MIO drives

[olavese@online.no]

Found the problem. My fault. Didn't check the SCSI ID and it was NOT 0 ... Now I formatted and installed MyDos on 3 cards, so it looks like it's working now. Thanks

 

And the other problem(s) are gone too? That's cool!

 

Not with the hard drive, that's probably still there. And I struggle a little with SpartaDos ... I tried using 3.2g, but that stops when I boot it. Real dos I can boot, but can not format it properly with HDFMTDIR.COM ... Worked once, but when I tried to copy the dos file, it got an error. Should all Sparta dos versions work? There's loads of different versions out there, Fte and 3.2g, 3.2f and so on.

[Marius]

Found the problem. My fault. Didn't check the SCSI ID and it was NOT 0 ... Now I formatted and installed MyDos on 3 cards, so it looks like it's working now. Thanks

 

And the other problem(s) are gone too? That's cool!

 

Not with the hard drive, that's probably still there. And I struggle a little with SpartaDos ... I tried using 3.2g, but that stops when I boot it. Real dos I can boot, but can not format it properly with HDFMTDIR.COM ... Worked once, but when I tried to copy the dos file, it got an error. Should all Sparta dos versions work? There's loads of different versions out there, Fte and 3.2g, 3.2f and so on.

 

Best version to test with it: X33A.DOS.

 

All others are with HighSpeed Sio routines, and might cause a lot of unwanted things. X33A.DOS is your friend

 

Greetz

M.

[MEtalGuy66]

use SPartaDOS 3.2G..

 

If you can not "write config" to the drive in the Firmware, then either:

 

a) you have a hardware problem (ROM, PHI2-timing, or SCSI cabling/termination).

 

-or-

 

b) you did what I told you NOT to do and physically formatted the drive, and it did not complete it's format, so now it's in a "half-assed formatted" state..

 

SpartaDOS 3.2D,F,G, etc. Should work just fine.

 

3.3a is crap, in my oppinion.. REALDOS should not even Boot from the MIO, due to SIOV bugs (unless you have the unreleased 0029 Build of RealDOS, which does work).. So that's really strange that you got it to boot..

 

MyDOS should work just fine, but you do have to COnfig the drive properly in MyDOS before you format it..

[olavese@online.no]

Found the problem. My fault. Didn't check the SCSI ID and it was NOT 0 ... Now I formatted and installed MyDos on 3 cards, so it looks like it's working now. Thanks

 

And the other problem(s) are gone too? That's cool!

 

Not with the hard drive, that's probably still there. And I struggle a little with SpartaDos ... I tried using 3.2g, but that stops when I boot it. Real dos I can boot, but can not format it properly with HDFMTDIR.COM ... Worked once, but when I tried to copy the dos file, it got an error. Should all Sparta dos versions work? There's loads of different versions out there, Fte and 3.2g, 3.2f and so on.

 

Best version to test with it: X33A.DOS.

 

All others are with HighSpeed Sio routines, and might cause a lot of unwanted things. X33A.DOS is your friend

 

Greetz

M.

 

That worked better. Now for more stupidity ... Isn't there a PATH command in Sparta DOS? I am almost sure I used that on my Spartados X cart. Is it maybe only for that version and not X33A.DOS? Is there a disk with all the utils that should follow it?

[olavese@online.no]

use SPartaDOS 3.2G..

 

If you can not "write config" to the drive in the Firmware, then either:

 

a) you have a hardware problem (ROM, PHI2-timing, or SCSI cabling/termination).

 

-or-

 

b) you did what I told you NOT to do and physically formatted the drive, and it did not complete it's format, so now it's in a "half-assed formatted" state..

 

SpartaDOS 3.2D,F,G, etc. Should work just fine.

 

3.3a is crap, in my oppinion.. REALDOS should not even Boot from the MIO, due to SIOV bugs (unless you have the unreleased 0029 Build of RealDOS, which does work).. So that's really strange that you got it to boot..

 

MyDOS should work just fine, but you do have to COnfig the drive properly in MyDOS before you format it..

 

 

I did not format it low level, only tried the HDFMTDIR.COM. I will try a little more and find my 800XL. I used the RealDOS version I found here somewhere. Had loads of versions on it and also an ATR with MIO utils. Was from you I think.

 

But the CF cards seem to work fine now :-) Fast too

[flashjazzcat]

Isn't there a PATH command in Sparta DOS? I am almost sure I used that on my Spartados X cart. Is it maybe only for that version and not X33A.DOS? Is there a disk with all the utils that should follow it?

I don't recall Sparta 3.x having any native pathing capability. SDX does indeed have a poweful PATH command, however, which is very flexible and one may even access the path from applications and BASIC. You can have several search paths. More or less essential for hard disk use, IMHO. Not sure if there are any add-ons for Sparta 3.x which emulate this functionality.

[+bf2k+]

 

 

Best version to test with it: X33A.DOS.

 

 

Actually 3.3a was written for use with emulators - not real hardware.

[+warerat]

What I did, was setup disk 2 to hard disk type, use the same SCSI id 0 and start from 100 001 to 165 537. The partition that was already there from MEtalguy66 was from 1 to 65 537. So there should be lots of empty space in between partitions.

 

These are invalid sector configurations. The maximum number of sectors is 65535 ($FFFF), not 65536 because the Atari doesn't normally use sector 0. Any Percom config queries to those drives will show them as 0 sectors because you have them set to 65536 sectors ($10000). The MIO firmware does allow for 24-bit sector addressing from the Atari but there is no DOS that can interpret it, yet.

 

A sane config would be 1 to 65536 and 100001 to 165536.

[olavese@online.no]

Hard drive seem to format fine, it do change label when I format and it says 65529 sectors free. When I now try to copy the .DOS file (or any other file), it says disk full. I tried the BOOT command and it didn't give error message, but when I tried to boot, it says No DOS on drive. Still wonder if it's something to do with timing, as I seem to remember 130XE could have more noise on the ports.

 

Halfway happy though :-) CF cards looks really nice and is faster than I thought they would be.

[olavese@online.no]

What I did, was setup disk 2 to hard disk type, use the same SCSI id 0 and start from 100 001 to 165 537. The partition that was already there from MEtalguy66 was from 1 to 65 537. So there should be lots of empty space in between partitions.

 

These are invalid sector configurations. The maximum number of sectors is 65535 ($FFFF), not 65536 because the Atari doesn't normally use sector 0. Any Percom config queries to those drives will show them as 0 sectors because you have them set to 65536 sectors ($10000). The MIO firmware does allow for 24-bit sector addressing from the Atari but there is no DOS that can interpret it, yet.

 

A sane config would be 1 to 65536 and 100001 to 165536.

 

Thanks, trying that now :-)

[olavese@online.no]

What I did, was setup disk 2 to hard disk type, use the same SCSI id 0 and start from 100 001 to 165 537. The partition that was already there from MEtalguy66 was from 1 to 65 537. So there should be lots of empty space in between partitions.

 

These are invalid sector configurations. The maximum number of sectors is 65535 ($FFFF), not 65536 because the Atari doesn't normally use sector 0. Any Percom config queries to those drives will show them as 0 sectors because you have them set to 65536 sectors ($10000). The MIO firmware does allow for 24-bit sector addressing from the Atari but there is no DOS that can interpret it, yet.

 

A sane config would be 1 to 65536 and 100001 to 165536.

 

That worked for the disk full issue. But still can not get it to boot SpartaDOS ... I type BOOT X32G.DOS and it doesn't come with any error messages. Still say No DOS when I boot :-(

 

Will test with MyDos and see if it's only Sparta DOS I have problems with

[olavese@online.no]

Hmmm ... Get to format the drive, write DOS and DUP files, but it won't boot ... Loads a while, then crashes with vertical stripes on the screen.

 

Same DOS works with the CF adapter

[olavese@online.no]

Not look like I am suppose to get it to work. It says Error : No DOS no matter what I try. Tested with Xinit and wrote DOS from that option, I know I won't get more than SS/SD with the option I chose, but just to see if it booted. Didn't help any. Then I HDFMTDIR and copy the X32G.DOS file again and tried BOOT using SpartaDOS X cartridge, didn't help any either. Now I don't know anything else to try.

 

Thanks for all the help though and CF solution from Marius looks like a good option, just wanted to have more than one :-)

[Marius]

 

 

Best version to test with it: X33A.DOS.

 

 

Actually 3.3a was written for use with emulators - not real hardware.

 

I don't believe that. SpartaDos 3.3a was the ONLY SpartaDos version that was officialy supporting BBS Express Professional 5.0b.

I'm 100% sure of that, since I bought that BBS program original on disk. The BBS was not intend to run on Emulator, so I don't see why X33A.DOS would be made for emulator.

[+bf2k+]

 

I don't believe that. SpartaDos 3.3a was the ONLY SpartaDos version that was officialy supporting BBS Express Professional 5.0b.

I'm 100% sure of that, since I bought that BBS program original on disk. The BBS was not intend to run on Emulator, so I don't see why X33A.DOS would be made for emulator.

 

Maybe I am mistaken about the 'A' version... maybe it was the 'B' or 'C" versions that were for the emulator.

[Marius]

3.3a is crap, in my oppinion.. REALDOS should not even Boot from the MIO, due to SIOV bugs (unless you have the unreleased 0029 Build of RealDOS, which does work).. So that's really strange that you got it to boot..

 

Is that last point (So that's really strange that you got it to boot...) to me, about X33A.DOS?

 

X33A.DOS is the only SpartaDos version that works good with MyIDE, since it does respect the MyIDE routines.

 

Due to the lack of build-in HighSpeed Sio routines, it is very compatible on Atari's with Add-ons.

 

And now your first comment about 3.3a. Could you specify WHY you think it is crap?

 

A lot of 3.2 versions have issues with the 'open' (and not closed!) file thing, and a f*cked up file-allocation-table. I'm using 3.3a for about 15 years now, and I have never seen any problem with that again. And yes... I'm a heavy user. So I am interested where your negative feedback about 3.3a is based on.

[Marius]

Maybe I am mistaken about the 'A' version... maybe it was the 'B' or 'C" versions that were for the emulator.

 

B version is with high speed routines (same as A) so I think C version might be the one for emulator.

 

3.3b was also on my BBS Express disk.

 

The C version is not on my real harddisk, so probably that is for emulator... when it was NOT for emulator, I am rather sure I would have put the C version somewhere on my Harddisk.

 

Greetz

M.

 

p.s. anyway: 3.3A works very good on emulator too btw.

[+bf2k+]

 

p.s. anyway: 3.3A works very good on emulator too btw.

 

Yes I know... I use it exclusively on the emulator - the BBS runs on it.

[Marius]

Not look like I am suppose to get it to work. It says Error : No DOS no matter what I try. Tested with Xinit and wrote DOS from that option, I know I won't get more than SS/SD with the option I chose, but just to see if it booted. Didn't help any. Then I HDFMTDIR and copy the X32G.DOS file again and tried BOOT using SpartaDOS X cartridge, didn't help any either. Now I don't know anything else to try.

 

Thanks for all the help though and CF solution from Marius looks like a good option, just wanted to have more than one :-)

 

Try this:

 

a. Create a working (i mean booting!) ATR image with the dos you like. I'd say make a 720 sector DOUBLE DENSITY (180KB) disk

 

b. Make SURE that ATR boots fine on your MIO setup.

 

c. Create partition of same size and density on your 'failing' harddisk/cf card setup.

 

d. Sector copy now this ATR to that partition from step c.

 

e. Check if it boots.

 

f. If not... examine both (ATR and partition) and try to see what data is not the same.

 

g. Make conclusions.

 

That would be my steps.

 

Greetz

M.

 

p.s. If you like I could write a 'compare' program that compares sectors from source and destination partitions. This will not be ready today btw.

 

p.s.2. Perhaps there are sector copy programs (step d) that can write with VERIFY then you are sure (when no error happens) that your destination is 100% same!

[olavese@online.no]

Not look like I am suppose to get it to work. It says Error : No DOS no matter what I try. Tested with Xinit and wrote DOS from that option, I know I won't get more than SS/SD with the option I chose, but just to see if it booted. Didn't help any. Then I HDFMTDIR and copy the X32G.DOS file again and tried BOOT using SpartaDOS X cartridge, didn't help any either. Now I don't know anything else to try.

 

Thanks for all the help though and CF solution from Marius looks like a good option, just wanted to have more than one :-)

 

Try this:

 

a. Create a working (i mean booting!) ATR image with the dos you like. I'd say make a 720 sector DOUBLE DENSITY (180KB) disk

 

b. Make SURE that ATR boots fine on your MIO setup.

 

c. Create partition of same size and density on your 'failing' harddisk/cf card setup.

 

d. Sector copy now this ATR to that partition from step c.

 

e. Check if it boots.

 

f. If not... examine both (ATR and partition) and try to see what data is not the same.

 

g. Make conclusions.

 

That would be my steps.

 

Greetz

M.

 

p.s. If you like I could write a 'compare' program that compares sectors from source and destination partitions. This will not be ready today btw.

 

p.s.2. Perhaps there are sector copy programs (step d) that can write with VERIFY then you are sure (when no error happens) that your destination is 100% same!

 

Will do that. You don't happen to have an ATR with the DOS version you use? With all the utilities? I am not sure if there would be a problem using the utilites from 3.2f on a 3.3a version, but when I ran MENU on 3.2g, it locks up.

[Fox-1 / mnx]

Maybe I am mistaken about the 'A' version... maybe it was the 'B' or 'C" versions that were for the emulator.

 

3.3A was released with Pro!-BBS 5.0. As it would mainly be used with PBI harddisks it hasn't got high speed SIO routines. The Black-Box (i.e.) has them in ROM anyways.

 

3.3B was an updated version with (US-doubler compatible) high speed routines, partially 'cause of the SIO2PC interface getting more popular.

 

3.3C was not especially made for an emulator. It's even released on cartridge

(the ugly plug-in -> boot -> pull-out type).

[Marius]

Will do that. You don't happen to have an ATR with the DOS version you use? With all the utilities? I am not sure if there would be a problem using the utilites from 3.2f on a 3.3a version, but when I ran MENU on 3.2g, it locks up.

 

I will create something for you. But hey... I really got the feeling you have some (serious) hardware issues. Locking up and all that kind of things... It never happens here. Honest. Unless I'm doing strange things, but on my regular Atari setup I have never locks up. Even not with the most exotic versions of (Sparta) Dos or whatever.

 

You haven't had these problems before with your harddisk?

 

It's strange. I'll make an ATR for you.

 

Greetz

M.

[Marius]

Here it is...

 

SpartaDos 3.3a (modified to have 'right' time running on Pal systems)

 

This ATR Boots. It is 720 Sectors, Double Density.

 

It has also a directory containing some SpartaDos related tools. These tools are probably the same you have, and are not SpartaDos 3.3a only.

 

With DISKRX you can look on sector level at your spartados disks.

 

Good luck!

M.

[Fox-1 / mnx]

Isn't there a PATH command in Sparta DOS? I am almost sure I used that on my Spartados X cart. Is it maybe only for that version and not X33A.DOS?

 

You can't compare Sparta-Dos-X with any 1.x/2.x/3.x version. They are separate things that look and feel the same and happen to use to same disk format but no compatibility guaranteed.

 

"Path" is not an official Sparta-Dos command but a 3rd party tool exist. I *think* it was done by Tom Hunt but I'm not sure if it's made for a particular version of Sparta-Dos. I know it works with 3.2D.

 

 

edit: it was done by J. Williams and is for v3.2 users. Chances are it works with v3.3 as it did not exist back then.

Edited March 2, 2011 by Fox-1 / mnx

[olavese@online.no]

Here it is...

 

SpartaDos 3.3a (modified to have 'right' time running on Pal systems)

 

This ATR Boots. It is 720 Sectors, Double Density.

 

It has also a directory containing some SpartaDos related tools. These tools are probably the same you have, and are not SpartaDos 3.3a only.

 

With DISKRX you can look on sector level at your spartados disks.

 

Good luck!

M.

 

Thanks, will try that one too. I did the disk copy, and it verified fine, but still say Error : No DOS ... Could it be the hard drives boot sector or something? It does write the config to the hard drive though.