Rapidus Questions

[Dmitry]

OK, so my system is currently as follows

 

Atari 800XL with Rapidus VBXE and U1MB.

 

At this moment the U1MB is disabled for all functions, and the VBXE is Rambo core, presenting 256k of bank memory.

And I have a side 2 cart.

 

Flashed the Side 2 to latest, flashed the VBXE to latest. Didn't try the U1MB, I was told mine doesn't flash, I didn't try to verify yet.

 

Good news is my SIDE 2 finally works. That was a whole bit of troubleshooting, because it worked fine in a stock 130XE - but turns out it believed the APT was corrupted (only on this machine).....still, redid the APT, reformatted - and wa-la, it functions as a hard disk now!

 

This is so cool, because I'm finally using the Atari as I've wanted...I compile my programs, use a SIO2SD to transfer to my hd, and I can run and test my software off the hd....I'm very happy about being able to do that.

 

OK, but I notice only some software works and other software hangs the computer - at Rapidus boot time, from a cold boot.

 

I want to know if this is normal, or abnormal....it's not clear to me how you all use your rapidus.

 

OK, if I put in the SIDE 2 cart - the Atari boots. If I put in Editor/Assembler or Donkey Kong, atari boots. And, it may be my imagination but Donkey Kong feels unusually smooth to me.

 

But if I put in Centipede or Defender, the Atari hangs at the Rapidus screen. It has a few lines in the middle of the progress bar (not even hanging at any particular point).

 

Do you all disable rapidus before putting in a cartridge?

 

 

[Dmitry]

p.s. in other news, the nerm rewrite, on my real Atari has glitches not present when running on the emulator. However, they should be easily fixable. I was still excited to test on a real machine. The responsiveness of the joystick is much improved over the original nerm (which is one area where I spent some time to fully optimize).

 

I stalled out, not even compiling the program once in the last month. But today I'll make some progress. One issue is room design, I simply have no interest in it....I'll have to slog through the parts that I find boring, if to complete the whole game.....

[flashjazzcat]

Please check your PMs.

[Dmitry]

It took a surprising amount of time to "refind" the combination to enter the Rapidus menu (I knew it before, but after not using the atari for a while, ended up forgetting). It is INVERSE+RESET which is posted in another atari age forum thread.

 

But, it'd be great if that was part of the documentation.

 

After trying all the presets, never did find one that made a difference with the cartridges. Oddly, my DK was one that I said was working - can't get it to work under any setting now, always hangs at the rapidus screen. And I said Centipede didn't work...centipede is working at this time... lol, well I wouldn't say this would be a problem for anyone else, I just have an odd machine.

 

But it would be great to confirm how it works for other people, so that I know what to expect.

 

However one thing does work rock solid for me - which is booting into SDX from the Side 2 cart....and that was the main thing I wanted. For now it's good enough.

 

I saw your message fjc, I will definitely get caught up on emails by tomorrow.

[+Larry]

"But, it'd be great if that was part of the documentation."

 

What documentation have you received? (Not including user-to-user assistance.)

[Dmitry]

Larry,

 

What I do when I buy something and need support is I go to either the manufacturer or to the place I bought it and look for documentation.

 

So, in this case, I went back to Lotharek's site:

 

http://www.lotharek.pl/product.php?pid=107

 

And then found a link to download "rapidus.pdf" and found a link to download "xegsmpd.zip"

 

Then beyond that I start searching around keyword after keyword into the Google search engine.

 

"atari rapidus configuration" "atari rapidus menu" "atari rapidus settings" - none of which turned up anything quickly.

 

Finally I ask questions here on AtariAge and do Atari Age searches.

 

Oddly enough I had that key combination when I first got the rapidus, I can no longer tell you where I found it. But I do remember checking the settings early on. But trying to re-find it was something else....unfortunately took me a while. You know early versions of rapidus, you can see the progress bar tells you to hit some button to enter the settings (esc if I remember right) - apparently that was no longer part of my version. But even just an on screen message like that, might be nice.

 

These are not complaints - Lotharek is awesome and I am so glad he sells his wares to this community.

 

But, if he had had a document on his website that said this is how you get into the settings (which is a common enough thing you'd want to do)....that'd have saved me time.

 

Just a little feedback to the ether here.....lol. But seriously it isn't just feedback to the ether, this post repeats the key combination and uses every keyword - "atari rapidus configuration" "atari rapidus menu" "atari rapidus settings" - and multiple times So if google indexes it, it could be the answer for someone, someday ...hehe

Edited September 21, 2016 by Dmitry

[Dmitry]

Again, sort of blogging my experiences, but I removed the U1MB completely.

 

This is a fair bit easier than installing one, but still, I almost feel like a hardware guru now

 

Made no difference. Which is to say the strangeness with most of my cartridges not working remains. I plug in some carts, and the rapidus bar doesn't progress when turning the machine on - just hangs.

 

I can't blame the U1MB any more.

Side 2 cart works like a champ and frankly that's the main thing for this machine, so further troubleshooting might be down the road a bit. I may toss the carts in another machine just to make sure they still work. It'd be interesting to hear from another rapidus owner if all their carts work, or if that just isn't something I'm supposed to be doing. I have changed the setting to classic 6502c, but doesn't seem to make a difference.

Edited September 21, 2016 by Dmitry

[Marius]

Again, sort of blogging my experiences, but I removed the U1MB completely.

 

This is a fair bit easier than installing one, but still, I almost feel like a hardware guru now

 

Made no difference. Which is to say the strangeness with most of my cartridges not working remains. I plug in some carts, and the rapidus bar doesn't progress when turning the machine on - just hangs.

 

I can't blame the U1MB any more.

Side 2 cart works like a champ and frankly that's the main thing for this machine, so further troubleshooting might be down the road a bit. I may toss the carts in another machine just to make sure they still work. It'd be interesting to hear from another rapidus owner if all their carts work, or if that just isn't something I'm supposed to be doing. I have changed the setting to classic 6502c, but doesn't seem to make a difference.

 

Sorry to read about this.

 

When you ask me the Rapidus is better called Crapidus. I have read a lot about it, and so far it was not much good. Return sender, ask money back. If it was WordPerfect 5.1, I would say F7 -> Save Document? NO!