SDrive-MAX ATX support

[Mr Robot]

No device fully works with ATX. SDrive MAX is the device Fujinet and AVGCART measure their ATX support against, I expect all the other disk loading devices do the same. 

 

In short if you can't load an ATX file with SDrive-MAX you probably can't load it with anything except Altirra or by writing it to a disk and booting that. 

 

[+DjayBee]

@mytek PM me if you want to test ATX-functionality with SDrive Max software v1.3.

[Farb]

On 2/6/2022 at 4:59 PM, Mr Robot said:

SDrive MAX is the device Fujinet and AVGCART measure their ATX support against, I expect all the other disk loading devices do the same.

Part of the challenge is with the timing changes that each update to the SDrive Max firmware makes. When I wrote the ATX support originally, I based the timing constants on whatever version of the firmware was current at the time and compared them with a real 810 that @DjayBee kindly loaned me at Fujiama. As the SDrive Max firmware code was updated, the timings also seem to have changed slightly and those constants need to be tweaked. I also found what I believe was a bug in the firmware which seemed to ignore very small changes to the timing constants. I reported the situation to the main author but I don't know if it was ever resolved nor if anyone has tweaked those timing constants since.

Edited February 7, 2022 by Farb

[+mytek]

On 2/6/2022 at 10:07 AM, DjayBee said:

@mytek PM me if you want to test ATX-functionality with SDrive Max software v1.3.

Thank you for offering your assistance, but to be quite honest I have no interest in running ATX files. Basically I'm not really into trying recapture the original copy protected experience, and am quite content to run either ATR or XEX conversions. Same goes for reliving the days of cassettes, or for that matter using real floppies

 

[CMR]

Is there any chance .bas files will ever be loadable?

[CMR]

Does anyone know why I'm getting corrupted file names in the root of my SD card when I exit other folders?  I'm using a 4GB SanDisk card.

Edited February 20, 2022 by CMR

[ascrnet]

On 2/11/2022 at 12:32 AM, CMR said:

Is there any chance .bas files will ever be loadable?

I had thought the same thing, but my knowledge is limited ?

9 hours ago, CMR said:

Does anyone know why I'm getting corrupted file names in the root of my SD card when I exit other folders?  I'm using a 4GB SanDisk card.

Try low level formatting that microsd card with this program to rule out corrupted data issues ?

[CMR]

4 hours ago, ascrnet said:

I had thought the same thing, but my knowledge is limited ?

Try low level formatting that microsd card with this program to rule out corrupted data issues ?

OK that seems to have worked.  I'm showing a systemfiles folder now, which is something I remember a fat32 partition needing.  Thanks for the advice.

[Ricky Spanish]

Very cool product ! Relatively easy to use ? Can't seem to find instructions (may have missed it somewhere in this thread).

[cwilbar]

45 minutes ago, Ricky Spanish said:

Very cool product ! Relatively easy to use ? Can't seem to find instructions (may have missed it somewhere in this thread).

De Re SDrive-MAX – Atari 8Bit

 

[Ricky Spanish]

Quick question: I cycled the FastSIO from $06 69000 to $0A 53000 then pressed [Ctrl] + W to write and confirmed with "Y", yet it doesn't seem to save the new configuration. If I unplug the S-Drive max then plug it back in, I need to cycle it back to $0A 53000. Is there something I'm doing wrong ? Thanks.

[Luke210]

9 hours ago, Ricky Spanish said:

Quick question: I cycled the FastSIO from $06 69000 to $0A 53000 then pressed [Ctrl] + W to write and confirmed with "Y", yet it doesn't seem to save the new configuration. If I unplug the S-Drive max then plug it back in, I need to cycle it back to $0A 53000. Is there something I'm doing wrong ? Thanks.

Try Control+W U Y

[Ricky Spanish]

Tried searching, found nothing. Ok, for the S-drive max gurus; for the FastSIO options, you have:

 

$00 128000

$01 112000

$02  99000

$03  89000

$04  81000

$05  75000

$06  69000

$07  64000

$08  60000

$09  56000

$0A  53000

$10  39000

$28  -

 

What to these numbers mean ? Dive transfer speed ? How do I know which to use for example say Stock 1050 vs Happy 1050 vs Speedy 1050 etc. ?

Where do I set it too for a 'stock' 1050 (I have 1050 highlighted in the CFG) ?

Reason being is that certain .atr won't load @ anything faster than 56k. 

Thanks.

 

[ascrnet]

3 hours ago, Ricky Spanish said:

Tried searching, found nothing. Ok, for the S-drive max gurus; for the FastSIO options, you have:

 

$00 128000

$01 112000

$02  99000

$03  89000

$04  81000

$05  75000

$06  69000

$07  64000

$08  60000

$09  56000

$0A  53000

$10  39000

$28  -

 

What to these numbers mean ? Dive transfer speed ? How do I know which to use for example say Stock 1050 vs Happy 1050 vs Speedy 1050 etc. ?

Where do I set it too for a 'stock' 1050 (I have 1050 highlighted in the CFG) ?

Reason being is that certain .atr won't load @ anything faster than 56k. 

Thanks.

 

I advise you to check the original documentation of that menu, since it is from another project reused here. 😉

Greetings

[Ricky Spanish]

56 minutes ago, ascrnet said:

advise you to check the original documentation of that menu

Hello, this is all I found:

 

Set fastsio pokey divisor nn ($00 .. $F9).
nn=
$00..pokey_div 0 (127842 bps)
$01..pokey_div 1 (111862 bps)
...
$06..pokey_div 6 = default (68838 bps)
...
$28..pokey_div 40 = standard only (19040 bps) (also answers NACK for $3F command)
...
$F9..pokey_div 249 (3496 bps)

 

I also do not have a $f9 setting.

[kbr]

On 2/11/2022 at 4:32 AM, CMR said:

Is there any chance .bas files will ever be loadable?

No, .bas files are not supported directly yet, put it into an ATR with a DOS, then you can use it for reading and writing.

Or boot a DOS first into BASIC, insert the .bas file into D2:, and load them with: RUN "D2:*.BAS"

But this is readonly!

 

There would be a special bootloader necessary for it, does anyone know a device, witch support them directly?

 

On 9/5/2022 at 11:55 PM, Ricky Spanish said:

Quick question: I cycled the FastSIO from $06 69000 to $0A 53000 then pressed [Ctrl] + W to write and confirmed with "Y", yet it doesn't seem to save the new configuration. If I unplug the S-Drive max then plug it back in, I need to cycle it back to $0A 53000. Is there something I'm doing wrong ? Thanks.

This is a relic of the original design from sdrive, this options are saved in the sdrive.atr on the SD card only!

So you have to boot sdrive.atr once after power cycle to restore this options.

Edited November 6, 2022 by kbr

[kbr]

On 3/7/2021 at 4:12 PM, Gregkrkpl said:

Hello.
I dug up my old XEGS Atari. I built the Sdrive-MAX. looks like it works. But I have a problem. does not load sdrive.atr and other files. I've tried everything. I checked the connections, even with a meter, I bought 2 arduino boards, I bought another card, I tried other files. I marked 1050 options in config etc.
interestingly, CAS files are loaded. it takes the same amount of time as with a real tape recorder. so I assume it works. power supply from atari and usb (not all at once). when I turn on the atari and "farts" I see that the TX diode is flashing quickly on the arduino board .
what am i doing wrong, how to fix it.
Regards Greg

looks like the EEPROM was not written correctly.

[+slx]

On 3/7/2021 at 4:12 PM, Gregkrkpl said:

 

Which firmware release of the SDrive is this? I think it looks a lot more colourful than mine.

[Ricky Spanish]

@kbr any plans for ROM/CAR support ? That would be the icing on the cake.

[+Stephen]

1 hour ago, Ricky Spanish said:

@kbr any plans for ROM/CAR support ? That would be the icing on the cake.

Not possible - this is an SIO device, you can't run a cart through the serial port.

[Ricky Spanish]

On 11/8/2022 at 5:14 PM, Stephen said:

this is an SIO device, you can't run a cart through the serial port.

Then how do other commercially available devices do it, for instance fujinet ? 

[+DjayBee]

30 minutes ago, Ricky Spanish said:

Then how do other commercially available devices do it, for instance fujinet ? 

Quite simple: Fujinet does not.

It also can only load disk based programs.

[Ricky Spanish]

Just now, DjayBee said:

Quite simple: Fujinet does not.

Thought it could load ROMs. My mistake. 

[kbr]

Maybe there would be a solution for simple 8 or 16k ROM's via a special loader, but all others with more logic you can forget. Also some ROM's are checking, if they are running on ROM, and won't work on RAM without hacking the code.

[JagChris]

I have started replaying Phantasie 1 and then will go through Phantasie 2 using the SD Max. I have named a couple characters Sal and Ben in their memory.

 

I have not played this games since I was a wee lad. I still have the box packaging, original disks and my correspondence back and forth with SSI at the time. What a trip down memory lane.

 

As I've said I believe earlier I burned out my 1050 disk drive playing this game. And I never played much of the second for fear of burning up the XF551.Now its all solid state so no real worries there.

 

A couple things I've noticed watching YouTube videos. People using the SD max are able to power straight out of the SIO port without any external power. I however cannot do this with mine.

 

The same people on the internet talk about time out problems with the SD max when dealing with multi disk games. I was afraid of this a bit because I have some problems with Goonies. But it may just be a bad copy because after playing Phantasie for a while I've had no time out problems. It makes me wonder if perhaps the SD max drives are not getting steady enough power running off of SIO alone. Or maybe so far I've just been lucky.

 

But if things change ill post here I guess.

 

Ill have to name a character after my boy @GunstarGunstar at some point.

Edited February 11, 2023 by JagChris