Loading CONFIG.SYS on IDE+v2.0

[MrFSL]

Perhaps someone more knowledgeable than I can help me with my IDE+2.0.

 

To begin I have an NTSC 800XL. The only modification I have is The Sophia Rev C. My IDE+2.0 is rev F. with SDX 449. The device came with firmware BIOS 1.6 and I have tried 1.7 and 1.7a.

 

This is my configuration:

 

Behavior with 1.6 BIOS

As noted here: 

I have to hold OPTION when booting to get SDX to run. When I boot this way the CONFIG.SYS configuration is ignored. If, however, I hold START to get the green configuration screen and then press ^X it continues into SDX and does honor the CONFIG.SYS configuration.

 

Behavior with 1.7 and 1.7a BIOS

As stated above I can load SDX by holding OPTION during power on and the CONFIG.SYS configuration is ignored. However, pressing ^X from the configuration screen now I get a blank green screen. It does not continue to boot SDX as before.

 

 

[drac030]

I am afraid that the only solution is to connect the RD5 signal from the cartridge port to the IDE+ to avoid this problem.

 

1 hour ago, MrFSL said:

pressing ^X from the configuration screen now I get a blank green screen

Cannot reproduce this. I have an XE, however. So perhaps this is the same issue (lack of the RD5 on PBI).

[MrFSL]

Thank you drac030!

 

While that might work, (its beyond my skillset to achieve) it did at least work with ^X on BIOS 1.6. I wonder if it is't therefore something that could be fixed in software.

 

At the very least I wonder if any others might find the time to test on their XL series? Or, would confirmation from others matter?

[drac030]

From your post it is not clear, what exactly you are doing. What about this procedure:

 

1) hold down both Option and Start

2) still holding both keys down, power the computer on

3) when the IDE+ menu appears, release both keys

4) press ^X

 

What is the result?

[MrFSL]

Oooh. That works! On BIOS 1.6 I could hold down Start without Option and then ^X. But this works! Thank you very much, I am back in business.

 

And this post along with your prompt and exceptional answers are good as this procedure is not well documented other places.

 

For that reason I will add here that under BIOS 1.6 --- if I left the Atari long enough and came back the interface would no longer work correctly. So far this seems fixed under BIOS 1.7a. I add this to help some future guy with the same issue.

Edited October 21, 2020 by MrFSL

[drac030]

Please test the attached version and tell me, if things get better, worse or if nothing changed.

bios17b-test.com

[MrFSL]

Drac030,

 

Sorry - I missed your reply. My system hung when erasing chip and so I had to go through the steps to recover. Tried to flash a second time and had no issue.

 

Things have changed:

 

1) Power on holding nothing and SDX boots now. (OPTION no longer required to boot onboard SDX)

 

2) Power on holding nothing and the Boot Drive and Config.sys configurations both work as expected! (OPTION + START followed by ^X no longer required)

 

I tested as many other features as I could to make sure I didn't see any regressions. Everything seems to work! You are a wizard.

 

[drac030]

6 hours ago, MrFSL said:

My system hung when erasing chip and so I had to go through the steps to recover.

That is odd. The flasher has a 10-second-timeout for the erase operation (just in case), so maybe it was enough to wait a little while and it then would ask you to retry.

 

And if it hung so that even the timeout could not get trigered, maybe there is a problem somewhere in your system, such as insiffucient power supply (1 A may be too weak).

[MrFSL]

Oh, it is likely that the system hang was on my side - I was booting off the IDE+ SDX accessing a "folder" as a virtual disk using a hacked together SIO to SERIAL USB cable connected to an ancient version of AspeQt. I was excited and being lazy. LOL.

 

I did not know about the 10-second-timeout --- good to know. It erases and writes so quickly normally that I probably just gave up too soon.

 

Good call on the power supply. Prior to this I had been running on an old phone power supply at 1.8A. The inline meter never showed me pulling over 1.1A so I thought I was good. I randomly used a different 2A power supply one day and everything worked better on my IDE+. My inline meter then showed me pulling up to and above 1.8A. Old phone chargers as power supplies can be a problem. It can say 1.8A but (as in my case) never actually be able to deliver it. So -- yeah -- great tip for everyone out in Atari-land.

 

But... let us focus on the prize here --- everything seems work on my IDE+ v2 including not having to hold OPTION at any time. This is amazingly fantastic! I tested more functions today... I can't seem to get the "disk switch" button to work - but I had never tried using it before so I am probably using it incorrectly. (The documentation is a bit thin as best as I can find.)

 

I often run my IDE+ inline with a Sys-check XL configured as a 512 memory upgrade and this works as expected as well.

 

If you and your cohorts ever wanted to redesign the IDE+ with an optional onboard memory upgrade let me know for sure! I like these atari peripherals that don't require modifications of the original computer. The Sys-Check is great but for this application is does more than what is needed (just a memory upgrade) and I haven't yet decided on a case for it.

[drac030]

13 hours ago, MrFSL said:

I can't seem to get the "disk switch" button to work

It only works when ATRs residing on a partition are mounted as disks. The button then "rotates" them, i.e. shifts their assignment to drive numbers in, er, circular manner.

 

The documentation is thin, I admit.