Alphaload SSDD Master Utilities sector copied to ATR fails to boot.

[E474]

I read that the FujiNet-PC code (which had divisor 10/52K support) was rolled in to the main FujiNet codebase, so it should work. Maybe @apc or @tschak909 know more (I only have the old FujiNet-PC setup on a Pi1, and would have to set up my real hardware to test it).

[HiassofT]

1 hour ago, TZJB said:

Any ideas on automation of this task?

I can't help with Windows, but in Linux (or in WSL under Windows) this shell script should work - beware, it'll just put 08h at offset 199h regardless without any safety checks so better try that on a copy of your precious files)

 

#!/bin/sh
for f in *.atr ; do
  echo "fixing $f"
  /bin/echo -e -n '\x08' | dd of="$f" bs=1 seek=409 conv=notrunc
done

 

so long,

 

Hias

Edited May 16 by HiassofT
use hex instead of octal in echo

[spacedmonkeys]

Well I am glad I revived this topic, it seems I shall be able to archive and play my Alphaload disks afterall (with some hex editing). Thanks Hias!!

 

I tested out on a couple of Alphaload and they worked ok, the offset was indeed 199 and I changed the hex to 06 (this is the default on SIO2SD) and they worked.

 

I do have a ATR that does not conform - please see attached. Could you locate the 0A in this which needs to change?

ALPHA LOAD GAMES.ATR

[HiassofT]

2 hours ago, spacedmonkeys said:

I do have a ATR that does not conform - please see attached. Could you locate the 0A in this which needs to change?

ALPHA LOAD GAMES.ATR 179.64 kB · 3 downloads

Interesting, this version is slightly different, instead of the "LDA $0728,Y" / B9 28 07 at offset 205 (hex), which loads the divisor from the RAM table, it contains "LDA #$0A, NOP" / A9 0A EA at this offset:

So change offset 206h to 08 (or 06 or which divisor you like).

 

You could also patch the other ATRs with "A9 08 EA" at offset 205h - it looks like that would be a universal method for the known ATRs so far.

 

so long,

 

Hias

Edited May 17 by HiassofT

[TZJB]

7 hours ago, HiassofT said:

Interesting, this version is slightly different, instead of the "LDA $0728,Y" / B9 28 07 at offset 205 (hex), which loads the divisor from the RAM table, it contains "LDA #$0A, NOP" / A9 0A EA at this offset:

So change offset 206h to 08 (or 06 or which divisor you like).

 

You could also patch the other ATRs with "A9 08 EA" at offset 205h - it looks like that would be a universal method for the known ATRs so far.

 

so long,

 

Hias

 

Thanks again Hias.

 

For interest here is a zip file with all of my Alphaloads for analysis:-

 

Alphaload DD Menus HSIO 10.zip

 

This includes output from a program called Diskbase printed to Fujinet PDF, indexing titles up to disk 32. After disk 34 there is a gap of disks I can't find, then disk images resume at disk 46. Not sure why I have two different of disk 29, just going by the labels on the disks!

 

 

[TZJB]

 

Just trying this with a standard unmodified 800XL and Fujinet again. With HSIO divisor 8 58KB stalling at sector 5, and HSIO divisor 6 67KB loading the menu without stalling. So I concure with @spacedmonkeys that HSIO divisor 6 looks to be the optimum setting for Alphaload menu disks loading from modern HSIO devices.

[HiassofT]

1 hour ago, TZJB said:

For interest here is a zip file with all of my Alphaloads for analysis:-

I let a script glance through the ATRs, the vast majority is as the image from the 1st post. A few are different though:

 

Alphaload Disk 1 Side A.atr has A9 0A EA / "LDA #$0A, NOP" at offset 205, like the image from spacedmonkeys.

 

Alphaload Disk 47 Side B.atr is a completely blank ATR

 

Alphaload Disk 71 Side A.atr and Pirate Punk's Alpha-Load DD.atr are quite different (also the menu looks different), but they can be patched, too, change B9 4A A7 at offsed 4E1 to A9 08 EA

 

so long,

 

Hias

[TZJB]

58 minutes ago, HiassofT said:

I let a script glance through the ATRs, the vast majority is as the image from the 1st post. A few are different though:

 

Alphaload Disk 1 Side A.atr has A9 0A EA / "LDA #$0A, NOP" at offset 205, like the image from spacedmonkeys.

 

Alphaload Disk 47 Side B.atr is a completely blank ATR

 

Alphaload Disk 71 Side A.atr and Pirate Punk's Alpha-Load DD.atr are quite different (also the menu looks different), but they can be patched, too, change B9 4A A7 at offsed 4E1 to A9 08 EA

 

so long,

 

Hias

 

Thank you Hias for the analysis.

 

It does seem that there are a few variations of the Alphaload menu.

 

I have converted the aforementioned images to divisor 6 to take them off of my list, and I need to check my source for 47B but it's not totally blank. The first 5 bytes are in use so probably a blank formatted Alphaload menu disk.

 

 

 

[tschak909]

On 5/16/2024 at 5:50 PM, E474 said:

I read that the FujiNet-PC code (which had divisor 10/52K support) was rolled in to the main FujiNet codebase, so it should work. Maybe @apc or @tschak909 know more (I only have the old FujiNet-PC setup on a Pi1, and would have to set up my real hardware to test it).

Correct, the PC and ESP32 versions are now using exactly the same codebase.

-Thom

 

[TZJB]

10 hours ago, tschak909 said:

Correct, the PC and ESP32 versions are now using exactly the same codebase.

-Thom

 

 

Thanks I have just upgraded to v.1.3.0. I am still having having trouble finding the divisor 10 option in the GUI.

 

I mainly use Firefox and sometimes Chrome web browsers and neither will display below divisor 9.

 

 

Edited May 18 by TZJB
Typo

[tschak909]

5 hours ago, TZJB said:

 

Thanks I have just upgraded to v.1.3.0. I am still having having trouble finding the divisor 10 option in the GUI.

 

I mainly use Firefox and sometimes Chrome web browsers and neither will display below divisor 9.

 

 

Ok then I guess we need to add it. anyone wanna take a whack at it? I'm in the middle of trying to whiddle down cold start time.

 

-Thom