Farb

Slowly as I haven't had a ton of time to dedicate to it lately. I am probably close to being ready for a new release but it will still take some time.

Maybe this will help: http://a8preservation.com/#/guides/diskDumping

The primary VAPI tool I am aware of was an executable that could be used with a Happy-modified drive to create an ATX file. I was never able to get it to work and don't even have a copy any longer. I believe there was a thread on AtariAge where ijor posted a later version (might have just been the source code?). A quick search didn't bring it up for me so you might need to dig a bit. I believe there is also an effort going on with the RespeQT disk emulator to generate ATX files from Happy-modified drives but I don't know its current state nor have I ever tried it. Please keep in mind that all of these solutions assume that a Happy can accurately capture the copy protection on the disks -- this is often the case but may not always be so. The best solution we have for this problem is a flux-level dump which captures everything but requires a Kryoflux or SuperCard Pro. There are a number of people both in the U.S. and Europe that could assist in creating flux dumps of your disks if you are interested in mailing them out.

@BigBen - do you have access to an unmodified 810 drive that you could use to confirm timings like you did for the 1050? Klaus made some code changes a couple versions ago (before you performed the 1050 timings) that may have altered the 810 delays I set originally. The ATX files I tested with still seem to work fine, but I don't have access to an 810 drive anymore to do detailed timing comparisons.

If you purchased it pre-built from someone, you can ask the seller to confirm the parts they used.

Did you install the USB serial port drivers necessary for your Arduino? For example, if you are using a Chinese clone Arduino with a CH340 chipset, you will need to manually install the drivers first.

Merry Christmas to everyone! Sent from my ONEPLUS A6003 using Tapatalk

Definitely some rarer titles there although many of these come up on eBay from time to time (and some at high prices that never seem to sell). Might be worth looking at eBay history of completed items to see what others have tried to do successfully or unsuccessfully. Non-games tend to fetch lower prices in general but, as was said, you may find a collector that really wants it. Any chance you could take some head-on, top-down photos (or even better, scans) of the covers for the a8preservation website before you sell them? Sent from my ONEPLUS A6003 using Tapatalk

@BigBen - this is super work, thank you for doing it! I installed the firmware and ran through our ATX test suite and it passed everything with the exception of... wait for it... the Databyte protection I confirmed that Databyte's Mr. Robot would not boot as well. However, everything else passing indicates quite a good level of compatibility. This is a fantastic start!

According to the manual, there were also a TOP-DOS 1.3 which contained new features and 1.4 which was only a bug-fix release.

Hi BigBen, Thanks for the offer of help and glad you got the problem you were seeing resolved. The current 1050 features are in branch v10 of the SDrive Max source code. You can access it by pulling down the latest code (git pull) and then switching to the v10 branch (git checkout v10). There are a number of #define statements in atx.c: // number of milliseconds drive takes to process a request MS_DRIVE_REQUEST_DELAY_1050 // number of milliseconds to calculate CRC MS_CRC_CALCULATION_1050 // number of milliseconds drive takes to step 1 track MS_TRACK_STEP_1050 // number of milliseconds drive head takes to settle after all track stepping is complete MS_HEAD_SETTLE_1050 // number of times drive will retry before returning a result MAX_RETRIES_1050 These are currently values I've pulled from Avery's hardware manual and other places. The current values do not work well at all :-P The way I adjusted things on the 810 side was to use "The Cracker's Tool 2" program's "Freie Sektorwahl" option using a real disk in the drive and picking various sector start/end combinations to exercise seeking across different tracks and sector placement within those tracks to get a good timing sampling set. Then I repeated the process with an ATX of that same disk on SDrive Max and adjusted the timings to get things close. I was never able to get them EXACT but "pretty close" seemed to get most protected software I tried working properly. You probably have your own thoughts on a more precise means of measuring everything, but I wanted to share what I did :-) Let me know how I can assist and thanks again for the help!

On that note, the ATX code currently emulates the timing of an 810 drive. I was able to test this with an 810 drive that DjayBee was kind enough to bring to Fujiama and let me use. Klaus and I have put in the initial hooks to create 1050 drive timing -- the switch is already on the configuration screen and the ATX code has separate timing numbers defined for 1050. However, I don't have a 1050 drive to test with so the current numbers are just a wild guess on my part and are definitely not correct. So, does anyone here have: 1. A stock, working 1050 drive 2. An SDrive Max built with a diode that can work alongside the 1050 3. The ability to compile and install the SDrive Max firmware from source 4. The desire to run timing tests and adjust the delay numbers in the code to try and get them accurate? Please let me know if anyone is able to assist with this. Thanks!

Hi all, From Klaus (SDrive Max creator): We strongly recommend the use of an external power supply for the sdrive-max, because I think most of their problems may be caused by power leakage, because the SIO-Port power is defined with 50mA, and the sdrive-max takes 150mA. Sent from my ONEPLUS A6003 using Tapatalk

Sorry, I misread that you already had a Kryoflux dump. Pheonix is able to do them as well and lives in the U.S. Sent from my ONEPLUS A6003 using Tapatalk

Would you be able to give us the Kryoflux dump so we can compare with our existing (corrupt) one?

Wow, thank you Zarxx!

Thanks for pointing this out. I contacted the seller since he is located about 2.5 hours from my home to see if he‘d let me dump some of it before he sells it.

I would be interested in 1 as well. Sent from my ONEPLUS A6003 using Tapatalk

Have you tried selecting an empty drive slot rather than D0:? Kbr has said empty drive slots are considered "off". For example, try inserting an image in D2:, then select the empty D1: and then use your external D1:. Sent from my ONEPLUS A6003 using Tapatalk

Just received my EclaireXL Mini. It is extremely nice and the smaller form factor is most welcome. Both this and the original EclaireXL are fantastic devices and the support that foft and santosp have provided is top notch. Thank you both! Sent from my ONEPLUS A6003 using Tapatalk

Thanks, Bill. Your side B dump matches Atarimania's. It would still be great to eventually get a raw Kryoflux dump but this is super helpful!

Oops, sorry, I didn't type the -f. The dump looks great! Thank you for doing it! Are you able to generate an ATR from side B with a regular Atari drive? Edit: Also, what kind of drive did you use to make the dump?

That command is if you have a floppy-modified drive. I'm assuming you don't so you would need: dtc -p ultima_one_side_one\track_ -g0 -y -i0 -i2 -k2

Thank you mikic and Zarxx for your recent contributions!

Thanks, Bill! Is it possible for you make raw stream files available as well? Do you also have an ATR of the backside?