+orpheuswaking Posted June 8, 2011 Share Posted June 8, 2011 The only think I really like about my MyIDE+ Flash is that you have Image space in addition to partitions, I know most people prefer to use large partitions and mount big images, but I would like to have the same kind of option for IDE Plus 2.0 You do have that capability. Its just not built into the firmware, nor should it be. Theres absolutely nothing preventing you from writing a software Image loading menu, that loads disk images directly, and attempts to bastardize the CIOV to make "non-DOS custom sector-loading" disks run. But (as we all know from MyIDE) even with such a system hard-hacked into the OS rom, theres alot of games/disks that will not load that way. That said, you could write such a "menu/image-launcher" program and just install it on a bootable partition on the drive, if that's what you want. That kind of crap has no place in a real hardisc interface's firmware, in my oppinion. No reason there can't be an ALternative firmware that does that (or attempts to), I guess.. Thanks for your thoughts Ken, I appreciate it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Larry Posted June 8, 2011 Share Posted June 8, 2011 Still issues, but not as many. The HELP hot key does work. I forgot that this 320XE has reverse Basic, and the HELP hot key doesn't work with that configuration. Changed to the Rev. C XL/XE OS. Now, for SHIFT: I used the self test to test each SHIFT key apx. 100 times. It works every time, so the keyboard is good. I held the SHIFT down when cycling on the power until the blue screen appears. I get a little better results with this technique -- the best I can do is 3/10 SIO boots from an APE drive w/MyDos image. In each case, I left the power off for apx 20 seconds. And each time the power is applied, I can see the momentary flash of the APE LED which I presume is the drive query. But still, I get the BOOT ERROR. With a Happy 1050, I get 0/10 SIO boots, even with the drive set to "UnHappy" (stock 1050) mode. More testing to do, though. OK, I re-flashed with 0.7. Could you add dates or other identifying descriptors on the file/archive names? I see them on the program screen, but not so easy to keep track of in a folder with all the same name. Resumed SHIFT testing: Got out a stock 800XL (powered PBI). Same results -- typically 1 or 2 times out of 10 to successfully boot to APE. Got out the stock 130XE. Same results. How about some of you NTSC guys trying this? Maybe you'll see something that I don't -or- you can confirm the issue. If you test, please list the Dos used. Anyone -- how would I test this under SDX, since it immediately takes over the system? -Larry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sloopy Posted June 8, 2011 Share Posted June 8, 2011 Still issues, but not as many. The HELP hot key does work. I forgot that this 320XE has reverse Basic, and the HELP hot key doesn't work with that configuration. Changed to the Rev. C XL/XE OS. Now, for SHIFT: I used the self test to test each SHIFT key apx. 100 times. It works every time, so the keyboard is good. I held the SHIFT down when cycling on the power until the blue screen appears. I get a little better results with this technique -- the best I can do is 3/10 SIO boots from an APE drive w/MyDos image. In each case, I left the power off for apx 20 seconds. And each time the power is applied, I can see the momentary flash of the APE LED which I presume is the drive query. But still, I get the BOOT ERROR. With a Happy 1050, I get 0/10 SIO boots, even with the drive set to "UnHappy" (stock 1050) mode. More testing to do, though. OK, I re-flashed with 0.7. Could you add dates or other identifying descriptors on the file/archive names? I see them on the program screen, but not so easy to keep track of in a folder with all the same name. Resumed SHIFT testing: Got out a stock 800XL (powered PBI). Same results -- typically 1 or 2 times out of 10 to successfully boot to APE. Got out the stock 130XE. Same results. How about some of you NTSC guys trying this? Maybe you'll see something that I don't -or- you can confirm the issue. If you test, please list the Dos used. Anyone -- how would I test this under SDX, since it immediately takes over the system? -Larry i have no problems, but then i am also using a PAL 130XE... my NTSC wont recognise anything on the Cart/ECI except /RD4-/RD5 are low, so i get the Self Test every time... (yes i know probly dirty cart port)... tonight i will make a power cable, and the adaptor for XL's and give it a try... sloopy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fox-1 / mnx Posted June 8, 2011 Share Posted June 8, 2011 One of the most often criticized limitations of the blackbox firmware is that it only handles 64 partitions. It's 96 partitions per table AFAIK. And you can make multiple tables but this doesn't count as you can't enable/access them simultaneously. I was thinking about a way of how to store (and boot) multiple boot disks (as images) stored into one 16MB partition but this is too off-topic here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MEtalGuy66 Posted June 8, 2011 Share Posted June 8, 2011 One of the most often criticized limitations of the blackbox firmware is that it only handles 64 partitions. It's 96 partitions per table AFAIK. And you can make multiple tables but this doesn't count as you can't enable/access them simultaneously. I was thinking about a way of how to store (and boot) multiple boot disks (as images) stored into one 16MB partition but this is too off-topic here. Whatever.. Ive heard more than one person bitch about it on more than one occasion... and theres really no reason for the limitation.. back when we were all using 20-100meg drives, it didnt seem nearly as limiting as it does now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+bf2k+ Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 How about some of you NTSC guys trying this? Maybe you'll see something that I don't -or- you can confirm the issue. If you test, please list the Dos used. OK, let me see if I can get this right... I have D1: in IDE 2 device as bootable to SP3.2g. I have an ATR in APE mounted as D1: also bootable to SP 3.2g. I am using a stock 130XE with the SIO Caps clipped off. Cold Start with shift boots APE SIO device about 50% of the time - the other 50% I get the ultra fast BOOT ERROR message you described Cold Start without shift boots IDE2 SP3.2g 100%. The problem seems random. The GR 0 screen comes up a lot faster with the SHIFT key held down as I would expect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Guitarman Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 OK. Got my IDEPlus 2.0. First....AWESOME!!!!! Set up with an IDE to CF adapter and a 1gb CF card. I have flashed the new Spartados 4.44 and that works great. Also flashed the 6-6-11 bios. Working great. I have created a 32MB partition, set to D1:, built the directory with SpartaDos format, created a IDEPLUS folder and copied the contents of the KMKDIAG disk from D2: on my SDriveNuxx. Now it's time to create a few more partitions and set them up with various DOS formats and file systems. This thing is great!! Between this and my SDriveNuxx, I'll never need to use a physical drive again!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 Shot in the dark here re the SHIFT processing. Does this take part via PBI code early in the coldstart process ? It could well be that Pokey has only shortly been out of the Init state. In such a case, maybe the keyboard scan hasn't had sufficient time to do the proper processing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Larry Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 Thanks, bk2k+ and Rybags! Bf2k+, I appreciate your taking the time to test this! -Larry How about some of you NTSC guys trying this? Maybe you'll see something that I don't -or- you can confirm the issue. If you test, please list the Dos used. OK, let me see if I can get this right... I have D1: in IDE 2 device as bootable to SP3.2g. I have an ATR in APE mounted as D1: also bootable to SP 3.2g. I am using a stock 130XE with the SIO Caps clipped off. Cold Start with shift boots APE SIO device about 50% of the time - the other 50% I get the ultra fast BOOT ERROR message you described Cold Start without shift boots IDE2 SP3.2g 100%. The problem seems random. The GR 0 screen comes up a lot faster with the SHIFT key held down as I would expect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Stephen Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 Got mine today - PCB looks amazing! I have ordered an IDE-CF adapter + 2GB Transcend CF card, so as soon as that comes in I will be in business. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+tf_hh Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 (edited) Hi, Shot in the dark here re the SHIFT processing. Does this take part via PBI code early in the coldstart process ? It could well be that Pokey has only shortly been out of the Init state. In such a case, maybe the keyboard scan hasn't had sufficient time to do the proper processing. Good idea, but the PBI devices are initialized after whole system initialization, so also POKEY (see operating system listed availible all over the net). But, most of the buyers seems to have PAL machines. Maybe possible, that this issue only appears on NTSC machine. I have a NTSC XE and will try it in the evening, if there´s any difference. Juergen Edited June 10, 2011 by tf_hh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OSon Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 I am flashed of this wonderful piece of hardware. Thx for that! It works fine. But I have some special questions. 1) I am using a ATARI 130XE with some Extensions. One of them is a OS-Switcher. I am using the original ATARI XE OS and the QMEG+ 4. With the standard ATARI-OS I have no problems. But by using the QMEG+ 4 I can't boot SDX from ROM. Every time I want to boot SDX, QMEG+ switches off the SDX-Cart in the bios. I think it's a problem by the QMEG+. Is there any chance to fix this in the BIOS? 2) I've a cheap CF-Card-Reader from "Conrad Electronics". I think it's this one: http://www.conrad.de/ce/de/product/974839/IDE-COMPACTFLASH-ADAPTER-64CM-25/SHOP_AREA_37572&promotionareaSearchDetail=005 This adapter doesn't work with the interface. My screen is black and it doesn't change. 3) After creating some partitions with FDISK2 I doesn't know, what is on each partition. It would be very helpfull to name different partitions, so you know, what is on it. And maybe it's possible to create more than 16 partitions? Only some ideas from mind. Greets OSon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drac030 Posted June 10, 2011 Author Share Posted June 10, 2011 1) I am using a ATARI 130XE with some Extensions. One of them is a OS-Switcher. I am using the original ATARI XE OS and the QMEG+ 4. With the standard ATARI-OS I have no problems. But by using the QMEG+ 4 I can't boot SDX from ROM. Every time I want to boot SDX, QMEG+ switches off the SDX-Cart in the bios. I think it's a problem by the QMEG+. Is there any chance to fix this in the BIOS? Yes, this is a long known problem with QMEG, even QMEG 3.2 behaved so (and that was one of the reasons why I got rid of QMEG finally). I think it must be fixed in QMEG, so that a cartridge which initializes DOS vectors may later be allowed to use them. For now, just get the program INIDOS.SYS from the Toolkit ATR, copy it onto D1:, do BOOT D1:INIDOS.SYS and you're done - QMEG will boot this program from D1: and this program will start SpartaDOS cartridge as desired. About partition names: why not, I'll think about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drac030 Posted June 11, 2011 Author Share Posted June 11, 2011 BIOS update: fixed problems reported by Larry, with Help and Shift keys sometimes not working as advertised. I also added two TXT files documenting some extended SIO commands implemented in this version of BIOS. IMPORTANT: the attached archive is named "ZIP", but it is an ARC. I had to rename the file because the forum does not allow ARC attachments. ARC archives can be unpacked: 1) under SpartaDOS X using its "embedded" ARC archiver: ARC X LBA0 2) under other DOS-es: using Bob Puff's UNARC.COM (available on the net, for example here: http://drac030.krap.pl/unarc.zip ) 3) on Linux and BSD: there is a port of arc available, just install it (in FreeBSD: /usr/ports/archivers/arc) 4) on Windows: there is a plugin for Total Commander available here: http://wcx.sourceforge.net/ and it even works Have fun lba1106.zip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Philsan Posted June 11, 2011 Share Posted June 11, 2011 I've copied a game (f.e. ISORA.COM) to the hard disk. If I type ISORA.COM, title screen appears then, if I press space bar to go on, SpartaDOSX screen returns and computer is locked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drac030 Posted June 11, 2011 Author Share Posted June 11, 2011 I've copied a game (f.e. ISORA.COM) to the hard disk. If I type ISORA.COM, title screen appears then, if I press space bar to go on, SpartaDOSX screen returns and computer is locked. You either have to: 1) use X ISORA as the command 2) load COMEXE.SYS, rename the game to ISORA.EXE and type ISORA to start it 3) use a game loader because many games cannot be started from any DOS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Philsan Posted June 11, 2011 Share Posted June 11, 2011 I've copied a game (f.e. ISORA.COM) to the hard disk. If I type ISORA.COM, title screen appears then, if I press space bar to go on, SpartaDOSX screen returns and computer is locked. You either have to: 1) use X ISORA as the command 2) load COMEXE.SYS, rename the game to ISORA.EXE and type ISORA to start it 3) use a game loader because many games cannot be started from any DOS 1) SpartaDOSX screen returns 2) with or without X I get the message "179 MEMORY CONFLICT" 3) what is the best way to have an on screen menu (like SIO2SD or SDrive) to select games? Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frankie Posted June 11, 2011 Share Posted June 11, 2011 So.... is there anyway to recover from a botched firmware upgrade? I can actually still boot SDX from the card, but when I try and reflash it it complains IDE Plus not found :-( Frank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drac030 Posted June 12, 2011 Author Share Posted June 12, 2011 @Frankie: get a previous version (from this thread) and reflash the BIOS with it. Then try to upgrade. BTW. what happened so that you ended up with (apparently) cleared flash ROM? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frankie Posted June 12, 2011 Share Posted June 12, 2011 I was doing the upgrade and it sat there on the eraseing ROM prompt for about 30 minutes... I figured something was wrong.... p.s. All better now. Thanks @Frankie: get a previous version (from this thread) and reflash the BIOS with it. Then try to upgrade. BTW. what happened so that you ended up with (apparently) cleared flash ROM? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drac030 Posted June 12, 2011 Author Share Posted June 12, 2011 Yes, I must add some timeout checking to the flasher. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drac030 Posted June 12, 2011 Author Share Posted June 12, 2011 3) what is the best way to have an on screen menu (like SIO2SD or SDrive) to select games? Sorry, I overlooked your question. I am planning to make an on-board loader, but before I do this, there are two options: 1) MicroSpartaDOS (aka MS-DOS) http://atariki.krap.pl/index.php/Micro_SpartaDOS#Zobacz_te.C5.BC - version 4.6 works with 32 MB partitions 2) SDLOAD - it is available on the KMK/JŻ IDE utilities ATR (just I am not sure if it is the latest version) http://drac030.krap.pl/en-kmkjz-pliki.php Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Philsan Posted June 12, 2011 Share Posted June 12, 2011 Thank you Draco. I really would like that your fast device could be easily used by all Atarians. A loader like SIO2SD's one (with long filenames display and fast selection using letters would be perfect)! BTW, considered that many people uses IDE-CF adaptors, it would be nice to have a PC software to create the loader and transfer files. Meanwhile I will try solutions 1 and 2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted June 12, 2011 Share Posted June 12, 2011 (edited) It appears that some kind of PC-based tool which directly populates normal partitions with files (either from the PC filing system or from ATRs) might prove popular. Something along the lines of MyIDETool, which either turned partitions into ATRs and vice versa, or interacted directly with the SDX filing system and IDE Plus partition structure (a driver which mounted the IDE+ partitions on the PC being the ultimate solution). Edited June 12, 2011 by flashjazzcat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurtm Posted June 12, 2011 Share Posted June 12, 2011 It appears that some kind of PC-based tool which directly populates normal partitions with files (either from the PC filing system or from ATRs) might prove popular. Something along the lines of MyIDETool, which either turned partitions into ATRs and vice versa, or interacted directly with the SDX filing system and IDE Plus partition structure (a driver which mounted the IDE+ partitions on the PC being the ultimate solution). AKA DiskComm 2011? That's the sort of thing you are talking about. Just running: 1) on the PC side and 2) with much *bigger* images. --Kurt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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