Diamond GOS 3.0

[DracIsBack]

@Flashjazzcat - It's going to be a monumental achievement, whenever you complete it. I'll make sure that I have 128k at that point. It's frustrating that the stinkin' C64 had GEOS - that was a contentious point amongst my C64 friends in junior high...30 years ago.

 

Me too. I'm weirdly obsessed with 8bit GUIs like GEOS, Diamond GOS and Multi-View for the Tandy Co Co 3.

 

Always have been. Sorta like saying, "Hey 16-bitters .. I can point and click too" being leftover form back in the day

[flashjazzcat]

@Flashjazzcat - It's going to be a monumental achievement, whenever you complete it. I'll make sure that I have 128k at that point. It's frustrating that the stinkin' C64 had GEOS - that was a contentious point amongst my C64 friends in junior high...30 years ago.

 

What I did back then was what I could, I found an 80-column display program and typed it in and saved it to my 1050. I also wrote my own art program and had hi-res (192x320) with multi-colors - that was through the RF though. I created my own GUI at that time. Using a joystick as a mouse and using a missile graphic as an arrow pointer. I toyed around with moving windows and then my Father bought me an Amiga.

 

I'm really missing those old days though - life and computing shouldn't be that easy. We all need challenges.

It's certainly a monumental undertaking, and I only hope you don't have a hover-car to go with your 128K of RAM by the time it's finished.

 

As for GEOS: I admire it very much and even if I'd somehow started my project in my early teens (i.e. in the mid Eighties), I don't think I'd have gotten far at all without the modern cross-development tools we enjoy today. Ambitious projects undertaken in the 80s are therefore doubly humbling. And the platform rivalry is pretty meaningless to me nowadays, especially since it was SymbOS (on Z80 machines) which prompted me to completely re-write the A8 GUI as a multi-tasking GOS four years ago.

 

It's a shame that the spirit of the old days can never be precisely recaptured, since everything is dependent on context (although what keeps the fire burning for me is the notion that what I'm creating could have run on an unmodified 130XE in 1985). I can remember even in the 90s doing ten hour assembly coding sessions on a 65XE, with no Internet nor even a PC to distract me.

 

I'm weirdly obsessed with 8bit GUIs like GEOS, Diamond GOS and Multi-View for the Tandy Co Co 3.

 

Always have been. Sorta like saying, "Hey 16-bitters .. I can point and click too" being leftover form back in the day

And even bettering the 16-bits in some ways (with proportional fonts and multi-tasking), although with the benefit of hindsight and no deadlines.

[slydc]

Hi folks,

 

Sorry to revive this old thread but just got back to sorting all the files i've downloaded for the past 20 years

as i've have more than 100 Gigs of data for the Atari 8bit. I have dumped the Diamond GOS 3.0 way back

in 2002 (checking the file date: July 17, 2002 to be exact).

 

I have dumped this cartridge with my Eprom burner (with also Monopoly and Zybex from Video 61) before i've

sold those carts and were (ahem) back in storage for the past 18 years (time surely flies when you have kids!).

So just to know if the dump is working, i've attached it to the Altirra emulator and took this screenshot:

 

 

So if anyone still needs the dump, let me know and i'll uploaded here.

 

 

Edited July 30, 2020 by slydc

[+skr]

Looks like I don´t have DG 3.0, so I would be interested.

[+davidcalgary29]

Me too, please!

[k-Pack]

7 hours ago, slydc said:

 

So if anyone still needs the dump, let me know and i'll uploaded here.

 

 

 

5 hours ago, skr said:

Looks like I don´t have DG 3.0, so I would be interested.

 

49 minutes ago, davidcalgary29 said:

Me too, please!

Post #55 in this thread has the rom and links to the manual and programmers guide

[+skr]

Thanks, @k-Pack, somehow I missed that one.

[+MrFish]

10 hours ago, slydc said:

Hi folks,

 

Sorry to revive this old thread but just got back to sorting all the files i've downloaded for the past 20 years

as i've have more than 100 Gigs of data for the Atari 8bit. I have dumped the Diamond GOS 3.0 way back

in 2002 (checking the file date: July 17, 2002 to be exact).

 

I have dumped this cartridge with my Eprom burner (with also Monopoly and Zybex from Video 61) before i've

sold those carts and were (ahem) back in storage for the past 18 years (time surely flies when you have kids!).

So just to know if the dump is working, i've attached it to the Altirra emulator and took this screenshot:

 

 

So if anyone still needs the dump, let me know and i'll uploaded here.

 

The dump (and any other related software) would be useful as verification for the other dump we have from k-Pack.

 

It'd be nice to have a pictures of the cart and other software too, if anyone is interested in doing that.

 

[Atari8guy]

I've read in this thread that an Unocart can run this on real hardware?  Has anyone had a luck doing that?

[+skr]

9 hours ago, 8bitguy1 said:

I've read in this thread that an Unocart can run this on real hardware?  Has anyone had a luck doing that?

I don´t know the differences between Unocart and Ultimate Cartridge, so I´m not sure this is helpful:

Converted the ROM to a Williams-CAR (with Atari800MacX) and then it runs fine on my Atari 800 XL with U1MB.

Also set it to 64K Ram and bootet with LiteDOS mounted, also working fine.

[slydc]

On 7/30/2020 at 11:00 AM, k-Pack said:

 

 

Post #55 in this thread has the rom and links to the manual and programmers guide

 

OUPS!! Sorry! I have only read until page 2 and went to the end to post, should have read and checked

everything.

 

But i will still post the ROM so it can be compared to your dump k-pack.

 

Diamond GOS v3.rom

 

An as for the picture(s), i think i have sols all my disks and the GOS cart to one of my friend. I have asked him

to check in his "Ali Baba cavern" if he still has it.

[slydc]

On 7/30/2020 at 7:06 PM, 8bitguy1 said:

I've read in this thread that an Unocart can run this on real hardware?  Has anyone had a luck doing that?

 

Hummm...don't know but i have an UNO cart, i'll check that out on my XEGS whenever i can.

 

Edited August 1, 2020 by slydc

[+MrFish]

5 minutes ago, slydc said:

But i will still post the ROM so it can be compared to your dump k-pack.

 

Diamond GOS v3.rom 64 kB · 3 downloads

 

An as for the picture(s), i think i have sols all my disks and the GOS cart to one of my friend. I have asked him

to check in his "Ali Baba cavern" if he still has it.

 

Thanks for posting. Your ROM is an exact match with k-Pack's.

 

[slydc]

21 hours ago, MrFish said:

 

Thanks for posting. Your ROM is an exact match with k-Pack's.

 

Really ? Cool! It's been 18 years that this ROM has been dumped with and old Eprom programmer

and was dumped corrected on the only attempt. Didn't even know if it was dumped correctly accept

that them program to dump didn't have any errors once finished.

 

At least know we know thanks to you Mrfish that both dump (k-pack and mine) are the same.

[slydc]

Hi again folks,

 

OK, i've just tried the Diamond GOS v.3 (ROM format) into the UNO cart and here's the result:

 

Sorry, doesn't work BUT...after that, i've convert the ROM into a CAR format with the

option: Diamond 64 KB cartridge (10), here's the new result:

 

 

Oh YEAH! It works! Would be better with the ST Mouse but does work with the arrow cursors

but it's slower. So here's the ROM in CAR format:

 

Diamond GOS v3.car

 

Have fun and enjoy!

 

Edited August 2, 2020 by slydc

[k-Pack]

On 8/1/2020 at 10:37 PM, slydc said:

Oh YEAH! It works! Would be better with the ST Mouse but does work with the arrow cursors

but it's slower. So here's the ROM in CAR format:

You will want configure your system to avoid using the mouse controller in the Diamond cart. The software is in post #57 and mentioned in the manual.  Several programs can't determine if you want to move the cursor or mouse and will crash trying.

 

I have posted most of the software I have written for the Diamond GOS in the blog "Diamond in the Rough".  I found an old file on how to turn a CX22 trackball into a mouse and took some photos during the process.  Couple of games, an RPN Calculator and some accessories.   A couple I put out as shareware they are now in the public domain.

 

Have fun with Diamond GOS.

[leech]

On 8/1/2020 at 8:37 PM, slydc said:

Hi again folks,

 

OK, i've just tried the Diamond GOS v.3 (ROM format) into the UNO cart and here's the result:

 

Sorry, doesn't work BUT...after that, i've convert the ROM into a CAR format with the

option: Diamond 64 KB cartridge (10), here's the new result:

 

 

Oh YEAH! It works! Would be better with the ST Mouse but does work with the arrow cursors

but it's slower. So here's the ROM in CAR format:

 

Diamond GOS v3.car 64.02 kB · 18 downloads

 

Have fun and enjoy!

 

Good thing I have several ST mice, and various USB to ST mouse adapters..  I'll give some a try later today (hopefully).

[Atari8guy]

On 8/1/2020 at 8:37 PM, slydc said:

Hi again folks,

 

OK, i've just tried the Diamond GOS v.3 (ROM format) into the UNO cart and here's the result:

 

Sorry, doesn't work BUT...after that, i've convert the ROM into a CAR format with the

option: Diamond 64 KB cartridge (10), here's the new result:

 

 

Oh YEAH! It works! Would be better with the ST Mouse but does work with the arrow cursors

but it's slower. So here's the ROM in CAR format:

 

Diamond GOS v3.car 64.02 kB · 18 downloads

 

Have fun and enjoy!

 

Thanks for this, I'll give it go this week!

[slydc]

On 8/3/2020 at 11:26 AM, k-Pack said:

You will want configure your system to avoid using the mouse controller in the Diamond cart. The software is in post #57 and mentioned in the manual.  Several programs can't determine if you want to move the cursor or mouse and will crash trying.

 

I have posted most of the software I have written for the Diamond GOS in the blog "Diamond in the Rough".  I found an old file on how to turn a CX22 trackball into a mouse and took some photos during the process.  Couple of games, an RPN Calculator and some accessories.   A couple I put out as shareware they are now in the public domain.

 

Have fun with Diamond GOS.

Thanks for the info about the ST mouse, didn't know that.

 

And again thanks for uploading the Diamond GOS softwares and all the infos on your Diamond blog!

Really appreciate this!

[+davidcalgary29]

Does anyone have contact info for Alan Reeve? I'd like to make a standalone v. 3.0 cart myself, but would prefer to seek permission first. And I can't find an unbroken link to the ReeveSoft website.

[flashjazzcat]

12 minutes ago, davidcalgary29 said:

Does anyone have contact info for Alan Reeve?

Alan's an AA member, so you could drop him a PM:

 

https://atariage.com/forums/profile/8827-areeve/

[Peri Noid]

I'm playing a bit with Diamond GOS using AVG cart but I'm thinking about a dedicated card. I have a stand-alone updatable SDX cart. Can I just flush it with Diamond and it will work? Or shall I do something special (I've never tried it yet)? Or is it not possible at all? Thanks!

[BillC]

48 minutes ago, Peri Noid said:

I'm playing a bit with Diamond GOS using AVG cart but I'm thinking about a dedicated card. I have a stand-alone updatable SDX cart. Can I just flush it with Diamond and it will work? Or shall I do something special (I've never tried it yet)? Or is it not possible at all? Thanks!

I don't believe it's just the ROM, though I could be wrong. I think that to allow it to work concurrently with SDX it would require different GAL logic, so that they don't both use the same bank selection method.

 

Whether it could work with a PCB for the updated 128KB SDX releases, even with a GAL update, is another question.

Edited February 9, 2021 by BillC

[+MrFish]

Here's the banking information for both, at least as it applies to current emulation standards.

 

+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Type 10: Diamond 64 KB cartridge                                          |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+

 The cartridge has 8 banks mapped to $A000-$BFFF. An access to $D5D7 selects
 bank 0, $D5D6 - bank 1, etc. An access to $D5D8-$D5DF disables
 the cartridge.

 

+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Type 11: SpartaDOS X 64 KB cartridge                                      |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+

 The cartridge has 8 banks mapped to $A000-$BFFF. It also contains an
 additional cartridge slot which allows to plug a second cartridge in.
 An access to $D5E7 selects bank 0, $D5E6 - bank 1, etc. down to $D5E0. An
 access to $D5E8-$D5EB disables the SDX cartridge and enables the second
 cartridge. An access to $D5EC-$D5EF disables both cartridges.
 Accesses to all addresses on page D5 always reaches the second cartridge,
 even if it is disabled by SpartaDOS or if the SpartaDOS cartridge itself is
 enabled.

 

[Peri Noid]

Ok, so it's a bit different banking scheme and therefore it's not possible te reuse the same hardware without changes in control logic. I'll just keep using the universal carts I have. 

Edited February 10, 2021 by Peri Noid