mr_gw454 Posted September 23, 2019 Share Posted September 23, 2019 Hello everyone, I'm trying to my Atari 800XL set up properly with the U1MB, SpartaDOS and an AVG cart for virtual hard drive access off the SD card. I've used JFC's excellent FDISK program (from the APT toolkit) and have a 2GB SD card split into a FAT and APT partition. I've set up 3 virtual drives within the APT partition (D3:, D4: D5:). The FAT parition only contains a few files, one being 'S2DX3.CAR.' When I boot up the 800XL, I see AVG's menu, select the S2DX3.CAR file and it will boot into SpartaDOS 4.49c where I can access the 3 drives I defined in the APT partition. I'm trying to enable the 80 column mode using the 'rc_gr8.sys' driver, but unable to get a working CONFIG.SYS. I'm sure it's my lack of understanding which one is trying to be read/accessed. The D3: is my default boot drive in this configuration. Not sure if that's an issue as I keep the D1: drive available for virtual floppy access (so I can copy files to my virtual hard drives). If I place a CONFIG.SYS in the root of D3:, it doesn't seem like it's being accessed. If I create a folder on D3: called 'SPARTA.DOS' and add a *.CFG files, I don't see a menu pop-up like the SpartaDOS manual says. I can access a CONFIG.SYS file from CAR:, but where is that actually located? In the U1MB flash bank? I was hoping I would not have to flash my custom CONFIG.SYS file there and have it read from one of my virtual hard drives. I apologize for sounding so lost, but learning as I go. Thanks for any help someone can provide! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted September 23, 2019 Share Posted September 23, 2019 Set 'CONFIG.SYS' to 'D3:' in the U1MB BIOS setup menu. Otherwise SDX will look for the file on D1:. There are two different settings 'Boot drive' and 'CONFIG.SYS' so that you can have different boot volumes depending on whether or not SDX is enabled). If you already have U1MB in the machine, there is absolutely no need whatsoever to mess around with 'S2DX3.CAR' on the AVG cart. You should enabled SDX on the U1MB and put the AVG cart into SIDE mode via the persistent methods described in the notes for the most recent AVG firmware. Note FDISK should already be on the CAR: drive if you already updated the U1MB with one of my all-in-one ROMs. Finally: note also that I'm known as 'FJC', not 'JFC'. I have no affiliation to Jesus F***ing Christ, nor - and I cannot stress this enough - Jeremy F***ing Corbyn. 1 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Nezgar Posted September 23, 2019 Share Posted September 23, 2019 I've found that most 'optional' handlers like RC_GR8.SYS, RAMDISK.SYS, CON80.SYS, etc don't really need to be included in the CONFIG.SYS, they can be loaded from the command line, a batch file, or even AUTOEXEC.BAT. Makes it nice to enable some of those on-demand... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr_gw454 Posted September 23, 2019 Author Share Posted September 23, 2019 (edited) 27 minutes ago, flashjazzcat said: Set 'CONFIG.SYS' to 'D3:' in the U1MB BIOS setup menu. Otherwise SDX will look for the file on D1:. There are two different settings 'Boot drive' and 'CONFIG.SYS' so that you can have different boot volumes depending on whether or not SDX is enabled). If you already have U1MB in the machine, there is absolutely no need whatsoever to mess around with 'S2DX3.CAR' on the AVG cart. You should enabled SDX on the U1MB and put the AVG cart into SIDE mode via the persistent methods described in the notes for the most recent AVG firmware. Note FDISK should already be on the CAR: drive if you already updated the U1MB with one of my all-in-one ROMs. Finally: note also that I'm known as 'FJC', not 'JFC'. I have no affiliation to Jesus F***ing Christ, nor - and I cannot stress this enough - Jeremy F***ing Corbyn. RE: FJC - I swear I'm suffering from dyslexia lately! My apologies as I think I've done this twice now with you. It looks like I have a few new things to try -- thank you! Edited September 23, 2019 by mr_gw454 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr_gw454 Posted September 23, 2019 Author Share Posted September 23, 2019 8 minutes ago, Nezgar said: I've found that most 'optional' handlers like RC_GR8.SYS, RAMDISK.SYS, CON80.SYS, etc don't really need to be included in the CONFIG.SYS, they can be loaded from the command line, a batch file, or even AUTOEXEC.BAT. Makes it nice to enable some of those on-demand... Is there any downside to this method with regards to memory usage? Are there any advantages to using a CONFIG.SYS file to save memory? BATCH files are certainly easy to do so appreciate that tip! Thank you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TGB1718 Posted September 23, 2019 Share Posted September 23, 2019 17 minutes ago, flashjazzcat said: Set 'CONFIG.SYS' to 'D3:' in the U1MB BIOS setup menu. Otherwise SDX will look for the file on D1:. There are two different settings 'Boot drive' and 'CONFIG.SYS' so that you can have different boot volumes depending on whether or not SDX is enabled). If you already have U1MB in the machine, there is absolutely no need whatsoever to mess around with 'S2DX3.CAR' on the AVG cart. You should enabled SDX on the U1MB and put the AVG cart into SIDE mode via the persistent methods described in the notes for the most recent AVG firmware. Note FDISK should already be on the CAR: drive if you already updated the U1MB with one of my all-in-one ROMs. Finally: note also that I'm known as 'FJC', not 'JFC'. I have no affiliation to Jesus F***ing Christ, nor - and I cannot stress this enough - Jeremy F***ing Corbyn. and I cannot stress this enough - Jeremy F***ing Corbyn. <<<<<----- The Anti-Christ ☠️ 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr_gw454 Posted September 23, 2019 Author Share Posted September 23, 2019 13 minutes ago, mr_gw454 said: RE: FJC - I swear I'm suffering from dyslexia lately! My apologies as I think I've done this twice now with you. It looks like I have a few new things to try -- thank you! It works! I missed those U1MB BIOS settings. I also toggled the SIDE mode on the AVG by using CTRL-SHIFT-S so it boots to that mode at power-up. Now on to figuring out what file(s) are needed for the 80 column mode. I'll start with a batch file first. Thank you very much! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted September 23, 2019 Share Posted September 23, 2019 (edited) 16 minutes ago, mr_gw454 said: Is there any downside to this method with regards to memory usage? Are there any advantages to using a CONFIG.SYS file to save memory? BATCH files are certainly easy to do so appreciate that tip! Thank you Yes there is... modify the following so the drive paths match where your system has it's files. DEVICE \DRIVERS\RC_GR8.SYS DEVICE \DRIVERS\QUICKED DEVICE \DRIVERS\CON.SYS DEVICE CON64.SYS DEVICE RAMDISK O,7 RamsDisk always needs to be last otherwise you waste a bank of memory... you can set the drive and number of banks etc. If you load rc and con after the config it will impact memory as well... notice the order I have these in... even the sparta manual has quicked in the wrong place... quicked needs to be before the consoles.... Edited September 23, 2019 by _The Doctor__ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted September 23, 2019 Share Posted September 23, 2019 1 hour ago, mr_gw454 said: Is there any downside to this method with regards to memory usage? Are there any advantages to using a CONFIG.SYS file to save memory? BATCH files are certainly easy to do so appreciate that tip! It looks like you've already looked into the SDX config selector (*.CFG files placed in a SPARTA.DOS directory), and that seems to me the best way of switching between multiple configurations at boot time. SDX stores the currently active config in the U1MB's NVRAM and presents it as the default selection in the list of configurations. Of course there's nothing to stop you from manually loading drivers by typing the complete filename at the command line when testing various setups, but once you've got things working as you want, it makes sense to simply put the driver entries in CONFIG.SYS (or one of your CFG files in the aforementioned folder). There's no memory overhead whichever method you choose; it's really a question of convenience. I hadn't tried the SDX config selector until the other day when I was trying to figure out which bytes of the NVRAM are used by SDX (turns out it's bytes $30 and $31), but it looks like a pretty good solution. Of course, since you have a hard disk and four U1MB configuration profiles, you could set up four different HDD partitions and switch between those, with different CONFIG.SYS files in the root of each partition. There are several ways of accomplishing the same thing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr_gw454 Posted September 23, 2019 Author Share Posted September 23, 2019 Quick update ... Looks like I've made some good progress thanks to help from here and the ##Atari channel in IRC. While this is all second nature to many of you, it's quite new for me. Thanks for your patience and help! A quick video showing where I'm at now: https://photos.app.goo.gl/BkywqnqaKyGLAmmm7 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted September 23, 2019 Share Posted September 23, 2019 Looking good! You still have plenty of free memory, since most of the drivers load the bulk of their code into the extended bank. MEMLO is <$1200, which is excellent (the safe load address for applications is $1FF0-$2000). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tschak909 Posted September 23, 2019 Share Posted September 23, 2019 I have actually had to put my start addresses higher, have seen the 850 handler bring memlo all the way up to $2100-$2400. and the P:R: connection does similar. -Thom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted September 23, 2019 Share Posted September 23, 2019 8 minutes ago, tschak909 said: I have actually had to put my start addresses higher, have seen the 850 handler bring memlo all the way up to $2100-$2400. and the P:R: connection does similar. I've encountered a few drivers which don't relocate at all; they simply load at a fixed address around $1F00 on the assumption that everything below is already occupied by DOS. Perhaps either or both of those are the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tschak909 Posted September 23, 2019 Share Posted September 23, 2019 We really need R: Handlers that don't suck -Thom 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted September 23, 2019 Share Posted September 23, 2019 I wish I understood them better. I've done barely anything involving modem drivers, but if there's source code to a driver which sucks because it doesn't relocate down to MEMLO, give me the source code and I'll fix that. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyle22 Posted September 26, 2019 Share Posted September 26, 2019 As an aside: When I hear or see JFC, I think of this: http://www.xtreefanpage.org/lowres/x30vers.htm#jfc A true to life [fully functional] clone of XTG would be an amazing add on for SDX. I mean a true clone, not Sparta Commander. No offense [think Rodney] :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariGeezer Posted September 26, 2019 Share Posted September 26, 2019 (edited) 38 minutes ago, Kyle22 said: When I hear or see JFC, I think of this: LOL, when I see a mention of FJC, I see something like this: No Offense intended, Jon... Edited September 26, 2019 by AtariGeezer 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark2008 Posted February 2, 2021 Share Posted February 2, 2021 On 9/23/2019 at 11:08 AM, _The Doctor__ said: Yes there is... modify the following so the drive paths match where your system has it's files. DEVICE \DRIVERS\RC_GR8.SYS DEVICE \DRIVERS\QUICKED DEVICE \DRIVERS\CON.SYS DEVICE CON64.SYS DEVICE RAMDISK O,7 RamsDisk always needs to be last otherwise you waste a bank of memory... you can set the drive and number of banks etc. If you load rc and con after the config it will impact memory as well... notice the order I have these in... even the sparta manual has quicked in the wrong place... quicked needs to be before the consoles.... In config.sys: DEVICE D1:\DRIVERS\RC_GR8.SYS DEVICE D1:\DRIVERS\CON.SYS DEVICE D1:\DRIVERS\CON64.SYS Doesn't work. In autoexec.bat: D1:\DRIVERS\RC_GR8.SYS D1:\DRIVERS\CON.SYS D1:\DRIVERS\CON64.SYS In Autoexec.bat it works. That's where I copied the files, and it works. What's the mistake in config.sys? Also, how are people editing these files? I'm editing the files using "ED" in spartados x. Although I get an 80 column screen, or a 64 column screen, depending upon what I choose, ED immediately stops working. Is that expected? That you get the columns but tools stop working? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Stephen Posted February 2, 2021 Share Posted February 2, 2021 2 hours ago, Mark2008 said: Also, how are people editing these files? I'm editing the files using "ED" in spartados x. Although I get an 80 column screen, or a 64 column screen, depending upon what I choose, ED immediately stops working. Is that expected? That you get the columns but tools stop working? ED unfortunately writes directly tp screen RAM. Therefore it does not work with 64 or 80 column drivers:( There's a pretty cool workaround that can be done from the SC (Sparta Commander) shell. That will run in 80 column mode, and it can be set to call ED via the ctrl+E Edit command, and it will automatically switch into 40 column mode before calling the editor, and return you to 80 column mode upon exit. And just like that, I spy this nice piece from the 4.49e changelog: EDX: a new text editor to be used with 80-column drivers. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark2008 Posted February 2, 2021 Share Posted February 2, 2021 1 hour ago, Stephen said: ED unfortunately writes directly tp screen RAM. Therefore it does not work with 64 or 80 column drivers:( There's a pretty cool workaround that can be done from the SC (Sparta Commander) shell. That will run in 80 column mode, and it can be set to call ED via the ctrl+E Edit command, and it will automatically switch into 40 column mode before calling the editor, and return you to 80 column mode upon exit. And just like that, I spy this nice piece from the 4.49e changelog: EDX: a new text editor to be used with 80-column drivers. Thanks! Wow, what great timing, I will check out EDX and also SC. If I can get comfortable in SDX, I think I will probably prefer coding on the Atari, it's just a bit more fun for me than always cross compiling. 1 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.