Mapert Memory Upgrade worth doing ?

[reliant73]

HI All,

 

I have an Atari 520STfm and a 1040STfm. I am about to upgrade both of them to Rainbow TOS 1.4 and I am thinking about the 4meg Marpet memory upgrade. My question is it really worth it? are there big benefits in doing it? I am mainly just going to be playing games on it for nostalgia :-)

 

I have read that it can cause problems with some games. I know you can install a hardware switch to switch between 1mb and 4mb modes but I think that might be a bit beyond my expertise. I can do simple stuff like installing the Marpet and disabling the on board RAM banks but I would be worried I would stuff up the switch.

 

Anyway any advice would be great

 

 

Cheers

 

Rel

[GadgetUK]

I've posted a thread on this and recently done a related video on YouTube - just search for 520 Marpet and you will find it. Personally I think it's worth it and its pretty easy to install. If you can solder a few wires, fitting a switch is easy, or there's some app out there to switch the MMU to 1Mb in software.

 

Edit: real benefits are when you use UltraSatan HDD, many of the games make use of extra RAM and some just wont work with 512Kb or 1Mb when booting from HDD.

Very few floppy games will use more than 1Mb.

Edited September 15, 2013 by GadgetUK

[ParanoidLittleMan]

For practically all of problematic games SW solution is good. And there is prg for switching to 512KB, and another(s) for 1MB.

http://atari.8bitchip.info/astopensw.php

- near bottom.

[reliant73]

I've posted a thread on this and recently done a related video on YouTube - just search for 520 Marpet and you will find it. Personally I think it's worth it and its pretty easy to install. If you can solder a few wires, fitting a switch is easy, or there's some app out there to switch the MMU to 1Mb in software.

 

Edit: real benefits are when you use UltraSatan HDD, many of the games make use of extra RAM and some just wont work with 512Kb or 1Mb when booting from HDD.

Very few floppy games will use more than 1Mb.

Thanks GadgetUK and ParanoidLittleMan that gives me the answer I need as I am planning on getting an UltraSatan GadgetUK I think I have seen your video on YouTube and that's what maybe decide that I could install it OK. I just am a little bit nervous about the switch so I might just use software for the time being until I have a bit more confidence.

 

Cheers

 

Rel

[oky2000]

I've got one fitted to a second generation 520STFM with 720kb internal drive and it's nice to have but floppy games have never said they used more than 1mb when I ran them (yet). It was free for me though, I bought an STFM years ago and it wasn't advertised in the auction so went for peanuts.

[GadgetUK]

Thanks GadgetUK and ParanoidLittleMan that gives me the answer I need as I am planning on getting an UltraSatan GadgetUK I think I have seen your video on YouTube and that's what maybe decide that I could install it OK. I just am a little bit nervous about the switch so I might just use software for the time being until I have a bit more confidence.

 

Cheers

 

Rel

 

Don't worry about the switch for now, from what I understand the software 'switch' that's on PP's site above should work for the few games that dont like more than 1Mb. If you get the UltraSatan also get PP's HDD driver (see link in my signature below), it's only 10 eur and it works great for games (which is what I use my ST for mostly). Alternatively you can use ICD which is free (but uses more RAM for buffers etc causing some problems with some games), or there's HDDRIVER which costs a lot more 30+ euro I think, but supports CD ROM drives and more.

 

EDIT: If you want to install a switch at some point I can do another video if you would like, that shows in detail what's required. It's really really simple, you effectively bend one of the pins on the Marpet header (top row, middle pin, then put a switch which connects ground (- ive) to the pin on the board, or when switched the other way it connects the pin on the board to the socket - really simple, 1 wire needs connecting effectively with that 1 pin bending, and another wire adding with a pin on the end. Sounds way more complex than it actually is.

Edited September 16, 2013 by GadgetUK

[reliant73]

 

Don't worry about the switch for now, from what I understand the software 'switch' that's on PP's site above should work for the few games that dont like more than 1Mb. If you get the UltraSatan also get PP's HDD driver (see link in my signature below), it's only 10 eur and it works great for games (which is what I use my ST for mostly). Alternatively you can use ICD which is free (but uses more RAM for buffers etc causing some problems with some games), or there's HDDRIVER which costs a lot more 30+ euro I think, but supports CD ROM drives and more.

 

EDIT: If you want to install a switch at some point I can do another video if you would like, that shows in detail what's required. It's really really simple, you effectively bend one of the pins on the Marpet header (top row, middle pin, then put a switch which connects ground (- ive) to the pin on the board, or when switched the other way it connects the pin on the board to the socket - really simple, 1 wire needs connecting effectively with that 1 pin bending, and another wire adding with a pin on the end. Sounds way more complex than it actually is.

 

Awesome thanks you have been so helpful I may take you up on that offer for the video.I'll let you know how I get on once the Marpet arrives

 

Cheers

 

Rel

[Ayreon]

.

 

I've got one fitted to a second generation 520STFM with 720kb internal drive and it's nice to have but floppy games have never said they used more than 1mb when I ran them (yet). It was free for me though, I bought an STFM years ago and it wasn't advertised in the auction so went for peanuts.

 

 

 

I think some Thalion/Eclipse games detect and use more than 1 mb. (Leaving Terramis - Lethal Xcess etc.)

[oky2000]

Cheers. Is leaving Terramis the Gauntlet/Alien Syndrome type game? Think I remember checking that one out a couple of days ago when I saw a cheap copy on ebay.

 

I don't have either game as original floppies but might have it on a crack disk (got 1000s of them lol lost count).

 

I just keep it around because it's cool to have a 2+ megabyte STFM in the collection.

[Ayreon]

Yep that must be the game. Although I think the game play is different from those 2 games it shares the same view on the game field.