Wanted: Ultra Speed Plus O.S. (CSS)

[+Larry]

PM me if you have one to sell.  All replies answered.

[IndusGT]

there's one on e-bay:

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/266256043453?_trkparms=ni_actn%3Anav|ni_nt%3AWATCH_ITEM_ENDING_SOON|ni_apos%3A1|ni_sg%3A1|ni_pos%3A1|ni_st%3AREAD|ni_wh%3A1|ni_nid%3A726510807010|ni_nsid%3A266256043453|ni_et%3A1684548712000|ni_bn%3A1&_trksid=p2380424.m570.l5997

[+Larry]

Thanks.  I did see that one, but I sure don't need another 130XE with bad ram. 

 

If this doesn't pan out, then recreating a very similar one would be the next best bet.  Hias' high-speed patch does the heavy lifting.  The other (IMO) killer features of the US+ OS are the 720 sector ramdisks (single or double density) and the ability to swap drives.  I don't believe coding of the drive swapping would be a big deal.  But I think that the 720-sector ramdisk would be more difficult. 

 

Here's a question for the coders -- would some of the features like changing margins and screen color selection suggest that there is likely an SRAM inside the module?  Has anyone ever taken one of the modules apart? 

[IndusGT]

6 hours ago, Larry said:

Thanks.  I did see that one, but I sure don't need another 130XE with bad ram. 

 

If this doesn't pan out, then recreating a very similar one would be the next best bet.  Hias' high-speed patch does the heavy lifting.  The other (IMO) killer features of the US+ OS are the 720 sector ramdisks (single or double density) and the ability to swap drives.  I don't believe coding of the drive swapping would be a big deal.  But I think that the 720-sector ramdisk would be more difficult. 

 

Here's a question for the coders -- would some of the features like changing margins and screen color selection suggest that there is likely an SRAM inside the module?  Has anyone ever taken one of the modules apart? 

Would be great, I asked tf_hh to add it to the  Sys- Check but he said he was unable, it was just a little too big, would be awesome to have this available for everyone. I have one of these also in a a 130 xe ( sorry not for sale) and it's great.

Edited May 19, 2023 by IndusGT

[Mathy]

Hello guys

 

the US+ OS by CSS has no cassette handler and no relocatable code support IIRC.  Maybe @reifsnyderb can add the disk swapping ability to his new OS, if there is enough room left for it.

 

BTW IIRC US+OS also enables you to use D9: for the RAMdisk.

 

Sincerely

 

Mathy

 

[reifsnyderb]

18 minutes ago, Mathy said:

Hello guys

 

the US+ OS by CSS has no cassette handler and no relocatable code support IIRC.  Maybe @reifsnyderb can add the disk swapping ability to his new OS, if there is enough room left for it.

 

BTW IIRC US+OS also enables you to use D9: for the RAMdisk.

 

Sincerely

 

Mathy

 

What's disk swapping?  Would that be some way to change D1: to D2: without a reboot?  If so, why?

 

Thanks!

 

Brian

 

[+kheller2]

24 minutes ago, reifsnyderb said:

What's disk swapping?  Would that be some way to change D1: to D2: without a reboot?  If so, why?

 

Thanks!

 

Brian

 

I'm not sure what Mathy meant, but I do know that I loved the ability to swap drive numbers around on the MIO.

Booting from RAM disks are so cool.

[+Larry]

Boot from a drive other than D1:.  Swap a disk for game play.  D1: is a hard drive, and you need to boot from a floppy.  Boot from a ram disk.  I think those are all plausible.

[reifsnyderb]

What do you do when booting from a drive?  Do you hold down a key to indicate you are booting from D2:?  Does a boot menu come up?  How's that work?

 

Booting from a RAM disk implies that some sort of RAM disk software is part of the OS.

 

Thinking about this and how it relates to the 1090XL....having a battery backed-up SRAM drive would be cool and doable.  Hmmm.....

[+Larry]

Hot keys -- such as Start + Reset.  If one ditches the Self Test and cassette code,  it makes quite a bit of room.

[reifsnyderb]

9 minutes ago, Larry said:

Hot keys -- such as Start + Reset.

Would this be some sort of boot order change...such as provided by a modern BIOS?  i.e.  Boot from A:, D:, C:, in that order?

[reifsnyderb]

Ok....I found a description of this drive re-numbering feature here:

 

https://www.atarimax.com/freenet/freenet_material/5.8-BitComputersSupportArea/10.ProductReviews/showarticle.php?51

 

 

 

 "One powerful feature of the OS is it's ability to reconfigure drives for 
different numbers and boot from any drive, including RAMdisk. When you hold down 
START after a RESET (warm or cold start), you'll enter a menu that has lists 
drive 1-9 and what each is assigned as. Normally, they are all assigned to 
themselves, except drive 4 which is normally RAMdisk. Say you wanted drive 4 to 
be drive 1 and drive 1 to be drive 4. You'd press RESET and START. You then 
press C for configure, enter the original drive (1), then the drive you want it 
to be (4). Then you repeat the procedure for drive 4. It's that easy!
 With this menu, you can also change your RAMdisk number just with R for 
RAMdisk, then enter whatever drive you want it to be."

 

Edit to add:

 

The information also states the following....which could be a problem for those who use SpartaDOS X:

 

 "Unfortunately, if you use SpartaDOS, the reconfiguring will have no effect due 
to it's using custom routines, bypassing the OS. Also the Virtuoso player will 
always go to the "real" drive 1 instead of whatever is configured as drive 1. 
Also SpartaDOS will not boot from RAMdisk, allow the keyboard functions (without 
a KEY OFF command), or allow high speed with the XF551 drive. But if you MUST 
use this DOS, it is easily modifiable with a built-in patch called by a simple 
USR command that will modify SpartaDOS to allow these things."

 

 

 

Edited May 20, 2023 by reifsnyderb

[_The Doctor__]

use the routines from the MIO or Black Box, they work across the board. SpartaDos allows swapping within itself too. But it's not quite the same. If you use this as part of 1090XL the config can be retained as long as the 1090XL stays powered or is flash/battery backed up etc. Same for any add on memory / OS card... saved in the RTC memory etc..

Edited May 20, 2023 by _The Doctor__

[Mathy]

Hello guys

 

Damn, I though I might have the US+ OS manual on my Docs page.  I don't.  If anyone has any of the CSS manuals that aren't on my Docs page yet in a high quality, please contact me.  At the moment, I'm at the H.A.T.Z. meeting (see my meetings page).  We do have Wifi here, but most of the time it's slooooooooowwwwwww.  So no uploading of anything until at least sunday evening (very late).

 

Sincerely

 

Mathy

 

[guus.assmann]

In my opinion, it should also be possible to run this OS from the Freezer.

Of course one needs to have that piece of hardware.... Major detail of course. 🙂

 

BR/

Guus

[+Larry]

32 minutes ago, guus.assmann said:

In my opinion, it should also be possible to run this OS from the Freezer.

Of course one needs to have that piece of hardware.... Major detail of course. 🙂

 

BR/

Guus

Hi Guus-

But how?  To date there is no successful dump of the US+ OS, at least that I'm aware of.  But Doc is correct -- the Black Box gives you the major features.  Even the 720 sector ramdisk is simulated by creating 720 sector hard disk partitions (99 of them!).  And the BB menu gives you easy access to all the features.  Plus you get that cool BB SIO sound at no extra cost!  😄  Edit: Or perhaps you are saying that you could freeze the US+ and then re-load it?  I had not thought of that angle -- very interesting!  I will give that a try.  And thinking ahead, the freezer might provide a good dump.

[Mathy]

Sorry, I misread the above.  Please remove.

Edited May 20, 2023 by Mathy

[+SoulBuster]

21 hours ago, Mathy said:

Hello guys

 

the US+ OS by CSS has no cassette handler and no relocatable code support IIRC.  Maybe @reifsnyderb can add the disk swapping ability to his new OS, if there is enough room left for it.

 

BTW IIRC US+OS also enables you to use D9: for the RAMdisk.

 

Sincerely

 

Mathy

 

Yes it is drive 9.

 

When using real Hardware, my 320XE I purchased from CSS directly is my computer of choice.  It came with a switch to change OS's. US Speed+, XE and FixXL.  Holding start while starting the FIXXL OS, allows you to create menu disks. Cool system.

[Mathy]

Hello Soulbuster

 

26 minutes ago, SoulBuster said:

It came with a switch to change OS's. US Speed+, XE and FixXL.

 

The UltraSpeed+ hardware always consist of these three OSs.

 

Sincerely

 

Mathy    (who has both versions 1.4 and 1.5 of the UltraSpeedPlus OS by CSS)

 

 

[+Larry]

What are the differences between 1.4 and 1.5, and if you know 1.2?

[Mathy]

Hello Larry

 

I'm at the H.A.T.Z. XXIII at the moment, so I can look look that up.  And as I said, I don't have earlier versions than 1.4.

 

Sincerely

 

Mathy

 

Edited May 21, 2023 by Mathy

[+Larry]

I spent a couple of hours today working with the US+ and the Freezer.  I cannot get the Freezer to work with the US+ module.  That includes the regular XL/XE OS contained in the module.  Pressing the Freezer button locks up the system.  The computer is a 320K XE and the US+ is a V1.5.  I tried with other computers (no US+), and the Freezer works perfectly.  So my conclusion is they are incompatible.  ☹️

[HiassofT]

Which software version are you running on the Frreezer (check with "VER")? Might be worth retrying with the latest version.

 

I've fixed a bug about a year ago that lead to a crash on freezing if the NMI vector in the OS is set to a specific value.

 

Version 220626 contains the fix https://www.horus.com/~hias/freezer/software/beta/

 

so long,

 

Hias

[+Larry]

Thanks!  I'll try it this week.

[+Larry]

I updated the Freezer software, but it still results in locking up.  So no luck with this approach.