Incognito Instructions?

[Tempest]

Thanks to adam242 I got my Incognito installed yesterday and everything I've tested so far seems to work. However, I'm a bit overwhelmed by all the features. Is there a set of instructions out there that tells you how to use everything or is this a 'figure it out yourself' kind of thing?

 

Also, how do I need to organize the CF card to use it with the SIDE feature of the Incognito board? Do I just dump the ATR and XEX files on it in any directory I wish?

[candle]

basically, yes, my project lack proper documentation/instructions each time

and yes, you can do like this, you won't get SDX drives that way, but you can just drop files (atr/xex) on fat32 formatted cf card and use loader (press and hold L while in menu) to load them

hopefully anyone else could write something up

i just do

[Android8675]

Just keep doing your thing Candle, let us handle the the FM of RTFM.

[Tempest]

and yes, you can do like this, you won't get SDX drives that way, but you can just drop files (atr/xex) on fat32 formatted cf card and use loader (press and hold L while in menu)

Can I have both? Can I set up the CF card for SIDE and for SDX or is that impossible?

[candle]

yes, you need FJC's fdisk to do that

APT/FAT32 dual setup

[Tempest]

yes, you need FJC's fdisk to do that

APT/FAT32 dual setup

Where can I find that?

 

Actually, before I go down that route I should see if there's a need to do this. If I want to just play disk games (ATR files) and cartridge games (XEX files I think), do I even need to touch SDX or can I just use the SIDE loader?

[candle]

you don't need to

you might want to have this kind of setup anyways, just to have way out if something new develops

FJC's tools are on his www, i think it was atari8.co.uk

[Tempest]

you might want to have this kind of setup anyways, just to have way out if something new develops

Actually that's not a bad idea. I can make a tiny SDX partition for new developments and keep the rest for SIDE. I'll look into this. Thanks!

[Tempest]

What about .bin files? Is there a way to play those using SIDE?

[flashjazzcat]

Download page for the toolkit has just miraculously come into existence:

 

APT Toolkit

[David Alexander]

_{Hello, I am having a friend assist with the soldering and installation of my Ingonito Board.}

_{However can someone kindly explain to me what I need to do in reference to the flash cart.}

_{Is it simply used like the SD cart in my Harmony Encore Cart or do you have to prepare it with special files/folders/programs etc.}

_{I am not technically inclined so regular laymen explanation would be appreciated and thanks.}

[Fox-1 / mnx]

Really? 4 Times this same posting in 4 topics?

[fujidude]

Really? 4 Times this same posting in 4 topics?

 

I realize it may be a legitimate query, but doing something like that still makes it spamming behavior.

[flashjazzcat]

HDD quick start guide in the documentation section of my website (see sig). If anyone can explain the procedure in even simpler terms, feel free, since I lack the energy to reiterate things even once, let alone four times.

[David Alexander]

HDD quick start guide in the documentation section of my website (see sig). If anyone can explain the procedure in even simpler terms, feel free, since I lack the energy to reiterate things even once, let alone four times.

 

Thank you, I will try to understand your instructions. My main use for my Incognito would be play games on my A800 so if there's an explanation on how to set up the flash cart for that purpose I would appreciate it, thanks

[David Alexander]

Really? 4 Times this same posting in 4 topics?

 

Taken under advisement. Thanks.

[David Alexander]

 

I realize it may be a legitimate query, but doing something like that still makes it spamming behavior.

Taken under advisement. Thanks.

[fujidude]

Taken under advisement. Thanks.

 

It wasn't exactly advice, but you're welcome anyway. It will be interesting to see what the future brings... once you have carefully considered all your "advisements."

[telengard]

Was using my Incognito today (in Colleen mode 48k to play M.U.L.E.) and the Loader file picker seems to, in some cases, not show all files.  I have a bunch of dsk files that just don't show up, but are definitely there on the CF card, I've seen it happen with .car files as well.  Any gotchas I should be looking for?  Permissions, corruption (does the picker even care), etc?

[+DrVenkman]

17 minutes ago, telengard said:

Was using my Incognito today (in Colleen mode 48k to play M.U.L.E.) and the Loader file picker seems to, in some cases, not show all files.  I have a bunch of dsk files that just don't show up, but are definitely there on the CF card, I've seen it happen with .car files as well.  Any gotchas I should be looking for?  Permissions, corruption (does the picker even care), etc?

If you’re using @flashjazzcat’s BIOS and Loader, make note of the directory contents listing. If there’s an ellipsis (three dots or periods) near the top, that indicates there’s more than 250 (?) entries in the directory. Click that to load the next set of contents. I think.  Been awhile since I manually searched through my largest directories. I usually just use the superb search functionality instead. 

[telengard]

11 minutes ago, DrVenkman said:

If you’re using @flashjazzcat’s BIOS and Loader, make note of the directory contents listing. If there’s an ellipsis (three dots or periods) near the top, that indicates there’s more than 250 (?) entries in the directory. Click that to load the next set of contents. I think.  Been awhile since I manually searched through my largest directories. I usually just use the superb search functionality instead. 

Yup, I am using that BIOS, I'll look for the ellipsis thanks.  Interestingly enough I noticed some of these files (possibly all) have the archive bit set on them.  May not be relevant.

Edited March 24, 2020 by telengard
clarity

[flashjazzcat]

7 hours ago, telengard said:

Was using my Incognito today (in Colleen mode 48k to play M.U.L.E.) and the Loader file picker seems to, in some cases, not show all files.  I have a bunch of dsk files that just don't show up, but are definitely there on the CF card, I've seen it happen with .car files as well.  Any gotchas I should be looking for?

Manual is here:

 

https://atari8.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/Ultimate-1MB-Incognito-and-1088XEL-U1MB-Firmware-Manual.pdf

 

On page 45 you'll see a list of all the supported file types. These currently include 8K ROM and CAR files, but as you can see, these have been dropped from the update due for imminent release. The reasons for this are manifold; they don't work properly in Colleen mode because the implementation relied on the presence of internal BASIC, many ROMs have protection methods which cause the title to crash if $A000-$BFFF isn't ROM (which it isn't when the image is soft-loaded), and people somehow assume that because 8K ROM and CAR files show up, ROMs and CARs of other sizes should show up and be supported too. The feature being hit and miss and confusing, I've removed it.

 

Going forward, if you want to emulate cartridges on the Incognito, use the original cartridge, or some cart emulation solution such as AVG (or SIDE3 when it's available).

8 hours ago, telengard said:

Permissions, corruption (does the picker even care), etc?

Does the picker even care regarding what? File permissions?

7 hours ago, telengard said:

YInterestingly enough I noticed some of these files (possibly all) have the archive bit set on them.  May not be relevant.

The loader doesn't care if the archive bit is set. The only criteria for displaying a file are: 1) it's possible to execute it in the current context (i.e. ATR files won't appear in Colleen mode because there's no means of executing them), 2) the hidden or system attributes are not set, 3) the file exists. The forthcoming update adds OBX and OBJ files to the supported list, although these are just alternative naming conventions from EXE/COM/XEX files. The loader doesn't display files which it can't do anything with; this seemed to me to be a complete waste of space. Early versions displayed ATRs dimmed out when there was no PBI BIOS support available, but a few users told me that this cluttered up the directory, and I agreed with them.

[telengard]

6 hours ago, flashjazzcat said:

Manual is here:

 

https://atari8.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/Ultimate-1MB-Incognito-and-1088XEL-U1MB-Firmware-Manual.pdf

 

On page 45 you'll see a list of all the supported file types. These currently include 8K ROM and CAR files, but as you can see, these have been dropped from the update due for imminent release. The reasons for this are manifold; they don't work properly in Colleen mode because the implementation relied on the presence of internal BASIC, many ROMs have protection methods which cause the title to crash if $A000-$BFFF isn't ROM (which it isn't when the image is soft-loaded), and people somehow assume that because 8K ROM and CAR files show up, ROMs and CARs of other sizes should show up and be supported too. The feature being hit and miss and confusing, I've removed it.

 

Going forward, if you want to emulate cartridges on the Incognito, use the original cartridge, or some cart emulation solution such as AVG (or SIDE3 when it's available).

Does the picker even care regarding what? File permissions?

The loader doesn't care if the archive bit is set. The only criteria for displaying a file are: 1) it's possible to execute it in the current context (i.e. ATR files won't appear in Colleen mode because there's no means of executing them), 2) the hidden or system attributes are not set, 3) the file exists. The forthcoming update adds OBX and OBJ files to the supported list, although these are just alternative naming conventions from EXE/COM/XEX files. The loader doesn't display files which it can't do anything with; this seemed to me to be a complete waste of space. Early versions displayed ATRs dimmed out when there was no PBI BIOS support available, but a few users told me that this cluttered up the directory, and I agreed with them.

Thanks for that, makes total sense.  And yes, I was wondering if file permissions were coming into play, or just in general did it look at the files in any way (contents, metadata, etc) other than just displaying the contents of a directory.

[_The Doctor__]

or perhaps...  pill/cart-eliminator/basic inserted in the 800 solves the situation as well?

Edited March 24, 2020 by _The Doctor__