Atari Falcon ROM?

[Randy]

When I had my machine open to get a list of the caps to order, I did not see the traditional Atari ROM set in the Falcon.  Does the Falcon use a different configuration of a ROM chip?  Doe anyone know the location so that I can replace it?  Thanks!

[Tillek]

It's a different setup.

 

http://www.stformat.com/softhards/softhards-2764.html

 

Scroll down a bit to the motherboard diagram.  Or, you'll find it under the RAM board.

 

There is no need to change it for a given language, you just have to set the NVRAM setting to the selected language.  If you have 4.04, you're as good to go as it gets.  I don't think any of the "newer" ones got beyond the prototype stage and aren't known to be stable from what I recall.

[Randy]

2 hours ago, Tillek said:

It's a different setup.

 

http://www.stformat.com/softhards/softhards-2764.html

 

Scroll down a bit to the motherboard diagram.  Or, you'll find it under the RAM board.

 

There is no need to change it for a given language, you just have to set the NVRAM setting to the selected language.  If you have 4.04, you're as good to go as it gets.  I don't think any of the "newer" ones got beyond the prototype stage and aren't known to be stable from what I recall.

Thanks, Tillek, what do you mean by setting the NVRAM settings to get the selected language?  Is that done in software?  I remember hearing about a CPX module that can be used for selecting localization, but I don't which one and the ones loaded don't seem to have any localization setting that I see.  BTW, I think I have 4.01, is 4.04 recommended?

Edited June 10, 2021 by Randy
added material

[tjlazer]

Yes the Falcon doesn't require different ROMs for different languages, it's done in the NVRAM setup that is saved.  Like the PC did with the BIOS and CMOS.  Here are some tools.

NVRAM-CPX.zip nvram10.zip

Edited June 13, 2021 by tjlazer

[Randy]

Thanks lazer, the one problem I am having now is if I change the language settings using the config file from the Falcon language disk, I lose the hard drive partitions and only get the two floppies and trash icons and can't get the hard drives up, any suggestions?

[Tillek]

Do you actually lose the partitions?  I'm guessing you're just actually losing the icons.  Have you tried re-installing the icons?

 

Or a better question, does your HD driver that you're using display the drives it found when it starts up?

 

[Randy]

8 minutes ago, Tillek said:

Do you actually lose the partitions?  I'm guessing you're just actually losing the icons.  Have you tried re-installing the icons?

 

Or a better question, does your HD driver that you're using display the drives it found when it starts up?

 

Yes, I lose the partitions and can't install them with the install device menu item.  Also, I only get the ST video modes to show up and the hard drive does not show up on booting, the NVRAM settings are not saved, assuming the battery is dead and I am replacing that soon.  The Falcon shows the ST low, 16 colors, although I can go to 80 column mode.  Right now, I am trying to modify a SCSI 2 adapter and offload all of the data from the hard drive, format a CF card, and then reinstall the data back onto the CF card, so part of that process would include trying to get the US localization as standard when booting, any suggestions?  Thanks!

[Tillek]

Try the BOOTCONF program from this page...

 

https://www.seimet.de/atari/en/

 

SCSI ID and some other settings may not be getting set.  There are some other potentially useful programs there too.

 

[Tillek]

Though I may have made an assumption... if you're using the internal IDE connector, the SCSI setting wouldn't mean anything.

 

[Randy]

4 hours ago, Tillek said:

Though I may have made an assumption... if you're using the internal IDE connector, the SCSI setting wouldn't mean anything.

 

Yes, I am using the internal IDE drive.  I think what I may need to do is copy the HD onto a Zip (which I was planning to do to save the software on the Falcon), replace the HD with a IDE CF system and get that working properly in US format, and then copy back the zip-saved programs to the CF.  Hopefully at that point I can have the Falcon properly working in the US language format.