What would people class as essential software on a person's SDX partition?

[Mazzspeed]

As the topic implies, I'm reaching out to long term A8 users asking what they consider to be essential items of software to have present in my SDX partition?

 

I'm looking for interesting and useful software whether it be used for coding or just diagnosis/benchmarking - Whatever you can think of. I want to learn all I can about this platform.

[+Stephen]

Just a quickie:

• Ice-T XE 2.8 alpha 7 (80 column ANSI term emulator with scrollback buffer, download capability)
• Last Word 3.3 Word Processor
• EDDY (this is on the SDX toolkit) - hex editor for files, disks, and even partitions
• SC (Sparta Commander, also on the SDX toolkit)

The last 3 have great 80 column support using VBXE but can also use software drivers for 80 columns with no upgrades (albeit in mono)

 

[Faicuai]

6 hours ago, Mazzspeed said:

As the topic implies, I'm reaching out to long term A8 users asking what they consider to be essential items of software to have present in my SDX partition?

 

I'm looking for interesting and useful software whether it be used for coding or just diagnosis/benchmarking - Whatever you can think of. I want to learn all I can about this platform.

 

Well, this is when things could get a bit uphill, especially if starting the run from a standstill.

 

There will be two (2) large tasks that will have to be simultaneously addressed along the way:

1. Collecting, building and configuring the SW set that's worth working with.
2. Building, configuring and tuning the framework itself from which you will work with these (mainly SDX).

In both tasks you will invariably end up consuming plenty time and effort. Find attached a 16 MByte .ATR with an (organized) collection of SW that (hopefully) will save you from the above "ordeal":

 

Scratchpad-SDX-SDrive_AA.ATR

 

The recommended course of action here would be to FULLY transfer its content into your primary bootable HD partition. If you are unsure, create a second "Dn:" partition via FDISK, then back to SDX prompt and transfer everything with "COPY /RSV D1:\*.* Dn:\" where "n" is the number you chose for your created partition (SDX-managed /S switch will disable DMA operation during inert I/O, since you will need every horse under the hood for that transfer). Then go back to FDISK, and make Dn: as bootable. Once .CFG menu appears, select "_BOOTPBI" configuration, which attempts to optimize available base RAM in SDX.

 

First order of the day, after all said and done: type "-FLASH" from main prompt, and then navigate to \HARDWARE\ULT1MB directory, and update your main OS load to bring out the best of your machine in a PBI-rich config. Your target OS load will be "XE03UFPE.ROM", which is specially built for U1MB, and will give you control over DMA operation (on-the-fly, via OS keyboard handler), high-performance E: extension (immediate improvement on SDX), high-performance/precision floating-point package (for any SW that needs it), access to international character set, enable/disable key-click from anywhere, correct RAM-bank testing from SELF-TEST, etc. Properly sign for passing built-in checksum tests on Self-Test.

 

There's a ton more to see there, but... that would be a start.

 

Edited April 9, 2021 by Faicuai

[Mazzspeed]

Thanks guys,

 

Stephen, I already had Sparta Commander and ICE-T installed, I also added Eddy - Thank you.

 

Faicuai, that download was amazing! I created another partition and added it all to the new partition, I'll pick through it and slowly transfer what I need to my main partition. I saw The Last Word 3.3 was there, which was handy. Thank you.

[Mazzspeed]

On 4/10/2021 at 2:44 AM, Faicuai said:

First order of the day, after all said and done: type "-FLASH" from main prompt, and then navigate to \HARDWARE\ULT1MB directory, and update your main OS load to bring out the best of your machine in a PBI-rich config. Your target OS load will be "XE03UFPE.ROM", which is specially built for U1MB, and will give you control over DMA operation (on-the-fly, via OS keyboard handler), high-performance E: extension (immediate improvement on SDX), high-performance/precision floating-point package (for any SW that needs it), access to international character set, enable/disable key-click from anywhere, correct RAM-bank testing from SELF-TEST, etc. Properly sign for passing built-in checksum tests on Self-Test.

 

Entering -flash from the prompt doesn't do anything, I just get "file not found". Is this safe to do? The last thing I want to do is brick an U1MB just to get a bit more storage bandwidth I don't really need. Remember, I am running SIDE3, not SIDE2.

Edited April 13, 2021 by Mazzspeed

[Faicuai]

1 hour ago, Mazzspeed said:

Entering -flash from the prompt doesn't do anything, I just get "file not found". Is this safe to do? The last thing I want to do is brick an U1MB just to get a bit more storage bandwidth I don't really need. Remember, I am running SIDE3, not SIDE2.

It is very safe, as -flash is just a SDX "wrapper" (pre-configured .BAT file) to invoke the available flasher for Incognito/U1MB (hopefully latest version of UFLASH or whichever available the .ATR). It will not flash anything on its own, whatsoever. You will need the latest UFLASH or equivalent tool for flashing SIDE3.

 

However, you MUST boot SDX with the provided configs (in sparta.dos folder) and autoexec.bat, in order to properly setup SDX environment variables (eg. optimal search paths for commands and execs, editor parameters, color constants, etc,)

 

Just take a look at the included Autoexec.bat and I'm sure you will get the idea quickly (plus discovering, as well, how powerful SDX is, under the hood). A simple "type autoexec.bat" or "ed autoexec.bat" will suffice. If already booted that autoexec.bat, use "-TYPE autoexec.bat" as it is a lot more powerful and useful reader, plus it will use your 1+ MB ram expansion, when needed.

 

Edited April 13, 2021 by Faicuai

[Mazzspeed]

26 minutes ago, Faicuai said:

It is very safe, as -flash is just a SDX "wrapper" (pre-configured .BAT file) to invoke the available flasher for Incognito/U1MB (hopefully latest version of UFLASH or whichever available the .ATR). It will not flash anything on its own, whatsoever. You will need the latest UFLASH or equivalent tool for flashing SIDE3.

 

However, you MUST boot SDX with the provided configs (in sparta.dos folder) and autoexec.bat, in order to properly setup SDX environment variables (eg. optimal search paths for commands and execs, editor parameters, color constants, etc,)

 

Just take a look at the included Autoexec.bat and I'm sure you will get the idea quickly (plus discovering, as well, how powerful SDX is, under the hood). A simple "type autoexec.bat" or "ed autoexec.bat" will suffice. If already booted that autoexec.bat, use "-TYPE autoexec.bat" as it is a lot more powerful and useful reader, plus it will use your 1+ MB ram expansion, when needed.

 

I'll consider it. I've looked inside your batch file and I have an idea of what it does, but I really don't think I need it - As it is, SIDE3 is pretty fast and I don't really need the 1200XL's function keys or improved floating point performance. Well, not at this stage.

 

I'll wait until I'm more comfortable with the platform before flashing modded roms. My A8 journey is all about learning everything I can about a platform I'm unfamiliar with, no different to a lifetime Windows user switching to Linux. Baby steps are the path to success here and as it is I've learned heaps.

 

I don't believe in sitting in one comfort zone for too long, I like learning new things. Eventually I'll get to modded roms.

[Faicuai]

10 minutes ago, Mazzspeed said:

I'll consider it. I've looked inside your batch file and I have an idea of what it does, but I really don't think I need it - As it is, SIDE3 is pretty fast and I don't really need the 1200XL's function keys or improved floating point performance. Well, not at this stage.

 

I'll wait until I'm more comfortable with the platform before flashing modded roms. My A8 journey is all about learning everything I can about a platform I'm unfamiliar with, no different to a lifetime Windows user switching to Linux. Baby steps are the path to success here and as it is I've learned heaps.

 

I don't believe in sitting in one comfort zone for too long, I like learning new things. Eventually I'll get to modded roms.

 

In any case, you have four (4) XL/XE slots, and you can use one for test-purposes. Go ahead, and try with TOTAL confidence (its all erasable / re-flashable, anyway).

 

As soon as you see the speed of built-in E: extensions, you will NEVER look back (those OS roms have been tuned with utmost care and integrity, and NOTHING from their original code has been removed, FYI) 

 

Cheers!

Edited April 13, 2021 by Faicuai

[Mazzspeed]

5 hours ago, Faicuai said:

 

In any case, you have four (4) XL/XE slots, and you can use one for test-purposes. Go ahead, and try with TOTAL confidence (its all erasable / re-flashable, anyway).

 

As soon as you see the speed of built-in E: extensions, you will NEVER look back (those OS roms have been tuned with utmost care and integrity, and NOTHING from their original code has been removed, FYI) 

 

Cheers!

OK. With Phigan's guidance I flashed one of my slots with your ROM. Interesting.

 

Now I can blank the screen when doing an RWTEST and get a 20,947 B/sec improvement.

 

I can also turn the keyboard click off.

 

Edited April 14, 2021 by Mazzspeed