MyIDE-II Using Ultimate SIDE-PBI?

[+Larry]

This is just a "what-if" question, and I don't expect that anything will come of it. But is it possible that the MyIDE-II could use the same PBI facility provided by the Ultimate as does the SIDE/2? Seems like that would satisfy those who object to the "non-standard" OS. (Although by my count there are more than 50 non-standard/modded OS for the XL/XE.)

 

-Larry

[flashjazzcat]

This is just a "what-if" question, and I don't expect that anything will come of it. But is it possible that the MyIDE-II could use the same PBI facility provided by the Ultimate as does the SIDE/2?

I don't think it's possible while the MyIDE II's IDE registers are at $D500. Ultimate maps part of the PBI RAM at the same location, so it would be better if the CPLD in the MyIDE were reprogrammed to map the registers at $D5F0 (same as SIDE2). Even if the registers stayed visible at the current address (and I don't think they do, since what you're talking about is the second thing I tried to do once I had a MyIDE II in my hands), we'd lose some bytes of PBI RAM which we really can't afford.

 

Seems like that would satisfy those who object to the "non-standard" OS. (Although by my count there are more than 50 non-standard/modded OS for the XL/XE.)

It's not so much the non-standard OS I object to (since this is the Ultimate 1MB, after all, and - in contrast to a stock machine - it's a piece of cake the change the OS), but the fact everything else about the custom OS is "non-standard". By standard I refer to APT, which was an established partitioning scheme when MyIDE II came out. Unfortunately all the APT tools expect an OS-compliant PBI implementation, or a RAM-based driver which patches into the SDX SIO table using the documented methods. You can already use APT with MyIDE II by means of the SDX soft-driver, but the PBI solution seems out of reach at the moment.

[Marius]

yeah... it would be AMAZING if MyBIOS would use the APT standard.

 

I must say that MyBIOS 4.8.0A is a very compatible and very stable release of MyBIOS. Since I moved to IDE+ and from time to time I use SIDE2, I wished I could also use the MyBIOS with the APT partitions. Well with SDX I can yes... but outside SDX it is a no go.

 

Perhaps Sijmen will implant it one day... or not...

 

I use MyIDE ][ now mainly to play games on 64K atari's and as backup SDX cart with built in HD....

[phaeron]

I don't think it's possible while the MyIDE II's IDE registers are at $D500. Ultimate maps part of the PBI RAM at the same location, so it would be better if the CPLD in the MyIDE were reprogrammed to map the registers at $D5F0 (same as SIDE2). Even if the registers stayed visible at the current address (and I don't think they do, since what you're talking about is the second thing I tried to do once I had a MyIDE II in my hands), we'd lose some bytes of PBI RAM which we really can't afford.

 

It's doable, but you would need to copy code fragments to MyIDE-II memory and run it in the keyhole aperture with the PBI BIOS turned off. It'd definitely require some surgery to create a MyIDE-II specific PBI BIOS.