Info about SIDE/SIDE2?

[+Larry]

I have a new SIDE2 from Lotharek (very well packaged, promptly shipped, etc.) I've bought several things from him, and can honestly say that he is a pleasure to deal with.

 

Anyway, is there anything like a single repository of info about the SIDE/SIDE2? I've been going through lots of old threads here, but I have not found anything like the docs package for the MyIDE products. I suspect that when you include the PBI functions of the Ultimate in the mix, the SIDE is every bit as complicated to set up and use as the MyIDE's. That's not a criticism -- lots of features usually brings lots of questions. So if I have to go through a thread at a time, so be it. But thought I'd ask first, in case something has already been put together.

 

BTW, Lotharek's Quick Manual was very helpful, so I have a functional SDX partition and a FAT32 partition with some games on my 2 GB card thus far.

 

Thanks,

Larry

[flashjazzcat]

http://www.atari8.co.uk

[+Larry]

Thanks Jon, and I did go to your site first.

 

But unless I'm missing something, most of what you have is about APT or the soft drivers. I've got an Ultimate, so I won't need the soft drivers (AFAIK!). I've got the CF card all prepared, and have a number of files on D1:. Also, Windows-formatted a FAT32 partition and have copied some games there. Yet to do (that I know if): get the SIDE2 working with the Ultimate PBI and look into the ATR situation. Looking through the threads, it looks like ATR's give folks the most grief. We'll see. But since I have a good-working Ultimate now, it should make the situation a lot easier. BTW, as I look back, I now believe that the incompatibility between SDX and APE's PC Mirror was likely at the root of most of my issues with UFLASH, both recently and a year or so ago. I've reported that as a "bug," so we'll see what the SDX crew says.

 

-Larry

[flashjazzcat]

OK - I guess some documentation for the XEX loader wouldn't go amiss. I offered to host the (fixed) versions of the XEX loader (for SIDE, Ultimate, and Incognito) on my site, along with some brief documentation, but I'm still waiting for Candle to (re)send me the files, which I unfortunately lost last year.

 

ATRs shouldn't be problematic, and it puzzles me that people experience problems now that the drivers are rock-solid. Put them on the card, run the XEX loader (Ultimate's, that is), select the image, and you're good to go.

 

Regarding PC Mirror: I think you'll wait in vain for changes on the SDX side. AspeQt only became compatible with SDX when AspeQt's circular sector numbering (which caused problems with SDX's caching mechanism) was put right. I have no idea how APE delivers sectors, but since APE is pretty much geared towards DOS 2.x and MyDOS, Steve would more than likely have to fix something on his side to get PC Mirror to work with SDX.

[+Larry]

Hi Jon-

 

Yes, I suspect you are quite right about SDX/APE, but at least I have a fall-back with AspeQt and another (more cumbersome) Using MyDos/PC Mirror, then copied from MyDos ATR to SDX ATR. Anyway, I'll also pass it onto Steve Tucker. But I suspect that I'll get about the same response. :-)

 

Now, I'm hung up -- Lotharek's manual says that to use SDX with HD interface:

 

V. Sparta DOS Mode with hard disk interface

• Prepare Your CF CARD
• Insert CF card to SIDE 2
• Adjust switch to LOWER position (ultimate users – disable PBI DEVICE and SDX in ultimate bios) (my italics)
• Turn on ATARI
• Sparta Dos with SIDE2 drivers should load. Also, if CF card is properly initialized, list of partition will be displayed.

I interpret this to mean that I am using the SIDE soft-driver. (?) My Ultimate menu says "Disable Side Hardware" There is nothing in my Ultimate menu about enabling or disabling the PBI device (so presumably the Disable Side Hardware means PBI. (That seems confusing.)

 

The next section of the manual shows using an ATR with the PBI:

 

VI. ATR handling in PBI MODE ( ultimate users only)

• Enter ultimate bios ( help+reset )
• Enable Sparta DOS
• Enable PBI device with BUTTON SUPPORT
• Press and hold “L” to activate SIDE2 loader
• Choose Your *.atr file and press enter
• If Your game is multidisc, press spacebar to mark fle as D1:
• Next time You mark *.atr file it will be marked as D2: , D3:...
• Enter to restart
• Pressing switch at SIDE2 changes mapped *.atr files D1:-) D2:-) D3:-) D1:

So I thought that I had the "eureka moment" and had this figured out -- you get the PBI device only with an ATR, so I followed the next procedure (and my hopes were dashed...).

 

Here's what I am trying to do:

I want to load and execute an ATR image that has a MyDos system on it. (I was told a long time ago that this is possible.) When I use the above procedure, I get Basic and no OS -- self test, only. (I tried the same with an SDX image and I get the same result.)

 

Q1. There is no mention of which PBI number to use, so I presume it makes no difference (1/3/5/7 = 0/2/4/6) assuming there are no other conflicting devices.

Q2. There is no mention of the slide switch UP or DOWN. I tried both ways and I get the same result as above.

Q3. What is the little momentary switch button on top do -- does it have any part in this?

 

Maybe I need to add something with UFLASH -- i.e. a new driver?

 

Hope you can "unconfuse" me.

 

Thanks,

Larry

[flashjazzcat]

"SIDE Hardware" = PBI device.

 

Q1: It makes no difference, providing - as you say - there's no other conflicting device IDs on the system.

Q2: You need the switch in the UP position to use the Ultimate's PBI feature. Switch down (as explained in the first snippet) boots SDX from the cartridge. Switch UP disables SDX on the cart. It makes no difference whether you actually intend to use Ultimate's built-in SDX or not: the important thing is that SDX must be disabled on the cart, which means putting the switch in the UP position. In PBI mode, all the SIDE cart provides is a set of IDE registers - nothing more.

Q3: Lotharek's manual mentions the momentary switch (it rotates the ATR drive mappings).

 

So: put your MyDOS ATR into the FAT partition of the CF card. Put the CF card into the SIDE cart. Move the switch to the "UP" position. Power up and get into the Ultimate BIOS, enable "SIDE hardware" and disable on-board SDX. Press "L", navigate to the ATR you want to boot and press Enter.

 

If this doesn't result in MyDOS booting, maybe you have an older (buggy) PBI BIOS? Ultimate will tell you the version number at powerup if you have SDX turned on. If it says "Ultimate PBI 1.0" or words to that effect, everything's cool.

 

I'll try to put something simple together on my website over the weekend. I tried to PM Candle about those ROMs, but it looks like his messenger inbox is full.

Edited January 2, 2015 by flashjazzcat

[+Larry]

Hi Jon-

 

No success yet. Sometimes, it now tries to boot then says "er no dos."

 

There is no version number shown on the Ultimate menu screen -- presume that's where you meant it would be. (?) Anyway, I downloaded V1.0 of the PBI bios and used UFLASH and AspeQt to re-flash it. Went to successful completion. Aside from the fact that sometimes it now tries to boot, when I press the space bar, it immediately goes to D1: Before flashing, it would appear to make several retries before the D1 would come up. BTW, button is up.

 

Here is a pic of my Ultimate menu.

 

I think that I'm doing exactly as you suggested. (?) BTW, the ATR I'm using is a 20,000 sector, DD HD image with MyDos 4.55 B4. It boots perfectly from APE or AspeQt as D1:

 

-Larry

 

 

[flashjazzcat]

The version number is not displayed in the Ultimate setup screen. It's displayed when you cold boot into SpartaDOS X with SIDE Hardware enabled.

 

You only need to assign drive numbers with the space bar if you're intending to mount several ATRs. Just use enter in this instance.

 

Send me a dump of your Ultimate ROM (the whole thing; dump it using UFlash) plus the ATR you're trying to boot and I'll test it here. I need the Ultimate ROM because the XEX loader itself is kind of a variable entity here.

 

EDIT: In fact, send a dump of the whole CF card as well if you can get it compressed down, then we can eliminate any problems with the FAT.

Edited January 2, 2015 by flashjazzcat