SpartaDos X Original Cartridge Reimage

[+tf_hh]

Can you not select the entire flash ROM entry (the chip name at the very top of the slot list) to flash/dump the entire 512KB?

 

Will test in the evening!

[Gunstar]

 

Most of the currently available mass storage devices (SIDE, IDE Plus) have SDX and RTC built in anyway, so the SDX supercart becomes a bit redundant. And as GoodByteXL points out, MYIDE II also has SDX (soft-loaded from the CF card). MYIDE does lack the RTC, of course, but the best way to get SDX+HDD on a stand-alone cartridge would have been SIDE2, which has SDX, RTC, and hard disk (accessed using the aforementioned soft-drivers).

 

No cartridge-based hard disk solution is able to work like a PBI/ECI device, in the sense of intercepting the OS SIO vector and mapping its firmware over the math pack. So whichever cartridge solution you pick (MYIDE or SIDE), some workaround is required to patch the SIO or otherwise circumvent the OS. MYIDE uses a custom OS, while SIDE uses a driver (usable only with SDX) booted directly from the ROM. Since MYIDE's bootstrapper is itself on a cartridge, plugging the MYIDE into the SDX supercart is going to neuter its functionality (SDX on the Supercart will boot, initialise the external cart, then likely drop you back at its own command prompt if the MYIDE ROM allows a disk boot).

 

What you can do is obliterate the ROM on the MYIDE II and put this driver into the CAR: device of your SDX supercart:

 

http://atari8.co.uk/apt/myide/

 

The MYIDE II would then be no more than a set of passive IDE registers driven by the SDX driver. You'd get SDX (on the Supercart), the RTC (on the Supercart), and the IDE device (on the MYIDE II).

 

Note: you'd need to extract SIDE.SYS from the MYIDE ROM image and transfer it to the SDX Supercart. PM if you need help with that.

 

Unrelated general question: why does the website talk about the SIDE2 build of SDX being used on the Supercart? Does the cart not use the original SDX base register ($D5E0)? The SIDE2 build of SDX banks at $D5E1.

I was overcome by my trigger finger that pushed the "buy" button on this SDX cart. Afterward I thought about it and realized that for not much more than what I paid, I could have gotten an IDE cart solution with this stuff built in, but alas it was too late, and I always wanted and SDX cart for decades. So, if it is redundant for cartridge IDE solutions, it's just an excuse for me to go ahead and finish up your "poor man's 1400XL project" and add the last bits to my 1200XL, the 5v power and a PBI port and use scsi or ide through it with the SDX cart. Besides, in the meantime I have SIO solutions to use with it.

Edited April 26, 2016 by Gunstar

[+tf_hh]

Can you not select the entire flash ROM entry (the chip name at the very top of the slot list) to flash/dump the entire 512KB?

 

I think it works, but I can´t test it now. When selecting the whole flash (SST39SF040), then a message "Insufficient memory for flash data" appears. I´ve taken Sys-Check with external 512 KB RAMBO, because I´ve only one U1MB left at this time and it´s nothing built in now. Why UFLASH2 need more than 512 KB to flash 512 KB?

 

Will check on weekend, sorry, no time earlier for that.

 

Jurgen

[flashjazzcat]

Why UFLASH2 need more than 512 KB to flash 512 KB?

 

Well, SDX drivers have to live somewhere, and likely found a home in an extended bank, leaving you one short. USE OSRAM should fix that.

[Gavin1968]

On 2/18/2016 at 3:46 PM, santosp said:

The most retarded part will be the plastic enclosure

I know I am late to the game here, but what are you using at the top as the cart slot for the other carts to plug into this?

Thanks,

Gavin

[santosp]

Hi Gavin,

is the classic 2 rows x 15 pin cartridge connector, as is in the Atari 8 bit computers.

 

Card Edge

Edited December 31, 2020 by santosp

[santosp]

On 4/26/2016 at 8:58 PM, flashjazzcat said:

Well, SDX drivers have to live somewhere, and likely found a home in an extended bank, leaving you one short. USE OSRAM should fix that.

Hi John.

I am not programmer so just I wonder if someone write in the flash rom(AM29F040) the SDX 512K version via a external programmer, it could work correctly after in this super cart? 

 

Panos 

Edited October 31, 2022 by santosp

[flashjazzcat]

16 hours ago, santosp said:

I am not programmer so just I wonder if someone write in the flash rom(AM29F040) the SDX 512K version via a external programmer, it could work correctly after in this super cart? 

I'm not sure what you mean. The problem was a lack of RAM when SDX is using one or more banks of extended memory.

[santosp]

1 hour ago, flashjazzcat said:

I'm not sure what you mean. The problem was a lack of RAM when SDX is using one or more banks of extended memory.

Maybe I didn't understand well. 🙄
So to understand, how many external ram I need to have in my Atari computer so the uflash it be able to burn the whole 512K version of SDX, in Lenore's super SDX cartridge?

[flashjazzcat]

3 minutes ago, santosp said:

So to understand, how many external ram I need to have in my Atari computer so the uflash it be able to burn the whole 512K version of SDX, in Lenore's super SDX cartridge?

512K. But SDX uses 16K of this by default, so you can either make a CONFIG.SYS with 'USE OSRAM' in it, or get 1MB of RAM.

 

EDIT: I can't even remember if UFLASH is compatible with USE OSRAM (since it attempts to run a RAM-based OS), but you're not obliged to use SDX at all (COLD /N into another DOS, for example).

Edited November 1, 2022 by flashjazzcat