ACE80-XL?

[ClausB]

With the generous help of a Forum member, I have transfered 2 disks of ACE80 files to .ATR files attached here. Included are source files, ROM images, utilities, and manuals. I don't remember the significance of all the files, but if something is not clear, please ask. Between all of us, we'll figure it out.

 

ACE80V11.SRC is the EASMD source file with minimal comments. It does not include the character set, which is in an OBJ file called ASET.90 (because it loads into pages $90-93), IIRC.

 

I think the ROM images are in .EPR files - I don't remember their format, maybe also OBJs. There appear to be utilities to burn EPROMs on my homebrew burners - of no use to you except, perhaps, as an example of how to read the image files.

 

The ACE80 Manual and Tech Notes are in .TXW files for Text Wizard, IIRC. Can anyone convert these to PC .DOC files?

 

I'm an ATR newbie, so any help in extracting and converting these files to PC formats would be appreciated.

 

Claus Buchholz

Amiable Computer Enhancements

ACE80.zip

[puppetmark]

The ACE80 Manual and Tech Notes are in .TXW files for Text Wizard, IIRC. Can anyone convert these to PC .DOC files?

 

Here they are as PDF and TXT:

TECNOTES.pdfACE80.pdf

ACE80.TXTTECNOTES.txt

 

BTW: thanks for the great ACE80 stuff!

Enjoy

[ClausB]

BTW: thanks for the great ACE80 stuff!

Enjoy

Thanks for the nice .PDFs. Here are better .TXTs:

ACE80.TXT

TECNOTES.TXT

[Roydea6]

With the generous help of a Forum member, I have transfered 2 disks of ACE80 files to .ATR files attached here. Included are source files, ROM images, utilities, and manuals. I don't remember the significance of all the files, but if something is not clear, please ask. Between all of us, we'll figure it out.

 

ACE80V11.SRC is the EASMD source file with minimal comments. It does not include the character set, which is in an OBJ file called ASET.90 (because it loads into pages $90-93), IIRC.

 

I think the ROM images are in .EPR files - I don't remember their format, maybe also OBJs. There appear to be utilities to burn EPROMs on my homebrew burners - of no use to you except, perhaps, as an example of how to read the image files.

 

The ACE80 Manual and Tech Notes are in .TXW files for Text Wizard, IIRC. Can anyone convert these to PC .DOC files?

 

I'm an ATR newbie, so any help in extracting and converting these files to PC formats would be appreciated.

 

Claus Buchholz

Amiable Computer Enhancements

 

The logo.lst file created this graphic.... Nice...

 

[ClausB]

That's great. I'd love to have a cartridge based 80 column display editor for my 1200xl. Could the code for ACE80 be transferred to a multicart?

Do you have a schematic or tech details about this "multicart"? If so, I could try to adapt ACE80 for it.

 

Likewise for the "SuperCart". Does that name refer to the old OSS Supercartridge? Any technical info would help.

[ClausB]

The logo.lst file created this graphic.... Nice...

Very nice! A former coworker, Karlis Adamsens (sp?), drew this logo for us and I hand-digitzed it and wrote that program. He was a multi-talented guy, an artist, a biochemist, a machinist, and an avid cycler. He cycled from Michigan to New Jersey and back to visit his family!

[ClausB]

I'm looking through the files and recalling what they are. So far:

 

ASET.90 is a .OBJ file which loads into $9000 to $93FF. It holds the 80 column character set (in different byte order from standard Atari character sets).

ACE80XL.ROM is a .OBJ file which loads into $9400 to $BFFF (piecewise). It holds the assembled object code.

ACE80XL.EPR is a .OBJ file which loads into $4000 to $4FFF (contiguous). It holds the entire 4K ROM image collected from the above files.

 

ACE-80XL ran from an Electrosmith disappearing ROM cartridge in the left cart slot. I think it would also work from an OSS SuperCartridge. ACE-80 was nearly identical but it ran from an ACE custom cartridge in the 800's right slot.

 

Maybe it could be modified to run from a "SuperCart" or "multicart" if they can be switched off to enable underlying RAM. Anyone got tech details on those carts?

 

Certainly it could be modified to run from disk without ROM or fancy carts. If there is interest in that, I can work on it.

[ClausB]

I found an earlier version, called E-80, on another disk. This one is disk-loadable instead of ROM-based. From DOS, just load the file E80.

 

It seems to be pretty similar to ACE-80 and much of the code is the same. Some differences I've noticed:

It has no logo.

It has an underline cursor.

It activates when loaded but "GRAPHICS 0" from BASIC reverts to 40 columns. "GRAPHICS 16" activates 80 columns again.

It does not protect itself properly at the top of RAM and "?FRE(0)" from BASIC gives the wrong answer.

 

There may be other differences and/or bugs. Use at your own risk.

E80.zip

[+Larry]

That's great. I'd love to have a cartridge based 80 column display editor for my 1200xl. Could the code for ACE80 be transferred to a multicart?

Do you have a schematic or tech details about this "multicart"? If so, I could try to adapt ACE80 for it.

 

Likewise for the "SuperCart". Does that name refer to the old OSS Supercartridge? Any technical info would help.

 

I'd never heard of an "Electrosmith" cart. My original cart (I sure think it's original!) is identical to the "Black" OSS Supercarts. (These were the 2nd generation OSS carts that used one 2764 or 27128 rom/eprom rather than two 2764's in the "Orange" carts.) Maybe the Black OSS carts are Electrosmith's?

 

Anyway, I think the most viable way to put ACE80 (and XL) into a new cart would be in Steve Tucker's 1 Mbit Flash carts. If you don't mind Claus, I'll make a post in the Flash Cart forum and link your posts here for the files. There are some very talented guys at putting software into those carts. The downside (a little) is that the flash carts are more expensive $25 each, but that's still not bad if it gets the job done. I think this could happen very quickly.

 

Another possibility is the Atari 64K "Supercart" still available from Best Electronics. I don't know much about these carts, but they are definitely different from the OSS carts. These carts were released primarily for "Blue Box" XEGS games. Here is a link to a lot of schematics and one of these *might* be of an Atari XEGS Supercart. (?)

http://www.dereatari.republika.pl/schematy.htm

 

Another possibility is to put it into a Black OSS cart in place of its original rom.

 

Still another is a straight disk load?

 

Anyway some possibilities...

 

-Larry

Edited April 7, 2008 by Larry

[puppetmark]

Maybe it could be modified to run from a "SuperCart" or "multicart" if they can be switched off to enable underlying RAM. Anyone got tech details on those carts?

 

I would love to see this run from a OSS SuperCart. Here is some good info on the OSS carts:

http://retrobits.net/atari/osscarts.shtml

[ClausB]

I'd never heard of an "Electrosmith" cart. My original cart (I sure think it's original!) is identical to the "Black" OSS Supercarts. (These were the 2nd generation OSS carts that used one 2764 or 27128 rom/eprom rather than two 2764's in the "Orange" carts.) Maybe the Black OSS carts are Electrosmith's?

My prototype ACE-80XL cart has an Electrosmith board, which is compatible with the OSS Supercartridges as far as ACE-80XL requires. It has the same RAM/ROM switching but not the ROM bank selection which ACE-80XL does not need because it's only 4K. A.C.E. must have switched to the OSS carts later on and that's what you have.

Anyway, I think the most viable way to put ACE80 (and XL) into a new cart would be in Steve Tucker's 1 Mbit Flash carts. If you don't mind Claus, I'll make a post in the Flash Cart forum and link your posts here for the files. There are some very talented guys at putting software into those carts. The downside (a little) is that the flash carts are more expensive $25 each, but that's still not bad if it gets the job done. I think this could happen very quickly.

Sure, as long as those carts can switch between RAM and ROM. Just recommend to them that they assemble the source with XL set to 1.

Another possibility is the Atari 64K "Supercart" still available from Best Electronics. I don't know much about these carts, but they are definitely different from the OSS carts. These carts were released primarily for "Blue Box" XEGS games. Here is a link to a lot of schematics and one of these *might* be of an Atari XEGS Supercart. (?)

http://www.dereatari.republika.pl/schematy.htm

Good link! I found something there called Multicartridge that has 128K ROM and what appears to be a PLD to select banks. Without knowing the PLD contents, I would not know how to control it.

Another possibility is to put it into a Black OSS cart in place of its original rom.

That would work. Just put it into the upper 4K of the ROM.

Still another is a straight disk load?

That would take some work to make it as transparent as the ROM-switched version. The E-80 program I posted is a straight disk load, but it needs improvements.

Edited April 8, 2008 by ClausB

[ClausB]

I would love to see this run from a OSS SuperCart. Here is some good info on the OSS carts:

http://retrobits.net/atari/osscarts.shtml

Thanks for the link. That info matches my old notes. ACE-80XL would definitely work from an OSS Supercart. Just put it into the top 4K of the EPROM.

[ClausB]

Anyway, I think the most viable way to put ACE80 (and XL) into a new cart would be in Steve Tucker's 1 Mbit Flash carts. If you don't mind Claus, I'll make a post in the Flash Cart forum and link your posts here for the files. There are some very talented guys at putting software into those carts. The downside (a little) is that the flash carts are more expensive $25 each, but that's still not bad if it gets the job done. I think this could happen very quickly.

Sure, as long as those carts can switch between RAM and ROM. Just recommend to them that they assemble the source with XL set to 1.

The Atarimax forum has tech info on the 1 and 8 Mb flash carts. They do support ROM/RAM switching but use slightly different addresses. It would be easy to adapt ACE-80XL to them:

 

Starting from the source file, ACE80V11.SRC, change to the following equates:

XL=1

CRTON=$D5NN (where NN is the bank number of the ACE-80XL ROM within the flash cart)

CRTOFF=$D580

 

Or, starting from the ROM image .OBJ file, ACE80XL.EPR, change each hex byte pair 00 D5 to NN D5 and change each pair 08 D5 to 80 D5.

 

Then it should work as before.

[ClausB]

Correction: The above should work for an 8 Mb flash cart. For a 1 Mb flash cart, use:

CRTOFF=$D510

or replace 08 D5 with 10 D5.

[yorgle]

Forgive my noobie question, but is it possible to run ACE80 from the .atr files you posted above using APE and an sio2pc? I tried loading the ACE80XL.EPR and ACE80XL.ROM files but get nothing with the former, and just some garbled graphics at the top of the screen from the latter.

[+Larry]

Correction: The above should work for an 8 Mb flash cart. For a 1 Mb flash cart, use:

CRTOFF=$D510

or replace 08 D5 with 10 D5.

 

For those having 1 Mb flash carts, a flasher has been posted in the Flash Cart forum at AtariMax.

 

Here are a couple of screen shots from my flashcart.

 

I think that the dark green background helps legibility. Also, at least on my capture screen, I can "stretch" the display horizontally. I think this also improves legibility of the characters.

 

-Larry

 

 

 

 

[ClausB]

Forgive my noobie question, but is it possible to run ACE80 from the .atr files you posted above using APE and an sio2pc? I tried loading the ACE80XL.EPR and ACE80XL.ROM files but get nothing with the former, and just some garbled graphics at the top of the screen from the latter.

I'm afraid the ACE-80 files are not executable - ACE-80 was written to run out of cartridge ROM. However, the E-80 file posted above does run from disk and it provides the basic functions of ACE-80.

[yorgle]

Forgive my noobie question, but is it possible to run ACE80 from the .atr files you posted above using APE and an sio2pc? I tried loading the ACE80XL.EPR and ACE80XL.ROM files but get nothing with the former, and just some garbled graphics at the top of the screen from the latter.

I'm afraid the ACE-80 files are not executable - ACE-80 was written to run out of cartridge ROM. However, the E-80 file posted above does run from disk and it provides the basic functions of ACE-80.

 

Well, Steve Tucker should thank you. I just ordered a 1mb flashcart just so I could try this out. I also got E80 up and running and it's great, but really takes some playing with colors to get clear characters on my TV.

[+Stephen]

Awesome! Another great use for my 1MB cart. I may have to buy a few more. I want to keep SDX 4.41 on one, as I got a R-Time 8 clone cart. I have the adapter for my 130XE, lets me use both carts at the same time and gives me a PBI bus.

 

Stephen Anderson

[+Larry]

I've been working on a new label for the 1Mb flashcart, and I think I have a pretty good one -- largely "true to the original," although there are a couple of things I couldn't do with my software and limited artistic skills. I have attached the a .doc file with the new label for anyone who is interested. It just fits in the label area on an Atarimax cart. However, right off, you'll notice that the nice little "running man/computer" ACE logo is missing. So I need some suggestions and/or help from someone more artistically inclined than me.

 

I tried importing the logo from GR. 8 file "LOGO.BAS" on disk one, but by the time it is shrunk to fit, it is just a blur. The logo on the original cart label is fine, but the only way that I have been able to use it it to color photocopy the original cart label then cut out the logo as as small rectangle, and attach it to the label. It's not bad, but certainly could be better. I also tried tracing the logo, but I'm just not good enough to get a nice reproduction. The original label is shown below:

 

Any suggestions? Any offers of artistic help?

 

-Larry

 

 

 

 

[ClausB]

ACE80XL.EPR is a .OBJ file which loads into $4000 to $4FFF (contiguous). It holds the entire 4K ROM image.

Some clarifications:

 

The copy of ACE80XL.EPR from the disk ACE80D1.ATR has the 4K ROM image as above.

 

You can make an ACE-80XL cart from an OSS cart and a blank EPROM (2732, 2764, 27128, or 27256).

 

To make an EPROM for the older 2-socket OSS cart, program the 4K bytes from the file (minus the 6-byte header) into the uppermost 4K bytes of the EPROM and plug it into the right-hand socket (H). If the EPROM is not a 2764, then connect together pins 26 and 27 of the socket. If it's a 2732, plug it into the lower portion of the socket (IC pin 1 into socket pin 3).

 

To make an EPROM for the newer 1-socket OSS cart, program the 4K bytes from the file (minus the 6-byte header) into the lowermost 4K bytes of the EPROM. For a 27256, program them into the lowermost 4K of the upper half ($4000-$4FFF out of $0000-$7FFF).

 

The copy of ACE80XL.EPR from the disk ACE80D2.ATR has the same 4K ROM image followed by 4K of FFs. It was meant for programming 2764s for the newer OSS cart.

 

Alles klar?

[dinosaur]

ACE80XL.EPR is a .OBJ file which loads into $4000 to $4FFF (contiguous). It holds the entire 4K ROM image.

Some clarifications:

 

The copy of ACE80XL.EPR from the disk ACE80D1.ATR has the 4K ROM image as above.

 

You can make an ACE-80XL cart from an OSS cart and a blank EPROM (2732, 2764, 27128, or 27256).

 

To make an EPROM for the older 2-socket OSS cart, program the 4K bytes from the file (minus the 6-byte header) into the uppermost 4K bytes of the EPROM and plug it into the right-hand socket (H). If the EPROM is not a 2764, then connect together pins 26 and 27 of the socket. If it's a 2732, plug it into the lower portion of the socket (IC pin 1 into socket pin 3).

 

To make an EPROM for the newer 1-socket OSS cart, program the 4K bytes from the file (minus the 6-byte header) into the lowermost 4K bytes of the EPROM. For a 27256, program them into the lowermost 4K of the upper half ($4000-$4FFF out of $0000-$7FFF).

 

The copy of ACE80XL.EPR from the disk ACE80D2.ATR has the same 4K ROM image followed by 4K of FFs. It was meant for programming 2764s for the newer OSS cart.

 

Alles klar?

 

This means you can't program an EPROM and put it in a standard (i.e. Basic cartridge) and make it work,right?

[yorgle]

I get blotches of color behind some of the characters. It does this on both my tv and on my lcd monitor. Anyone else have this problem. Is there a cure for it?

[ClausB]

This means you can't program an EPROM and put it in a standard (i.e. Basic cartridge) and make it work,right?

Right. ACE-80 copies itself to RAM, switches off the ROM, and then either uses the recovered 8K of RAM for display memory or enables the XL BASIC ROM underneath.

 

Some folks have put it into old OSS carts, others have already adapted it to new flash carts. If you don't want to mess with a cart, try the E-80 disk version above.

[ClausB]

I get blotches of color behind some of the characters. It does this on both my tv and on my lcd monitor. Anyone else have this problem. Is there a cure for it?

That's the usual Atari "artifact" color. ACE-80 looks best on a monochrome monitor or on a color monitor with separate luma and chroma signals (called S-Video nowadays). Some of these forums have excellent instructions on video improvements for the Ataris, including S-Video connections.

 

To improve the appearance on your TV or monitor, use Shift-SELECT to change the background color. See the full instructions posted above.