ULTRASATAN

[Charlie_]

Theres something wrong somewhere. My drives run fine, but if I run your partioning program it freezes when both drives are in. If I remove one it works.

 

First drive has 8 x 255Mb partitions. 2nd drive has 6 x 314Mb partitions. Could be a glitch on the UltraSatan I guess if its not the program.

 

Its not a big problem as I know how to get around it, just thought I would mention it.

 

On my 1.62 STE I've used it to partition cards with both slots in use.

[ParanoidLittleMan]

What was previously on card is irrelevant. I had too FAT32 on some cards in past - no probs.

Hardly that freezing happens because UltraSatan glitch - maybe if it serves some very strange datas, but it is extremely unlikely.

Best would be to try on some other ST(E) with same US and cards.

[GadgetUK]

Wierd... Same on STe, and i've noticed something else. If I swap the cards around and power up UltraSatan it doesnt flash the red LEDs like it normally does and I get no drives. If I boot with either card in left slot its fine. If I have my card with 8 x 255mb partitions in left side and card with 6 x 314Mb partitions in right side its fine, yet US doesnt work if I swap the cards around, and when both cards are in and working partition program hangs after load.

 

I think this is an UltraSatan bug tbh. But its not a show stopper.

Edited April 10, 2013 by GadgetUK

[ParanoidLittleMan]

Just to note : there are some crap cards around - I would rather bet on it .

[Charlie_]

My Zaxon Ultrasatan hated some memory cards in the bottom slot.

 

I use these, they are fast and work perfect with the UltraSatan. Cheap too.

http://www.shopping....emory-Card/info

Edited April 10, 2013 by Official Ninja

[GadgetUK]

The thing is, its the Sandisk card that came with it causing the wierd glitch in partitioning software lol. Besides which that once partitioned its all running fine!

[+wood_jl]

My Zaxon Ultrasatan hated some memory cards in the bottom slot.

 

I use these, they are fast and work perfect with the UltraSatan. Cheap too.

http://www.shopping....emory-Card/info

 

Yes, that IS cheap. Thanks for posting that. I wonder if there's a qty discount on the shipping, which is $4.68 althought the card is $1. Still, a good buy though, and since you know it works with Zaxon's Ultrasatan.

[ParanoidLittleMan]

I just bought 4GB Sandisk SD card, and made some quick tests:

As is visible, card was with FAT32, as is usual. Card in first slot is Kingston 4GB. Sandisk is much faster, although I don't know why Kingston has only 580KB/sec now, I measured over 700KB earlier with same. And not faster if alone in US, just to mention. At the end I swapped 2 cards (what can not see on video) and rebooted.

So, it seems that UltraSatan has no problems with Sandisk. But with fake Sandisk ?

[GadgetUK]

I just bought 4GB Sandisk SD card, and made some quick tests:

As is visible, card was with FAT32, as is usual. Card in first slot is Kingston 4GB. Sandisk is much faster, although I don't know why Kingston has only 580KB/sec now, I measured over 700KB earlier with same. And not faster if alone in US, just to mention. At the end I swapped 2 cards (what can not see on video) and rebooted.

So, it seems that UltraSatan has no problems with Sandisk. But with fake Sandisk ?

 

Thanks! The Sandisk came from Lotharek with the UltraSatan. What is strange is that the card dont cause strange behaviour when used on their own, but they do when the cards are a certain way around in the slots. Eg, Kingston in slot 1, Sandisk in slot 2 = system is fine. If I swap the cards around, US doesnt boot - ie the red leds dont flash on power up like normal. How there can be card problem when they work in one order and both individually also puzzles me. I do think its a US bug yet to be seen by others.

[ParanoidLittleMan]

I noticed one problem when using Kingston and Sandisk together: with both inserted, then turning on power for US, red light remains on, and it works not, of course. Works only if I power on with only first card in, and then add second (funny, forenoon I did not experienced this problem). It seems like power issue. Maybe my supply is little weak. Writing on cards seems OK.

 

GagdetUK: I posted you updates - some smaller ones, like displaying allocated RAM at autoboot.

[GadgetUK]

Thanks, will check it out after work!

Edited April 11, 2013 by GadgetUK

[TommyIII]

UltraSatan came in today and it is a Quality piece of hardware just like the others mentioned. I Was up and running in minutes.

 

Here's 2 threads that helped me with a Cubase Memory issue I had earlier. Still running 1 mb of RAM on my STe.

 

http://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=19348

 

http://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=18672&p=161310&hilit=hddriver+buffer#p160565

 

Still running ICD driver but Going to purchase the PP Driver this weekend and give it a spin.

 

 

[AnakiMana]

I also received my UltraSatan today, only 8 *calendar* days after it shipped. Estimated delivery time was 8-15 *business* days!

 

I won't have time to play with mine until after April 15th. I'm super busy with customers (I run my own on-site computer repair and server maintenance business) and doing taxes for the first time... and realizing how unprepared I've been!

 

Wish I was more organized from the beginning! But this reward awaits me when I'm finished!

[TommyIII]

Man I just put 4mb non-parity 80ns RAM in my STe and this thing fly's with the US. Sick.

[lunar7]

I really hope I will receive mine this week, it would be great timing! I am on West coast too so hopefully it will arrive (I don't think the Polish tracker can track outside of Poland though, maybe it depends on the destination country)

 

Glad to know it flies with the 4Mb upgrade, I'm really glad I upgraded from my unmaintained noisy STF to an STE with latest TOS, etc. It's whisper quiet in comparison!

[Charlie_]

I really hope I will receive mine this week, it would be great timing! I am on West coast too so hopefully it will arrive (I don't think the Polish tracker can track outside of Poland though, maybe it depends on the destination country)

 

Glad to know it flies with the 4Mb upgrade, I'm really glad I upgraded from my unmaintained noisy STF to an STE with latest TOS, etc. It's whisper quiet in comparison!

 

man, those floppy drives in the old STFs with the large eject buttons make some serious noise.

That is one often over looked advantage of the STe, you can fit the later model drives that are much more quiet.

[English Invader]

I've been looking for a way to run games off the internet on my ST and none of the floppy disk transfer options have proved suitable. I use a laptop and I don't have an internal floppy drive.

 

I have a 520STFM with a 2.5 MB upgrade. Would that system be suitable for Ultrasatan?

[ParanoidLittleMan]

Yes. Then you can transfer files easily with USB card reader. Or maybe you have SD slot in laptop

[TommyIII]

Can I do this:

I install PPDriver on a new SD card put it in slot 1, then put my 2GB ICD Formatted card from Lotharek in Slot 2 and copy files from Slot 2 Partitions to Slot 1?

 

Thanks!

[ParanoidLittleMan]

Can I do this:

I install PPDriver on a new SD card put it in slot 1, then put my 2GB ICD Formatted card from Lotharek in Slot 2 and copy files from Slot 2 Partitions to Slot 1?

 

Thanks!

 

Yes. And I working on making possible to install my driver on TOS (AHDI) partitioned medias too, without need of repartitioning, data backup. First step in that direction was Superior game image - it is with AHDI partitions, but I installed my driver because found AHDI driver pretty slow in some cases.

Of course, for easy data transfer with some PC, MAC TOS/DOS compatible partitioning is best.

[TommyIII]

Great! Thanks for the Quick reply! Purchased.

[Shredder11]

I've been looking for a way to run games off the internet on my ST and none of the floppy disk transfer options have proved suitable. I use a laptop and I don't have an internal floppy drive.

 

I have a HxC SD Floppy Emulator but I also covered my bases, by getting a IBM Thinkpad G40 (barely used and like new) which has an internal floppy drive and DVD/CD drive, plus Parallel Port so this makes an ideal companion computer for my retro computers. I already own a couple of desktop PCs with internal floppy drives, plus I have some Dell external USB floppy drives which work with 720KB and 1.44MB disks.

[TommyIII]

^^^ Same here. I use a ThinkPad T22 with hot swappable HD, Floppy, Zip, and CD/DVD Rom Drives. Best investment for Old School Computer Users. All the Ports you'll need plus It runs native DOS like a champ too.

[GadgetUK]

Regards speed tests - I was getting around 608 to 612Kb /s on transfer speed tests with both of my 2Gb SD cards. Just received some SDHC Kingston 4Gb (10) high speed cards designed for HD video - these give 869Kb /s on transfer test. So if you want faster performance buy faster SDHC cards designed for video capture. I didnt expect this, I thought there would be a bottleneck in terms of the ASCI bus or whatever, but obviously not.

[ParanoidLittleMan]

ACSI can much more than some DOCs say - top speed is 2MB/sec. In Atari ST Profibuch stays 8Mb/sec=1MB/sec. In some Atari DOCs stays 1.25 MB/sec. For instance ICD Link2 adapters can about 1.8 MB/sec.

I measured highest speed of 1.25 MB/sec with UltraSatan - it depends most from used SD card. And actually, it must be not with fastest SD cards. Even cheaper SD cards can over 1MB/sec on UltraSatan. All it seems as matter of luck. Don't forget that those high-speed SD cards can over 20MB/sec - I measured exacty so much with average Sandisk 4GB card.