AVGCART

[flashjazzcat]

On 10/12/2022 at 3:38 PM, tmp said:

i'm not sure whether this broke recently (in fw or driver) or it actually never worked and nobody cared (wouldn't be surprising), anyway a quick hack to get it working is to replace two occurrences of E2 D5 to E2 D3 in ULTIME.SYS

The reason this never worked with s2sdx3.car is because s2sdx3.car is a SIDE2 ROM repackaged as a special CAR file for AVG. The objective there - if I remember correctly - was to allow AVG to emulate a SIDE2 cartridge in order to allow stand-alone operation of the SIDE loader, and for the cartridge to provide only the HDD when used with the U1MB PBI BIOS. The ULTIME.SYS driver for SIDE/SIDE2 references RTC hardware at $D5E2, but said RTC is completely missing from AVG (something the user in question has clearly run into/noticed).

 

When U1MB is present, the 'external' SDX ROM on the cartridge (SIDE, SIDE2, AVG) becomes redundant since one is then supposed to boot SDX from the U1MB. This is why the U1MB PBI BIOS completely deactivates the ROM on the SIDE cartridge (and - likewise - the AVG when it's in SIDE emulation mode) when the HDD is enabled. If the user boots SDX from U1MB, SDX loads the version of ULTIME.SYS from CAR:, referencing the U1MB RTC at $D3xx instead of $D5xx (the RTC on the cartridge itself, which in the case of AVG does not exist anyway, then becoming redundant).

 

So the problem does not arise because of breakage, but because the wrong driver is being used, and the wrong copy of SDX is being booted.

 

I already explained to the user in question - when he contacted me about the issue some days ago - that the RTC driver on the U1MB SDX ROM works with the U1MB RTC, and the RTC driver on the SIDE ROM works with the SIDE RTC. If there's some compelling reason to transplant the U1MB RTC driver onto the SIDE ROM, however, there's no need to hack the driver. Simply use the SDX imaging tool to put the U1MB SDX RTC driver on the SIDE ROM (which I just extracted from the U1MB ROM):

 

ULTIME driver for U1MB.zip

 

Naturally one will first have to strip the CAR header before loading the ROM into the SDX Imaging tool, and then replace it afterwards.

[rcamp48]

I just got my Atari back online but am having problems with the AVG cart & U1MB board in combination with the Fujinet, part of my problem is that the help key is dead on my 800xl, so until I get that fixed I will have to use the AVG cart, but how do I get into it without a working help key? Russ

 

[tmp]

well, if you have your u1mb set to suppress carts (i think it does that with some combination of settings) and you can't get into its config due to non-working help, i have no idea, you need to ask your u1mb vendor for support

avgcart should normally start on power on

[rcamp48]

I fixed the help key problem the AVG is now working right but I have to locate the PDM player for it, I will be converting lots of music with it later today.

I notice the real time clock is not working with the AVG cart inserted and it does not play well with my Fujinet yet.

 

[+DjayBee]

6 minutes ago, rcamp48 said:

I will be converting lots of music with it later today.

Please, please do NOT post it to this thread.

[tmp]

19 minutes ago, rcamp48 said:

I fixed the help key problem the AVG is now working right but I have to locate the PDM player for it, I will be converting lots of music with it later today.

players are included in the zip with fw update, linked e.g. in the first post here

19 minutes ago, rcamp48 said:

I notice the real time clock is not working with the AVG cart inserted and it does not play well with my Fujinet yet.

ultime.sys (sdx clock driver for u1mb/side) has some bug in clock detection, there's a dirty patch on the previous page

is that sdx being run from avgcart or it's builtin sdx in u1mb?

 

regarding fujinet, i'm only aware of issues where d1: is mapped in avgcart, they claim that fujinet would not mount its config disk if it detects d1: device but i believe that check is broken, i tried to report it but haven't succeeded, probably someone else should try it too (or just turn fujinet off using the switch)

(also there could be issues with fujinet 1.0 and sio cable since that version doesn't play nice with other devices on sio chain)

Edited October 27, 2022 by tmp

[rcamp48]

OK there is a new thread for all AVG Music, I agree that it all should be kept separate from this thread, do I created it at

 

https://forums.atariage.com/topic/342901-avg-music/

 

That should keep everyone happy.

 

Edited October 27, 2022 by rcamp48
adding a new link

[flashjazzcat]

2 hours ago, rcamp48 said:

I notice the real time clock is not working with the AVG cart inserted and it does not play well with my Fujinet yet.

 

2 hours ago, tmp said:

ultime.sys (sdx clock driver for u1mb/side) has some bug in clock detection

There's no bug in the SDX SIDE/U1MB clock drivers. AVG simply lacks the hardware to support the SIDE RTC driver built into the SIDE ROM for AVG, and the solution is to use the correct driver or boot SDX from U1MB. I explained this before, but here's a link to the post again:

 

https://forums.atariage.com/topic/278212-avgcart/?do=findComment&comment=5138311

 

[rcamp48]

I have succeeded in converting a few YouTube videos to Atari videos but it's quite a process, if anyone is interested I used and modified process that someone posted. More on this later, the only thing to do now is increase that volume in the converted videos.

[+remowilliams]

I've recently acquired an AVG cart plus PBI/ECI/SIO connectors and I have to say @tmp that this is hands down the best no mod multifunction upgrade you could possibly make to the XL/XE machines - amazingly well done, thank you!

 

I've assembled a quick key functionality reference for myself from @Mr Robot excellent source material.  I'll attach it here in case it's of any use to other users.

 

AVG Cart Quick Reference.pdf

[tmp]

a new beta, delayed by a few weeks due to a nasty bug buried in the softcpu core

 

ae28

 

- added type 75 (Atarimax 1MB "new")

- "about" ("?") extended to show some useful information about current state/config

- launching ROM files lets you choose cart type

- menu (CAPS)

- ability to choose bg/fg/border color (wow, right?)

- OS selection (PBI/ECI cable)

- most settings are now saved to a new config file so old settings will be replaced with defaults

- some random bugs fixed, some random bugs added

 

Edited October 29, 2022 by tmp

[Mclaneinc]

Same as Discord beta? Just looked at file attributes and they match the Discord version..I thought the Type 75 was new..

 

And thank you...

 

Paul..

Edited October 29, 2022 by Mclaneinc

[tmp]

5 minutes ago, Mclaneinc said:

Same as Discord beta?

yes

[Mclaneinc]

Just now, tmp said:

yes

Had just edited my reply...Thanks tmp

[rcamp48]

4 hours ago, tmp said:

a new beta, delayed by a few weeks due to a nasty bug buried in the softcpu core

 

ae28

 

- added type 75 (Atarimax 1MB "new")

- "about" ("?") extended to show some useful information about current state/config

- launching ROM files lets you choose cart type

- menu (CAPS)

- ability to choose bg/fg/border color (wow, right?)

- OS selection (PBI/ECI cable)

- most settings are now saved to a new config file so old settings will be replaced with defaults

- some random bugs fixed, some random bugs added

 

Thanks I will give it a try , in the meantime there are 2 new avf videos of Atari Commercials over in the AVG Movies thread, one NTSC, one PAL

Also I will put out a video showing a different way of making movies, (slightly different).

Edited October 29, 2022 by rcamp48
update

[rcamp48]

The main additions to the video package is the addition of two batch files, one for NTSC the other for PAL, after creating both bin files, eg: themovie_audio.bin and themovie_video.bin (always name them with the ender of _audio.bin and _video.bin because of the way I wrote the two batch files) , you would just type in patch_ntsc.bat or patch_pal.bat and just the filename (themovie) to run the encaudio and encvideo, (in either ntsc or pal) depending on which batch file you have run.

 

Here is the updated zip file:  Updated-Virtualdub-1.10.4-AMD64.zip

A detailed video on the different ways to run this is coming this afternoon.

[Havok69]

5 hours ago, tmp said:

- some random bugs fixed, some random bugs added

 

Haha, isn't that always the case? Beta is working pretty good for me overall.

[pajero_pn]

File "rompack.rpk" in root directory - only a problem here !!

File type detected as "r".

 

Return on file: "press cart buttom to start" = computer crash   ??

I must press Reset and "Erasing, Flashing .... Flashing done!"

 

You can't go back. Computer off / on only   (flashing not done)

 

 

ps.  Shoestring  ?

 

How to add OS?  Oryginal:  Header with the Names is 4096b.  After that, 128kB = 8 OS * 16kB ??

 

I change list (still 4096b) + add (merge) OS file = Wrong file size! (and Flashing done! ?)

AVGOS           
XL 1.3 + HSIO   
QMEG 4.04       
OS-B            
Omnimon XL      
Omniview XE     
MyBIOS V04      
QMEG 5.01       
Shoestring

 

and file:

rompack.rpk (NOT working)

Edited October 30, 2022 by pajero_pn

[tmp]

1 hour ago, pajero_pn said:

File "rompack.rpk" in root directory - only a problem here !!

File type detected as "r".

 

Return on file: "press cart buttom to start" = computer crash   ??

I must press Reset and "Erasing, Flashing .... Flashing done!"

i'd guess you have crappy contact between cart and computer and by pressing cart button, some signal loses contact and it crashes

fortunately flashing runs in cart so reset recovers it

1 hour ago, pajero_pn said:

You can't go back. Computer off / on only   (flashing not done)

 

 

ps.  Shoestring  ?

that's shoestring ram test, i just took anything that resembled atari os replacement for the test

1 hour ago, pajero_pn said:

How to add OS?  Oryginal:  Header with the Names is 4096b.  After that, 128kB = 8 OS * 16kB ??

 

I change list (still 4096b) + add (merge) OS file = Wrong file size! (and Flashing done! ?)

AVGOS           
XL 1.3 + HSIO   
QMEG 4.04       
OS-B            
Omnimon XL      
Omniview XE     
MyBIOS V04      
QMEG 5.01       
Shoestring

 

and file:

rompack.rpk (NOT working) 148 kB · 1 download

attached file is 151552, original is 135168

 

4096+8*16384=135168

4096+9*16384=151552

 

it is currently limited to 8 entries and expects flash file of that size

Edited October 30, 2022 by tmp

[pajero_pn]

47 minutes ago, tmp said:

i'd guess you have crappy contact between cart and computer and by pressing cart button, some signal loses contact and it crashes

fortunately flashing runs in cart so reset recovers it

 

Flashing from subdirectories works. Does not work if the file "rompack.rpk is in the root directory.

 

  

47 minutes ago, tmp said:

it is currently limited to 8 entries and expects flash file of that size

 

OK

 

Is it normal ?

- take out the SD card

- i put a different card

- see "Reading directory" or the configurator hangs

     and nothing else

I need the computer off

Edited October 30, 2022 by pajero_pn

[+CharlieChaplin]

@tmp:

1) regarding OS, I am missing the XL OS Rev. 2 (or XL 1.2).

There are some tools and demos that do require this OS to be present or they will not work.

(An old CSS demo comes to mind.)

 

Isn't QMEG 5.x a polish hack, based on the older QMEG 3.x version? Afaik, QMEG 4.04 is the newest / latest / official version from the author Stefan Dorndorf (who is still active in the A8 scene and at Atari Age forum and also member of Abbuc).

 

2) Since we do have 8 OS to choose from, can we also have 8 port B RAM configs. to choose from?

 

e.g.

64k RAM (XRAM off)

128k RAM (64k XRAM, block E, no sep. Antic *)

192k RAM (128k XRAM, blocks AE)

256k RAM (192k XRAM, blocks ACE)

320k RAM (256k XRAM, Compy-style, blocks 26AE, no sep. Antic*)

320k RAM (256k XRAM, Rambo-style, blocks 8ACE)

576k RAM (512k XRAM, Compy+Rambo blocks: 02468ACE or 8 blocks * 4 banks; unlike U1MB which has only Compy-style in 576k mode**; this is also compatible to mega-hz 512k SRAM enhancement, tf_hh 512k SRAM enhancement and many others)

1088k RAM (1024k XRAM, 8 blocks * 8 banks)

 

* for Mathy: no sep. Antic possible with external upgrade only (afaik, one must solder some wires inside the computer to make sep. Antic access possible)

 

** for biggest DOS 2.x compatibility (it looks like most DOS 2.x systems like DOS 2.5, Turbo-DOS, Bibo-DOS, Super DOS, Happy DOS II+D, XDOS and others do crash or hang while booting, if there are more than 4 banks per block; so it would be best to choose 8 blocks * 4 banks in 576k mode; this is a software and/or ramdisk driver problem, but can simply be avoided that way; only MyDOS 4.5x seems to have no problem with 8 banks per block, while all other DOS 2.x do)

 

[pajero_pn]

6 hours ago, CharlieChaplin said:

Isn't QMEG 5.x a polish hack, based on the older QMEG 3.x version? Afaik, QMEG 4.04 is the newest / latest / official version from the author Stefan Dorndorf (who is still active in the A8 scene and at Atari Age forum and also member of Abbuc).

The latest one is 5.xx (ad 2010) based on 4.04

 

https://www-atari-org-pl.translate.goog/forum/viewtopic.php?id=7879&_x_tr_sch=http&_x_tr_sl=pl&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=pl&_x_tr_pto=wapp

 

Edited October 30, 2022 by pajero_pn

[rcamp48]

I have recently loaded MIDIPLAY from the Side2 loader and it does work for AVG, plus file loading is instantaneous, has anyone got plans to write a loader for MIDI files on the AVG cart?

I have used MIDPLAY for  while and I do like how it works, but we need something that will work with long filenames. I had the AVG cart on SIDE 2 emulation with my MIDI device plugged into the SIO port.

Russ

 

[rcamp48]

I have used the side 2 loader to create 15 ide drives with fdisk, however I find ow way of inputting data into them, I have the fujinet booting on drive 1 and the avg booting on drive 3, whatI need is an atr of Spartdos x 449, is there such a thing?

I figure that having an ATR of SDX, I would be able to copy everything from my Fujuinet onto the ide drives

Or is there an easier way?

 

Russ

 

[tmp]

you should be able to mount atr as d3: (shift-3), then run s2sdx3.car and have access to both hdd partitions and d3 (and potentially d1: from fujinet)