WizWor Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 With the renewed interest in SDrive and a new run of SDrive NUXX devices, I have heard comparisions to other devices like SIO2PC and SIO2SD. The only place where SDrive seems to come up short is in the number of disk images that can be simultaneously mounted. So far, the only A8 games I've found with more than four disks are Alternate Reality the Dungeon and Flight Dim II. Are there others? Are these unplayable using the SDrive or just inconvenient? In other words, does one flip AR disks during game play or boot a game disk and play one area at a time. If the latter, can't you have save your game, reboot the Atari, mount another image, and continue the game? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MEtalGuy66 Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 Once you have BOOTED Alternate reality:The Dungeon, you only require 4 disks.. It is possible to play this game with only 4 mounted disks. People have done it using a hyperXF quad-partitioned 720k floppy.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texacala Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 I think Gunslinger is spread across six disk sides. I can't think of any others right now (maybe The Dark Crystal?) I've wondered too about how to play AR with the NUXX. I still have to try it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kheffington Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 There are probably others but Essex and Mindwheel from synapse are on 4 sides. Both require 2 disk loaded at once then sides flipped to play. You might be able to play them but no way to save your place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+remowilliams Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 Games that support 2 or move drives but require you to swap images in and out of specific drives won't work with it properly either, like Autoduel or Universe. You'd have to run them single drive essentially. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACML Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 Here is a cludge work around. Have a second SD card with disks 5+ and they are named the same as 1-4. When you need disk 5 or 6, swap SD cards and disk5 has the same name as the orignial D1:, etc. Yes, it might cause confusion, but it should allow 5+ disk game play. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+orpheuswaking Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 I have multiple SDrives and a SIO2SD along with IDE options, and yet for some reason I always come back to my trusty SIO2PC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Philsan Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 First of all, SDrive should not be compared with SIO2PC. SIO2PC needs a PC. Regarding SDrive limitations, there is the number of disks supported and the fact that launcher displays the long filename of selected file only (unless you prepare an .atr with MyPicoDOS or use the big and complete .atr recently released). Obviously comparison should be made with SIO2SD. That device has the same features of SDrive (including a launcher that displays long filenames of all files, not selected one only) plus other ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+remowilliams Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 I have multiple SDrives and a SIO2SD along with IDE options, and yet for some reason I always come back to my trusty SIO2PC Same here and I have SIO2USB and other stuff, but if you're near a PC SIO2PC/APE is nearly impossible to beat... With the renewed interest in SDrive and a new run of SDrive NUXX devices, I have heard comparisions to other devices like SIO2PC and SIO2SD. The only place where SDrive seems to come up short is in the number of disk images that can be simultaneously mounted. Where SDrive really comes up short against SIO2SD/SIO2USB is the ability to on the fly arbitrarily swap any image into any drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+orpheuswaking Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 First of all, SDrive should not be compared with SIO2PC. SIO2PC needs a PC. True, that wasn't my intention, I was just making an observation that most people have multiple ways of getting data to their a8s. When I play AR I just use my SIO2PC and the SDrive for most everything else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnBuell Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 I think Gunslinger is spread across six disk sides. I can't think of any others right now (maybe The Dark Crystal?) I've wondered too about how to play AR with the NUXX. I still have to try it out. Yes, the Dark Crystal has 3 disks, two sides per disk (or 6 virtual disks). I have a copy of the retail floppies somewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+orpheuswaking Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 How is the Dark Crystal? I've never played it but sounds interesting! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slyde Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 Here is a cludge work around. Have a second SD card with disks 5+ and they are named the same as 1-4. When you need disk 5 or 6, swap SD cards and disk5 has the same name as the orignial D1:, etc. Yes, it might cause confusion, but it should allow 5+ disk game play. that is a super idea.. thanks for this! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Philsan Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 SDrive was designed to be simple and unexpensive. Low cost design no LCD, a few LEDs, cheap DIL28 Atmega8 MCU, single sided PCB (from SDrive website). Why no one offers a cheap barebone version? You can buy a barebone version of SIO2SD for $55 but the less expensive SDrive version costs $100. (If someone sells or knows that someone sells a cheaper version please let me know it so I can update topic for newbies). BTW, I would like to remember Raster (Radek Sterba), SDrive author among other things (RMT...), who passed away just one month ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurtm Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 First of all, SDrive should not be compared with SIO2PC. SIO2PC needs a PC. Regarding SDrive limitations, there is the number of disks supported and the fact that launcher displays the long filename of selected file only (unless you prepare an .atr with MyPicoDOS or use the big and complete .atr recently released). Obviously comparison should be made with SIO2SD. That device has the same features of SDrive (including a launcher that displays long filenames of all files, not selected one only) plus other ones. SDrive was designed to be simple and unexpensive. Low cost design – no LCD, a few LEDs, cheap DIL28 Atmega8 MCU, single sided PCB (from SDrive website). Why no one offers a cheap barebone version? You can buy a barebone version of SIO2SD for $55 but the less expensive SDrive version costs $100. (If someone sells or knows that someone sells a cheaper version please let me know it so I can update topic for newbies). BTW, I would like to remember Raster (Radek Sterba), SDrive author among other things (RMT...), who passed away just one month ago. Imagine that. An SDrive thread where Philsan comes to tell us all that the SIO2SD is way better than the SDrive. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faicuai Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 Imagine that. An SDrive thread where Philsan comes to tell us all that the SIO2SD is way better than the SDrive. ...Funny... I sort of looked at it in the same way... like the unexpected Mall Cop that, from time to time, appears when you least expect him, as soon as you accidentally litter... or use the ladies' room, inadvertedly... There are different editions of SDrive (in different shades, colors, forms), but when it comes to the NUXX-Drive (or "Nuke" drive, as I affectionately call it), this sums it up: SIO2SD = the "iPOD" of SIO-based storage SDrive NUXX = The "SACD-enabled, 60GB PS3" of SIO-based storage (no longer in production and a privilege to own, for those "who know"). For those multi-disk, mult-shuffling games (suffering from 90KB-storage constipation issues), I go with style...and I go old-school, with the IndusGT way. That's precisely what they are for. For the remainder 2,500+ tittles squeezed into these large .ATR images, the SDrive NUXX-edition has simply no substitute. The next frontier is the SIDE project, because it comes bundled with a BRUTAL increase in transfer speed, and it is definitely a worthy companion, provided that it is as well built and finished as the "Nuke". F. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Philsan Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 kurtm and faicuai, your fanboy replies do not need comments. I am still waiting to know why SDrive is better that SIO2SD (apart, as written many times, SDrive version NUXX building quality). I bought both devices, I only write facts. BTW, I have IDE Plus 2.0 and I am waiting SIDE. If one of those devices will read .atr, we'll have a winner... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 "It's better because I bought one". Lame fanboi excuse with no comparitive backing in reality which can be extended to most modern day tech products. We'll be reading ATRs soon enough... device independant. But you'll need plenty of RAM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texacala Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 @orpheuswaking: ANALOG reviewed Dark Crystal back in the day and gave it a mixed review, but I think it looks interesting too, very ambitious to say the least! I've got the disks, so I'll fire it up at some point and let you know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HiassofT Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 SDrive was designed to be simple and unexpensive. Low cost design – no LCD, a few LEDs, cheap DIL28 Atmega8 MCU, single sided PCB (from SDrive website). Why no one offers a cheap barebone version? mega-hz has already a minimal barebone SDrive PCB in the queue, but it'll take a while until it will be available, we are focussing on the new Turbo Freezer now. so long, Hias Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faicuai Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 Now we have angry mall-cops (!)... And they are on true a mission... ..so predictable... F. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 And the mall-rats who go to the food court and leave their scraps of spam all over the tables. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurtm Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 kurtm and faicuai, your fanboy replies do not need comments. I am still waiting to know why SDrive is better that SIO2SD (apart, as written many times, SDrive version NUXX building quality). I bought both devices, I only write facts. BTW, I have IDE Plus 2.0 and I am waiting SIDE. If one of those devices will read .atr, we'll have a winner... It's just tiresome. You just keep saying it over and over. SDrive isn't better, it's *different*. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+orpheuswaking Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 SDrive is*different*. Fixed That's the point isn't it? everything is different, and if what you like works for you why do you have to beat down on another device? The SDrive works better in some instances but the SIO2SD has some advantages too. As for the SDrive Nuxx, yes it's nice to look at but it does NOTHING more than my basic version. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Philsan Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 SDrive was designed to be simple and unexpensive. Low cost design no LCD, a few LEDs, cheap DIL28 Atmega8 MCU, single sided PCB (from SDrive website). Why no one offers a cheap barebone version? mega-hz has already a minimal barebone SDrive PCB in the queue, but it'll take a while until it will be available, we are focussing on the new Turbo Freezer now. Thank you Hias. When Wolfram (I bought his Atari Stereo) will sell his barebone SDrive, please inform me or open a new thread so I can add it in my Topic for newbies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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