Options for flash drive. HD

[Marius]

Is the IRQ button working yet in software? What happens when you press it, if so? I don't have an IDE Plus equipped with the button, so I can't test it.

 

Yes it works. When you press it, nothing happens visible.

When you use ATRM and you mount a diskimage (any ATR on a Spartados partition) to D1: and another ATR to D2: and you press the button they are swapped.

Just like it works on SIDE.

 

But the mounting process is rather 'complicated' - not as easy as it is with SIDE, and indeed not possible to mount a certain atr as long as you are up and running.

[flashjazzcat]

Ah - thanks. I just wondered if some on-screen display popped up.

[+Ripdubski]

Thanks for the great responses, it helps a lot. I though I was buying "Purchase includes MyBIOS technical support from Mr-Atari" per the web site in addition to the cart. I guess thats not the case. Sadly I feel I should have gone the SIDE route now. The Fat32 loader is awesome for what it does and the cart is high quality. I just wanted to know what partition to backup so I didnt lose anything (from windows or mac of course).

 

Thanks again guys. Looks like SIDE is in my near future.

[Marius]

Thanks for the great responses, it helps a lot. I though I was buying "Purchase includes MyBIOS technical support from Mr-Atari" per the web site in addition to the cart. I guess thats not the case. Sadly I feel I should have gone the SIDE route now. The Fat32 loader is awesome for what it does and the cart is high quality. I just wanted to know what partition to backup so I didnt lose anything (from windows or mac of course).

 

Thanks again guys. Looks like SIDE is in my near future.

 

I did not read the entire thread (sorry for that), but what is not working right now in your situation? SIDE is only powerful in combination with U1MB, so... if you have already U1MB you can improve the power of your MyIDE a lot too by adding MyBIOS to one the OS slots.

[flashjazzcat]

Yep - Lotharek sells Ultimate and SIDE as a (slightly) discounted pair because they naturally go together. You can certainly stick MYBIOS in an Ultimate OS slot and use it with the MyIDE II cart, but honestly if you already have Ultimate in the machine, then SIDE is a sensible purchase. Even if it were desirable, there is no possibility of Ultimate PBI support for MyIDE carts, although you can use the SDX ROM (hacked by ProWizard) for MyIDE II which has the soft driver on it (an updated version of which will be available this evening); the cart then behaves exactly like a SIDE cart in SDX mode (complete with hot-swap support), but without the real time clock.

[+Ripdubski]

 

I did not read the entire thread (sorry for that), but what is not working right now in your situation? SIDE is only powerful in combination with U1MB, so... if you have already U1MB you can improve the power of your MyIDE a lot too by adding MyBIOS to one the OS slots.

Everything is working. I just didnt understand the partitions I was seeing on the CF when mounted under Windows. Ive been using it now with 3 partitons in this order, and just wanted to knwo which one to backup (to protect my data):

1 Fat32 - 950MB - xex files

2 APT - 950MB - apparently nothing, so wasted space

3 Image - 1.8 GB - where my MyDOS drives live (four 16 MB as d1 through D4) and where ATRs are stored

 

I dont think I can backup the image partition since Windows hasnt got a clue about it. I havent looked at it on my Mac yet. I'll have to start Ghost and see what it can do. So it soounds like I need SIO2PC as well to backup data elsewhere. And I need to re-init the CF cards and do away with the APT partitions.

 

Switching to SIDE has more to do with the lack of support from MyIDE ][ makers. Who deletes question posts in a support forum, really?!?

 

Anyway thanks for the help. I'll use MyIDE as a game loader only, once I get SIDE.

Edited February 18, 2014 by Ripdubski

[flashjazzcat]

Who deletes question posts in a support forum, really?!?

This is the way they've done things for a long time over there, I'm afraid. Revisionism prevails.

 

I thought that MyBIOS mounted ATRs in the FAT like Ultimate and Incognito, but apparently not: they used fixed slots, is that correct? I've learned something there.

[+Ripdubski]

I thought that MyBIOS mounted ATRs in the FAT like Ultimate and Incognito, but apparently not: they used fixed slots, is that correct? I've learned something there.

I dont think so. When I put ATR's in Fat32 space, they show up in the menu, but none of them will work. As of this moment I dont have a solid understanding of just how to get an ATR into the image space, but i think it revovles around MyIDE Image Manager software (name?).

[flashjazzcat]

Interesting. For some reason I thought ATRs were mounted directly from the FAT, but I suppose there's insufficient space in a hacked OS to do this. Ultimate/SIDE and Incognito have a fairly compelling advantage there, then, which hadn't previously been brought up, since you simply drag your ATRs into the FAT partition of the card and run them in-situ. And if you happen to write to the ATR, you can perform the reverse dragging process to get the changed image back onto the PC. The convenience of this (to me, at least) outweighs the lack of on-screen partition/ATR swapping facilities in Ultimate/SIDE.

Edited February 18, 2014 by flashjazzcat

[+Ripdubski]

And if you happen to write to the ATR, you can perform the reverse dragging process to get the changed image back onto the PC. The convenience of this (to me, at least) outweighs the lack of on-screen partition/ATR swapping facilities in Ultimate/SIDE.

 

^This, for the win.

[flashjazzcat]

...MyIDE Image Manager software (name?).

 

Myide-manager-LBA2. And yes - this is required to get the ATRs into the slots.

[phoenixdownita]

MyIDE2 allows mounting single ATRs on the fly in FAT32Loader but it's finicky on the ATR content: no K-boot, sizes must align perfectly to one of the known ATR disk format (I believe up to 140K), it's ReadOnly so the code better not write back and compatibility is relatively lower than MyBIOS. FAT32Loader support for mounting ATR is dijoint from MyBIOS, it works without MyBIOS, but you can have both by loading MyBIOS first then back to MyIDE menu and load FAT32Loader.

MyBIOS Image space is where you can put "floppy" ATRs and it supports multi disk serial mount (basically you swap to the next disk by CTRL+N where N is how many slot, if you put them in order it's CTRL-2, CTRL-3 etc...).

MyBIOS Partition space is where you can put bootable "harddisks", I've got the 4 16MB PicoDOS in there as well as the U1MB flasher ATR (when I thought I could flash U1MB from it), the tool to copy file in this section allows you to ignore size mismatch and performs automatic padding.

 

I think what MyIDE2 really has that shines is the 512K of SRAM and 512K of easily configurable flash [although the tool is non standard it works pretty well and FAT32Loader support flashing via CTRL-F), FAT32Loader supports R16 via the SRAM. The flash is available to add fast accessible ROMs that one may want to have accessible right there on top of hosting MyBIOS (F2), FAT32Loader and some other utils [MyDOS], I believe Side2 could achieve the same in this department as it has 512K of underutilized flash (SDX + SideLoader are probably around half that size).

 

The thing is that MyIDE2 can work without MyBIOS (FAT32Loader being a case in point).

 

Regarding the menu [including disk management] of MyBIOS it depends: if F2 then a part of the OS is copied in RAM, not sure if the menu is fetched from flash on demand (likely), if R2 instead the main OS is in ROM and it fetches on demand the menu (in fact you need to have the exact matching menu "rom" in flash to have the menu working).

 

If ATR compatibility was better on FAT32Loader it wouldn't be half as annoying, also MyBIOS is better in ROM version due to not needing the app to play nice with SoftOS, at which point it is no longer an external only solution.

 

Once I desoldered the OS ROM also taking out the MMU to put a U1MB was not such an effort, as U1MB has flash for OS I decide to put MyBIOS R2 on it and flashing was what cause me grief as I have no SIO device, for that I needed a Side2 [due to PBI support]. In the end because my CF was misbehaving I ended up flashing U1MB via EPROM burner anyway but I now know that had the CF worked I would have been able to flash U1Mb via Side2 mounted flashing ATR, that was simply not possible via MyIDE2 [technically I managed to do it via pressing Reset at the right moment but it's a fluke more than support for flashing U1MB via MyIDE2 due to the register clash I mentioned, U1MB requires SDX on to be flashed, at that point it maps to the same areas a MyIDE2 and it's a crap shot].

Edited February 18, 2014 by phoenixdownita

[Marius]

Once I desoldered the OS ROM also taking out the MMU to put a U1MB was not such an effort, as U1MB has flash for OS I decide to put MyBIOS R2 on it and flashing was what cause me grief as I have no SIO device, for that I needed a Side2 [due to PBI support]. In the end because my CF was misbehaving I ended up flashing U1MB via EPROM burner anyway but I now know that had the CF worked I would have been able to flash U1Mb via Side2 mounted flashing ATR, that was simply not possible via MyIDE2 [technically I managed to do it via pressing Reset at the right moment but it's a fluke more than support for flashing U1MB via MyIDE2 due to the register clash I mentioned, U1MB requires SDX on to be flashed, at that point it maps to the same areas a MyIDE2 and it's a crap shot].

 

This is pretty weird. I have no problem using the U1MB internal SDX and MyIDE 2 cart. It works perfect. I do not use R2, but R1. Perhaps that's the reason why it works at my place.

 

I have a config.sys on myide partition where SIO /A is used.

[flashjazzcat]

MyIDE2 allows mounting single ATRs on the fly in FAT32Loader but it's finicky on the ATR content: no K-boot, sizes must align perfectly to one of the known ATR disk format (I believe up to 140K), it's ReadOnly so the code better not write back and compatibility is relatively lower than MyBIOS. FAT32Loader support for mounting ATR is dijoint from MyBIOS, it works without MyBIOS, but you can have both by loading MyBIOS first then back to MyIDE menu and load FAT32Loader.

 

MyBIOS Image space is where you can put "floppy" ATRs and it supports multi disk serial mount (basically you swap to the next disk by CTRL+N where N is how many slot, if you put them in order it's CTRL-2, CTRL-3 etc...).

MyBIOS Partition space is where you can put bootable "harddisks", I've got the 4 16MB PicoDOS in there as well as the U1MB flasher ATR (when I thought I could flash U1MB from it), the tool to copy file in this section allows you to ignore size mismatch and performs automatic padding.

This makes sense, since the BIOS will easily be able to manage straight access to a fixed series of sectors. Sounds like you can't have your cake and eat it with this system (presumably the FAT32 loader pre-sanitises the ATR so the OS doesn't have to worry about FAT chains, etc). I can understand MYBIOS's involvement (although this will be a RAM-based OS, which isn't ideal), but I'm unsure how a stock, ROM based OS's SIO calls are redirected to the ATR.

 

ATR compatibility is one of those things which can be easily fixed up. Just takes a bit of time, as I've discovered.

 

I think what MyIDE2 really has that shines is the 512K of SRAM and 512K of easily configurable flash [although the tool is non standard it works pretty well and FAT32Loader support flashing via CTRL-F), FAT32Loader supports R16 via the SRAM. The flash is available to add fast accessible ROMs that one may want to have accessible right there on top of hosting MyBIOS (F2), FAT32Loader and some other utils [MyDOS], I believe Side2 could achieve the same in this department as it has 512K of underutilized flash (SDX + SideLoader are probably around half that size).

The RAM is an interesting feature, but as Candle has already said regarding SIDE and cart mounting: many carts are now available as XEXs, and some of those which aren't can be placed in Ultimate 1MB ROM slots (assuming you have that hardware).

 

The thing is that MyIDE2 can work without MyBIOS (FAT32Loader being a case in point).

As can SIDE, via the SIDE XEX loader. Regarding ATRs without MyBIOS: I'm not entirely sold on the advantages of that, since I don't yet follow exactly how it works without a custom OS. And in any case, the ATRs are read-only, you say.

 

Regarding the menu [including disk management] of MyBIOS it depends: if F2 then a part of the OS is copied in RAM, not sure if the menu is fetched from flash on demand (likely), if R2 instead the main OS is in ROM and it fetches on demand the menu (in fact you need to have the exact matching menu "rom" in flash to have the menu working).

Bewildering.

 

...MyBIOS is better in ROM version due to not needing the app to play nice with SoftOS, at which point it is no longer an external only solution.

Well, exactly.

 

The foregoing seems complicated to me, but I suppose you get used to it once you're accustomed to the MyIDE ecosystem. Ultimate/SIDE isn't a self-contained portable solution, but once it's set up it's easy to use and everything remains 100 per cent OS compatible.

[Roydea6]

If only a wider range of CF cards brand/non-brand were recognized with out the need for Side.sys and just used the PBI recognition.

Edited February 18, 2014 by rdea6

[phoenixdownita]

If only a wider range of CF cards brand/non-brand were recognized with out the need for Side.sys and just used the PBI recognition.

Ouch .... here we go !!!!!

 

Do as I do, take the unrecognized ones and throw them away ....... in a closet .... and try them again in say 6 years, maybe by then the kinks have been ironed out.

 

I have one of those, and because it was my first I am emotionally attached to it so I won't let those 6 US$ go ..... well I use it only for my MyIDE2 and so be it

Edited February 18, 2014 by phoenixdownita

[flashjazzcat]

If only a wider range of CF cards brand/non-brand were recognized with out the need for Side.sys and just used the PBI recognition.

What does that mean? Is this another single-instance problem which is speculated to be epidemic? I can tell you now that the SIDE driver and PBI BIOS use identical code to address the card.

Edited February 18, 2014 by flashjazzcat

[flashjazzcat]

I wonder, does anyone want to quote the exact make and model of their non-working CF card? I know extensive testing was performed during the hardware design phase, but it seems there are more reports of media compatibility problems in the US than in Europe. Every SanDisk card I have tested (half a dozen, assorted models) has worked; I also have a 4GB Lexar card which works well, as does a "Peak" card. So what (non) brands are popular in the US? I have an old 64MB Canon card here which never worked well with anything, so I shelved that. In addition: are we talking SIDE or SIDE2 here? It makes a difference.

 

The only difference between the PBI driver and the soft-driver is that the former runs the code from ROM, and latter from RAM.

 

In any case: I wonder if the cheap DRQ check in the new drivers will make a difference... I guess we'll find out tomorrow, but any card which experiences sufficient transmission errors to produce garbage when Identify Device is issued is going to run like a pig if it keeps triggering sector read/write retries.

[Roydea6]

 

http://www.flash-memory-store.com/qmemory-compact-flash-150x-2gb.html

 

I have six of these and 3 work without fail with PBI or side1/2.sys, and the other 3 only work with the side.sys driver in either Sidev1 or sidev2.

 

 

 

[candle]

say what?

qmemory? industry recognised manufacturer, nothing less

but seriously, what you say Roy is quite strange, especially with what Jon said

can you test them against side loader?

[Roydea6]

say what?

qmemory? industry recognised manufacturer, nothing less

but seriously, what you say Roy is quite strange, especially with what Jon said

can you test them against side loader?

That is what I have been doing since I bought the first SideV1 and now with Side2. They all work great in the Incognito Card, but the Ultmate1mb setup and 800xl is the one I use the most.

 

Unless you have another meaning for test them against side loader..??

 

If you mean from BIOS option 'L' and boot an atr sometime it work and sometimes it doesn't work to boot a fat32 atr.

Edited February 19, 2014 by rdea6

[flashjazzcat]

I think what Sebastian means is to test an XEX load Roy, thus eliminating the PBI BIOS completely from the equation, whatever that might demonstrate.

 

Note that if problems are confined to ATRs, it might simply point to issues with non-standard ATRs and boot loaders using page zero locations also used by the PBI BIOS - both issues rectified in the forthcoming update. So it might be worth trying that first before throwing any cards out.

Edited February 19, 2014 by flashjazzcat

[candle]

i just want to limit this to my code, so no atr, but xex files as loader loads directly just that, and atr calls are passed to Jon's driver

so either bios and L, or stand-alone side loader mode you get without incognito or ultimate boards

[Roydea6]

xex files have worked very well from the first installment of the Fat32 loader and Bios 'L' after I got around to flashing the CPLD with version 2 jed file. Several CF cards don't boot to the partition.

The same with the Incognito never had problems after flashing with the Jed file. any/all CF cards work.

 

But occasionally I can not Boot into the CF card partition without the Side.sys file using both the first version of SIDE and SIDE2.

[flashjazzcat]

You'll need to elucidate a bit on "boot to the partition". Being able to access APT partitions (forget ATRs for now... They are about the worst CF compatibility test you could choose) with one driver and not another doesn't make much sense for the reasons I described above. But best to confine ourselves to simple partitions (tested with RWCRC.COM) and use the XEX loader as Candle said.