U1MB, Incognito, SIDE2, SIDE3, 1088XEL/XLD Firmware 4.0 Released

[Mazzspeed]

1 minute ago, Level42 said:

I'm a Mac user and Linux and OSX aren't that much different. I simply used the OSX built-in disk manger (not sure if that's the correct name in English, I naturally use Dutch as OSX's language) to format the card to FAT32.

After that I simply dragged files onto the card. I downloaded this HUGE file of games from a Polish website, which has a nice alphabetical order. I simply made new a new folder for PoP using OSX's Finder and dragged the downloaded files into that folder. Naturally, before removing the SD card, I "eject" it using the finder's "eject" button next to the device's name and wait until it disappears from the Finder's device list. That's the proper way to remove an SD card. 
Works for me.

I know the card is formatted correctly, I'm also very careful to eject the card before removing it. However sometimes, no matter what the OS, if you watch the activity light even after ejecting something like a CF card you can still see data being transferred from the buffer.

 

I'm wondering if that's the issue, although I am doubtful.

 

It's worth a try, I'll bust out my trusty HP laptop tomorrow and see if it makes a difference.

[Level42]

1 minute ago, Mazzspeed said:

I know the card is formatted correctly, I'm also very careful to eject the card before removing it. However sometimes, no matter what the OS, if you watch the activity light even after ejecting something like a CF card you can still see data being transferred from the buffer.

 

I'm wondering if that's the issue, although I am doubtful.

 

It's worth a try, I'll bust out my trusty HP laptop tomorrow and see if it makes a difference.

Dude, it's a Mac. There are no such weird things as activity lights on my 2009 iMac 27"......

 

Even so, I just tried again. If I have a Finder window open and unmount ("Eject") the SD card though it, the entire Finder window closes so I'm pretty sure OSX is then really done with it 

Edited July 18, 2021 by Level42

[Mazzspeed]

Just now, Level42 said:

Dude, it's a Mac. There are no such weird things as activity lights on my 2009 iMac 27"......

Not activity lights on the computer, activity lights on the CF card reader!

 

As a tech, the lack of some form of HDD activity light on modern devices drives me batty sometimes. I love my trusty Dell T5500 with dual Xeon X5675's, the best purchase I ever made, it's lasted me years with only a few modern upgrades.

[Level42]

I don't have a CF card reader. I use the built-in SD card slot of the iMac. No flashy lighties sir

The use of activity LED's was rendered pointless when Windows came about.

 

I was a A8 and then ST user and had HD drive with the ST. With the ST, you booted the system and only when you loaded a program, opened or saved a file, the machine was doing something with the HD. It drove me completely crazy that when I (finally, and mostly against my will) I switched to Windows to see the damn thing keep doing stuff to my HD that _I_ wasn't controlling......

For me it's the 2009 iMac. People say Macs are expensive, but calculated back to how long it's serving me now it's the cheapest machine I ever bought.  Still my daily driver computer and can't think of any reason to want to "upgrade" to a new one. I don't do PC gaming of course....

I added a SSD drive and a bigger HD and configured them as a Fusion drive which renders 85% of the speed of the SSD and the combined capacity of both, and yet the system "sees" it as one drive. It's also nice that this version of the iMac _IS_ still upgradable....

Anyway let's not drift off-topic too much

Hope you can find the problem and fix it....

 

Edited July 18, 2021 by Level42

[Mazzspeed]

15 minutes ago, Level42 said:

Hope you can find the problem and fix it....

It's not a major issue. I'll plod along, hopefully I'll get to the bottom of it.

[Level42]

By the way, am I the only one who keeps powering down the A8 before removing/inserting an SD card into SIDE3 ?

I'm just so conditioned to powering down whenever removing/inserting cartridges.....LOL. I really have to face myself to remove/insert the SD with power on....

Recently picked up an "unknown condition" Philips Videopac G7000 and that system didn't have a power switch..... apparently you were actually instructed to simply remove and insert cartridges while powered-up and then you just hit "reset" to get the game running. It just doesn't feel right, so I modded in a power switch (plus some other stuff).

Edited July 18, 2021 by Level42

[Mazzspeed]

1 minute ago, Level42 said:

By the way, am I the only one who keeps powering down the A8 before removing/inserting an SD card into SIDE3 ?

I'm just so conditioned to powering down whenever removing/inserting cartridges.....LOL. I really have to face myself to remove/insert the SD with power on....

Recently picked up an "unknown condition" Philips Videopac G7000 and that system didn't have a power switch..... apparently you were actually instructed to simply remove and insert cartridges while powered-up and then you just hit "reset" to get the game running. It just doesn't feel right, so I modded in a power switch (plus some other stuff).

I don't always power off when inserting/removing the SD card, but sometimes muscle memory does take over - It's a hard habbit to break.

 

Even in the case of the Philips, there's no way I'd remove and reinsert an actual cart without powering down. It just seems so wrong.

[TGB1718]

If you use Windows, then clicking on the "Eject" and wait for the OK message will ensure it's flushed all the data to the card.

[Jacques]

1 hour ago, Level42 said:

By the way, am I the only one who keeps powering down the A8 before removing/inserting an SD card into SIDE3 ?

No, me too

Actually I can't imagine hotplugging SIDE's card, nor had any need to do it ever before. It's not a floppy disk, it's "HDD" ? And Atari can rest while adding stuff to it on PC ?

Edited July 18, 2021 by Jacques

[flashjazzcat]

SIDE3, like SIDE2, is designed to support media hot-plugging, and you may do this with impunity in the loader at the moment, since it doesn't write anything to the card. It will do soon enough, though; it will then be sufficient to make sure the current IO operation is completed before hot-swapping the card (i.e. wait until the activity LED has gone out).

 

The PBI BIOS - like the SIDE2/SIDE3.SYS drivers - is also designed to support hot-swapping. The partition table will be transparently re-loaded if you swap cards in a DOS environment (obviously - again - being sure that any pending IO operations are complete).

 

Edited July 18, 2021 by flashjazzcat

[+scorpio_ny]

On 7/17/2021 at 11:51 PM, Mazzspeed said:

I'm at a loss, in every other way my setup is perfect. I just cannot load AM or MC cart images, all I get is a black screen.

Just so you know Mazzspeed, I am also having the same exact issue. I also tried a different card. Same problem. I even reformatted the card using the official SD formatter application from the the SDcard Association website and I still have the issue. When I get a chance, I am going to try loading the game on a 600XL that has been upgraded to 64K.

[+scorpio_ny]

Just reporting back on this. I just tried loading the game .car file Flob on my 64k 600XL with the Side 3 cart. Loaded up with no issues. And this is with the SD card that did not load on my 800XL with U1MB.

 

 

[Jacques]

I think I've just located another issue to previously reported SIDE3CLK.SYS problem.

That said, the last choice of my SDX boot multi-config(.sys) is not remembered  by SIDE3.

[Wilheim]

Hi! I've just upgraded to Firmware version 4.05, but for some reason the XEGS OS doesn't work. I tried with P3 shorted also.

 

My config is a "downgraded" 130XE to stock 64K RAM (EMMU removed and shorted exactly as an 800XE)

 

Any suggestions?

[+scorpio_ny]

Another update about the cartridge loading issues. To test, I turned off the PBI BIOS on U1MB and rebooted and I tired again Flob again. Guess what? The cartridge game loaded with no issue. 
 

@Mazzspeed : Could you try this to see if this also works for you?

@flashjazzcat: I am hoping this gives you a little more insight to what to try next.

 

Thanks!

 

[Mazzspeed]

1 hour ago, scorpio_ny said:

Another update about the cartridge loading issues. To test, I turned off the PBI BIOS on U1MB and rebooted and I tired again Flob again. Guess what? The cartridge game loaded with no issue. 
 

@Mazzspeed : Could you try this to see if this also works for you?

@flashjazzcat: I am hoping this gives you a little more insight to what to try next.

 

Thanks!

 

Yes! This works! Outstanding job. Even all the PoP images work now.

 

@flashjazzcat why would disabling the PBI BIOS on U1MB have any affect on cartridge loading?

Edited July 19, 2021 by Mazzspeed

[+scorpio_ny]

3 hours ago, Mazzspeed said:

Yes! This works! Outstanding job. Even all the PoP images work now.

 

@flashjazzcat why would disabling the PBI BIOS on U1MB have any affect on cartridge loading?

Mazzspeed,

 

I am glad the work around worked for you too! I am going to play around with the U1MB settings to see if there is anything else can be tested.

 

[Level42]

I have PBI Bios ON all the time and have zero issues loading Flob or PoP, must be some interaction with your set-ups.

 

Edited July 20, 2021 by Level42

[TGB1718]

16 hours ago, scorpio_ny said:

Just reporting back on this. I just tried loading the game .car file Flob on my 64k 600XL with the Side 3 cart. Loaded up with no issues. And this is with the SD card that did not load on my 800XL with U1MB.

Adequate Power Supply on the 800XL ???

[Wilheim]

35 minutes ago, Level42 said:

I have PBI Bios ON all the time and have zero issues loading Flob or PoP, must be some interaction with your set-ups.

 

In my case, I make them work, using the Ultimate.rom firmware and Ultimate Cartridge. On u1mbs3, I couldn’t. I don’t have a side3 device.

Edited July 20, 2021 by Wilheim

[Mazzspeed]

40 minutes ago, Level42 said:

I have PBI Bios ON all the time and have zero issues loading Flob or PoP, must be some interaction with your set-ups.

 

There's nothing wrong with my setup, it's faultless in every other way. I run a 2A PSU, the problem is not symptomatic of an underpowered PSU and as stated SiC cart images always loaded fine

 

I'm just glad it's not some Phi2 timing issue TBH.

Edited July 20, 2021 by Mazzspeed

[flashjazzcat]

12 hours ago, Mazzspeed said:

@flashjazzcat why would disabling the PBI BIOS on U1MB have any affect on cartridge loading?

No reason at all. All three PoP CAR images work here on real hardware regardless of whether the PBI HDD is enabled or not.

 

Same with Flob - no problems.

Edited July 20, 2021 by flashjazzcat

[flashjazzcat]

16 hours ago, Wilheim said:

Hi! I've just upgraded to Firmware version 4.05, but for some reason the XEGS OS doesn't work. I tried with P3 shorted also.

 

My config is a "downgraded" 130XE to stock 64K RAM (EMMU removed and shorted exactly as an 800XE)

 

Any suggestions?

Yes: reflash the OS ROM. It appears to have become corrupted in the full 512K images here too.

 

XEGS.rom

 

Now I will have to update all the distribution images again... ?????

[+scorpio_ny]

2 hours ago, TGB1718 said:

Adequate Power Supply on the 800XL ???

No issue with power supply. New 3 Amp.

 

 

[+scorpio_ny]

1 hour ago, flashjazzcat said:

No reason at all. All three PoP CAR images work here on real hardware regardless of whether the PBI HDD is enabled or not.

 

Same with Flob - no problems.

Hi @flashjazzcat

 

There is a difference in our setup. If recall correctly, @Mazzspeed and I are using Sophia 2’s in our setup. Do you happen to have a machine also equipped with a Sophia 2 to test?