Jump to content
IGNORED

AspeQt: Yet another SIO2PC/APE clone


cyco130

Recommended Posts

Stephen already answered this, but let me elaborate a bit more. With the addition of extra drives for SDX compatibility, the screen real estate required to properly display all drive and folder images has changed, so the minimum required resolution is 800x600 if one needs to fit all that info into available screen area. Even with 800x600, drive and folder description areas are not long enough to display the entire path and file name, so tool tips were added. Just move the mouse pointer over the area where you need to see more and extra info will be displayed.

 

Ok but that doesn't explain why the size is fixed, the reason is, ehm!, really, was just convenience for me :)... I have experienced some problems with screen elements not being properly expanded/contacted when the window is re-sized and I was kinda anxious to get this release out.... Soo, the next release may see the window liberated once again. Hope this explains it all.

 

If you want to know more about the kind of problems I experienced, I can tell you but i have to kill you after that :P

Edited by atari8warez
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

OK -- but hope you keep re-sizing on your "to-do" list. Not all of us use SDX, so the extra drives don't matter so much. Because I have a 22" 1600 X 900 display, the extra width and fixed size isn't much of a problem to me. Like your previous photo, I use the PC screen for the Atari, also.

 

My 2 cents work -- if you are going to keep the fixed sizes, you might get creative with your button sizes and fonts to cut the real estate requirements, mainly for folks with smaller screens.

 

*But* -- from my test drive, it looks like the extra drive slots can be used for quick access to slide drives around and park them temporarily, even if I only use 8. I have several hundred ATR's and sub-folders in my main desktop ATR folder. So using those extra slots for easy access to my very frequently used ATR's is very handy. Interestingly, I recently asked Steve to consider adding several additional drag and drop "parking" slots. Looks like you beat me to it!

 

-Larry

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Why not make the list single-column and vertically scrolling, then those who only use half a dozen drives can keep the application window small and the sliders parked at the top. Those who want to use fifteen drives can either vertically super-size the window or just use the scroll bars. 15 drive support is cool, but I personally don't need to see all fifteen entries all the time (in fact I usually use only a couple at a time).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Why not make the list single-column and vertically scrolling, then those who only use half a dozen drives can keep the application window small and the sliders parked at the top. Those who want to use fifteen drives can either vertically super-size the window or just use the scroll bars. 15 drive support is cool, but I personally don't need to see all fifteen entries all the time (in fact I usually use only a couple at a time).

 

I considered that too, I mean having them vertically listed, the reason I chose horizontal layout was to leave that vertical space for the log window. I am not sure how frequently people use the log window but my preference was probably biased due of my own use of that window during debugging and testing.

 

In any case I am working on making the window re-sizable again as we speak. Made some progress but not 100% satisfied yet, so gimme a few days more and we will be back to re-sizable window in all likelihood.

 

@Larry

I use SDX a lot but rarely (if at all) need all 15 drive slots, however as you already mentioned the extra ones can be used to park ATR or Folder Images. With drag & drop it is a breeze to switch them around as needed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I definitely wouldn't want to lose the log window either: what I envisaged was a resizable scrolling window on the drive slots immediately above it. Not sure how complex that would be to implement, though.

 

It's not complex at all, my concern was when I have 15 slots aligned vertically there would be little space left for the log window and one would have to scroll up and down all the time within a small window to see the log. For most people it's not a big issue but as I said it is for me as I use that window a lot during testing, so the less scrolling the better and easier..

Edited by atari8warez
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ok, so I re-released version 8.0.5 with fully re-sizable main window. Checkboxes for hiding the log window and for showing more drives were removed. The minimum mainwindow size will fit a 800x600 resolution with room to spare. For higher resolutions you can re-size the window or go full screen. No other changes were made for this release.

 

Download it from here

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

What I envisaged was a resizable scrolling window on the drive slots immediately above it.

 

Ah, you meant a scrolling Window for the 15 drive slots, I misread your message the first time around. Well, that is not difficult either but that will add another scroller to the main window and this will affect most people not just me, and as I said earlier the less scrolling the better for all concerned. In any case the issue is resolved now, we can now re-size the window with no ill effects and take advantage of large LCD screens.

Edited by atari8warez
Link to comment
Share on other sites

FWIW, I like it! You can easily expand/collapse the log as required and tweak the ATR slots from both sides. More flexible -- nice!

-Larry

 

Ok, so I re-released version 8.0.5 with fully re-sizable main window. Checkboxes for hiding the log window and for showing more drives were removed. The minimum mainwindow size will fit a 800x600 resolution with room to spare. For higher resolutions you can re-size the window or go full screen. No other changes were made for this release.

 

Download it from here

Link to comment
Share on other sites

FWIW -- Found a *possible* issue/incompatibility with AspeQt. AspeQt won't transfer with high speed SIO with MyIDE 4.7i. It works perfectly with 4.8 But 4.7i high speed works fine with APE 3.0.6. This 4.7i (beta 6) is an "old" version and will be replaced fairly soon with 4.8i, but I thought I'd let you know. 4.7i has built-in high speed capability that I believe is similar to Hias HISIO series drivers. Here is a portion of the log from booting to as it tries to access an image. I sent this info also to Sijmen:

 

Serial port speed set to 68523.

Serial port speed set to 19200.

[Disk 2] Get status.

[Disk 2] Speed poll.

Serial port speed set to 68523.

[Disk 2] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).

Serial port speed set to 19200.

[Disk 2] Get status.

[Disk 2] Read sector 361 (128 bytes).

[Disk 2] Read sector 360 (128 bytes).

 

-Larry

Link to comment
Share on other sites

FWIW -- Found a *possible* issue/incompatibility with AspeQt. AspeQt won't transfer with high speed SIO with MyIDE 4.7i. It works perfectly with 4.8 But 4.7i high speed works fine with APE 3.0.6. This 4.7i (beta 6) is an "old" version and will be replaced fairly soon with 4.8i, but I thought I'd let you know. 4.7i has built-in high speed capability that I believe is similar to Hias HISIO series drivers. Here is a portion of the log from booting to as it tries to access an image. I sent this info also to Sijmen:

 

Serial port speed set to 68523.

Serial port speed set to 19200.

[Disk 2] Get status.

[Disk 2] Speed poll.

Serial port speed set to 68523.

[Disk 2] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).

Serial port speed set to 19200.

[Disk 2] Get status.

[Disk 2] Read sector 361 (128 bytes).

[Disk 2] Read sector 360 (128 bytes).

 

-Larry

 

Hi Larry did you try it with Pokey Divisor 8 (3xSIO, or 57600bps) and see if it works at that speed?. From the log above I see that your divisor is set below 8. Some high speed OS or patches do not work well when the divisor is below 8. I know pretty much nothing about MyIDE (any version), what I do know however as long as the OS or patch can do below pokey divisor 8 AspeQt will oblige. For example APE Warp Speed OS patch will not work with AspeQt below divisor 8. Hias's patched OS (like in U1MB) will do all the way down to divisor 0 (although not always very reliably due to PC's multitasking nature).

 

How did you configure APE to make it work with MYIDE 4.7i, what are the SIO parameters?

Edited by atari8warez
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not sure if this will help or not, but with my 32-in-1 OS I have to use r11 of the APE Warp OS to get any hi-speed above divisor 8. I have not tried AspeQt - this is a general statement covering both Atari DOS, MyDOS, and Sparta DOS. I do not know what the differences are between r11 and the final ROM. However, with the final ROM any divisor below 8 jut makes the machine default to 1X SIO.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Ray-

 

I think this is what you are asking - the APE USB config screen and also AspeQt config. APE is functional down to and including Pokey Divisor zero. (I never run it on an extended basis below 3.)

 

My interface for AspeQt is an FTDI breakout board. It runs successfully down to 1, but occasionally produces errors below 3. I typically run it at 6. I set AspeQt at 8 with the same results -- drops back to 19.2K. In fact, no matter where I set it it goes to 19.2K -- like they are not successfully talking to each other while trying to establish the transmission speed.

 

4.8 works fine with the same AspeQt setup, so it's not a big deal -- I'll let you know if there's an issue (later) when I get 4.8i, but it's unlikely there will be a problem.

 

@Stephen-

Thanks, but I don't think these are related. APE Warp is Steve's and AFAIK, the MyIDE high-speed comm. is related to Hias' work.

 

-Larry

 

Hi Larry did you try it with Pokey Divisor 8 (3xSIO, or 57600bps) and see if it works at that speed?. From the log above I see that your divisor is set below 8. Some high speed OS or patches do not work well when the divisor is below 8. I know pretty much nothing about MyIDE (any version), what I do know however as long as the OS or patch can do below pokey divisor 8 AspeQt will oblige. For example APE Warp Speed OS patch will not work with AspeQt below divisor 8. Hias's patched OS (like in U1MB) will do all the way down to divisor 0 (although not always very reliably due to PC's multitasking nature).

 

How did you configure APE to make it work with MYIDE 4.7i, what are the SIO parameters?

post-8008-0-13011200-1356122634_thumb.jpg

post-8008-0-04319200-1356122649_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ok first thing I noticed, we are not exactly comparing apples to apples here. If I understand correctly you use APE with your Atarimax SIO2PC USB edition interface in proprietary USB driver configuration. I also assume that your version of APE is registered, if so, and if your version of APE is 3.0.8 (or higher) try using your FTDI breakout based SIO2PC hardware with APE VCP drivers and see what kind of results you get, only then we may be able to do a better comparison

 

One thing that may give you a better performance with your breakout board is to customize FTDI drivers to use a lower latency. In the Windows device manager open "Advanced Settings for COM4:" and change Latency Timer to the lowest possible value (1). This will improve reliability of high-speed operations with AspeQt, at least that's what it does with my FTDI based SIO2PC/10502PC Dual-USB interface. You may also try reducing receive/transmit buffer sizes from the default to smaller values (I've set mine to 128).

 

After trying above suggestions let me know what happens.

post-15627-0-85601000-1356127519_thumb.png

Edited by atari8warez
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Update: version 0.8.6

 

version 0.8.6 (Jan 17, 2013)
* Updated the English language manual.
+ Minor re-grouping of drive slot buttons.
+ Added directory print capability to image explorer window
+ Added boot capability from a Folder Image. Simply copy the DOS.SYS and DUP.SYS files from
 a DOS diskette to a PC Folder, mount the PC folder to drive slot#:1 as a Folder Image
 and boot your Atari. Currently only Atari DOS has a built-in support. MyDos will be
 supported on the next release.
 (For the time being if you need MyDOS support instead of Atari DOS, just replace the
 DOS.SYS and DUP.SYS files in the PC Folder with the corresponding ones from a MyDOS
 disk, you also need to supply a boot image file ($boot.bin) which contains the boot
 sectors (1-3) from a MyDOS disk (384 bytes) and replace the existing $boot.bin file
 in the application directory (PC folder where AspeQt is installed).
- Dropped ApeTime support from AspeQt. AspeCL is now the only supported Time/Date client
 + Remote Control software for AspeQt (see AspeQt documentation for more info)
+ Implemented auto-commit remote toggle capability to AspeCL, it was previously documented
 as "in development feature"
+ Implemented remote image file creating/mounting capability to AspeCL, it was previously documented
 as "in development feature"
+ Implemented remote image file mounting capability to AspeCL, it was previously documented
 as "in development feature"
* Tested and fixed AspeCL client SpartaDos X date/time handling (this was not previously tested as I did not have
 SDX back then)
* Updated AspeCL client code to accomodate SDX drives 9-15
* Updated AspeCL server code in AspeQt to accomodate SDX drives 9-15

 

As always, bug reports and suggestions are welcome.

 

Download it from here or from here

Edited by atari8warez
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cool! Is the folder boot support compatible with Altirra's folder boot support?

 

I haven't examined Altirra's boot support code but from what I can understand from Phaeron's Altirra thread, the concepts are similar.

 

Both implementations use an external file ($boot.bin in AspeQT, and $dosboot.bin in Altirra) to supply the boot sector information (Sectors 1-3) to the program code. AspeQt simply passes the sector information it reads from the $boot.bin to the Atari when the Atari requests sector 1 from AspeQt, if no $boot.bin file is present on the PC AspeQt simply passes a few default values for certain locations on sector 1. This results in the "Boot Error" message being repeatedly displayed on the screen just like when Atari tries to boot from a real drive on D1: but without a bootable disk in it. Otherwise Atari then requests sector 2 and sector 3 from AspeQt and AspeQt keeps reading 128 bytes at a time from the $boot.bin file until all three boot sectors are returned to the Atari. The Atari then vectors through the boot loader code to locate and load DOS.SYS. The only thing AspeQt does during this process is to pass the starting sector number of DOS.SYS (emulated by the Folder Image code of course) to the Atari. The rest pretty much happens exactly as it does with a real disk drive. One can also load a ramdisk handler or an autorun.sys by simply copying required files (RAMDISK.COM and/or AUTORUN.SYS) into the PC Folder.

 

I am also planning to add built-in support for MYPICODOS (to facilitate gaming), MYDOS and SpartaDOS in the upcoming releases.

Edited by atari8warez
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...