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Atari 800 - SIO2SD not working


Lardo Boffin

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Having got a mostly working keyboard I decided to try my SIO2SD (fromhttps://lotharek.pl/productdetail.php?id=58) out and it doesn’t work. 

First question - should it?

 

If it should where do I start diagnosing the issue? It works fine with my 800XL. 

I have cleaned the connector pins on the 800. 
I have got a pacman cartridge and that runs fine on the 800 so I assume it is mostly working. 
 

The SD boots up and shows the menu but then dies if you press a key:

 

 

B6616A6D-9C99-48D4-8C4D-95267B73B4D3.jpeg

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28 minutes ago, Rybags said:

So it probably works then.  What if you mount an ATR and boot that?

 

Possibly the boot menu for executables you have isn't compatible with the older computer.  Or maybe you don't have enough Ram?

Put Basic in and ? FRE(0) - you should have over 37,000

Thanks. It says 37902. 
 

I will need to watch the instruction videos for the SD (no manual) to figure out how to change how it boots. Will do that tonight. ?

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6 hours ago, gamer-stu said:

IIRC, there are communication speed settings within the SIO2SD options. My 800xl could operate at the faster baud settings, but I had to turn them back to get the SIO2SD to work with my 800. I wonder if it is related to that? 

Thanks. Looking at the website there is sio high speed off and speed settings of 1 to 16 with 6 being default. 
Any idea how to access these settings? I have not played with any of the config settings beyond following the video on line that shows you how to set it to autoboot the loader program. 

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11 minutes ago, Lardo Boffin said:

Thanks. Looking at the website there is sio high speed off and speed settings of 1 to 16 with 6 being default. 
Any idea how to access these settings? I have not played with any of the config settings beyond following the video on line that shows you how to set it to autoboot the loader program. 

Try turning TOP DRIVE to OFF.

 

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6 hours ago, Lardo Boffin said:

Thanks. Looking at the website there is sio high speed off and speed settings of 1 to 16 with 6 being default. 
Any idea how to access these settings? I have not played with any of the config settings beyond following the video on line that shows you how to set it to autoboot the loader program. 

I access it by holding the SIO2SD shift button down (button 5) when turning on the computer.

FBA9E6FB-7873-46C9-8124-6B320CEF94E5.jpeg

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Thanks all. It is now largely working!

 

I bought the card preloaded from Lotharek and pretty much everything loads now apart from the Disc Images \ Alphabetical list. 
As soon as I drill down this far the keyboard stops making the ‘I’ve been pressed’ noise and it soon locks up. 
Might just be a limitation of the 800. When I get chance I will move some of the files up a few levels and see if they work then. 

5AE04899-5A65-4360-B884-099DED50EDB7.jpeg

Edited by Lardo Boffin
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2 hours ago, gamer-stu said:

Glad that you're mostly there! It should work completely on a 48k Atari 800. Did you happen to use the fixed A8 loader linked above? The only problem that I encounter is that "X" doesn't execute an image from the loader like it should. Only the joystick fire button works for me.

Yes I used the fixed loader thanks. Will give the joystick a go. 

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  • 2 months later...

The joystick works and any file I drag up a few levels works!

 

Now I just need to figure out how multi load works... 

 

Managed to get the four discs for Phantasie II mounted in D1 to 4 (I think) but switching between D1 to D4 on the SD never seems to work - it keeps asking for side 3. 
Do I need to press some other key somewhere? A manual for this thing would be so useful!

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1 hour ago, Lardo Boffin said:

The joystick works and any file I drag up a few levels works!

 

Now I just need to figure out how multi load works... 

 

Managed to get the four discs for Phantasie II mounted in D1 to 4 (I think) but switching between D1 to D4 on the SD never seems to work - it keeps asking for side 3. 
Do I need to press some other key somewhere? A manual for this thing would be so useful!

Killer game that!  I sure wish I still had my hand written notes and maps and spells for the game.  I never did manage to finish it.

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  • 2 months later...

I'm using the fixed loader from Lotharek's site as linked above, but I can never get the menu program to come up at all.  The 800 freezes immediately when hitting the Select or Start button.  Files will load if I first select the ATR/XEX using the buttons and then boot the 800 - it's just the menu program that fails.  It all works on an 800XL, of course.

 

Does anyone know if source is available for the config program so we might take a look?  I sent Lotharek an email about it, too.

 

Also: Is there a difference between hitting Select or Start, or do they both do the same thing?  On the 800XL, sometimes the load happens at high speed and sometimes it doesn't, but I haven't I haven't found a pattern to when it does and when it doesn't.

 

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Ok, for those of you keeping score at home: it seems to work consistently if you use the patched configurator/loader as noted above, AND you have "topdrive mode" disabled (also noted above, but not immediately obvious how to achieve).

 

Lotharek did respond to my email, simply pointing me at the patched configurator/loader thread here:

 

I didn't realize we had @phaeron to thank for getting this patched in the first place!

 

The configurator/loader could use some additional fixes, so it's too bad we don't have source code for it.  For example, at least on NTSC composite, the top and bottom of the screen are cut off:

 

IMG_1075.JPG

 

(How *do* you get a picture of a CRT without the sync issues??)

Edited by jamm
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Many different ways.

frame grabber, gen lock, sync...

 

but the cheap way has been to sometimes mess with the shutter speed on the device of camera... lengthen aperture time or shorten it depending on you original settings and video system involved PAL/NTSC

 

if you can't find those settings.. change around presets like sport time lapse, bright dark...they can sometimes access exposure time...

Edited by _The Doctor__
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I'll have to toy around with one of the camera apps on my phone to see if I can get a workable shutter speed.

 

Couple of other issues with the configurator/loader:

  • Hitting one of the number keys over a file 'loads' that file into that disk number.  After you do this, you can no longer boot by holding down the enter key.  Only way I've found to actually boot into the disk(s) at this point it to power-cycle the machine and avoid getting back into the configurator.
  • Hitting the TAB key seems to reload the file list and tack it onto the end of the current file list?

 

 

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30 minutes ago, jamm said:

Ok, for those of you keeping score at home: it seems to work consistently if you use the patched configurator/loader as noted above, AND you have "topdrive mode" disabled (also noted above, but not immediately obvious how to achieve).

 

Lotharek did respond to my email, simply pointing me at the patched configurator/loader thread here:

 

I didn't realize we had @phaeron to thank for getting this patched in the first place!

 

The configurator/loader could use some additional fixes, so it's too bad we don't have source code for it.  For example, at least on NTSC composite, the top and bottom of the screen are cut off:

 

IMG_1075.JPG

 

(How *do* you get a picture of a CRT without the sync issues??)

I would suspect your display is not delivering full vertical resolution. It may need to be tweaked / optimized to deliver the entire vertical scan that Atari's video output will deliver.

 

You could try running VLINES or ACP and make sure you have a full, complete field-view. There's quite a good bit of SW out-there that takes advantage of it.

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9 minutes ago, Faicuai said:

I would suspect your display is not delivering full vertical resolution. It may need to be tweaked / optimized to deliver the entire vertical scan that Atari's video output will deliver.

 

You could try running VLINES or ACP and make sure you have a full, complete field-view. There's quite a good bit of SW out-there that takes advantage of it.

 

I'm sure you're right, I just hadn't noticed any significant portion of the top/bottom of the display cut off in anything else I've used so far, so having the problem in this simple program seems more of a bug/design mistake.

 

If I were going to keep using this TV I'd work at tweaking the display settings (it doesn't have any useful external controls other than brightness/contrast), but I'll be setting up a new monitor soon. ?

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24 minutes ago, jamm said:

 

I'm sure you're right, I just hadn't noticed any significant portion of the top/bottom of the display cut off in anything else I've used so far, so having the problem in this simple program seems more of a bug/design mistake.

 

If I were going to keep using this TV I'd work at tweaking the display settings (it doesn't have any useful external controls other than brightness/contrast), but I'll be setting up a new monitor soon. ?

I would not discard (entirely) that the TV may have an internal setting for vertical-scan... 

 

...Of course, it is a high-voltage jungle in-there and you should be very careful... but I would bet it is there, hiding behind the plastic's back-case...

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