Atari 1040STf TOS 1.0 (I think) and Ultrasatan

[Pigskins22]

Hi all! I'm having a bit of difficulty getting this configuration working. I believe this 1040STf has TOS 1.0 based on the date (1985) that shows up in the desktop info window. I just got the Ultrasatan and am using the PP software and drivers. The end result is that I can't write anything to the new "C:" drive, including saving my desktop. When I run the partitioning program there may be some defaults set that are throwing me off. Like the one near the bottom that says TOS 1.02 and is checked (enabled). But I was successfully able to create all of the partitions (255MB each) and initialize them, then add icons for them, but could not save the desktop. So then I tried to copy a file from a floppy to the C drive and it also gave me an error. It says something like the application can't find the file or folder I tried to access. Besides one obvious answer (upgrade TOS) what other things could be tripping me up?

[Tillek]

Nothing good.....

 

There was a bad DMA issue with some of those machines as well.

 

(from another forum)

 

"The 'bad DMA' in the STe (actually the same chip used in the ST and Mega), is marked CO25913-38"

 

An easy way to potentially check if it's just the TOS version... try running either the boot disk version of EmuTos (or use SelTos with say, Rainbow TOS) and see if that fixes you up.  Otherwise, you'e probably going to have to open her up.

 

Also, depending on your hard disk driver, there was a much smaller limit to the boot partition size (16mb I believe). 
 

You can test this by trying another driver (maybe try the demo of Uwe's HDDriver) or simply making your C partion 16mb or less.

 

[Pigskins22]

@Tillek

 

I downloaded RAMTOS.ZIP and found TOS 1.04 US, grabbed that too. Extracted everything to the SDCARD that I was using in the Ultrasatan. Booted up the ST with this SDCARD in it, ran SELTOS7.PRG chose TOS 1.04, it rebooted into that and I was able to save my desktop.

Is this really all there is to it? What downside is there to running my ST this way, other than having to do this each time I boot?

[Tillek]

Well, if you're running well with that setup, that's great news.  You got the easiest fix.  Downside wise, the issue will be that running TOS 1.04 that way will take up some of your RAM since that's where you're loading TOS from.  (You could probably download and run SysInfo if you haven't already to see exactly just how much).

 

But getting TOS 1.04 is pretty easy.  If you don't want to burn the roms yourself, B&C (MyAtari on eBay) sells it in both configurations (2 and 6 chip) for around $40 if I recall.  Bought a few from him to save me some time and was having trouble finding EPROMs at a decent price, so I burned the EmuTOS sets and just bought the 1.04.

 

If you go the route of swapping TOS chips (it's pretty easy since the chips will be socketed) you'll want to know whether you're on a 2 or 6 chip set.  That will require opening her up and taking a look as I don't believe there is any way to tell otherwise.

 

https://www.atariuptodate.de/en/1943/sysinfo

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/131980589633   He has another listing that is $49... no idea what the difference is. 

 

Also, I stand corrected on the price of the 2 chip... Looks like that one jacked up to $99

https://www.ebay.com/itm/133230528296

 

 

 

[IGS GUY]

If you need to run TOS 1.0 and I did for what I was doing.  I found this driver more reliable http://joo.kie.sk/?page_id=306 

 

 

[ggn]

For people who are trying to use TOS 1.0 with hard disks, here's an excerpt from another of Jookie's project (Cosmos Ex):
 

Quote

 

Q: Why I can’t use TOS 1.00 for accessing the hard drive features?

A: From the tests I’ve done on my 520 ST with TOS 1.00 it seems that there is some data corruption going on the ACSI bus, it might be TOS checking the floppy drive in the VBL interrupt, and thus it seems there is no way to fix it from the driver point of view. If you could update your machine to at least TOS 1.02, then it should work.

 

Q: What TOS version should I use when using CosmosEx hard drive features?

A:You should try to use the newest TOS possible you can with your Atari, because the newer versions of TOS have some bugs repaired. Otherwise use TOS patches if possible. Don’t use TOS 1.00 if possible.

 

Full text at http://joo.kie.sk/cosmosex/download/ce_basics.pdf

 

Generally, this is the common wisdom when it comes to Atari ST and hard disks: upgrade TOS, add more RAM if possible. Perhaps nothing will happen and your system will be stable. But you might hit upon "catastrophic" issues like the 40 folder bug (https://temlib.org/AtariForumWiki/index.php/TOS_2.06_bugs,_fixes,_limitations,_workarounds_and_enhancements#The_40_folder_bug) which doesn't sound very pleasant!

[TGB1718]

bitd I used my 520STM upgraded to 1MB (piggy backed) and use a Syquest 10MB removable drive,

it needed an OMTI board between the hard drive and the ST, I used an ICD interface with ICD Pro drivers

and it worked very well, that was with TOS 1.0. 

 

Still have the drive and the OMTI, but it's gone noisy and no longer works.