Spartados PRE-4.x + basicXE w/extensions

[Ricky Spanish]

Anybody got it working in spartados 3.x (disk version)? If so, how ? I kinda got it working in spartados 1.x but the LOADING 4.11 EXTENSIONS splash screen hangs after it finishes loading & I need to press [RESET] to get rid of it. As always, thanks.

[BillC]

4 hours ago, Ricky Spanish said:

Anybody got it working in spartados 3.x (disk version)? If so, how ? I kinda got it working in spartados 1.x but the LOADING 4.11 EXTENSIONS splash screen hangs after it finishes loading & I need to press [RESET] to get rid of it. As always, thanks.

SpartaDOS 1.x/2.x aren't compatible, SpartaDOS 3.2 was developed for compatiblity with BASIC XE. I have also tested that it works with SpartaDOS X v4.49 in Altirra 4.0.

[Mrshoujo]

Do you have extended RAM? Like a RAMbo XL 256k? That's where the BASIC XE extensions load.

[+DjayBee]

As Mrshoujo said, you need at least an XL/XE with 128KB RAM (no 400/800 with Axlon) for BASIC XE.

 

These work for me:

Sparta32D-BXE41.atr

BASIC XE v4.1 (1985)(OSS)(US)[!].car

 

 

Edited September 4, 2022 by DjayBee

[Ricky Spanish]

2 hours ago, Mrshoujo said:

That's where the BASIC XE extensions load.

Well with extensions disk you also get a bunch of new commands like BSAVE, CALL, DEL, EXIT, FAST, LOCAL, LVAR, MOVE, PROCEDURE, RENUM, RGET, RPUT, SORTUP, SORTDOWN, the fast math routines, and all P/M commands except HITCLR.

[Ricky Spanish]

2 hours ago, DjayBee said:

These work for me:

Hey thanks for that. But with real hardware (XL anyways) going from basic to dos back to basic locks up the computer.

Edited September 4, 2022 by Ricky Spanish

[Ricky Spanish]

crashes with Altirra under these specs as well;

Base system    NTSC 1200XL
Additional devices    1050 disk drive (full emulation)
OS firmware    Atari 1200XL OS rev. 10 [C5C11546]
Mounted images    Disk: Sparta32D-BXE41.atr [ECD93310]
Cartridge: OSS BASIC XE 4.1.car [7A6EB0A3]

[Alfred]

Create a STARTUP.BAT file and put the line KEY OFF in it to disable the keyboard buffer in 3.2.

[Ricky Spanish]

4 hours ago, Alfred said:

Create a STARTUP.BAT file and put the line KEY OFF in it to disable the keyboard buffer in 3.2.

At the risk of me sounding stupid, how do I do that ?

Looked in the directory and it has AUTOBAT.COM. Not the same I take it ?

Edited September 5, 2022 by Ricky Spanish

[Mrshoujo]

Load up a word processor like TextPro.

Type

KEY OFF[cr]

And save it as STARTUP.BAT in the root directory of the boot disk.

Basically, any word processor program which works under SpartaDOS and saves straight text files works for this.

 

Also don't use the 1200XL OS for this BASIC XE / SpartaDOS combination. I should get more familiar with Altirra's options but you want to be using the OS for the 600XL/800XL. I don't know if that's OS Rev.B or whatever it's referred to. I believe the 400/800 OS is called REV. A anyway. I do know the 1200XL OS is a whole different incompatible beast.

Edited September 5, 2022 by Mrshoujo

[Ricky Spanish]

6 minutes ago, Mrshoujo said:

Basically, any word processor program which works under SpartaDOS and saves straight text files works for this.

Can that be done with Atariwriter ?

[+DjayBee]

12 hours ago, Ricky Spanish said:

At the risk of me sounding stupid, how do I do that ?

Looked in the directory and it has AUTOBAT.COM. Not the same I take it ?

Do it from BASIC:

[Ricky Spanish]

46 minutes ago, DjayBee said:

Do it from BASIC:

Well same thing happens;

 

[+DjayBee]

28 minutes ago, Ricky Spanish said:

Well same thing happens;

My comment was not meant as a solution to your problem but only on how to create the autostart file.

 

But, that said: The problem lies in the way how MENU does RunCar. This happens in EMulation and as 800XL in the same manner.

If you select Exit followed by CAR, the Atari does not crash.

Since MENU uses a lot of RAM, your BASIC program will be deleted after returning from MENU.

Edited September 5, 2022 by DjayBee

[Ricky Spanish]

15 minutes ago, DjayBee said:

If you select Exit followed by CAR, the Atari does not crash.

Worked like a charm ! Many thanks !

[Ricky Spanish]

Little update : Decided to give this another shot with the 256k RAMBO w/ real hardware (previously only using DOS 2.5).

Everything works as advertised, no need for startup.bat or any exiting techniques . Wonder why it was a problem with

64K but not with 256K? 

[spookt]

Have a feeling you need extended memory for the extensions. 

[Ricky Spanish]

2 hours ago, spookt said:

Have a feeling you need extended memory for the extensions. 

That's a distinct possibility, however with DOS 2.5 it does not, which is perplexing. 

[spookt]

SpartaDOS will most likely use more RAM than DOS 2.5. 

[Ricky Spanish]

15 hours ago, spookt said:

SpartaDOS will most likely use more RAM than DOS 2.5. 

So curiosity killed that cat so-to-speak & I checked, there's actually more free memory [FRE(0)] with Sparta. 

[_The Doctor__]

BASIC XE does like itself some Xtra ram like on the 130XE that's for sure.    It like to control that xtra ram itself too.