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SDrive NUXX


c0nsumer

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I don't like the fact that when you press OPTION before pressing RESET or Inverse Video key the cursor scrolls and you hear key clicks sounds.

Perhaps to keep compatibility with XEGS without keyboard.

Yes, I'm not glad of this OPTION clicks sounds too, but there is no other way if OPTION has to be used for controlling (XEGS).

OPTION key is tested at the beginning of OS ROM routine, so, it has to be pressed _immediately_ after RESET, but practically it means to hold down the OPTION before RESET. ;-)

(SDrive control program can't affect this behavior.)

btw - I tested GALAXIAN yesterday and yes, it works with BASIC disabled only.

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I don't like the fact that when you press OPTION before pressing RESET or Inverse Video key the cursor scrolls and you hear key clicks sounds.

Perhaps to keep compatibility with XEGS without keyboard.

Yes, I'm not glad of this OPTION clicks sounds too, but there is no other way if OPTION has to be used for controlling (XEGS).

OPTION key is tested at the beginning of OS ROM routine, so, it has to be pressed _immediately_ after RESET, but practically it means to hold down the OPTION before RESET. ;-)

(SDrive control program can't affect this behavior.)

btw - I tested GALAXIAN yesterday and yes, it works with BASIC disabled only.

Thanks, is it possible to have a startup file that does not do this for people that do not need XEGS compatibility?

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I am curious about the SDRIVE.ATR file that came with my SDrive NUXX. The ATR appears to be some flavor of DOS 2 that I am not familiar with - command-line driven DOS with a 2.0 style disk format. Yet it identifies the 'Root' dir sorta like SparDOS 'MAIN' when you type DIR and has a file on it called DOSII64.COM.

 

What is it?

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I am curious about the SDRIVE.ATR file that came with my SDrive NUXX. The ATR appears to be some flavor of DOS 2 that I am not familiar with - command-line driven DOS with a 2.0 style disk format. Yet it identifies the 'Root' dir sorta like SparDOS 'MAIN' when you type DIR and has a file on it called DOSII64.COM.

 

What is it?

 

For what it's worth, it's this SDRIVE.ATR (control program v01 20090403) from here. I just tossed it on the SD cards for testing and to make people's lives easier.

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I am curious about the SDRIVE.ATR file that came with my SDrive NUXX. The ATR appears to be some flavor of DOS 2 that I am not familiar with - command-line driven DOS with a 2.0 style disk format. Yet it identifies the 'Root' dir sorta like SparDOS 'MAIN' when you type DIR and has a file on it called DOSII64.COM. What is it?

Hello.

It is DOS II+/D ver.6.4 from Stephan Dorndorf, we like this DOS. Of course, you needn't to use it. You can prepare own SDRIVE.ATR with your favorite DOS, control program SDRIVE.COM (and/or SDRIVEN.COM and/or SDRIVENH.COM) and/or other programs/tools at pleasure.

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I agree with Mimo.

Radek, could you make an sdrive.atr (control program) version without OPTION key selection?

And while you are at it, issue that Poke that kills the loading beep from the computer. Maybe make it configurable for those that like it?

Although I dislike idea with a lot of different versions (with/without something) as well as increased size of control program due to extensive configuration, I will thinking about it. :ponder:

But for example control program can't drop the loading beep for booting programs, because it's managed by firmware bootloader. And, by the way, such sounds can be helpful often, you know the loading is in progress really.

I will ponder...

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I finally got my SDrive Nuxx built up and working today... I ended up having to do a bit of circuit debugging that I wanted to document here. I was using c0nsumer's circuit board, and I'd order all of my parts from Digikey and Newark.

 

First problem: when installing the SD card holder, the pins on the side are important for detecting the card and for detecting the read-only switch. I didn't realize this and installed them with too much solder, causing a bridge. I had to remove the R/W switch in order to get access to the pads to rework this, and even now, my board doesn't detect card removal because I wasn't able to find the last bridge that's tying the card detect pin to the SD card shield.

 

Second problem: be sure to double check that all your components are soldered and that your IC is in the right way. When I first tested the board, I'd installed the ATMega8 chip backwards AND I'd left the socket unsoldered. Oops. Fortunately, there was no damage to the chip.

 

Third problem: the sideways switchs are a bit fragile. I busted my "Right" switch while working on the board.

 

Fourth and most major problem: be careful with installing the right size capacitor. I kept trying the board and not seeing any of the LEDs light. I spent a lot of time trying to verify that the ATMega8 chip was OK and was programmed right, and in the end the problem was that I'd installed 22nF caps with the crystal instead of 22uF. This meant that the crystal didn't oscillate, which meant no clock for the circuit.

 

It's working now, and I should soon get a SIO connector so I can stop using the makeshift SIO cable I'd setup from the remnants of my XM301. It's a very nice setup, and c0nsumer was quite helpful with debugging things. I ended up doing quite a bit more work than needed, including writing a test program for the board using an Arduino board as my programmer. I've got an idea or two for other 8-bit hardware projects, and we'll see if I end up developing them. I've also not given up on the idea of a SDrive that would fit in the XM301 enclosure, but I'm not completely sure how to handle all of the controls and indicator lights for that one.

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  • 2 weeks later...
I agree with Mimo.

Radek, could you make an sdrive.atr (control program) version without OPTION key selection?

And while you are at it, issue that Poke that kills the loading beep from the computer. Maybe make it configurable for those that like it?

Although I dislike idea with a lot of different versions (with/without something) as well as increased size of control program due to extensive configuration, I will thinking about it. :ponder:

But for example control program can't drop the loading beep for booting programs, because it's managed by firmware bootloader. And, by the way, such sounds can be helpful often, you know the loading is in progress really.

I will ponder...

Understand your concerns, but XEGS must be in the minority of users at a guess.

If you do update/alter the sdrive.atr is it possible to make use of the fire button instead/as well as the return key?

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Understand your concerns, but XEGS must be in the minority of users at a guess.

But They also have right to use SDrive. :)

 

If you do update/alter the sdrive.atr is it possible to make use of the fire button instead/as well as the return key?

Fire + joy directions are used for another 4 functions. esc, return, < (home), > (end).

If the fire button did return directly, there wouldn't be a way to do the other functions.

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Understand your concerns, but XEGS must be in the minority of users at a guess.

But They also have right to use SDrive. :)

I suppose so :ponder:

 

If you do update/alter the sdrive.atr is it possible to make use of the fire button instead/as well as the return key?

Fire + joy directions are used for another 4 functions. esc, return, < (home), > (end).

If the fire button did return directly, there wouldn't be a way to do the other functions.

 

I really should read ALL of the instructions :dunce:

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Understand your concerns, but XEGS must be in the minority of users at a guess.

But They also have right to use SDrive. :)

I agree but I think you could make 2 versions of control program, normal version and XEGS version (I think only XEGS owners use Option key selection).

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  • 5 weeks later...

In case anyone is interested, I've got three assembled, unallocated SDrive NUXXs here, with 2GB SD cards, ready to ship out. So, if you're wanting one of these, there will be no wait for assembly. If you're interested, here's where they can be ordered from.

 

I've also still got 10 PCB and end panel sets left, and after those are gone (or used to build complete devices) they'll no longer be available from me.

Edited by c0nsumer
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  • 4 weeks later...

I got my SDrive NUXX the other day, a pre-built one.

 

This is one ultra-nice creation, I'm a very happy customer!

 

Here's my question: I haven't tried really hard yet I suppose, but should I be able to run SDrive NUXX under SpartaDOS X?  I have a 4.20 cart (also have a 4.22 ROM, but I went back to 4.20).  It would be exciting to me if SDX and the SDrive could work together, since I do have a number of Sparta format disks.

 

Thanks for your thoughts!

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Here's my question: I haven't tried really hard yet I suppose, but should I be able to run SDrive NUXX under SpartaDOS X? I have a 4.20 cart (also have a 4.22 ROM, but I went back to 4.20). It would be exciting to me if SDX and the SDrive could work together, since I do have a number of Sparta format disks.

 

It works fine here with SDX 4.42

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  • 3 weeks later...

In case anyone is interested, I've got three assembled, unallocated SDrive NUXXs here, with 2GB SD cards, ready to ship out. So, if you're wanting one of these, there will be no wait for assembly. If you're interested, here's where they can be ordered from.

 

I've also still got 10 PCB and end panel sets left, and after those are gone (or used to build complete devices) they'll no longer be available from me.

 

 

oooo.....I just stumbled upon this for the first time; I hadn't heard about these before now. Do you still have any left?????

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oooo.....I just stumbled upon this for the first time; I hadn't heard about these before now. Do you still have any left?????

 

 

Yep, I've got two wholly assembled devices (with 2GB SD cards) ready to ship, and roughly 10 PCB and end panel sets. Orders can be placed here via Google Checkout, or send me email at c0nsumer@nuxx.net to set something else up. All the info, BOM, etc about the SDrive NUXX is available here.

 

Thanks for the interest. :)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hey there everyone... All assembled SDrive NUXXs have been sold.

 

There is still a handful (roughly 10) of PCB and end panels sets left, for those who want to build their own SDrive NUXX. For what it's worth, after these are sold I have no intention to make more.

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  • 3 weeks later...

:dunce: is it possible to copy files and disc images from an SDrive to a 1050?

If so how?

 

Thanks

 

 

ps- just got round to building my second unit:love:

 

If you are meaning the files as stored on the SD card, no, because those aren't exposed directly to the Atari.

 

Glad to hear you are liking it, though. :)

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:dunce: is it possible to copy files and disc images from an SDrive to a 1050?

If so how?

 

Thanks

 

 

ps- just got round to building my second unit:love:

 

If you are meaning the files as stored on the SD card, no, because those aren't exposed directly to the Atari.

 

Glad to hear you are liking it, though. :)

 

Not sure that I explained my question properly, but the answer is yes you can copy disc images from the sdrive to a real disc.

I used mycopier loaded from sdrive, loaded up the image to be copied in D2 on the sdrive, set 1050 as drive 2. Loaded up my copier, swaped to D2 on the SDrive, hit start and off we went ;)

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Not sure that I explained my question properly, but the answer is yes you can copy disc images from the sdrive to a real disc.

Yes, of course.

As well as you can read the files or any data from disc images activated in SDrive, you can also copy this files/data to other disc drives by some tools (file copy tools, sector copy tools, etc.). SDrive is one of Atari disc drives alike others. :)

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Not sure that I explained my question properly, but the answer is yes you can copy disc images from the sdrive to a real disc.

I used mycopier loaded from sdrive, loaded up the image to be copied in D2 on the sdrive, set 1050 as drive 2. Loaded up my copier, swaped to D2 on the SDrive, hit start and off we went ;)

 

Ah, sorry. I thought you were meaning copy the ATR files directly, not after mounting them. :)

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Thanks for the SDrive NUXX, Steve! It's one of the best upgrades I've ever bought for any computer. :cool:

 

 

Not sure that I explained my question properly, but the answer is yes you can copy disc images from the sdrive to a real disc.

I used mycopier loaded from sdrive, loaded up the image to be copied in D2 on the sdrive, set 1050 as drive 2. Loaded up my copier, swaped to D2 on the SDrive, hit start and off we went ;)

 

This is good news. I hoped and suspected this was possible, but when he said it wouldn't work I was a bit disappointed.

 

Not that it would be a big deal not to be able to copy to floppy - the SDrive makes the 1050 totally obsolete. I just wanted to put the best stuff on floppy for whenever I want that "old-style wait-forever floppy loading experience". :D

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