What do you do with your SIDE2 ?

[flashjazzcat]

Here's the topic:

 

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/211689-60-fps-video-using-side-2/?hl=+50%20+fps%20+video

[Neo-Rio]

That's amazing. I found the movplay.xex file and some video,bin files.

 

 

Got it working on Altirra. Now I want to try real hardware. I only have a SIDE2 as a storage device.

 

I wrote the video bin image using a windows image writer directly onto another CF card.

I then tested this card by having Altirra access it directly to play the video - which worked.

 

So on my U1MB XEGS, I booted the movplay.xex off one CF card, and then hot swapped with my other CF card that had the video.

When I hit any key to start, I just got a high pitched screech with a blue background and flashing junk.

Wut?

Edited June 10, 2016 by Neo-Rio

[phaeron]

You can't hot swap the cards at the player prompt. The player does setup and testing of the IDE hardware prior to that.

[Neo-Rio]

Without another SIO device, is there any solution to playing a movie?

I only have the SIDE2 for storage on my system.

 

Would be nice if the player has an option to rescan the IDE before starting....

[Stormtrooper of Death]

Is it possible to copy several ATR files on the memorycard that is used by the SIDE2 and

then use software on the Atari to copy the ATR file to a 5.25 disk on a real 1050 diskdrive ? I do not want to mount an ATR file to play games on the SIDE2, but i want to copy the ATR to a real 5.25 floppy.

 

I am just asking. I think that as an old assembler programmer on Atari that this is not too difficult to make. Just another file to 5.25 disk copier program...

 

Because the ATR file has not to be in memory in its full size for the copy process, i guess this kind of copy program for SIDE2 can be used on 64K / 128K machines aswell.

[Fletch]

I have a SIDE, but at the moment it is used only as a way to load .xex files. I don't use it with SDX at all.

[suspicious_milk]

I've a SIDE2 and SIO2SD and use them both on non-RAM-upgraded 65xe, 130xe, and XEGS. Having a DOS cart has proven useful on all machines and the XEX loader/menu is fast. Even without U1MB I find my SIDE2 nice to have. It's also handy to have the SIDE2 for one machine and the SIO2D on another. If I could only choose one .... IDK what I would do, love them both.

 

Also have a real cassette drive and Indus GT (shortly in need of a new rubber band!).

[bugbiter]

My SIDE2 Cartridge won't fit into the 1200 xl, the case seems to be that teensy bit too wide!

 

Has anyone succeeded in cutting or machining off that overlap, or for a start, to open the cartridge case without breaking it?

 

Same goes for the 800 slots!

Edited September 7, 2016 by bugbiter

[flashjazzcat]

The SIDE2 cartridge case is held together only with a self-tapping screw on the back, so is easy to dismantle. The preferable solution (I have found) for the 1200XL is simply to file about 0.5mm (at most) off either side of the cartridge case, evenly along its entire length. You can do this with flat files, finishing with fine emery board, etc.

[gozar]

My SIDE2 Cartridge won't fit into the 1200 xl, the case seems to be that teensy bit too wide!

 

Has anyone succeeded in cutting or machining off that overlap, or for a start, to open the cartridge case without breaking it?

 

Same goes for the 800 slots!

 

One screw opens it up, I just use it without the case in my 1200XL.

[hueyjones70]

I just recently purchased my first side2 cart and don't know much about using it. I know I will have to read a lot of posts and watch some YouTube videos, but what goes into the top of the cart?

Edited April 21, 2019 by hueyjones70

[+DrVenkman]

I just recently purchased my first side2 cart and don't know much about using it. I know I will have to read a lot of posts and watch some YouTube videos, but what goes into the top of the cart?

 

A CompactFlash card.

[irich2]

This video should help shed some light on the subject:

 

[flashjazzcat]

Pretty soon, you'll be able to do this with it.

 

[Roydea6]

Is this also compatible with SIDE 1.

[flashjazzcat]

Is this also compatible with SIDE 1.

 

It should be, but I will test to be sure.

[+mytek]

Pretty soon, you'll be able to do this with it.

 

selector.png

 

Can you explain a bit more how this works? Is this only a SIDE feature, or is it something that will work with systems having some other CF drive in conjunction with a U1MB (i.e., 1088 series). I suspect that it's using the SIDE hardware's autonomy, meaning no U1MB required.

[flashjazzcat]

 

Can you explain a bit more how this works? Is this only a SIDE feature, or is it something that will work with systems having some other CF drive in conjunction with a U1MB (i.e., 1088 series). I suspect that it's using the SIDE hardware's autonomy, meaning no U1MB required.

 

AA member ebiguy created SIDE conversions of all four OSS language carts (they had to be heavily patched and reorganised owing to SIDE's banking mechanism being totally different to that of the OSS carts or even AtariMax carts; the OSS carts can be ported fairly easily to the latter), and the initial intention was that the user would replace the XEX loader on the SIDE cart with the OSS cart of their choice, and that would be the end of it. Then we thought it would be better to create a combo cart which preserved the loader (so that the cart could still be used in the normal manner without re-flashing the loader), so Eric created a ROM which housed the SIDE loader and the four OSS ROMs in five 32K (4 x 8K banks) blocks in the 'external' cart space. The cart always booted with the loader as the default, but by simply writing to the external banking register at $D5E4, one could start the desired OSS ROM, which would remain active until power-off.

 

That seemed good enough, but a couple of weeks ago I wondered if the cart's stand-alone SIDE loader itself could retrieve a bank number from the NVRAM at boot time and set things up without the user having to select the desired OSS ROM on a per-session basis. So: when the OS (or SDX, if active) jumps through the INIT vector of the external cart, the loader silently reads the NVRAM config, sets the bank, then jumps through the INIT of the newly selected cart. From that point on, the currently active OSS ROM appears as the external cart. A small external tool is used to adjust the bank number in the NVRAM (the loader makes no provision for this, and thus there is no outward trace of the OSS cart selection mechanism apparent to those who don't require it). The bank register can also be reset to zero (the loader) by booting with OPTION held down: the loader will then start right up, and will continue to do so until the active bank is changed by the external tool.

 

This works with stand-alone SIDE (commonly used with SDX and the SIDE.SYS driver) or with U1MB/SIDE, since the U1MB firmware now allows the external SIDE cartridge ROM to remain active (at the expense of the ATR swap button). Enabling the button disables the external cart and allows things to work just as they have always done.

 

The feature will work on any platform, although the primary objective was to allow the use of some popular application cartridges alongside SIDE/SIDE2, either stand-alone or with U1MB. This was not possible before, since U1MB disabled the external ROM, and the stand-alone loader was previously the only thing which used the external cart ROM. Since platforms using XEL-CF or some other IDE solution (such as IDE Plus) either don't block the cart port or provide a pass-thru, there's little reason to employ the method presented here; one might as well use a real OSS cart or some other multi-cart solution. However, one advantage of the solution presented here over the various multi-cart solutions is that once the external ROM is selected, it stays active until changed or until the RTC battery is removed. Therefore, there's no need to go through a boot menu every time the machine is turned on. Once the SIDE2 cart becomes an Action! cart, it behaves almost identically to a real Action! cart.

[Swami]

The SIDE2 is in the NTSC 800XL with U1MB and s-video. The SIO2PC is in the NTSC 800XL with the PAL ANTIC for the light gun/pen games that won't play by full NTSC. Only time it is a hassle is when the rarely occurring game won't load with the SIDE2 or the PAL ANTIC (or it is an *.ATX) and I have to give it a go by moving the SIO2PC to the full NTSC 800XL.

[Scatter]

Having all four OSS carts together on the SIDE2 would be amazingly useful. it has been a few months since the last post was written.  Has this been released yet?  I tried scouring the web but I don't see it anywhere.