SIDE 3 preorder

[+Stephen]

2 hours ago, flashjazzcat said:

This is the stuff I was fixing while Candle was accusing me of 'undermining 10 months of work by delaying things' while I was trying to make the software more robust, so sod it: they can wait until the next update:

Interesting.  How many of those 10 months had any beta testing I wonder?  If a cart shell can't be made to fit (i.e., tested) makes me wonder about the rest of it.  Hopefully mine will leave Poland soon and I can see.  I see it's at least more usable than Simple Stereo 2 was - as this thing at least turns on

[+Philsan]

[candle]

1 hour ago, Stephen said:

Interesting.  How many of those 10 months had any beta testing I wonder?  If a cart shell can't be made to fit (i.e., tested) makes me wonder about the rest of it.  Hopefully mine will leave Poland soon and I can see.  I see it's at least more usable than Simple Stereo 2 was - as this thing at least turns on

really?

as for beta testing - it was 10 months in beta testing and active development, and Jon keeps delaying release of U1MB bios and drivers for a month right now

last thing that did change was SanDisk card support

it was very nice of Jon to accuse me of something that was a part of our private conversation over the forums - grown ups do things like this i guess

 

[TJ76]

All went well, many thanks Jon and my two Sandisk Ultra 16g SDs I was talking about in that other thread are instantly behaving, which is nice.  ?

 

 

[+DrVenkman]

Gotta say, the combination of cartridge emulation, mounted ATRs and APT partitions all accessible under SDX is the bee's knees.

[mdivancic]

23 minutes ago, DrVenkman said:

Gotta say, the combination of cartridge emulation, mounted ATRs and APT partitions all accessible under SDX is the bee's knees.

God, can’t wait to get home and update mine. Visiting friends until tomorrow...

[flashjazzcat]

9 hours ago, candle said:

it was very nice of Jon to accuse me of something that was a part of our private conversation over the forums - grown ups do things like this i guess

It's not an accusation. It's a direct quote, and just one of many 'private' comments that not only show a total lack of insight, but also a complete lack of respect for the person you're talking to. You accuse me of delaying the project after the board delivery was already a month late? I don't know what this beta testing is you speak of either: developers testing their own products is not a beta testing programme by any measure I know of. How about you try acting like a grown up and develop a civil tongue in your head.

Edited October 18, 2020 by flashjazzcat

[Nolium]

Hi! I get BOOT ERROR when booting U1MB upgrade ATR image. This is after successful Side3 update to version 0.15. Tried two different SD carts, both are SanDisk.

I have disabled SDX and PBI on U1MB.

 

I'm doing something wrong here. Any hint?

[Nolium]

14 minutes ago, Nolium said:

Hi! I get BOOT ERROR when booting U1MB upgrade ATR image. This is after successful Side3 update to version 0.15. Tried two different SD carts, both are SanDisk.

I have disabled SDX and PBI on U1MB.

 

I'm doing something wrong here. Any hint?

False alarm, figured it out.

 

Updated U1MB bios with Side2. Everything works now, thanks!

[TGB1718]

51 minutes ago, flashjazzcat said:

developers testing their own products is not a beta testing programme by any measure I know of.

I am a Test Analyst and I know there's nothing more important than thorough testing and if that means a

delay in publishing the update, then so be it, from what we've seen so far the wait has been worth it.

 

I'm sure some "bugs" will appear, but that's normal for all software systems, but overall I'm happy with what

I've got.

 

Jon has done a marvelous job here and personally I'm going over to https://atari8.co.uk/ to make a donation, without

his support for this product it wouldn't have happened and it's going to be so much fun.

 

So let's just enjoy this for what it was meant to be "Another Fantastic Upgrade for our Beloved Atari 8 Bit's"

 

Thank you Jon ? 

[Marius]

12 hours ago, candle said:

really?

as for beta testing - it was 10 months in beta testing and active development, and Jon keeps delaying release of U1MB bios and drivers for a month right now

last thing that did change was SanDisk card support

it was very nice of Jon to accuse me of something that was a part of our private conversation over the forums - grown ups do things like this i guess

 

Of course we don't know exactly what happens behind the scene, but there is one thing that we all know and that there is hardly anyone in this scene who takes atari 8bit software development more serious than @flashjazzcat. His products are always from an outstanding quality and we may call ourselves lucky that we have him around.

 

Take the amazing side2 loader or even cooler the U1MB firmware upgrade. Both excellent examples of where we absolutely need somebody like Jon. He knows what the demanding a8 user needs and he knows how to code. I have been testing The Last word, Side2 loader and U1mb firmware for him for months if not years and all those time I haven't had a single argument or problem with this guy.

 

He is extremely dedicated to whatever he feels is his responsibility and I think some people could learn from that. We already have way too much half baken products in the world that were rushed on the market.

 

Meanwhile I have learned two things. 1. If Jon tells me there is a technical problem with this or that, it is worth the time checking it out. He is most of the time completely right. 2. The guy invests all of his spare time to do the job right. It is a good thing to appreciate that.

 

I do not want to put myself in the spotlights, but I really could have done good beta testing for Side3 those last 10 months you are speaking about. If people want to gets things done, I am always willing to help. So please let us stay focused on the development of great a8 stuff.

 

Big thanks to @flashjazzcat and all his hard work for the a8 community. 

Edited October 18, 2020 by Marius

[fenrock]

16 hours ago, flashjazzcat said:

Updating Ultimate 1MB:

 

You have an ATR with UFLASH.XEX, BIOS.ROM and ULTPBI.ROM. In the usual manner (having removed any cartridges and enabled the U1MB's on-board SDX), flash BIOS.ROM to the Main BIOS slot, and ULTPBI.ROM to the PBI BIOS slot. Power cycle the machine afterwards. Before re-applying power, in fact, you may connect your SIDE3. Hop into the BIOS setup menu and enable the PBI HDD in order to make the 'L' key start the SIDE3 loader (on the cartridge) instead of the SIDE2 loader which is still on your U1MB ROM.

How do I load the ATR without the Side3 plugged in? I've only got an 800XL with U1Mb and Side3.

I've got the ATR on an SD card in the Side3, but if I have to have that unplugged to perform the update, i then can't load the ATR.

 

 

Edited October 18, 2020 by fenrock

[TGB1718]

No way to mount the .ATR ?

 

Respqt, SIO2SD, SDrive-Max etc.

[flashjazzcat]

36 minutes ago, fenrock said:

How do I load the ATR without the Side3 plugged in? I've only got an 800XL with U1Mb and Side3.

I've got the ATR on an SD card in the Side3, but if I have to have that unplugged to perform the update, i then can't load the ATR.

Great question, and I have just tested a solution for you. Note: this assumes my firmware is already on the U1MB (release version 3.10 tested here on an 800XL).

1. Enable 1MB RAM and SDX in the U1MB setup menu.
2. Disable the PBI HDD (you can leave high-speed SIO enabled if you like, but it's not needed).
3. Copy the individual files from the attached ZIP archive onto the FAT partition of your SD card
4. Turn off the Atari, and attach SIDE3 with the switch in the upper (loader) position, and with the SD card inserted
5. Turn on the Atari. U1MB's SDX should boot.
6. Type CAR at the SDX command prompt. The SIDE3 loader should start.
7. Ensure 'FAT FMS' is enabled in the loader's 'Options' menu and that BASIC is disabled.
8. Start UFLASH.XEX from the loader.
9. UFLASH should identify your U1MB. If it doesn't: stop what you're doing right there.
10. If U1MB is detected, proceed to flash the BIOS.ROM and ULTPBI.ROM files to the relevant slots.
11. Power cycle.

As said: this is verified working here, but please be careful.

 

U1MB_SIDE3_Firmware_RC_171020_Files.zip

[fenrock]

49 minutes ago, TGB1718 said:

No way to mount the .ATR ?

 

Respqt, SIO2SD, SDrive-Max etc.

not currently, I've avoided getting too much in my initial blast to get this machine active. I was hovering over the 35 quid purchase of sdrive max on ebay, but Jon's posted an update I'm about to try out...

I've got a fujinet on the way, so that would also have been an option i guess, but it hasn't arrived yet.

[fenrock]

47 minutes ago, flashjazzcat said:

Great question, and I have just tested a solution for you. Note: this assumes my firmware is already on the U1MB (release version 3.10 tested here on an 800XL).

...

As said: this is verified working here, but please be careful.

 

U1MB_SIDE3_Firmware_RC_171020_Files.zip 31.85 kB · 2 downloads

This worked perfectly, thanks Jon.

 

I had just installed atrcopy on my linux dev machine and was about to try extracting the files directly out the ATR and try out various options with the raw files, but your zip file saved me a couple of steps, so cheers.

I seem to remember it worked fine getting 3.10 onto U1Mb from Side3 previously in this whole thread, so thought it should work.

 

Now have 3.11RC version showing in the U1Mb, L goes to Side3 loader, and ATRs are showing there too.

CAR's are mounting. All is good in the world.

 

[flashjazzcat]

36 minutes ago, fenrock said:

This worked perfectly, thanks Jon.

Great - that's good to hear. Thanks for confirming, and thanks again for your kind support.

[fenrock]

you're welcome

[Roydea6]

I really miss the cio driver z.sys being on the loader menu.  Also as a side issue can SpartaDos X 449 be flashed to the Side3 cartridge.  Instead of the 449e beta that is there now.

 

[flashjazzcat]

26 minutes ago, Roydea6 said:

I really miss the cio driver z.sys being on the loader menu.

Yeah: there just wasn't room left in the PBI ROM after all the weighty SD card handling code was added. Maybe in a few revisions I'll be able to optimise things further (bear in mind this is very much first iteration stuff), but I'm not sure if there will ever be enough room for the Z: driver.

28 minutes ago, Roydea6 said:

Also as a side issue can SpartaDos X 449 be flashed to the Side3 cartridge.

I'm not aware of any publicly available SDX builds for SIDE3; just what is already on the cartridge. We must leave it to DLT to release things when they are good and ready and have had sufficient time to complete everything.

 

[fenrock]

can someone explain to a noob (me) what the z: / z.sys stuff is for? what am i missing in my life

 

[flashjazzcat]

13 minutes ago, fenrock said:

can someone explain to a noob (me) what the z: / z.sys stuff is for?

It's a PBI BIOS hosted CIO driver which emulates the R-Time8 clock. So: software written with RTime-8 in mind will work with the U1MB real time clock. I only added it to the SIDE2 PBI BIOS because I was looking for something to fill the rest of the ROM space, and with the SIDE3 version, it had to go. SDX actually provides a software Z: driver, so it's not a dramatic loss.

[dostrow]

On 10/18/2020 at 6:44 AM, flashjazzcat said:

Great question, and I have just tested a solution for you. Note: this assumes my firmware is already on the U1MB (release version 3.10 tested here on an 800XL).

1. Enable 1MB RAM and SDX in the U1MB setup menu.
2. Disable the PBI HDD (you can leave high-speed SIO enabled if you like, but it's not needed).
3. Copy the individual files from the attached ZIP archive onto the FAT partition of your SD card
4. Turn off the Atari, and attach SIDE3 with the switch in the upper (loader) position, and with the SD card inserted
5. Turn on the Atari. U1MB's SDX should boot.
6. Type CAR at the SDX command prompt. The SIDE3 loader should start.
7. Ensure 'FAT FMS' is enabled in the loader's 'Options' menu and that BASIC is disabled.
8. Start UFLASH.XEX from the loader.
9. UFLASH should identify your U1MB. If it doesn't: stop what you're doing right there.
10. If U1MB is detected, proceed to flash the BIOS.ROM and ULTPBI.ROM files to the relevant slots.
11. Power cycle.

As said: this is verified working here, but please be careful.

 

U1MB_SIDE3_Firmware_RC_171020_Files.zip 31.85 kB · 13 downloads

@flashjazzcat I just unwrapped my new SIDE3 and tried this on my 130XE with U1MB (I bought both the U1MB and SIDE3 from lotharek a few weeks ago and just got around to getting things going last night) but when I get to step 6 I just get a black screen, I only have the 130XE and the SIDE3, no other gear as I am just starting to collect. Any thoughts on what I might try? The U1MB otherwise seems to work.

 

Edit: To clarify, after typing CAR and hitting Return I get the black screen, SDX starts up just fine.

Edited October 19, 2020 by dostrow

[+Stephen]

1 hour ago, dostrow said:

@flashjazzcat I just unwrapped my new SIDE3 and tried this on my 130XE with U1MB (I bought both the U1MB and SIDE3 from lotharek a few weeks ago and just got around to getting things going last night) but when I get to step 6 I just get a black screen, I only have the 130XE and the SIDE3, no other gear as I am just starting to collect. Any thoughts on what I might try? The U1MB otherwise seems to work.

 

Edit: To clarify, after typing CAR and hitting Return I get the black screen, SDX starts up just fine.

Is this with an SD card installed or no card in the unit?  If with card, 1 - have you tried without and 2 - which brand & size of card?

[dostrow]

1 hour ago, Stephen said:

Is this with an SD card installed or no card in the unit?  If with card, 1 - have you tried without and 2 - which brand & size of card?

I have tried with and without the card. It is a 16GB SanDisk. The only other indications from the cart are a brief flash of the green LED when the system is powered on if the cart is inserted prior to doing so and a flash of the screen when the cart is inserted post power on.