AVGCART and SpartaDOS 3.2

[ratwell]

I'm unable to load these .ATR versions of SpartaDOS in AVGCART:

 

https://atariwiki.org/wiki/Wiki.jsp?page=SpartaDOS
 

https://atariwiki.org/wiki/attach/SpartaDOS/SpartaDOS_3.2g_with_DOS.atr
https://atariwiki.org/wiki/attach/SpartaDOS/Spartados_3.2g.atr

I realize there are .car versions of SpartaDOSX which work but is there some known limitation with these older disk based versions?

[tmp]

Are you trying to boot them using SIO cable or using the "OSXEX" method?

[+Nezgar]

Even with OSXEX2 present, I presume SpartaDOS 2.x/3.x fails if not using SIO cable due to conflict with both using RAM under the OS...

[Mclaneinc]

@tmp a new avatar, as you are a hardware dev it makes me wonder if there's a new project on the go?

 

Sorry, just being nosey...

[ratwell]

9 hours ago, tmp said:

Are you trying to boot them using SIO cable or using the "OSXEX" method?

SIO cable: I just wired up the cable and it’s working for other titles.

 

I selected the disk with Shift-1, then Option-Return.

 

I removed the OSEXE2 file and now it boots!

 

The docs at De Re AVGCART suggest you can leave OSEXE2 and use SHIFT-RETURN to enable it but I had to remove it from the SD card altogether.

 

https://atari8bit.net/tutorials/de-re-avgcart/

 

Quote

You can still load ATR files using OSXEX2as you did before, but now you must hold down SHIFT-RETURN to do it. With the cable installed the AVGCART will use SIO by default.

 

Edited April 2, 2021 by ratwell

[+CharlieChaplin]

Errrm well, you have the SIO-cable and still use OSXEX ? OSXEX works only with programs that do NOT use RAM under the OS.

 

So, SpartaDOS 3.x will never work without the SIO-cable on the AVG cart and even with the SIO-cable, do NOT use OSXEX do not use Shift-Return, do not walk past Go!, do not earn 400 dollars,  just boot it.

 

-----

 

SIO-cable not present:

simply use OSXEX to load ATR images (programs that require RAM under OS will not work)

 

SIO-cable present:

a) boot with OSXEX: press Shift-Return to load ATR images faster and without SIO (but again, programs that require RAM under OS will not work)

b) boot without OSXEX: press Return (boot with Basic) or Option+Return (boot without Basic) to load ATR images slower and with SIO and now almost all programs should work

 

I would suggest to avoid booting with OSXEX if the SIO-cable is present, but afaik there is no need to remove OSXEX from the SD-card, just avoid booting with it by using a different key-combo. This works for me and I still have OSXEX on the SD-card.

 

[tmp]

7 hours ago, ratwell said:

SIO cable: I just wired up the cable and it’s working for other titles.

 

I selected the disk with Shift-1, then Option-Return.

 

I removed the OSEXE2 file and now it boots!

 

The docs at De Re AVGCART suggest you can leave OSEXE2 and use SHIFT-RETURN to enable it but I had to remove it from the SD card altogether.

it must be something else because the presence of OSXEX2 does not influence which atr emulation method is chosen (it is based on cable detection and state of the shift key)

[ratwell]

4 hours ago, CharlieChaplin said:

I would suggest to avoid booting with OSXEX if the SIO-cable is present, but afaik there is no need to remove OSXEX from the SD-card, just avoid booting with it by using a different key-combo. This works for me and I still have OSXEX on the SD-card.

 

 

2 hours ago, tmp said:

it must be something else because the presence of OSXEX2 does not influence which atr emulation method is chosen (it is based on cable detection and state of the shift key)

I only just formatted this card added a few files and tried these disk based versions of SpartaDOS but it’s clearly

an issue when OSEXE2 is present.

 

Perhaps someone can try it with the 0020 firmware and reproduce this issue:

 

https://avgcart.tmp.sk/files/atari/avgcart-0020.zip

[tmp]

is there any difference if you don't select the atr with shift-1 first? (there's no need to do that if you're starting only a single atr and you're not trying to use it with e.g. car file)

(i'll test it but i need to connect my atari setup first)

[tmp]

it seems that those atr files don't boot if HSIO is enabled in the cart (any divisor), try to disable it if you have it enabled (CTRL-H)

(if you used multiple sd cards, that could have caused that OSXEX2 confusion since settings are stored on the card)

 

not sure if that HSIO issue is AVGCART specific or it's some spartados bug, i'll need to check what's going on there

 

correction: it works with divisor 8 and higher which is most likely expected behavior since spartados is known to have issues with lower divisors

Edited April 3, 2021 by tmp

[ratwell]

I just tried it again using all combinations and it only fails with a divisor less than 8 so I must have had it set to a lower value at some point and forgot.

Sorry for the false alarm.