massiverobot Posted August 7, 2018 Share Posted August 7, 2018 Starting a new thread to have a top post here with always-current URLs for the Missing Manual for the U1MB/1088XEL. I'm also creating a ePub doc version of it as well. The most current versions should always be available at these URLs: PDF: https://www.dropbox.com/s/oo044k8olw307eu/Atari-MissingManual-current.pdf?dl=0 ePUB: https://www.dropbox.com/s/9mmlj615xjwm6q4/Atari-MissingManual-current.epub?dl=0 Please post any comments, suggestions, corrections or gripes below and I'll add them to the document if they will make it better! This document should help anyone who knows about classic A8 devices but is just getting back into the modern scene and had purchased or aquired a 1088XEL or U1MB and wants to effectively use them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted August 7, 2018 Share Posted August 7, 2018 (edited) I'm not sure what specific relevance MrAtari, MYIDE-II or MYBIOS have to the 1088XEL project at all. No offence to either, of course, but MYBIOS is not part of the 1088XEL firmware. One may flash any OS to the U1MB OS slots, of course (MYBIOS included), but to acknowledge them all (Q-Meg, for example, which is supplied in one of the default OS slots) would be a lengthy and pointless exercise. Likewise one may plug in an Ultimate Cart, UNO Cart, etc, all of which are equally useful. The stuff about 32MB partitions still requires correction; as I wrote previously, only the available filesystem imposes any limitation on size (aside from the limitation imposed by 28-bit LBA addressing). So really it would be appropriate to say that most available file systems - owing to 16-bit cluster addressing - are limited to 16MB partitions, while SDX can address 32MB partitions by virtue of the fact that it's the only currently available DOS capable of using 512 byte sectors. Using FATFS.SYS, even that limitation is removed (since clusters may typically be 4KB in size). Likewise the 15 drive limit is really a software limitation. If SpartaDOS X - for example - chose to use more than four bits for the device ID, we could have 26 or 100 or 256 hard disk partitions mounted and addressable simultaneously. The other salient point - which may already have been observed - is that SDX is not a requirement for the use of FDISK, etc. Most of the APT tools may be used with MYDOS, etc, if the user so desires. Edited August 7, 2018 by flashjazzcat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
massiverobot Posted August 7, 2018 Author Share Posted August 7, 2018 You are correct- I'm going to re-organize the manual to have 1088XEL / U1MB sections and then a misc part at the end. I have just been collecting so much information about these add-ons and HD projects that I may have gotten carried away. I realize that the limitations are not due to your FW, I want to keep the Manual on a level that will allow quick reading and understanding without getting too deep into the weeds- I want to direct people back to your more comprehensive manuals for that level of technical explanation. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
massiverobot Posted August 8, 2018 Author Share Posted August 8, 2018 Posted revision G. Change Notes: 1.0g - Updated People diagram, Altirra BIOS screenshots, new section Copying, new section customizing startup, new section advanced setup, lots of minor edits Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
massiverobot Posted August 10, 2018 Author Share Posted August 10, 2018 Posted revision H. 1.0h - Updated and finished sections, added new sections COL64, Dir Dirs LS and numerous edits. Lots more screenshots and I'm having a blast examinging all the goodies that come on the SDX toolkit disk. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
massiverobot Posted August 25, 2018 Author Share Posted August 25, 2018 Latest updates on dropbox. 1.0i 8/25 - Added new 800 system and funct diagrams (re-created from Atari Ref Manual), new acros, UAV info from AA, lots of minor edits and fixes. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mytek Posted August 25, 2018 Share Posted August 25, 2018 Looking better all the time . just one minor thing... on page 6 it goes into a lot of detail about the SIDE2 cartridge which is good background info, but would not be something you would normally use in the 1088XEL with a CF3 upgrade. The CF3 takes over all of this functionality, and precludes the use of the SIDE2 Cart (it's a one or the other situation). Not to say you couldn't still use a SIDE2 Cart, but it would require a different PBI Bios and Loader to do so in place of the custom XEL-CF3 ones that are part of the 1088XEL/U1MB specific Bios. So maybe a note to explain this would be good to add. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
massiverobot Posted August 25, 2018 Author Share Posted August 25, 2018 on page 6 it goes into a lot of detail about the SIDE2 cartridge which is good background info, but would not be something you would normally use in the 1088XEL with a CF3 upgrade Fair point- that is left over from when I was very overwhelmed and grabbing lots of different pieces of tech and lumping them all in the doc. Since the SIDE also runs a similar FW from FJC it ended up in there. I will catagorize pieces that are part (and not part) of the 1008XEL ecosystem in a more clear format. Thanks for the feedback, I'm willing to listen to anything as it will make the document better and clearer for people just coming into the scene. As you probally know after you read your own words many many times you tend to glaze over parts that are obvious to fresh readers. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
massiverobot Posted September 23, 2018 Author Share Posted September 23, 2018 Updated and released version k. 1.0k 9/23 - Added Go Code, On-Line section. Minor Edits 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mytek Posted September 24, 2018 Share Posted September 24, 2018 Looking good . Since we now know that Lotharek is producing the U1MB with vertical headers, you might want to update the image you use in your manual that refers to it. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MacRorie Posted October 6, 2018 Share Posted October 6, 2018 Looking good . Since we now know that Lotharek is producing the U1MB with vertical headers, you might want to update the image you use in your manual that refers to it. U1MB_new.jpg Just out of curiosity, has anyone tried those on a 1088 build yet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tooloudtoowide Posted December 5, 2019 Share Posted December 5, 2019 On 10/6/2018 at 7:52 AM, MacRorie said: Just out of curiosity, has anyone tried those on a 1088 build yet? I suppose me BTW. is it possible to generate also .mobi format for the manual? I did convert the .epub to .mobi but maybe it's easier to generate both format once exported from source doc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
massiverobot Posted December 9, 2019 Author Share Posted December 9, 2019 On 12/5/2019 at 8:56 AM, tooloudtoowide said: I suppose me BTW. is it possible to generate also .mobi format for the manual? I did convert the .epub to .mobi but maybe it's easier to generate both format once exported from source doc. It should be. I'm moving to InDesign 2020 and updating, I'll gen a .mobi if I can and let you know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tooloudtoowide Posted December 11, 2019 Share Posted December 11, 2019 On 12/9/2019 at 4:58 AM, massiverobot said: It should be. I'm moving to InDesign 2020 and updating, I'll gen a .mobi if I can and let you know. great, thank you! If anything I can help, drop me note. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
massiverobot Posted December 12, 2019 Author Share Posted December 12, 2019 OK, updated The 1088XEL Missing Manual to version 1.1a. 1.1a 12/19 Moved to orange color, added FujiNet, XLD info, minor edits in text. Created .MOBI version. Biggest change is FujiNet - drooling to start playing with this on my 1088XEL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
massiverobot Posted December 12, 2019 Author Share Posted December 12, 2019 I have uploaded a .MOBI version (but it's a mess): https://www.dropbox.com/home/Public?preview=Atari-MissingManual-current.mobi https://www.dropbox.com/home/Public?preview=Atari-MissingManual-current.png https://www.dropbox.com/home/Public?preview=Atari-MissingManual-current.opf I need to clean this up as Calibre didn't do a very good job converting it over to MOBI. I'll continue to see how to better create a .mobi version- i think I just need to clean up all the fancy parts that Pages has allowed me to add. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robf228 Posted May 27, 2021 Share Posted May 27, 2021 The dropbox links at the top of this topic work, but the ones from 12/12/2019 place me at my own public dropbox. Maybe they are the same as the ones at the top anyway? Thanks for all of your work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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