Jump to content
Have You Played Atari Today?
2600|5200|7800|Lynx|Jaguar|Forums|Store  

lbaeza

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Content Count

    645

  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by lbaeza

  3. Posted

    Hi

     

    I recently got my eyes on this interesting ebay item:

     

    https://www.ebay.com/itm/294157875908

     

    Image 1 - HOARD! Multi Cart 8 Bit Atari Computer 400 800 1200 Video Game System Complete

     

    It looks it's an old Atari 800 Multi Cart made in the UK. Unfortunately, the accompanying instructions don't show details on the maker or the year this was released.

    I searched on Atarimania and I was not able to find an entry for this Multi Cart.

     

    Just for future reference, I have OCRd the accompanying documentation from the ebay photos, here it is for you:

      

    MULTI-CART SYSTEM
OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS

BEFORE RUNNING THE SYSTEM: 

1) Write DOS system files to the program disk. (DOS function H)
2) Have available, some blank formatted disks. 

DOWNLOADING ROMS TO DISK. 

  1) Open hinged cover of ATARI 400/800.

  2) Reset micro switch located at right hand side of cartridge slot(s). This can be
     accomplished by a biro top or suitable peg and is necessary to stop the machine 
     from switching off. Only push the micro switch as far down as necessary to turn
     the machine on.

  3) Turn on the disk drive and wait until the BUSY light goes out.

 3A) Load program disk.

  4) Turn on the ATARI and the program will now load.

  5) Remove program disk when MULTICART title appears.

  6) Insert blank formatted disk.

  7) Rest ROM cartridge to be downloaded to disk in cartridge slot.(ATARI 800 - Left
     hand slot.

  8) Firmly press home cartridge.

     NOTE: If the screen display disappears, or is corrupted, remove blank disk and
           cartridge, turn off the ATARI and go back to step 3A. Several attempts
           may be necessary until you have mastered the technique of inserting the
           cartridge.

     NO RESPONSIBILITY CAN BE ACCEPTED FOR DAMAGE TO THE MACHINE WHILST PLUGGING IN
     CARTRIDGES WHILST IN A SWITCHED ON STATE.

  9) If screen display has remained unchanged, press any key to continue.

  10) The program will now request a file name to be given and shold be in the
      format:

               D1: XXXXX

               where XXXXX is the file name you wish the cartridge file to be
               called. Note: The format should be strictly adhered to.

  11) Press the RETURN key - The cartridge will be downloaded to disk, (A 16k cartridge
      will take about 1 min. to down load.)

  12) If further cartridges are to be downloaded then repeat the process outlined 
      above.

RELOADING ROM PROGRAMS FROM DISK  

  1) Turn on the disk drive. 

  2) Insert MULTICART cartridge in cartridge slot (Left hand slot of ATARI 800). 

  3) Load ROM cartridge file disk. 

  4) Turn on ATARI. 

  5) Obtain directory listing (DOS function A). 

  6) Run DOS function L (Binary Load) to load program required. 

  When reverting to normal running, remove MULTICART cartridge.

  The above procedures are autonated with the MENUMAKER program.

  Disk version £7.95 Cassette Version £4.95 

DOWNLOADING ROMS TO CASSETTE

  1) Open hinged cover of Atari 400/800.

  2) Carry out step 2 as per disk instructions.

  3) Load the machine code program on cassette (As per normal auto-boot tape)

  4) Once program has loaded, remove program cassette and load blank cassette (Note:
     This must be a C20 minimum length).

  5) As per step 7 (Roms to disk). 

  6) As per step 8 (Roms to disk).

  7) As per step 9 (Roms to disk).

     The cartridge will now be downloaded to cassette. 

RELOADING ROM PROGRAMS FROM CASSETTE.

  1) Insert MULTICART cartridge in cartridge slot. (Left hand slot of Atari 800).

  2) Load cassette containing Rom file.

  3) Press PLAY key on cassette recorder.

  4) Switch on Atari 400/800 whilst holding down START key.

  5) Press RETURN key.

     The ROM progrant on cassette will now load.

  6) Rewind and remove cassette once program has loaded.


MENUMAKER PROGRAM (OPTIONAL SOFTWARE AVAILABLE). 

  1) Turn on disk drive and wait until BUSY light goes out.

  2) Load program disk.

  3) Remove any cartridges.

  4) Switch on Atari - Program will now load.

  5) Remove program disk.

  6) Insert disk with previously downloaded ROM files. 

  7) Depress any key.

  8) The program will display each filename on disk, one at a time.

  9) Enter menu name required. (15 characters maximum including spaces).

 10) Once program has read last file the program will terminate.

     Cartridge files on disk, that have been processed by the MENUMAKER program, will
     be displayed automatically when the disk is loaded.

              Press SELECT key to change choice of program to load.
              Press START key to load program required.

    Do you have any additional information on this Multi Cart?

     

    Kind regards,

     

    Luis.

  4. Posted · Edited by lbaeza
    Clarification

    Hi bfollowell

    Yes, I had the same problem and fixed it by cutting the problematic part of the cable with scissors, and then using an exacto knife to carefully expose the metal part of the cable.

    This worked OK for me. Keep in mind that if you need to dettach/attach the cable very often, the problem may happen again.

    Kind regards,

    Luis

    • Like 1

  5. Posted

    On 4/1/2021 at 1:45 AM, baktra said:

    Back in 1982, a company called Nudmehi Software created a utility that allowed to copy a DOS 2 binary load file from disk to cassette and named it Boot Cassette Maker. In order to do so, they had to develop a tape version of the 'BINARY LOAD' function, normally available only for disk. And so they did. However, they used dirty programming practices. While their loader worked perfectly with Atari 400/800, it somehow glitched on Atari XL/XE (but still was working). The result of the glitch was an exclamation mark appearing on screen. Hence the "!" loader. The loader was then regularly stolen and embedded in various disk to tape convertors and became prolific. Later, it even made it to the cross-platform utilities such as the original version of XEX2CAS for MS-DOS.

     

    Now a patched version exists, which doesn't glitch. It can be also replaced with open-source TSCBL or STDBLOAD 2a.

     

     

    Hi

     

    Last year we made this article on Boot Cassette Maker on Atariware, please use the following link to check the Google Translate version of that article:

     

    https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=es&tl=en&u=https://www.atariware.cl/wiki/Programas/NudmehiBCM

     

    Kind regards,

     

    Luis.

    • Like 2
    • Thanks 1

  10. Posted

    Hi team

     

    Long, long time ago I got my hands on this copied cassette that had Blue Max on it, no other games were available on that cassette. I pressume this was a C-46 (not C-64 mind you! 😉) cassette. I rememeber that this was a special version of Blue Max modified to run on XL computers. While loading, it showed a LOADING... message on screen (I think it was displayed using graphics mode 2), and just before ending side A, it showed another message saying to flip over the cassette and press PLAY to continue loading. It continued loading the game on side B for a long time, until the game finally started. I was used to load games from cassette, and I had an idea of how long should it take for a game to load. None of the games on cassette I had at the time took both sides to load, and this Blue Max version had by far the longest loading time of all the games I had on cassette. I never saw that cassette again, this was lent to me and had to return it to the original owner.

     

    I recently started thinking on why it took so long to load, and there's only one reason I can think of: The first part of the cassette had a copy of the OS-B operating system, and after loading it in RAM, Blue Max was loaded on top of it.

     

    Do you know any other games distributed on cassette that took both sides to load?
    Do you know any utilities that made a copy of OS-B on cassette in order to be able to load OS-B specific games on XL computers?

    This would be the cassette equivalent of The Translator...
     

    Regards,

     

    Luis

    • Like 1

  14. Posted

    Hi matirwin

     

    Thanks for reporting this was due to a faulty Pokey. I had exactly the same issue with my 800XL. It started out with a faulty RAM module which I located using Shoestring, and after replacing the faulty module, the computer showed the blue screen and the cursor, but it never showed the READY welcome message. I replaced the Pokey and then it booted without any problems. That PRRRRRRRRRRRRRR sound at boot may sound like a fart, but it's music to my ears now XD  

    Regarding Shoestring, I can never stress enough how good is this tool. Man, it's just a matter of burning a 27C128 EPROM with this custom OS and power up your Atari. It will show you exactly what is the RAM module with problems so you can replace it. No need to use a logic probe or an oscilloscope for that matter. Just boot from Shoestring and you're good to go. I really want to thank the author for making this tool available to the community, it really helps to revive our loved computers and bring them back to life. If you haven't installed a 28 pins IC base for your operating system chip, please do so. It is the best decision you can take on your Atari. This opens the door for new and improved operating systems like Shoestring.

     

    Kind regards,

     

    Luis.

    • Like 2

  23. Posted · Edited by lbaeza
    Typo

    Thanks Doc and BillC for your feedback.

    With your information in mind I opened the faulty 1050 and by using parts on another dead disk drive I have, I was finally able to solve the issue.

    For that matter first I made a video of the issue, with the faulty drive open, and simulated the insertion of a diskette by using a screwdriver:

     

     

    Then I removed the part from the faulty drive and compared it with the one from the dead drive:

     

    20210130_141817.thumb.jpg.4bca5b4b44e7c7b748e324ace35e1707.jpg

     

    On the left we have the faulty part, and if you look closer, you can tell it is crooked, compared wih the same part from my dead drive.

     

    20210130_142434.thumb.jpg.c1290bd68511402894e6c47c33d38e2f.jpg20210130_142410.thumb.jpg.213f425993d65a8ed4c310f5d3eb3fdd.jpg

     

    Given that I was short in time as usual, I simply swapped both parts and now the faulty drive is fixed. :)

    My guess is that by taking the faulty part and make it straight by using some pliers certainly could fix the issue, but I think it could take some time of trial and error until it gets completely solved.

     

    After that I ran the 1050 diagnostics and it reports "FAILS-TO LOW" on the Motor Speed test:

    20210128_232125.thumb.jpg.2bc06b90333f4022d14f462ae98915b5.jpg

     

    Given that the faulty drive is still open, I will tweak VR2 in order to solve this Motor Speed issue.

    Just for reference, here's a picture of the blue variable resistor VR2 that needs to be tweaked on the 1050 drive.

     

    20210130_145044_2.thumb.jpg.ef1122a6d3d4c6bc50dff561e32b3439.jpg

     

     

    Kind regards,

     

    Luis

     

     

    • Like 3

  25. Posted · Edited by lbaeza
    Clarification

    Hi

     

    I have this 1050 disk drive that refuses to keep the disk inside of it, I made this video of the issue:

     

     

    As you can see, I had to make a trick and push with one finger the disk inside the drive, while at the same moment closing the lid with another finger...there's no other way to do this on this unit.

     

    Any ideas on how to fix this issue?

     

    This is a Tandon made drive I think...

     

    Kind regards,

     

    Luis.

     

AtariAge
Forums
Store
General
Follow AtariAge

Copyright ©1998-2021 AtariAge

×
×
  • Create New...