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ATR-8000 (and other) CP/M System disks here


Kyle22

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gotek necessary? Maybe, can your device run "FlashFloppy" ? If so, maybe gotek isn't necessary.
 
I hooked up a second gotek (+FF) this weekend, and my ATR is running CP/M with two FF-drives.
I need three.. working on that one.

I hooked up the hxc to the ATR. Got that part working. I was able to boot a mydos image. Slow but it worked.

Now, I tried to put the Autoterm.atr (converted to hfe) in drive one of the hxc. It didn’t want to boot. So I booted Autoterm from the sio2sd after it booted, turned drive 1 off on the sio2sd and turned on drive 1 of the HXC and loaded your CPM hfe image. It booted but came back with just the “c”.

I think something is still wrong in the 8000. I didn’t open it back up and check the rs232 jumpers yet. Maybe tomorrow. I guess there could still be something wrong with the 1797 controller chip but everything else regarding disk drive operation seems ok.

-Craig
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The fact that you were able to boot a mydos image suggests that the disk controller is good. Could you do that multiple times?
 
And it's a 64k ATR8000, right?
 
Your autoterm doesn't need RS232 jumpers set - that's only if you're using a dumb terminal.
And your hxc is using flashfloppy?
 
Steve

I only booted mydos once to see if it worked. I am using the hxc2001 firmware as I don’t think I can flash the flash floppy on my unit.

I know there is a new (paid) firmware for the hxc but I think that is for the usb version of my type of unit. (Mine is the sd version).

I thought of putting the flash floppy firmware but....... it appears to need a USB port and/or the correct jumper block. My model only has the 12 pin jumper block for ds0-3 and drive A or B.

When I tried to boot the CPM hfe it did access the disk but just returned the “c”. It is a shame we don’t know what the “c” code indicates.
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I think the verdict is something is wrong with my Atr. Tried a lot of different things and it just won’t boot into cp/m.

 

Thanks for all the help! It was a fun learning experience. I guess I will have to keep my eye out for when another one pops up for sale.

 

I truly wonder if this started life as a 16k and was upgraded and something is missing. It did come with the CPM supplement but there is clearly a 16 sticker on the back of it.

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On 10/1/2020 at 6:52 AM, moonlight_mile said:

I think the verdict is something is wrong with my Atr. Tried a lot of different things and it just won’t boot into cp/m.

 

Thanks for all the help! It was a fun learning experience. I guess I will have to keep my eye out for when another one pops up for sale.

 

I truly wonder if this started life as a 16k and was upgraded and something is missing. It did come with the CPM supplement but there is clearly a 16 sticker on the back of it.

Please open it up and quote the the number on the ram chips. Should be something like 4116 /4164 or 4516, 4564. important part is last 2 digits . they are 8 chips inline between the power transformer and the SIO sockets. there is also some jumpers to select 16K or 64K. Please describe the position of those.  for reference, mine has nothing in J1, one marked as 2 is shorted, 4 and 6 are not . All are close to transformer.  I am guessing J1 would be shorted if 41256 or similar are used. The 4116 are 16K chips. Easy enough to upgrade to 64K tho. 16K will never work with CP/M.

 

I have a dump of the sectors of a cpm data disk that goes with the latest version of cp/m ie sectors in order the way atr cp/m reads them side 1 then side 2, track 1 side 1,2  track 2 etc  . am thinking of ways to get it in to the right sector order for an ATR file to be written by an XF551 or atr8000 double sided ( both are different). Was hoping to use my blackbox floppy board but am currently having issues with it. May have to do it by hand (doing my head in)

 

Need to get a 1797 for my ATR...............

 

James

Edited by sup8pdct
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Please open it up and quote the the number on the ram chips. Should be something like 4116 /4164 or 4516, 4564. important part is last 2 digits . they are 8 chips inline between the power transformer and the SIO sockets. there is also some jumpers to select 16K or 64K. Please describe the position of those.  for reference, mine has nothing in J1, one marked as 2 is shorted, 4 and 6 are not . All are close to transformer.  I am guessing J1 would be shorted if 41256 or similar are used. The 4116 are 16K chips. Easy enough to upgrade to 64K tho. 16K will never work with CP/M.

 

I have a dump of the sectors of a cpm data disk that goes with the latest version of cp/m ie sectors in order the way atr cp/m reads them side 1 then side 2, track 1 side 1,2  track 2 etc  . am thinking of ways to get it in to the right sector order for an ATR file to be written by an XF551 or atr8000 double sided ( both are different). Was hoping to use my blackbox floppy board but am currently having issues with it. May have to do it by hand (doing my head in)

 

Need to get a 1797 for my ATR...............

 

James

I have 4164s. I ordered a “new” set and those are currently installed. The jumpers are set for 64k. Here is a pic.

 

fb3d9d347feaeba1cee7cf3fb5dfff5b.jpg

 

Maybe I will mess with the old ram chips one last time before I close it up.

 

If you order 1797. Make sure you order a few. Of the 5 I ordered. Only 2 were working. 2 were doa and 1 would only format in Sd.

 

There isn’t an easy way to test ram Chips without an extra piece of equipment is there? I know my eprom burner tests certain chips but I don’t think they can test ram chips.

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I put in the old ram chips. Exactly the same result so I am gonna guess the ram chips are fine. I wouldn’t think it is very likely ram chips from different vendors would result with the same results.

I did spend some time writing out a few Atari disks so I know the drives and the drive controller chip is good.

Besides the rom,z80,z80 timing chip and the drive controller chip the rest of the chips are either logic or buffer chips. I wouldn’t know where to start with those and I really don’t want to go unsoldering a full board or chips.

Any other way to test chips?

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It is a mystery. Only other thing it could possibly be is the rom. Maybe a different version or a bit somewhere isn't what it should be. The cp/m bios overlays the rom code that is copied to ram so many routines (namely disk) that are in the rom are used by the CP/M bios.

Another possibility is the rom not being disabled. maybe the file i created isn't doing something right but others have confirmed that it does work.

 

 

I have finally managed (i hope) to create a double sided image of the latest version of the ATR8000 cpm files disk.

I have learned things about the 3 different double sided formats out there. XF, ATR and Percom and what i have said about the percom way is wrong. Turns out it is very strange.

 

Have included all 3 versions. choose only the version for the drive you are going to write to. otherwise it wont work.

 

Again, i have no way to test it yet (Get off ass and fix ATR) so feed back would be appreciated.

 

Info for anyone who is remotely interested on the layouts of double sided.

ATR. side 1 as per SSDD. side 2 starts at track 1 and steps to track 40, sectors  read from 1 to 18 for each track (ie FDC side, track, sector id field)

XF side 1 as per SSDD  Side 2 starts at track 40 and steps back to track 1 sectors read from 18 to 1 each track. (FDC fields as above)

Percom Side 1 as SSDD. side 2 starts at track 40 sector 17 through to 1 then each track after, 18 to 1 stepping back to track 1. very last sector (1440) is sector 18 on track 40. (wonder if percom reserved it for some reason or is it a programming error?)

 

James

atr8000 cpm data files atr8000 DSDD.atr atr8000 cpm data files percom DSDD.atr atr8000 cpm data files xf551 DSDD.atr

Edited by sup8pdct
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I am kind of done with my ATR but I keep getting the urge to further diagnose what is going on with the cp/m area.

I was looking at the schematics. The rom goes into the z80 (i am assuming) get converted to code that z80 can run, then gets spit out from the z80 into the ram chips.

I was going to tone out those traces but, would the disk drives work if the rom was corrupt? I am a rank beginner at this and love the adventure of figuring this out but, to my limited knowledge it seems like the drive routines probably wouldn’t work if the rom was corrupt. I know the atr won’t boot without the z80 installed.

Just trying to narrow down where my issue could be.

Thanks for any info.

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  • 2 weeks later...
1 hour ago, moonlight_mile said:

I have just discovered my 130 xe may have some memory issues. They just turned up while trying to get an side2 cart to work. I know in the CP/M mode, the Atari is simply a terminal but could this memory issue cause my issue with the CP/M disk not booting?

Anything is possible, but I very much doubt it.  Honestly, I would suspect something strange with my drives.  I wish I had all my known-good stuff to test your stuff with and find your fault.  The 'net is a fine thing, but somethings require physical gear/presence still.  Sigh.

 

Best,

 

jeff

Edited by Jeffrey Worley
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  • 4 weeks later...

Just catching up a bit.

The bad memory on my 130xe made no change.

I broke down and bought one of those 4164 memory chip testers.

The new chips I got all tested good. I haven’t tested the original chips yet. (I just cleaned up my desk again lol). But I had tried to boot the cp/m disks I got from Jeff with those new chips a while back and end with the same result.

So I am still looking for a fix from time to time.

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  • 1 month later...

I got another ATR from a fellow AtariAger.

Nothing groundbreaking. It is a true 64k model. But what was so cool is it came with 8 inch SWP CP/M disks! No I am not crazy and going to start searching out for 8 inch drives but it is really cool to have official SWP disks. Below are the pics of the board. Nothing new here but the offset rom chip. Version 3.02+. I am assuming this is just the standard 3.02 version. If I can dump it without removing the label I will post it for your viewing.

I haven’t gotten a chance to test it yet, hopefully in the next few days. 4f9a8596ed03083b73fc68f86eed8518.jpg
Also it seems to use a different type of memory chips.

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I got down to test the new ATR. CP/M works!!!!

 

I did notice that when I boot up the CP/M disk the head clicks twice before booting. Where the ATR that won’t boot CP/M doesn’t display this behavior. So maybe my 1797 chips are still somewhat faulty.  I am going to do some chip swapping in the coming weeks to see if I can narrow down what is wrong with the original ATR. 
 

Anyway, I looked at the manual and it seems to be a little different than the original manual and the manual online. So I will get around to scanning it. But I took a pic of the 8inch SWP disks and the one page of the manual that is different. 
 

oh and there also was an SWP typed my dos manual. I can scan that too if anyone is interested. 

7F4D4404-28B4-405C-BB2B-CDBA75EDE813.jpeg

66F4E2C1-EED5-4962-8DF8-7D7B22528B67.jpeg

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