AVGCART

[Mclaneinc]

1 hour ago, mytek said:

As an example, here's a bootable 16MB ATR with MyDos 4.53 system files on it.

 

MyDos 16MB Drive.atr 16 MB · 3 downloads

 

Nice, I have the 4 game disks ones, done by someone on here..such a convenient way to have loads of games..(but, shush, I still prefer my AVG cart, don't tell tmp, his head will swell)

[Mclaneinc]

45 minutes ago, Peter Rabitt said:

OK I agree!!! Now how do "we" try to get my skill level to a place that I can do the things I am asking???

 

Not wanting to change the thread but I have used the IDE2plus to do things that the AVG can not..(use the fat16 partition to copy files to the APT partition etc) As I see it the AVG is just a big HDD look-a-like and all you can do is play games from it but not use it for a support for the Atari as a saving device. Namely, you can not save back to it, or at least I have not found away except with a PC/MAC etc. Kind of hard if you are on a Atari to save thru and PC/MAC..

 

I am not sure why you have to buy more equipment so you can use the different devices?? (side3/U1mb etc).(I have both and about ALL the new devices out for the Atari)

Also ONE thing that really makes me "mad" is why I have to buy/have a PC or MAC to use the new things for Atari.. Never needed them back in the days (80's).

 

Sorry for the rant I will find something else to do for a few days to "cool" down and come back later..

 

Peter

 

Don't blame you for being annoyed, but lets not forget that there were things you could not do back then as well. Imagine just having a 400 and a tape unit.... Nothing else...Would drive you insane

 

Anyway, relax, I'm sure when you return there will now be a set of people who understand your wants and will pass on the info, the fact people were not understanding fully what you wanted to do slowed down the normal help system here.

 

Enjoy the sun but keep safe..

 

Paul..

 

 

PS, having a PC or MAC is actually a plus, things like these 16mb Atr files would never have existed without emulation, you could never have written them out on good old hardware. Also, there's so many very useful tools on the PC etc that help with more awkward tasks on real hardware.

Edited July 16, 2022 by Mclaneinc

[Mr Robot]

1 hour ago, Peter Rabitt said:

OK I agree!!! Now how do "we" try to get my skill level to a place that I can do the things I am asking???

 

Not wanting to change the thread but I have used the IDE2plus to do things that the AVG can not..(use the fat16 partition to copy files to the APT partition etc) As I see it the AVG is just a big HDD look-a-like and all you can do is play games from it but not use it for a support for the Atari as a saving device. Namely, you can not save back to it, or at least I have not found away except with a PC/MAC etc. Kind of hard if you are on a Atari to save thru and PC/MAC..

 

I am not sure why you have to buy more equipment so you can use the different devices?? (side3/U1mb etc).(I have both and about ALL the new devices out for the Atari)

Also ONE thing that really makes me "mad" is why I have to buy/have a PC or MAC to use the new things for Atari.. Never needed them back in the days (80's).

 

Sorry for the rant I will find something else to do for a few days to "cool" down and come back later..

 

Peter

OK so the AVG is basically an Atari cart. It pretends to be a regular Atari cart, it can load almost every type of cart ever released for the Atari.

Due to some clever programming it can also load Atari executable files (the things you'd find on an Atari disk) stick them in memory and execute them.

Due to some very clever programming it can also load ATR files (images of Atari disks) Stick them in memory (if you have enough memory like a U1MB) and make them boot. 

Due to some genius level programming (If you add an optional SIO cable) it can now also load (and save to) ATR files without a memory expansion as well as ATX files (Atari disk images with protection still intact) and CAS files (cassette images) by pretending to be a bunch of floppy disk drives and a cassette drive. 

As a bonus you also get an IDE interface that you can point at an APT formatted partition on the SD card and get 'hard drive' emulation as well. This uses the software from the Side cart, which does the same thing. 

 

Remember that back in the day, hard drives were very rare for the Atari, most users had a floppy drive or two, you'd boot from one and save to the other or (if you weren't rich and only had one floppy drive) you'd boot from one disk, swap to a blank disk to save and put the original disk back in again. 

 

Sophisticated concepts like DOS, directory structures and big hard drives were very much the exception to the rule requiring an expensive add-on, new DOS, loads of configuration and lots of money. 

 

Edit:

 

"Also ONE thing that really makes me "mad" is why I have to buy/have a PC or MAC to use the new things for Atari.. Never needed them back in the days (80's)."

 

Once you have copied all the files to the SD card, you don't need a PC/MAC any more to use the AVGCART as a loading/saving device, back in the day you didn't need the PC/Mac because you didn't have 10000 disks all available at the same time, you didn't have 4 disk drives and a tape drive, if you needed a new blank disk to write to, you went out and bought a box of them, you didn't just magic up one out of thin air like today. 

 

If you set up the SD card to be a hard drive as well, you don't need the PC/MAC any more after doing that, you didn't need the PC/MAC for that back in the day because you had a physical drive that was pre-formatted for you to use. If someone sold you an SD card today with all the software set up so you could just plug it into the AVG and turn the Atari on, you'd get much the same experience today. 

 

You seem to be getting a bit confused by the differences between the drives and the media and the files on the media and how that equates to a modern setup.

 

Maybe if you describe the process you used to do back in the day with original hardware (use part/model numbers if you can), someone here will be able to explain to you how to achieve the same result with modern addons... Don't be brief, the more detail and effort you put into the question the more likely someone will use equal effort in the reply. 

[Beeblebrox]

@Peter Rabitt

"Also ONE thing that really makes me "mad" is why I have to buy/have a PC or MAC to use the new things for Atari.. Never needed them back in the days (80's)"

 

With the greatest respect I think you are missing the point here. So if you had all the old Atari gear (including a disk drive) and disks and all worked and you were happy running the old Atari setup as it was back in the day, of course there would be no need for a PC/mac setup. 

 

Fast forward to modern computing, where we have all the 1000s of now free back catalogue titles and new ones downloadable on modern computing formats and media, most of which load in the blink of an eye, of course the need to have a modern means to either mimic drives or get said files onto new media to then load onto our Atari computers has been devised by dedicated individuals in the community over the years. Some devices such as the Fujinet connect directly to networks and can download and directly run files without the need for a PC. 

 

It's a trade of and very often we all have PCs in this modern age anyway. Not always but more often than not. 

 

Devices like sio2pc USB are relatively cheap and free software like respect exists that facilitates it all. 

 

The cart tech like Side3 and Avg cart are amazing and I can load all of the software/games I need in the blink of an eye, and mount carts to run. 

 

Atari coders are always pushing this 40 year old tech still and it is amazing. 

 

The hardware is there to help but of course the tricky task of merging 40year old tech with modern tech is always gonna come with challenges and a sometimes a learning curve....that is the trade off. 

 

You can do so much with these cart systems etc which ultimately prolong and push these amazing computers. 

 

?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mimo]

Kind of thinking out loud, would it be possible to use the AVG carts RAM expansion capability on a 1200xl? Where would the pick up points be on the motherboard, and which pins on the AVG cart would they correspond to?

[tmp]

frankly, that idea sounds just wrong, you'd be better off with just some internal mem upgrade if that's what you're aiming for

(also you can't just wire stuff directly, there's level shifter in each eci/pbi cable)

[mimo]

Ok, like I said, just thinking out loud. Internal upgrade does sound a better idea but I already have the AVG 

[+Peter Rabitt]

Hi, noted there is a "copy" command but no where can I find how to use it.. I tried the commend but did not correctly add the proper words after..

What is the format and what can you copy from (AVG) to disk, IDE disk ???

Thanks for the info...

Been using it for awhile and really like it..

 

Peter

 

[tmp]

I believe this was already answered, it just makes a copy of the file under cursor (it asks for the destination filename)

[+Peter Rabitt]

OK I think I understand the "COPY" but what is the way you set it up. I tried control c and get COPY them what?? How do you give it a drive number?

I have tried to say D2: file name but it does not accept the D2: the cursor just stops on the " : ". If hitting the return key it then acts like it is saving the file but I can not find it...

Sorry I ask questions when I do not understand but I would like to use this AVG to the best I can. There maybe others who don't understand also but are afraid to ask...The manual tells a lot but just said "control-c to copy but does not say how..

 

Peter

[tmp]

there's no d2:, it copies files within fat32/fat16 on the sd card

[+Peter Rabitt]

So copy does nothing but add a another file of the same  to the cl/sd!!!

OK thanks for the info, I wanted to copy the file to a disk to get from the PC to the Atari disk drive..

Peter

[Jeffrey Worley]

I'm a big fan of Side2, own several, (a dozen?).  These past few months, after discovering the automated Side2 emulation of AVG, I've been using it exclusively.  AVG is a very very cool device, has some advantages on Side2, as a cartridge emulator for sure.  AVG's interface is not as intuitive as FlashjazzCat's code, but it is very flexible.  A geek's joy.

 

best,

 

jeff

 

[tmp]

new beta - ac27

 

interesting to those who have stock (16kB ram) 600xl machine and pbi cable, it tries to provide missing 48kB to make it 64kB machine, at the expense of some cart ram (so e.g. 1MB car files are a no go)

extram support (ctrl-shift-m) needs to be enabled for it to work but otherwise it should work (or break) automatically

[Mclaneinc]

For those without said pbi, any need?

 

 

Thanks

[tmp]

upgrading shouldn't hurt even if you don't need/can't use the functionality, at least it'd show if i broke something that used to work

[Mclaneinc]

Ok, will do..

 

Thank you....

[madness77]

21 hours ago, Jeffrey Worley said:

I'm a big fan of Side2, own several, (a dozen?).  These past few months, after discovering the automated Side2 emulation of AVG, I've been using it exclusively.  AVG is a very very cool device, has some advantages on Side2, as a cartridge emulator for sure.  AVG's interface is not as intuitive as FlashjazzCat's code, but it is very flexible.  A geek's joy.

 

best,

 

jeff

 

..and if you prefer, you can still use the @flashjazzcat Loader

 

https://atari8.co.uk/firmware/avg/

😉

[ijor]

Hi,

 

Is this available for purchase? And if so, do you have any reseller in the US? Thanks

 

[tmp]

12 minutes ago, ijor said:

Hi,

 

Is this available for purchase? And if so, do you have any reseller in the US? Thanks

 

yes, it's available (see my signature)

no, there are no US resellers

[Lastic]

A big thank you to @tmp for dealing with my custom cable madness and the quick shipping.

PCB number #13 with the diagonal ECI connector and I didn't want to cut up the original case so I had to file the 3D printed one (https://forums.atariage.com/topic/283541-avgcart-gets-a-new-1200xl-compatible-shell/)


Routed the ECI cable between the buttons and made a cutout for the SIO connector.

If anybody has a clue which silver paint I could use to paint the AVGCART logo on this 3D printed case, please let me know .

And here we are , an all in one solution for my 800XE , no U1MB, no SIO2SD, no SDrive, no UNOcart, no SDrive2,no 320XE (laying sadly on the desk) one cart to rule them all
Loading R:Epilogue ...


Greetings from Belgium

[Stormtrooper of Death]

After reading several hours info about the AVG cart (and watching some videos about the AVG on youtube), i have a question:

 

Is it possible to use the SDX harddrive capabilities of the AVG cart with a standard 64K 800XL and the AVG PBI Cable (making use of the AVG 576KB Ram option)

[tmp]

sure, running s2sdx3.car (sdx with SIDE driver) will give you hdd and total 576kB, stacking e.g. some OSS cart (Action!, ...) with SDX will give you hdd and 320kB

[Mclaneinc]

A quick ask, I've not booted my Atari for a few months, I wanted to have a play on the AVG and did. But I suddenly have a C next to random files in the menu and I think I saw a T. What are these and how do I get rid of them

 

And yes, I did reread the manual..

 

PS, latest firmware...

 

PS2, I think I imagined the T as I can't see any files with a T before them now..

 

PS5, none of the files with C will boot, it's like the disk is not there..

 

Just looked at the files on the PC and they are all 0 byte files?

 

Looks like C equals corrupt, any other letters that might pop up @tmp

 

Checked my PC and had a few 0 byte files on the emulation HD, bloody windows 10 and it's "this disk may have issues (which it does not) and then 'fixes' the drive and corrupts files as it does it. Known issue, supposedly solved (not!). AVG is fine and not the problem...

Edited September 2, 2022 by Mclaneinc

[Havok69]

I definitely have to pick one of these up. I'm going to want the SIO cable add on. If I have a 1010 program recorder hooked up, can the AVG be connected at the same time, or will it need to be directly connected to the computer's SIO port?