Larry

I've been using MyRD2 as my default ramdisk with MyDos 4.50 for several weeks, and it has worked quite well with my Black Box HD setup. So as I change from HD to HD, I've been replacing Ramboot.Aut (NOT Ramboot3.Aut) with MyRD2. But tonight when I tried to put it onto a MyIDE drive, it failed. It would load the ramdisk code, then the screen turned black and goes to never-never-land. Has anyone else had an issue like this with MyRD2 and a MyIDE (3.5F)? MyRD2 also has one little feature that I don't care for -- I made the ramdisk D9: but instead of going back to D1: after loading, it leaves the default drive as D9:. Not a big deal, but it just seems like the default drive at boot-up should always be D1:, and nine times out of 10, I forget to switch the default to D1: (until I get a File Not Found error). -Larry

Hi Russ- Thanks! These appear to work perfectly -- even "B." heheh! Perhaps I can even get these to survive a RESET with a little AsmEd work. Thanks again, Larry

Thanks, guys. My needs are pretty modest, since I'm not a gamer. I need to get the unprotected BASIC and the AsmEd. cart images running with an unexpanded 1200XL. Unfortunately with the setup that I am using, I need to plug in two carts. SDX w/MyIDE and BASIC (or AsmEd). With the particular hardware of this system, there is no alternative way -- none. So BASIC must run from ram. Thanks for the info on the Impersonator. It looks similar to the PILL which I have. I think in the short-run the PILL's saver/loader may be the answer to my needs. Unfortunately, I can't use the PILL itself -- the PILL is a cartridge, and with a couple of exceptions (R-Time8 being one), you can't have two carts active at once. I'd also still like to understand why CARTCOPY or CART816 doesn't run on the XL/XE, and it's probably quite simple. But first, I need to get this 1200XL system working as I plan. -Larry Edit: I found my Cart816.BAS source this AM (lots of REMs) so that should make it a lot easier to fix this XL/XE incompatibility.

Does anyone know of a version of C. David Young's "CARTCOPY.BAS" or work-alike program that functions correctly with the XL/XE? The original program was written about 1981 and of course the XL was at best a "twinkle" in Atari's eyes. All of similar programs that I've found only will properly load a cart image into the 800-type OS (that includes the Utilities disk from Atarmania). I even wrote one myself, called CART816.BAS, but it has the same issues. To add insult, I've apparently lost my source code! I thought before I "reinvented the wheel," I'd check... Thanks, -Larry

Definitely better for copying, but not a better enhancement overall. The Happy is so versatile, and then there is the marvelous track buffer. They are both pretty dated by newer devices and cracked software, but if you want a nice, modified real drive, the 1050 Happy is a better choice (IMO, of course). -Larry

Hi Jon- A happy note. Your new driver allows the MyIDE + flashcart to work with Bob's XL7 accelerator. This is the first HD that works properly in the XL7. It may well work with the internal MyIDE's, but I can't test that due lack of vertical clearance under the XL7 in the 1200XL. As it is for now, you can have BASIC -or- MyIDE, but not both. -Larry

Sebastian's IDE or Sebastian IDE? -Larry

I've got one stashed away, but never found it very useful. For me, it was really very "iffy" in copying the things that it was supposed to do. No, never tried to figure out the chips used. The SA is whole different proposition -- it is one heck of a good drive enhancement! -Larry

To me it is very easy -- if the Tramiels had not stepped in, in all likelihood, we would not have this conversation today. As to "clueless," Jack built Commodore into a formidable force, much to Atari's and others ultimate detriment. And finally, the PC computer model changed everything. Essentially, it killed all others, except Apple, and certainly came close to that. For a good perspective (and some fascinating reading), I recommend "The Home Computer Wars," "On the Edge," and "West of Eden," and "Apple Confidential." I have yet to find a good account of the development of the PC and unfortunately, our beloved Atari. -Larry

I see! Thanks, Candle.

Nice layout. Is this correct -- it combines the features of a Atarimax MyIDE flash cart PLUS an added RTC PLUS a RAMCART? What is the purpose of the ramcart -- expanded ram or use for the cart internals? -Larry

I bought a couple from http://ec.transcendusa.com/product/product_memory.asp?Cid=59&indexnum=2 I would say that prices have gone up a little, but still pretty reasonable. IIRC, I don't think that Transcend USA sells/ships outside the USA. But I also think that Transcend has offices/sellers in other countries. Yes, pin 20 Power works fine on my MyIDE flash cart. I also have one on a KMK-JZ interface. As Stephen says, couldn't be more compact, and that is especially nice if you put it inside an XL or XE. -Larry

Edit: removed. SAT -Larry

I have found another use for the 1 MB SRAM cart. By moving RAMTOP down to below the $A000 - $BFFF cartridge area, the SRAM provides 128 "windows" of 8KB or (presumably) 64 windows of 16KB if moved down below $8000. It appears to work cleanly with Turbo BASIC XL, although it cuts down on free ram available to BASIC. Still, that is a lot of space for data tables, etc. available at a POKE. I had this in mind when ordering, and it's why I wanted the SRAM version. Very nice construction! -Larry

Here is an older thread that has added suggestions/possibilities/info. -Larry http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/100736-adventure-ii-cartridge-plans/

Thanks for the A8WP tip and especially for the cassette links. I'm not a frequent user of cassettes, but I always find new techniques/ideas interesting! -Larry Note: A8WP will also load tape images like a real cassette once you turn off the SIO patch.

I had trouble with my real cassette version of "Lunar Lander" from Adventure International. So I found a .CAS image version and thought I'd load it from APE. No matter what I did, it locked up after loading. In this case, the game is BASIC and a simple CLOAD variety. Eventually I got the back side of the casette loaded and then saved. But it made me wonder: how do you use APE to load an auto-booting .CAS image? For ML games, I held down OPTION and START and got the usual "cassette load buzz." Then with the image opened in the APE cassette utility, I pressed PLAY. It went through the loading routine, but once completed -- nothing. I tried this with several different ML cassette images, but never was successful. I tried a couple of the images with the emulator (Atari800WinPlus) and the images work with it fine, but clearly, they do not load the same way. APE appears to load the image like a real cassette, while A8WP loads them instantaneously. Am I doing this correctly, or ? -Larry

Thought I'd try a few other CF cards in addition to the Transcend module in the same 800XL. 1) An older, small 32 MB Sandisk "Shoot&Store" -- works fine. 2) A Viking 256 MB card -- works fine. 3) A Sandisk "Extreme III" 2 GB card -- works fine. I had no problems copying all my "loose" files from an APE backup to the cards. Not rigorously tested, but enough that I feel comfortable that all is well. BTW, this XL does have the Bob Puff "stability mod #1" on the SN74LS08N. Before adding this mod, I had trouble getting the internal flash MyIDE to working at all. Edit: This is still the second driver 10-10, I believe. -Larry

A small followup and question: I attached a Ram320XL to my 64K 800XL with the SDX-MyIDE. It recognized the memory and added it to ramdisk, just as would be expected -- worked fine. Now a question -- what 256 BPS sector copier is know to work with SDX to do a HD backup (up to 60,000+ sectors)? My homemade SECBAK (Action!) copier didn't like this setup, causing SDX to go into ultra-slow motion. -Larry

Mine behaved the same way. At the suggestion of someone here, I "freshened up" all the solder joints after already cleaning all the contacts and reolacing the battery. After that, it started working again, but lately has again taken a nose-dive, sometimes "forgetting" the correct time/date. I probably will need to replace the IC's. (Any other suggestions?) I really miss having three of those carts stacked up vertically in front of my display screen... I just noticed something related to this. My RT8 cart with the 4.22 cart and my 4.42 cart give different dates -- probably something to do with Y2K. (?)

Thanks, Andreas! I'll check these out. I have a couple real ones, also, but they still don't show anything but the current entry or total. Never did like the HP models with reverse Polish notation (so I also never got very excited about FORTH). If I still don't find what I need, I'll write one Q&D -- probably using Basic XL, because it has several nice features like PRINT USING that I think would lend itself to this type of program. -Larry

Hi Charlie- Thanks -- closer, but still only shows the very last entry plus the total. It would be great to be able to see the last, say 10 entries on the screen. Reason being if one is adding repetitive numbers, then it is easy to lose one's place in the input. I didn't remember this one from Antic, and it's definitely on the right track. Best regards, Larry

I looked through my software at several calculators, but I haven't quite found the type I'm looking for. I'd like one that puts up the entries on the screen in "adding machine tape" fashion -- say the last 10 entries or so. Of the calculators that I've found, the "Grass Calculator" (GRASSCAL.BAS) is an excellent one, and can be set to send the entries to a printer -- almost what I'm seeking. But I thought that there may be some Euro programs that I've never seen. Anyone? Thanks, Larry

With the new MyIDE SDX driver, I was able to successfully use FDISK to create a new D1: partition on my Transcend module. Loaded the new driver from your ATR and formatted the new drive (60,000) sectors. Copied a big chunk of a previously-made APE SDX HD image to the new drive. It seems to run well. Ran RWTEST V3.5 and got very good speed results as shown (256 bytes/sector). Very nice! -Larry

Probably the closest thing that I'm aware of is "Fortune Hunter" circa 1982 from Romox. I think that one could argue that several of the "go into the room and escape alive" games are pretty similar, but Venture had a neat quality all its own, especially the ColecoVision version. My daughter and I played that for hours back in the day. (sigh!) -Larry