256 colors Posted March 25, 2019 Share Posted March 25, 2019 Looking to buy a UltraSatan but want to do checks before spending cash My Atari 1040STE is still under warranty so wanna avoid opening her up is there another way for checking such as software? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParanoidLittleMan Posted March 25, 2019 Share Posted March 25, 2019 Interesting that about warranty. So, seller gave you warranty for some time period, I guess. I don't think that you can determine what DMA chip is in STE by SW. At least not directly. Actual test would be attaching some mass storage to ACSI port and check reliability. So, you can order that UltraSatan and then do tests, and if DMA chip appears as 'BAD STE DMA' one - it is not defective, just chip design works not well in STE (lot of threads about it on forums) , then you can ask seller to pay you for good DMA chip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
256 colors Posted March 25, 2019 Author Share Posted March 25, 2019 All i seem to do is keep spending more money it's starting to get on my tits HXC firmware more money UltraSatan drive for hd games more money Possible new DMA chip more money Possible TOS switcher mod if i need for other games more money CUSB - USB Floppy emulator cased more money Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParanoidLittleMan Posted March 25, 2019 Share Posted March 25, 2019 Sorry, but it's not me who came here with buying UltraSatan idea. I proposed maybe possible way to save some money, actually And I don't think that you need all listed. Why both HxC and USB floppy emulator ? TOS switcher only because gaming ? Not really. Most of games are fixed for higher TOS versions. HD adapted games work fine with all TOS versions - but recommended is min 1.04 . I can play all games I want - and I don't have HW floppy emulator, and even don't have attached floppy drive 99% time. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
256 colors Posted March 25, 2019 Author Share Posted March 25, 2019 Sorry, but it's not me who came here with buying UltraSatan idea. I proposed maybe possible way to save some money, actually And I don't think that you need all listed. Why both HxC and USB floppy emulator ? TOS switcher only because gaming ? Not really. Most of games are fixed for higher TOS versions. HD adapted games work fine with all TOS versions - but recommended is min 1.04 . I can play all games I want - and I don't have HW floppy emulator, and even don't have attached floppy drive 99% time. Yeah i know i'm not venting my anger at you it's just my frustration levels Wish i'd just downloaded emulator instead it's a cheaper option Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6BQ5 Posted March 25, 2019 Share Posted March 25, 2019 Have you considered a NetUSBee cartridge with a small USB flash drive? I installed a NetUSBee in my 520 STe which has a bad DMA chip in it. Works perfectly! See my post : http://atariage.com/forums/topic/288709-adopting-two-520-ste-machines/?p=4244135 Oh, and a NetUSBee is a little cheaper than an UltraSatan. I think ParanoidLittleMan is right when he says there is no easy way to check which version of the DMA you have without opening up the computer ... and, I dont think there is a work-around for a bad chip. Ideally we STe users should have started cataloging serial numbers of machines and correlating good/bad DMA chips. With enough data we could begin to predict which version could be in a particular machine. Opening up the STe is pretty easy. Remove the screws in the square holes. Those hold the case together. Keep the screws in the round holes. Pop open the plastic case and look in the upper right hand corner of your machine. If you dont have a floppy drive there then the space should be wide open. You may have to rotate your computer to read the numbers due to the orientation of the chip. Your other option is to get a Megafile hard disk drive. They are loud and clunky but fun to own and use. I love mine! Nothing beats the sound of the head seeking across a platter. Those will work on any DMA chip. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
256 colors Posted March 25, 2019 Author Share Posted March 25, 2019 Have you considered a NetUSBee cartridge with a small USB flash drive? I installed a NetUSBee in my 520 STe which has a bad DMA chip in it. Works perfectly! See my post : http://atariage.com/forums/topic/288709-adopting-two-520-ste-machines/?p=4244135 Oh, and a NetUSBee is a little cheaper than an UltraSatan. I think ParanoidLittleMan is right when he says there is no easy way to check which version of the DMA you have without opening up the computer ... and, I dont think there is a work-around for a bad chip. Ideally we STe users should have started cataloging serial numbers of machines and correlating good/bad DMA chips. With enough data we could begin to predict which version could be in a particular machine. Opening up the STe is pretty easy. Remove the screws in the square holes. Those hold the case together. Keep the screws in the round holes. Pop open the plastic case and look in the upper right hand corner of your machine. If you dont have a floppy drive there then the space should be wide open. You may have to rotate your computer to read the numbers due to the orientation of the chip. Your other option is to get a Megafile hard disk drive. They are loud and clunky but fun to own and use. I love mine! Nothing beats the sound of the head seeking across a platter. Those will work on any DMA chip. Thanks i didn't know about those two options worth looking into i guess What i do know is i can't keep throwing money into the STE i'm supposed to be on a budget Already spent £320 on OSSC and accessories to make it work with my tv/monitor without sync issues 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6BQ5 Posted March 25, 2019 Share Posted March 25, 2019 Thanks i didn't know about those two options worth looking into i guess What i do know is i can't keep throwing money into the STE i'm supposed to be on a budget Already spent £320 on OSSC and accessories to make it work with my tv/monitor without sync issues Yeah, retro-computing on real hardware can be a pricey endeavor. It takes time to (re)build a system, especially as incompatibilities crop up. I ran my 1040 STe with no accessories and monochrome output for a while as I waited to refresh my hobby fund. In the meantime, I read up on the history and progression of the ST models and all about their inner workings. It’s good stuff to get into. Now, after many many many months I am almost at a point where I have the STe I wanted 30 years ago! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
256 colors Posted March 25, 2019 Author Share Posted March 25, 2019 (edited) Yeah, retro-computing on real hardware can be a pricey endeavor. It takes time to (re)build a system, especially as incompatibilities crop up. I ran my 1040 STe with no accessories and monochrome output for a while as I waited to refresh my hobby fund. In the meantime, I read up on the history and progression of the ST models and all about their inner workings. It’s good stuff to get into. Now, after many many many months I am almost at a point where I have the STe I wanted 30 years ago! My other issues is with games Games with HD install Older and newer games that will want old and new versions of TOS Badly cracked games or ST files(so i need a STX solution to be sure the games behave as they should do without doing crazy shit) Lots of games in MSA format Edited March 25, 2019 by 256 colors Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParanoidLittleMan Posted March 25, 2019 Share Posted March 25, 2019 What is data transfer speed of NetUSBee in KB/sec ? Can use this to measure: http://atari.8bitchip.info/ahpt.html Use Transfer rate button in Logical drives section. Btw, internal IDE is cheapest mass storage solution for Ataris, and is very fast. Only that it needs work inside computer. What is problem with MSA format ? It's perfectly good and supported by lot of floppy SW . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
256 colors Posted March 25, 2019 Author Share Posted March 25, 2019 What is data transfer speed of NetUSBee in KB/sec ? Can use this to measure: http://atari.8bitchip.info/ahpt.html Use Transfer rate button in Logical drives section. Btw, internal IDE is cheapest mass storage solution for Ataris, and is very fast. Only that it needs work inside computer. What is problem with MSA format ? It's perfectly good and supported by lot of floppy SW . My flash Floppy software doesn't support that image format Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6BQ5 Posted March 25, 2019 Share Posted March 25, 2019 What is data transfer speed of NetUSBee in KB/sec ? Can use this to measure: http://atari.8bitchip.info/ahpt.html Use Transfer rate button in Logical drives section. Btw, internal IDE is cheapest mass storage solution for Ataris, and is very fast. Only that it needs work inside computer. What is problem with MSA format ? It's perfectly good and supported by lot of floppy SW . NetUSBee is pretty slow. I ran it once and got 67 kB/sec if I remember correctly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bfollowell Posted March 25, 2019 Share Posted March 25, 2019 My flash Floppy software doesn't support that image format Look here and download MSA Converter. http://msaconverter.free.fr/index-uk.html This will allow you to convert between various formats, including msa and st. This should allow you to get them into a format that will work with Flash Floppy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
256 colors Posted March 25, 2019 Author Share Posted March 25, 2019 Look here and download MSA Converter. http://msaconverter.free.fr/index-uk.html This will allow you to convert between various formats, including msa and st. This should allow you to get them into a format that will work with Flash Floppy. Thank's will take a look at this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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