Gunstar Posted May 29, 2022 Share Posted May 29, 2022 (edited) I never use the BASIC eprom I installed in my 1200XL when I did the 800XL compatibility mod/upgrade and Atarimax Warp+ OS upgrade and I've been wanting to replace it with another 8K rom, but could never decide what I think might be the most useful program to have since I have plenty of devices attached that can already store ready to run roms in flash memory as anything else I would find useful installed in the rom socket won't fit as they are 16K roms. This is finally something I think is worthy enough to be used in place of the 8K Basic. I was thinking Assembler Editor (I think it's 8K-though I use MAC/65 so I don't see much point). Thank you so much for such a useful utility that will fit on an 8K eprom for the socket! Then I can just hold Option on power up (Warp + OS does reverse Basic enable) to make sure everything that should be detected is detected! Thank you so much @Panther ! Edited May 29, 2022 by Gunstar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panther Posted May 29, 2022 Author Share Posted May 29, 2022 22 minutes ago, Gunstar said: I never use the BASIC eprom I installed in my 1200XL when I did the 800XL compatibility mod/upgrade and Atarimax Warp+ OS upgrade and I've been wanting to replace it with another 8K rom, but could never decide what I think might be the most useful program to have since I have plenty of devices attached that can already store ready to run roms in flash memory as anything else I would find useful installed in the rom socket won't fit as they are 16K roms. This is finally something I think is worthy enough to be used in place of the 8K Basic. I was thinking Assembler Editor (I think it's 8K-though I use MAC/65 so I don't see much point). Thank you so much for such a useful utility that will fit on an 8K eprom for the socket! Then I can just hold Option on power up (Warp + OS does reverse Basic enable) to make sure everything that should be detected is detected! Thank you so much @Panther ! You're welcome! I'm glad this is useful. I was actually thinking of patching it into a 400/800 OS ROM in place of the Memo Pad, though at this stage I think I would have to trim out some features for it to fit. I was just playing with a 400 where I replaced the RAM card with SRAM and a PLD, so this would have been useful for me to have done when I started. I am just doing it for testing and learning though. I've learned a lot about the address and data buses and various signals on the Atari 400/800. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NigeHenry Posted June 1, 2022 Share Posted June 1, 2022 Really useful program thanks for providing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panther Posted June 10, 2022 Author Share Posted June 10, 2022 When you press M to get the memory map in version 1.3, now you not only get the extended memory map, but it displays the base memory in 4K blocks with accessible portions inverse. I think my initial layout for this looked better, but it wasn't very practical: 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reifsnyderb Posted June 10, 2022 Share Posted June 10, 2022 Looks great! I'll have to upgrade soon as I use it frequently. ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panther Posted June 10, 2022 Author Share Posted June 10, 2022 The new feature is especially useful for anyone developing memory expansions. Also, I should point out that the base memory tests are all done in the upper range for each 4K block, so it shows the DXXX RAM block as accessible though this is only true for the D800-DFFF range, not D000-D7FF. I wonder if it would be confusing if I made only half of that block inverse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted June 10, 2022 Share Posted June 10, 2022 would not be confusing if it's in the docs or help screen. would make perfect sense to a number of us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panther Posted June 15, 2022 Author Share Posted June 15, 2022 Due a friend needing something to test base RAM on an 800, I wrote memory test utility. It now supports both 400/800 and XL/XE configurations and scans all available memory. This includes all memory on a 400/800 up to 52K (0000-CFFF) when available, and all 64K on an XL/XE, except for the hardware addresses D000-D7FF. Memory located under the OS and Basic are included. Even the memory occupied by SimTest is included in the test. The displayed RAMTOP is as reported by the OS, but "Base Memory" is calculated by SimTest and is what is used as the basis for the test. The program stops reporting errors after 112 errors are displayed. The tests performed on each memory location include writes and verification of: 11111111 00000000 11110000 00001111 10101010 01010101 SimTest-0.6.xex SimTest-0.6.bin 2 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reifsnyderb Posted June 15, 2022 Share Posted June 15, 2022 (edited) 1 hour ago, Panther said: Due a friend needing something to test base RAM on an 800, I wrote memory test utility. It now supports both 400/800 and XL/XE configurations and scans all available memory. This includes all memory on a 400/800 up to 52K (0000-CFFF) when available, and all 64K on an XL/XE, except for the hardware addresses D000-D7FF. Memory located under the OS and Basic are included. Even the memory occupied by SimTest is included in the test. The displayed RAMTOP is as reported by the OS, but "Base Memory" is calculated by SimTest and is what is used as the basis for the test. The program stops reporting errors after 112 errors are displayed. The tests performed on each memory location include writes and verification of: 11111111 00000000 11110000 00001111 10101010 01010101 SimTest-0.6.xex 1.63 kB · 4 downloads SimTest-0.6.bin 8 kB · 2 downloads Looking good. Are you going to add testing for Axlon, Mosaic, and PORTB banks? SimCheck 1.3 is looking great! Edited June 15, 2022 by reifsnyderb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panther Posted June 15, 2022 Author Share Posted June 15, 2022 Writing an XL/XE extended memory tester wasn't my plan, but I can confirm that Axlon testing is being added next. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reifsnyderb Posted June 15, 2022 Share Posted June 15, 2022 2 minutes ago, Panther said: Writing an XL/XE extended memory tester wasn't my plan, but I can confirm that Axlon testing is being added next. Sounds great! It seems software always seems to "grow". ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panther Posted June 29, 2022 Author Share Posted June 29, 2022 I've added SimTest 0.7 to the main post. This is still in development, but now tests both base memory and Axlon banks. It's best to use the executable version instead of cartridge, otherwise the RAM under the cartridge cannot be tested, but I've included the 8K cartridge binary for convenience. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panther Posted June 29, 2022 Author Share Posted June 29, 2022 I just tested SimTest in Altirra with 4096K (4MB / 256 banks) of Axlon memory enabled and it got stuck in an endless loop of testing. So don't do that. ? I'll fix it in the next version. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted June 29, 2022 Share Posted June 29, 2022 On 6/10/2022 at 5:14 PM, Panther said: When you press M to get the memory map in version 1.3, now you not only get the extended memory map, but it displays the base memory in 4K blocks with accessible portions inverse. I think my initial layout for this looked better, but it wasn't very practical: You could combine the two. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panther Posted June 29, 2022 Author Share Posted June 29, 2022 42 minutes ago, MrFish said: You could combine the two. That's certainly worth considering. I'll look into this or similar options, thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricky Spanish Posted June 30, 2022 Share Posted June 30, 2022 Nice utility ! Thanks ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panther Posted July 3, 2022 Author Share Posted July 3, 2022 I figured I would just add this utility to this thread. I needed an OS dump utility, but couldn't find one, so I wrote one. This simply dumps the OS to a file called OSDUMP.BIN on the D: drive. It detects whether the system is a 400/800 or XL/XE and dumps the appropriate data. OSDump.xex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricky Spanish Posted July 3, 2022 Share Posted July 3, 2022 2 hours ago, Panther said: It detects whether the system is a 400/800 or XL/XE and dumps the appropriate data Total noob question, but could the opposite be done using the .xex format ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panther Posted July 4, 2022 Author Share Posted July 4, 2022 7 hours ago, Ricky Spanish said: Total noob question, but could the opposite be done using the .xex format ? I gather you mean can you use software to rewrite the OS ROM in the Atari computer? No. You need to physically replace the ROM chips. It is possible to use the PBI to run OS ROMs on the XL/XE though. Then of course there are mods such as U1MB and Incognito that have the ROMs in flash memory and the hardware to rewrite them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
massiverobot Posted July 6, 2022 Share Posted July 6, 2022 On 3/27/2022 at 3:01 PM, Panther said: Great, thank you! Future versions will be posted on the first post. They will also be made available here: http://www.atariverse.com/files/simcheck/ I cannot see simcheck on your TNSF- may I suggest you add a few top-level directories, one with all the games and another with your simcheck? Looking forward to using this on some of my systems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
massiverobot Posted July 6, 2022 Share Posted July 6, 2022 Here is the 576NUC, Altirra is detected. Nice work on this app, very cool thing to have handy. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panther Posted July 6, 2022 Author Share Posted July 6, 2022 3 hours ago, massiverobot said: I cannot see simcheck on your TNSF- may I suggest you add a few top-level directories, one with all the games and another with your simcheck? Looking forward to using this on some of my systems. I completely forgot about the TNFS server! I will organize it and create a utility directory, after I take care of some much needed OS updates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spicyjack Posted July 7, 2022 Share Posted July 7, 2022 On 3/27/2022 at 12:01 PM, Panther said: They will also be made available here: http://www.atariverse.com/files/simcheck/ This URL 404's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
massiverobot Posted July 7, 2022 Share Posted July 7, 2022 (edited) 53 minutes ago, spicyjack said: This URL 404's. Edit- realized he posted a HTTP so @spicyjack your concern it totally valid! Meanwhile, TNFS - is not not HTTP. TNFS uses UDP. TNFS = Trivial Network File System. It's like Baby NFS. Is this a TNFS path or a real HTTP location to download? Edited July 7, 2022 by massiverobot mistake Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panther Posted July 7, 2022 Author Share Posted July 7, 2022 57 minutes ago, spicyjack said: This URL 404's. Since I expanded my utilities, I stuck them all here instead: http://www.atariverse.com/files/utils/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.