Any interest in a customized Spartados 3.2 Hard Drive atr?

[Lord Thag]

I’ve got a 576NUC+ inbound, and in preparation for that, I am in the process of setting up a customized Spartados 3.2 hard drive that has everything I need to use, bootable from a single .atr file. 

 

In the process of making this, I’ve noticed several threads over the years requesting something like this, so I thought this might be something the community might also want access to. Ultimately, I’m hoping to roll with Spartados X once the cart adapter and case come out, but even then, I’m not sure there’s a really good Sparta 3.2 or X HD image out there. I can see this also being of use to people who just have a SIO2SD or SDRIVE, without further SIDE/S1mb,SDX cart etc. It would also gain all the Sparta X functionality just by adding an SDX cart and booting off that. 

 

Ultimately I would offer it here on the forums, but also via a Fujinet accessible server for anyone to just download and run.
 
Current programs and features I’m thinking of setting up on this image:

 

• Auto boots to shell.com which mimics Spartados X’s Path variable, allowing you to run programs from any directory
• Full Sparta 3.2 command list plus all Sparta X .com commands that will work under 3.2 that I can find (some of the ATR tool, xedit, etc) -any suggestions here?
• Pre installed and configured disk versions of common dev software for programming like MAC/65, Action!, Fastbasic, as well as a few editors and toolkits. 
• A selection of games that run under Spartados
• The Sparta Fujinet toolset
• Last Word 2.1 (is there a later version of this with better memory management that runs under 3.2?)
• A selection of extended utilities and commands, such as Arc, self extracting compression tools, the wedge etc. (on todo)
• If the X Man command will run, I’m planning on converting all the older .doc files to .man files for easy command line access (on todo list)
• A selection of music software, trackers and players that will run (on todo)
• Ditto for videos (on todo)
• ICE-T, Plato and other communication software I can get to run on 3.2 (on todo)
• Anything else I should add?

 

Basically, I’m aiming for a one stop Spartados inage for any device or emulator that can boot an .atr file. 

 

So is this something you all would find helpful or useful? Anything I should add to the above list? Anything I should take off or avoid due to restrictions or developer request?

[Dinadan67]

That sounds very nice and i would definitely put this ATR on the SD card of my NUC+ ?

[BobJones]

Yes please. This would be amazing!

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

[drac030]

On 7/2/2021 at 8:10 PM, Lord Thag said:

If the X Man command will run

It will not. Most SDX utilities and external commands (like all except one or two) are in the relocatable binary format which 3.2 does not understand, and require the SDX Library, which 3.2 does not contain.

[Lord Thag]

2 hours ago, drac030 said:

It will not. Most SDX utilities and external commands (like all except one or two) are in the relocatable binary format which 3.2 does not understand, and require the SDX Library, which 3.2 does not contain.

I figured, but hadn't got that far yet. Thanks for the heads up! I'll check that off the todo list.

[_The Doctor__]

On 7/4/2021 at 6:22 PM, Lord Thag said:

I figured, but hadn't got that far yet. Thanks for the heads up! I'll check that off the todo list.

don't let that dissuade you from finding similar stuff that will run though... many updates SDX has came from other ideas or earlier Sparta Dos stuff... it may have some added features etc but it's core purposes are still there... don't forget the real dos stuff as well since the stuff happens hand in hand it seems...

[Lord Thag]

2 hours ago, _The Doctor__ said:

don't let that dissuade you from finding similar stuff that will run though... many updates SDX has came from other ideas or earlier Sparta Dos stuff... it may have some added features etc but it's core purposes are still there... don't forget the real dos stuff as well since the stuff happens hand in hand it seems...

I won't. I'm the 'bang my head against it until it gives up and works' type anyway. ?

I've already got more than a few fancy new X tools that run quite well on 3.2. Xedit runs very well, as do the ATP tools, and several other useful commands etc. Hopefully when I'm done, this thing will be the end all, be all of 3.2 hard disk images, and everyone can then customize it to their liking.

My main issue at the moment (I just got my NUC+ in the mail) is getting Spartados 3.2  to run at all. Like it was with my older SIO2SD, it's a SIO connection speed issue. Unlike SIO2SD, it's not a simple speed setting since both the NUC and Fujinet need to be dialed down a bit. I can turn off HSIO with an [Alt]-[2] boot on the NUC+ easily enough, but Marlin wasn't sure how to get Fujinet to do the same. I'm going to fool around with it tonight to either get Fujinet configured, or redo the entire setup with the high speed Sparta 3.2 hack from brewing academy, probably the latter. We'll see how it goes.  

 

[massiverobot]

23 minutes ago, Lord Thag said:

 how to get Fujinet to do the same. I'm going to fool around with it tonight to either get Fujinet configured, or redo the entire setup with the high speed Sparta 3.2 hack from brewing academy, probably the latter. We'll see how it goes.  

 

It's easy.

 

Hit "C" on FN screen, get the config as below...

 

Now go to the URL of your FN on your desktop and adjust the HSIO Speed in the config in the HSIO section. I got a screen shot of the entire FN config below as well.

 

Edited July 8, 2021 by massiverobot
add photo

[Lord Thag]

1 minute ago, massiverobot said:

It's easy.

 

Hit "C" on FN screen, get the config as below:

 

 

Now go to the URL of your FN on your desktop and adjust the HSIO Speed in the config here:

 

 

Well, that saved me reading up on it. That is simple, thanks! That'll get the old non HSIO image to boot easy, I am sure.

I will still try and convert the image to a high speed Sparta hack though, just to take advantage of the modern speed boosts. In fact, I may just offer both as a download so users can just plug and play.

[massiverobot]

Sorry, i just have to say that FujiNet is the most amazing device ever invented for Atari. The craftsmanship and ease of use- I mean, come on - look at that config screen. Amazing.

 

Also, really looking forward to using this SDX boot disk on my NUC+!

Edited July 8, 2021 by massiverobot

[Lord Thag]

1 minute ago, massiverobot said:

Sorry, i just have to say that FujiNet is the most amazing device ever invented for Atari. The craftsmanship and ease of use- I mean, come on - look at that config screen. Amazing.

I have been playing with one for exactly 24 hours and I can say, my thought process has gone exactly like this:
"That's it? I'm downloading files to my atari with less steps than my laptop? Wow, that's EASY."

...

"*read website* ...wait. You can DO that? Shit, that's amazing"

...

"You can access BBS' from the command line with a simple command, in any dos!?"

...

"IT PRINTS TO PDF AND DOES SSH!?!?!"

I was expecting it to be good... I had no idea it was going to be anywhere near as cool as it is. Networking, PLATO, disk drives, DOS command line access, printing ... this thing is pure magic.

 

[+DjayBee]

Do you have Sparta Dos Toolkit for SD 3.2?

 

If so, I am interested in every version of COMMAND.COM and WHEREIS.COM you have to repair an a8preservation.com dump of an original disk which has gone bad.

 

We know that tere are more than one release of the Toolkit with differing binaries. Therefore I take all you have and sort through them.

 

thanks

[+bf2k+]

I have this one:SD_Toolkit-1987.atr 

[+DjayBee]

22 minutes ago, bf2k+ said:

I have this one:SD_Toolkit-1987.atr 

Thanks man, this is the exact version we need.

Both files currently have one bad sector which we can repair now.

[+bf2k+]

Glad to be able to help...  about 25 years ago, I migrated all of my floppies to ATRs. 

[chad5200]

Is this ATR available?