TopGunBBS86 Posted July 14, 2019 Share Posted July 14, 2019 16 hours ago, manterola said: I will try to do it tonight with one of my 720kb diskettes and post it here, just in case you have any problem. Thank you so much. I imagine I could figure this out eventually. I'm somewhat of a newb. Having a pro take care of it is always easier. I am trying to figure out how to WRITE these 3-sector game-DOS menus onto a newly formatted disk. I am getting there...slowly. I have been relying on grabbing existing ATRs, writing them to newly-formatted disks using AspeQT, deleting the existing executables, then loading them up with new ones, using MyDOS 4.53. However, what I really need are ATRs formatted for 720k. Otherwise, I am losing a lot of valuable space, that I specifically wanted, when buying this 3.5in drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manterola Posted July 16, 2019 Share Posted July 16, 2019 Mypicodos is more than 3 sector menu programs,it is more sophisticated, it can start bas , xex programas , it support long files names, etc. Anyway, here is a copy in atr of a 720k 3.5" diskette with games. Some games did not work, I guess the source files were corrupted..? gamesmypicodos_720K.atr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TopGunBBS86 Posted July 20, 2019 Share Posted July 20, 2019 On 7/16/2019 at 1:24 AM, manterola said: Anyway, here is a copy in atr of a 720k 3.5" diskette with games. Some games did not work, I guess the source files were corrupted..? gamesmypicodos_720K.atr 719.64 kB · 9 downloads Man, I was SO hoping this was going to be the one. I used "SECTOR COPIER" (by who knows) to copy the 720k disk image from my pc. During the read process, SECTOR COPIER gave me an ERROR 8A AT 004. I don't even have the error codes for this software to tell you what this means. Thank you again. I will keep trying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted July 20, 2019 Share Posted July 20, 2019 (edited) from your pc? ah the xf 720 writes the disk a different way... did you use an Atari drive? Edited July 20, 2019 by _The Doctor__ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manterola Posted July 21, 2019 Share Posted July 21, 2019 11 hours ago, TopGunBBS86 said: Man, I was SO hoping this was going to be the one. I used "SECTOR COPIER" (by who knows) to copy the 720k disk image from my pc. During the read process, SECTOR COPIER gave me an ERROR 8A AT 004. I don't even have the error codes for this software to tell you what this means. Thank you again. I will keep trying. I don't understand the problem or what are you trying to do. If you want to copy the atr file to a floppy 3.5" you can use mydos option J. I guess you first need to set the source and the destination drives as double side, double density, 80 tracks. For that purpose use options O and P in the mydos menu. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted July 21, 2019 Share Posted July 21, 2019 8A = 138 which is a timeout error. Usually because a drive isn't connected, trying to access wrong drive or bad cable. "at 004" unknown, maybe sector 4. Generally a bad sector will give an error 144 (which in hex would be 90). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+CharlieChaplin Posted July 22, 2019 Share Posted July 22, 2019 Well, if it is the old Sectorcopy by Craig Chamberlain, this one will copy 720 sectors (90k), not 720k. It will read the first three sectors and then give an error, since sector 4 is double density... To copy 720k disk images with the A8 use either Copymate XE or Disk Duplication (or one of the up to 16MB programs, set to e.g. 80 tracks, DS, DD or simply 2880 DD sectors, with start sector = 1 and end sector = 2880). Copymate requires 128k RAM to work, press Return, then TAB (or vice-versa) and finally Start to read+write 720k. Disk Duplication works with 48k/64k, use full disk copy and setup for 80 tracks, double-sided and double density. Do something else in the meanwhile, since copying 720k disks on the A8 takes some time... COPY720K.ATR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TopGunBBS86 Posted July 23, 2019 Share Posted July 23, 2019 On 7/21/2019 at 8:19 PM, CharlieChaplin said: Well, if it is the old Sectorcopy by Craig Chamberlain, this one will copy 720 sectors (90k), not 720k. It will read the first three sectors and then give an error, since sector 4 is double density... To copy 720k disk images with the A8 use either Copymate XE or Disk Duplication (or one of the up to 16MB programs, set to e.g. 80 tracks, DS, DD or simply 2880 DD sectors, with start sector = 1 and end sector = 2880). Copymate requires 128k RAM to work, press Return, then TAB (or vice-versa) and finally Start to read+write 720k. Disk Duplication works with 48k/64k, use full disk copy and setup for 80 tracks, double-sided and double density. Do something else in the meanwhile, since copying 720k disks on the A8 takes some time... COPY720K.ATR This is my first experience with any floppy media larger than 130k. I am learning. I was curious as to whether or not Sector Copier would write past 130, and up to 720k. Thank you for the clarification, and the advice. I will try to play with "Disk Duplication". My 65XE mod with U1MB upgrade is out of action right now. All I have working is a stock 800XL w/64k. With my 800XL running MyDOS 4.53, I can format blank 720k floppies to the proper size. I also can load up each disk with dozens of large-sized games. However, I need to get a decent menu software up and running for these collections. I am getting closer. Thanks again everyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+CharlieChaplin Posted July 24, 2019 Share Posted July 24, 2019 Well, - if the programs require a DOS, write either MyDOS (up to 16MB and subdirs, memlo approx $2000) or LiteDOS (up to 16MB, no subdirs, memlo $1000) on the 720k disks. - if the programs work without DOS and you want to have multiple ML-files on the disks with a menu / gamedos, write MyPicoDOS on them (up to 16MB, MyDOS format, subdirs, capable of highspeed+ultraspeed) - if the ML-programs require a full 720k disk (or you want to waste a full diskette for each of several shorter programs) you can write Picoboot on them (on the same disk/ATR as MyPicoDOS, but this is a bootloader which loads only the first file on a disk up to 16MB) Do not know of any other DOS 2.x compatible menu/gamedos that supports 720k or higher formats (and subdirs if required) than MyPicoDOS, but if you find one or someone else does, let me know. There is however SpartaDOS (and compatibles like BeweDOS and RealDOS) and SDX that supports up to 16MB (SD) or 32MB (SDX), subdirs, highspeed+ultraspeed and whatnot and there are also menu and gamedos versions for it (e.g. Micro-Sparta-DOS V4.5 or V4.6). But it has its own Sparta DOS File System (SDFS), not compatible with DOS 2.x (but it can read from + write to DOS 2.x disks with 90k/130k/180k and maybe also higher formats)... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TopGunBBS86 Posted July 24, 2019 Share Posted July 24, 2019 I didn't know LiteDOS worked with these larger storage. I will work with that as well. Thank you for the advice. I am working with MyPicoDOS, which I've had some success with. I hope to find some time over the weekend to make a breakthrough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manterola Posted July 24, 2019 Share Posted July 24, 2019 (edited) If you already formatted and created the games collection you just need to run the tool to write the MyPicoDOS menu. I downloaded this zip file from Hias site: https://www.horus.com/~hias/atari/mypdos-4.06.zip I guess you have some type of sio2pc device to make the file myinit.atr (include in the zip file) be seen as D2: for the atari computer to access. So, let's assume you boot your Atari with MyDos and then you put the 720K diskette collection in the D1: real 3.5" drive, and then in D2: you have myinit.atr. so then you load (option L) one of the binaries in D2: for example D2:myinit.com you will be asked some questions and at the end the mypicodos menu is written to D1: That it. Then you boot the newly created 720K disk menu, get your beverage of choice, and enjoy your accomplishment You are very close... Edited July 24, 2019 by manterola Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr-atari Posted July 30, 2019 Share Posted July 30, 2019 If needed, you can try my LiteDOS-XS, that has some more limitations, but has a memlo of $C00 All info can be found and downloaded from my homepage. Perhaps I will release a LiteDOS-RO version (ReadOnly) shortly, that even has a lower footprint. That can be used as a "gamedos" with the ability to load files afterwards. Grtz, Sijmen. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+CharlieChaplin Posted July 30, 2019 Share Posted July 30, 2019 (edited) LiteDOS XS memlo = $0C00 ($C000 would be a little too high, under the OS)... If I understand correctly TopGunBBS86 wants to load programs from 720k diskettes, LiteDOS XS is 90k or 130k only - not 720k ?!? (For 720k disks he still requires LiteDOS.) Besides, does LiteDOS XS still support Autorun ? If not, maybe you could create such a version. A LiteDOS RO with Autorun would also be nice... Edited July 30, 2019 by CharlieChaplin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr-atari Posted July 31, 2019 Share Posted July 31, 2019 Autorun: yes, just change the last byte of sector 1 to $FF That will execute the first file found. Must be an executable of course LiteDOS-XS only reads 128 byte/sector up to 1023 sectors/disk. So 720k, being DD and 2440 sectors is a No. He could use multiple disks though. All above, also goes for LiteDOS-RO Still working on that, need to move some routines to make memlo around $800 (or $0800 in your case). For users who wants to autorun only one file and do not need LiteDOS afterwards. Grtz, Sijmen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ballyalley Posted February 5, 2020 Share Posted February 5, 2020 Yesterday I dumped a "pirate disk" from my personal collection and sent it to Allan B. He doesn't remember seeing the program loader before now, so I'm posting the information here. I've attached ATR archives of the front and back of an Atari pirated software disk from "Ernie's collection." Ernie was a friend of mine who passed away a couple of years ago and I've ended up with most of his collection. I've been working with Allan to get anything in it that hasn't been archived already into an archived state. Both sides of the "pirate" disk copied perfectly using ProSystem for Windows from my Atari 1050 disk drive. However, not all of the software loads, which is typical of pirated disks "back in the day." Yeah, you get what you pay for... right? I thought it would be neat to archive a disk like many people played "their" games back in the 1980s. Nowadays, you can load any game easily, but you lose that "disk copied from a friend" feeling. Now, here it is again! There are actually several games on here I haven't heard of or played before dumping this disk. Of course, like any good disk, these games load with a menu and the games don't have to be loaded from an Atari DOS. Maybe the non-working games (such and Miner 2049'er-- what a shame!) would work if loaded from DOS. Who knows-- I'm not going to try that now, but in 1987 I would have spent hours playing the games on this disk, and also trying to load games that are on the menu that don't load. Here's a picture of the disk (it's a typical hand-written label you'd make for yourself or a friend would make for you): Here is a screenshot of side 1: Here is a screenshot of side 2: Here is a list of the files on the disk: Atari 8-Bit Pirated Games Disk (198x)(Atari 8-Bit)(Info).txt Finally, here are the two ATR images of the front and backside of this floppy disk: Atari 8-Bit Pirated Games Disk (198x)(Atari 8-Bit)(Side 1).atr Atari 8-Bit Pirated Games Disk (198x)(Atari 8-Bit)(Side 2).atr It would be cool if this were a "new" loader, but somehow I doubt it. In any case, it's always interesting to see these sorts of disks archived in the their original share-by-disk/shared-by-BBS way. Adam 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tschak909 Posted February 5, 2020 Share Posted February 5, 2020 (edited) 11 minutes ago, ballyalley said: Yesterday I dumped a "pirate disk" from my personal collection and sent it to Allan B. He doesn't remember seeing the program loader before now, so I'm posting the information here. I've attached ATR archives of the front and back of an Atari pirated software disk from "Ernie's collection." Ernie was a friend of mine who passed away a couple of years ago and I've ended up with most of his collection. I've been working with Allan to get anything in it that hasn't been archived already into an archived state. Both sides of the "pirate" disk copied perfectly using ProSystem for Windows from my Atari 1050 disk drive. However, not all of the software loads, which is typical of pirated disks "back in the day." Yeah, you get what you pay for... right? I thought it would be neat to archive a disk like many people played "their" games back in the 1980s. Nowadays, you can load any game easily, but you lose that "disk copied from a friend" feeling. Now, here it is again! There are actually several games on here I haven't heard of or played before dumping this disk. Of course, like any good disk, these games load with a menu and the games don't have to be loaded from an Atari DOS. Maybe the non-working games (such and Miner 2049'er-- what a shame!) would work if loaded from DOS. Who knows-- I'm not going to try that now, but in 1987 I would have spent hours playing the games on this disk, and also trying to load games that are on the menu that don't load. Here's a picture of the disk (it's a typical hand-written label you'd make for yourself or a friend would make for you): Here is a screenshot of side 1: Here is a screenshot of side 2: Here is a list of the files on the disk: Atari 8-Bit Pirated Games Disk (198x)(Atari 8-Bit)(Info).txt 405 B · 0 downloads Finally, here are the two ATR images of the front and backside of this floppy disk: Atari 8-Bit Pirated Games Disk (198x)(Atari 8-Bit)(Side 1).atr 90.02 kB · 0 downloads Atari 8-Bit Pirated Games Disk (198x)(Atari 8-Bit)(Side 2).atr 90.02 kB · 0 downloads It would be cool if this were a "new" loader, but somehow I doubt it. In any case, it's always interesting to see these sorts of disks archived in the their original share-by-disk/shared-by-BBS way. Adam I know this loader. This was called "The Game Box" and it is one worth searching out. I have been looking for this very loader. It is built around a "Game Box Maker" which is partially implemented in BASIC (GAMEBOX.BAS), which has three binary files which can be selected to write to the boot sector and...first 10 sectors or so of the disk, which are subsequently blocked out of the VTOC, GBOX0.OBJ, GBOX1.OBJ, and GBOX2.OBJ Its features * It had support for setting titles * It didn't need a DOS * It had a SCRAMBLE VTOC feature which would replace the disk directory with a title. * Menu driven wizard for making the disk If anyone could find the maker for this menu, I would _very_ much appreciate it, as I loved it. I had gotten my copy, as the result of a massive file copy from the SysOp of the Grand Rapids Atari Super Service (G.R.A.S.S.), Ron Kramer, those 53 disks are long gone now. -Thom Edited February 5, 2020 by tschak909 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shannon Posted February 5, 2020 Share Posted February 5, 2020 Gamebox! I remember that.. many a pirated disk I obtained that way before switching to other means. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StickJock Posted February 6, 2020 Share Posted February 6, 2020 I have a lot of disks with the Battillac loader. It was written by a friend of mine back in high school in the early 80s. I don't remember exactly how many sectors it takes, but it is pretty compact. It also has the ability to write itself to a new disk. I don't recall if it had the option to format the disk at the same time. I *think* that it moves its file loader routine into stack memory to avoid conflict with file load addresses, so it can load most binary files. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a8isa1 Posted February 8, 2020 Share Posted February 8, 2020 On 4/10/2017 at 10:12 AM, brenski said: i'll try and list what i have/know of (in alphabetical order) Alphaload - Fuji Alphaload - Scrolling Aura Menu Elton C Games Disk [unknown] Games Disk [maybe early Ian K] Gamesmaster [Mikran] Howfen Dos ver 3.07 Howfen Dos ver 3.08 Ian D Menu Maker Ian K Menu Creator Ian K Menu Creator [1.9] Ian M Menu Creator Jon C Jon C Utilities Menu John E Multi Menu John W Menu LK Avalon Max's Megamix [Rob C] Menuloader Microdos Mockingbird Multi-Boot Multi-Boot Gold Multi-Boot Super XL Plus ver 1.0 Rob C Rob C Musical Menu-Maker 1 Rob C Musical Menu-Maker 2 Rob C Musical Menu-Maker 3 Rob C Musical Menu-Maker 4 Rob C Musical Menu-Maker 5 Rob C Musical Menu-Maker 6 Rob C Musical Menu-Maker 7 Rob C Musical Menu-Maker 8 Speedmenu v 3US [bibodos] Stevesoft Menu Supaboot Menu Super Boot Ultraspeed Alphaload Ultraspeed Multiboot Warpspeed Multiboot Yogi Menu I recently backed up a DVD that had been sitting on my shelf since probably 2006. (I cannot with certainty recall from whom I got the DVD). I posted in another thread DOMMenu builder which I had found in a folder labeled "Holmes Utilities". When last I used the DVD I probably assumed the files in this folder were just a reorganization of those on the Holmes CD set. However, DOMMenu isn't in the CD set. This made me wonder about this thread and the rest of the files in that folder. There are more than just menu/loader builders in that folder. Of those files that are builders there are many that I don't see listed above and multiple versions of some that are. I'm posting the files that seem as though they might fit this topic. I've only looked at a couple both of which I don't know how to use. -SteveS new_menu_makers.zip 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 10, 2020 Share Posted February 10, 2020 (edited) one or two nice additions there, thanks. but most are dupes from the link on page one of this thread. nice that we appear to have a working Steve's High Menu Maker, at long last. Edited February 10, 2020 by Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EddyFree Posted February 11, 2020 Share Posted February 11, 2020 Don't know if it'll help, but found a gamebox.obj on one of the Holmes disks...Ran it and it is a boot-loader maker... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tschak909 Posted February 12, 2020 Share Posted February 12, 2020 can you please upload? Ic an't find on pigwa. -Thom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a8isa1 Posted February 21, 2020 Share Posted February 21, 2020 On 2/12/2020 at 2:27 PM, tschak909 said: can you please upload? Ic an't find on pigwa. -Thom Heh. Sitting on Holmes 3 CD all this time. Not that I was even aware of this (or many other) menu loaders. -SteveS UTIL01_B.ZIP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tschak909 Posted February 21, 2020 Share Posted February 21, 2020 i am pulling down all of pigwa just to find this. thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tschak909 Posted February 21, 2020 Share Posted February 21, 2020 This is an earlier version of it. But yes, this is Game Box. The version I had, had the additional feature to obfuscate the VTOC, and had three different versions of the loader. -Thom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.