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Windows 10 driver hell (Usb serial port and USB serial converter) for Atarimax SIO2PC


Beeblebrox

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1 hour ago, Beeblebrox said:

@bfollowell

Hi. Ok, just a little update. I removed as much of the traces of FDTI drivers from Windows, and tried running the USB connection from a direct laptop USB port. Tried rebooting, etc. Prosystem still doesn't find the com port. 

Ah well.:roll:

 

Anyway, I started to follow your instructions regarding using APE for Windows to set up an black ATR I've made mouting it as drive 3. I mounted a sector copier ATR in drive 2, and then went to assign drive 1 to my real 1050 drive and that is where I am not following things as I can't seem to see where I tell APE that the real 1050 is assigned to drive 1. Presumably if I boot as follows nothing will happen as it is looking for drive 1 and nothing is assigned? The 1050 drive itself is plugged into the Atari's SIO and is physically set as drive 1. But not in APE. If I pop the sector copier into the drive 1 slot on APE then that won't work either.

 

EDIT:  Unless I've misunderstood completely and I need to have a sector copier on a "real" disk already, load it from said real disk in the 1050 whilst attached to APE for windows with the blank ATR assigned in APE in another number slot?  If so it's catch22 as I don't have a sector copier on a real disk readily to hand, and can't create one. Sorry for the questions... I am usually pretty good at eventually working this in my own time - it's just confused me this time around heh heh :D

 

 

 

EDIT: @bfollowell  ok penny just dropped. :rolling: I booted the disk wizard copier ATR mounted as drive 1 in APE for Windows on the Atari, then when loaded I just unmounted it from drive 1 in APE, leaving the drive 1 slot blank. Then mounted the blank test ATR I'd created with APE as drive 2. Seems to be copying :) Hopefully the resulting ATR will run in Altirra and APE.  

EDIT2:  Great, it worked! 

image.thumb.png.f37abd6ee21e4f00f0d2bade79e2ebe4.png

 

image.thumb.png.69f90b872cf5e8d7f6a96a38052d7604.png     image.thumb.png.2168698b428f49aa0424d7e27d2588f2.png    

 

image.png

Edited by Beeblebrox
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You don't do anything in APE as far as your physical drive. You assign your real drive to drive 1, or whatever number you want it to be, using the switches in the back just like you normally would. Then you assign any other virtual drives you're using their drive numbers and insert the disk images to them using APE, then you boot off your real physical drive just like you normally would.

 

Or you could boot off of a virtual drive and have your real drive setup as 2 or 3 or whatever. All you do in APE is setup your virtual drives. You assign your physical drive's numbers with it's switches just like you always have.

 

You can have any number or combination of real and virtual drives. The only thing APE does is control the virtual drives.

 

If it were me, I'd put Disk Wizard in disk #1 in APE, assign your 1050 as drive #2, and then maybe a blank floppy image in disk #3. That's assuming that Disk Wizard actually allows you to use more than 2 drives. I know it worked with 2, but I can't recall if it would work with more than that. If it doesn't for some reason, I'd boot off of Disk Wizard in drive #1 in APE, have your 1050 assigned as drive #2, and then swap a blank floppy image into drive #1 after booting and copy from drive 2 to drive 1.

 

I'm working off the top of my head here and decades old memories of using Disk Wizard II.

 

 

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It reports it found the usb device and configured, there is no rs232 device to find and reports that as well... it should be working...

APE can serve both a USB and an rs232 at the same time, just don't access the same disk at the same time... writing to the same image slot at the same time is a no no.

 

Edit looks like you've got it figured out in your later post

Edited by _The Doctor__
responding to next pages post
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29 minutes ago, _The Doctor__ said:

It reports it found the usb device and configured, there is no rs232 device to find and reports that as well... it should be working...

APE can serve both a USB and an rs232 at the same time, just don't access the same disk at the same time... writing to the same image slot at the same time is a no no.

 

Edit looks like you've got it figured out in your later post

 

Well, he's got APE working with his physical drive and he's making copies that way, but he still can't ProSystem to work, and that's really odd. APE recognizes the SIO2PC-USB, but ProSystem doesn't. But he has it copying now, and that's the main thing.

 

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On 10/4/2021 at 6:35 PM, Beeblebrox said:

It's a real pity I can't use RespeQt as it does appear to have more features. 

 

 

I am not so sure about that. It's been a while since I have tried RespeQt, but last I remember it was pretty basic compared to the things you can do in APE. I don't remember modem emulation like APE has (share your internet to the Atari for BBS dialup) and the mirror function is awesome which lets you browse the PC folders right on the A8 machine.

 

I purchased APE around 20 years ago and it is one of the purchases I never have regretted. It gets updated often, but I typically email Steven and ask him for an update every year or so. Just be forewarned if you are emailing him to look up your old registration, he is slow to respond...sometimes weeks. But, he always does respond eventually ;)

 

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10 hours ago, eightbit said:

It gets updated often, but I typically email Steven and ask him for an update every year or so.

 

I'm not so sure about this part, anymore at least. I think the current version came out about three years ago and, if there's been an update since then, I haven't been able to find out any information about through official or unofficial sources.

 

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Don't mention Windows 10, decided to change to it so formatted my drive, installed it and it was ok (at first) and I was getting used to the changes but after about 4 days it started to say that my USB drives had a problem and needed a scan to fix. 2 days later 2 of my main USB drives became corrupted and were now RAW, I scrambled out backup tools and got what I could off the drives. I'm now back on Win 7..

 

No idea why it happened, both my Windows install are 100% genuine disks, no hooky stuff...

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22 hours ago, Mclaneinc said:

Don't mention Windows 10, decided to change to it so formatted my drive, installed it and it was ok (at first) and I was getting used to the changes but after about 4 days it started to say that my USB drives had a problem and needed a scan to fix. 2 days later 2 of my main USB drives became corrupted and were now RAW, I scrambled out backup tools and got what I could off the drives. I'm now back on Win 7..

 

No idea why it happened, both my Windows install are 100% genuine disks, no hooky stuff...

@Mclaneinc  I feel ya pain. I few years back my other half had some USB sticks corrupted after Windows 10 shennanigans. I am now even more fastidious about unmounting them before pullin em out of the USB ports.

 

I am a lil behind but I clocked t'internet mentions of Windows 11 of late. Don't think I'll be in a rush just yet to upgrade. I've not touched my PC gaming laptop or my VR setup since April, when I rejoined the world of Atari! ;)

 

In terms of my progress with this thread topic  - so far I am getting on ok with APE for Windows (trial), and the Atarimax SIO2PC USB connection although I've not done much more with it as have been sidetracked trying to sort some stock and also modded 1050 drives. (That's a whole other thread). I have been tied up with lots of the hardware side of A8 things recently.

 

Re APE: I am currently awaiting confirmation from Steve Tucker regarding a possible age old APE registration I am pretty sure I did BITD. (I realise he is a busy man so no worries).

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 10/13/2021 at 9:29 AM, bfollowell said:

 

I'm not so sure about this part, anymore at least. I think the current version came out about three years ago and, if there's been an update since then, I haven't been able to find out any information about through official or unofficial sources.

 

 

Steven updates it a lot. The version on the website has stuck at v3.0.2 for years. The version I received from him a year ago was v3.0.15. I am waiting for him to reply currently to see what it is at now.

 

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2 hours ago, eightbit said:

 

Steven updates it a lot. The version on the website has stuck at v3.0.2 for years. The version I received from him a year ago was v3.0.15. I am waiting for him to reply currently to see what it is at now.

 

 

Well, I guess that kind of proves my point. If you can't find any information on the web site, how in the world are you supposed to know about updates?! It seems really weird to expect your customers to email you every year or so to ask you if an update is available and may I get a copy? Why is it a big secret?

 

Don't get me wrong. Steve is a great guy and a class act, no doubt, but responding to emails and getting info out about software updates are definitely two areas that could use major improvement.

 

Edited by bfollowell
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11 minutes ago, bfollowell said:

 

Well, I guess that kind of proves my point. If you can't find any information on the web site, how in the world are you supposed to know about updates?! It seems really weird to expect your customers to email you every year or so to ask you if an update is available and may I get a copy? Why is it a big secret?

 

Don't get me wrong. Steve is a great guy and a class act, no doubt, but responding to emails and getting info out about software updates are definitely two areas that could use major improvement.

 

 

I think what you are getting from the website as a trial customer is fine. I mean, it is a trial...and I have not heard anyone complain that the trial software is not working. As a matter of fact, it worked "straight away" according to the topic starter whereas RespeQT did not. 

 

So, that said, I don't think unregistered users should be privy to any of the latest updates. Pay for it and you open the door to the latest software. It makes sense as I have seen way too many times where a trial application gets cracked to unlock a full version. If that were to happen to Steven it would suck, but at least all the hacker would get would be a 3 year old version that is missing three years of significant updates.

 

Steven replies in a week or two typically. Sometimes sooner. But he always does and I always get the update. I think us old timers that have been using these machines for the past four decades tend to have more patience than today's crowd :)

 

When you actually buy the software he provides you with the most current update, details about the lifetime upgrades he advertises on the website and so on. The key is to buy it if you like the trial software. I did 20 years ago...and it is still one of my best purchases in my book. 

Edited by eightbit
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Oh, I've registered and I use the that version. I didn't mean to imply that it should be there for free download for everyone, but is it really out of the question, as a paid, registered user, to expect an occasional blurb on the APE page saying, Just Out, APE version 3.0.15? You never see that though. That's what I was trying to get at. Why should registered users that paid good money for a program have to email Steve to find out if an update is available? I'm not suggesting that he email all the registered users personally and tell us that a new version is available, but would it really be that hard to post a note somewhere on his site to let us know? It's just a little strange way of doing things.

 

That being said, it sounds like it's high time I email Steve and ask about an update of APE and ProSystem.

 

EDIT

 

And now I have to go back and eat my words!

 

I went to the AtariMax site to grab Steve's email address so I could check in on the most recent version of APE/ProSystem, and what did I see?

 

image.thumb.png.6987d89ba73e866037bff2462a2e8a52.png

 

Yep, you guessed it. Right there at the bottom of the download section, Registered Users: Version 3.0.13 is Available. e-Mail for Upgrade!

 

Has that always been there and I've just missed it?! Well, I have to eat my words now. It looks like Steve does a great job of telling us when a new version is available, assuming you actually look for it.

 

Edited by bfollowell
eating my words
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On 10/27/2021 at 7:50 PM, eightbit said:

 

Steven updates it a lot. The version on the website has stuck at v3.0.2 for years. The version I received from him a year ago was v3.0.15. I am waiting for him to reply currently to see what it is at now.

 

 

Well, Steve got back with me fairly quickly this time. Typically, it does take a week or two so I must've caught him at the perfect time.

 

He sent me a link, a username, and a password to download the newest version, which happened to be 3.0.14. When I went to save it where I keep my saved apps I checked and, though I'd forgotten, I'd already had 3.0.14 and I'd saved it on 12/14/18, so we're going on three years on the current version, unless he gave me a link to an older version and 3.0.14 isn't actually the most recent version. That's still quite a few versions newer than the trial version available to everyone, but that's still quite a while since an upgrade, so I'm not sure we can say it gets updated a lot, at least anymore. Of course, it's been around for so long, and been so stable, that there really may not be a lot of reason to update anymore, so that may not necessarily be a bad thing.

 

@eightbit, if you can confirm that you have v3.0.15, I'd like to know, so I can check with Steve if I didn't get the most recent version.

 

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4 hours ago, bfollowell said:

 

 

@eightbit, if you can confirm that you have v3.0.15, I'd like to know, so I can check with Steve if I didn't get the most recent version.

 

 

I received my email from him yesterday and he sent me my update, with is still 3.0.15. Although the updater file size is different than the v3.0.15 he sent me last December. I did notice an option upon installation to adjust Windows rights to allow the program always to launch in admin mode that I did not remember on the previous installer, but maybe it was there before.

 

But yeah, confirmed:

 

 

Capture.PNG

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  • 5 months later...

Well, I have the same issue. The "usbsio.inf" driver that comes with the Trial version of APE for Windows is from 2007, and doesn't install (not signed, not 64 Bit). The trial version is 3.0.2

 

https://www.atarimax.com/

 

and you only get the driver for the hardware you purchased (!!!) if you also buy a license:

 

"(- Version 3.0.13 Includes 64-bit RS232, USB and VCP Support! -) "
 
So, in order to get something that works, you will have to buy an additional software license for your hardware device.
 
I am calling this a rip-off and scam. Anybody has a driver to share here? I already paid for that product! What am I going to do with a product for which I don't have a working driver, and which has been made to NOT work with the standard drivers by the creator? Shame on AtariMax.
 
 
Edited by Lambda Mikel
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  • 2 weeks later...

Steve replied in these matters; he wrote (5/5/2022):

Quote


Hi Michael,

    You are free to share the 64-bit USB drivers if needed.  They are normally included on
 the installation CD.

Thanks,

Steve

 

So if somebody is "in need", please drop my a PM and I'll share them (I don't think "share if needed" implies "upload for all", else I would do it).


-- 

Edited by Lambda Mikel
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