or other PC-based format. The rest of the media is reserved for MyIDE. It has no entry in the MBR. Your APT software can take space of this MBR-partition (reducing size of the FAT32-partition) and write a second entry for APT-usage. Example: 1Gb CF-card. CHS=1986-16-63 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 0C 00 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 CF 0B 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 55 AA

Ok, no problem. If I need to code the MyIDE-partition other then $26, just let me know. In the meantime, I'll try to update and debug the IDE_manager....

Hi Jon, This would be an example of my 1Gb CF card with the new MBR-setup. CHS=1986-16-63 MyIDE must start at LSR [cyl_high], so cylinder $300. 255 sectors reserved (or must this be at a cylinderboundary?) Let me know how APT would handle it and send me back the MBR created. Thanks. Sijmen.

Ok, this is usefull information, thanks. The CHS boundaries are MyIDE-wise needed too, so that is a releave I need some more reserved space, but that is no problem. But I was NOT planning to setup CHS-parameters for legacy reasons...... (due to space limitation is the BIOS). Hmmmmm, when I setup a FAT32 (0c) and a $26 partition, how does APT handle this card? Would it reduce FAT32-space for it usage or destroy the $26 partition? The new version will always write a MBR, reserving all space for MyIDE ($26). Or add room for FAT32 and APT (if possible). 2nd hmmmm. Later, Sijmen.

Can you cut/paste an 512 byte example of a MBR with FAT32 and APT? (just like I did with FAT32/MyIDE) I found the $7F remark on the pdf, not sure I understand the rest. I used $26, just because wikipedia says: reserved Or, What would APT do when it reads the MBR a have cut/paste?

Okay, I got a working MBR/FAT32/MyIDE setup on a beta 4.7 MyBIOS :-) Now, to be compatible with APT I like to know what it uses in the MBR. As test I have created this on a 128Mb CF-card. 1 sector MBR 255 sectors reserved $18000 sectors FAT32 $25700 sectors for MyIDE Were does APT fit in? 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 0B 00 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 80 01 00 00 00 00 00 26 00 00 00 00 81 01 00 00 57 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 55 AA

Read and processing the information read :-) My first FAT32-approach is indeed too quick&dirty. Runs fine on Win-XP and during testing at myplace. Sole reason being to support Candle's fat32 loader on a single media. Have to dig into MBR-settings and learn :-/ This surely saves me some valuable OS-space having to remove the FAT32-formatter. Thanks and catch you Later!

I'm a bit late in replying But, if you can compile those two versions to try, that would be cool Thanks, Jay No problem, I'm late as well http://www.atarimax.com/flashcart/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1086 SDX is default, hold SHIFT-key at bootup to enter the boot-selection page. Here you also find the fat32-loader SIDE. Later, Sijmen.

Bought on a retro-fair in the Neterlands (not ebay), but hey, nice find..... romox 16k reusable blank cartridge.

Ditto :-)

Well 4.7 is still in beta, that's why I have the menu default on. Normally the menu should be off and the system can boot either in MyIDE-mode or SDX-mode. holding SHIFT during powerup or reset+powerup the user gets the menu. I can compile a version for you to checkout, no problem. Do you want SDX or MyIDE as default, or shall I compile both versions? I added fat32-formatting to the new version. So you can init a card with MyIDE, then use FAT32-format to format the rest of the card for PC-usage. This also allowes you to use APT. This only works with cards of 256Mb and larger. The card is roughly divided in half. Later, Sijmen.

What didn't you like or do you have suggestions?

I did some rework on the MyIDE/SIDE BIOS. The flasher contains the original SDX/SIDE setup and MyIDE. Also I added 8 standard atari 8k games like starraiders, pac-man etc. Since there is plenty of room left in this 512k flash-rom The new version can use FAT32+APT/MyIDE formatted cards. The tool for initializing a CF-card in dual-format is not yet supported in the IDE-menu. But the BIOS will detect FAT32-cards and when in MyIDE-mode uses space at the upper half of the CF-card. But only when a valid MyIDE 4.7 partition is found/made on the media. Tested and debugged on Altirra, "the best atari-emulator ever!" Enjoy. Merry X-mas!

Found some issues with shift+control+number. Fixed in this version.

Hi all, Thanks for Candle uploading the programming specs of the SIDE-hardware and some requests of MyIDE-users I took the liberty to compiled a MyBIOS for SIDE. The flashfile contains SDX4.45, SIDE-loader and MyBIOS for MyIDE-formatted CF-cards. At powerup you can select what you want to boot. The SDX4.45 and SIDE-loader are the same as you have now. Basically the support for MyIDE-formatted CF is added to the cartridge. I have included the user-manual for MyBIOS Manuals etc for SIDE/SDX can be found at the appropiate sites. The MyBIOS version is 4.6.11 beta (pre-release). Read at the forum what it supports: http://www.atarimax.com/flashcart/forum/viewtopic.php?p=5574#p5574 Here you can also read further about MyBIOS/MyIDE. Instructions how to flash: Download and unzip, use it as D1: Powerup and type COLD /N follow the instructions on the screen. Instructions how to flash back: Download the flasher you want, use it as D1: bootup. hold SHIFT and select "R" follow the instructions on the screen.

I have enough knowledge of the Atari-OS (I think), perhaps we can help eachother? Also I could inlude a fat32-loader in the BIOS im writing..... But need some backup in accessing the source of fat-32 allocation. Anyhow, drop me a Pm or mail me on my homepage. Later, Sijmen.

Okay, that works like a charm :-) Nice job! Why am I always late in getting new stuff...... I do need to tweak the 4.6BIOS not to load when SIDE is selected. There are to many conflicts making lots of com/exe/xex not to load. You can download the latest 4.6BIOS with SIDE from the atarimax forum. It will be present in beta#9. I'll try to upload a pre-beta#9 (atarimax 1mb+MyIDE only) today. http://www.atarimax.com/flashcart/forum/viewforum.php?f=7 Is there any development/progress in loading ATR's with side? Later, Sijmen.

Hmmm, interesting stuff here. I'll try to include the fat32-loader (MyIDE-external-slave) in the flasher-file for the atarimax 1mb+ide cartridge. There is enough room for other EXE stuff beside PicoDOS :-) This is new to me, so it will take some time for the quarter to drop Later, Sijmen.

Here is link to a testcartridge that can tell you what bit is bad. http://www.atarimax....hp?p=5932#p5932 It worked for me most of the time, If ALL bits are bad, think about looking at the signal-generating chips. Success.

http://commodore-gg.hobby.nl/agenda.htm 20 augustus is er ook een club-dag, maar dan heb ik geen tijd ...... Later, Sijmen.

When you are dutch, drop in at the atari/c64/msx clubday in Maarssen. (next one were I am is 15 october) and I'll have look at your 600xl, perhaps fix it :-) Later. Sijmen.

Yeah, I bought one from his site directly. Really a supurb peice of hardware. An extremely (portable) handy device and all disk you want at hand It works on any atari. Firmware 3.0 HSIO set standaard at 4 (80kbps), great! http://www.lotharek.pl/product.php?pid=23 Big horay for Lotharek. Sijmen.