EVERYTHING on ATR? Is It Possible?

[+kheller2]

Not to be picky but...

 

    4096  Defl:N     3123  24% 09-07-2021 07:37 605b7153  tnfsroot/Hardware Roms/Disk Drives/Atari 1050 (US Doubler).rom
    4096  Defl:N     2644  35% 09-07-2021 07:37 fb4b8757  tnfsroot/Hardware Roms/Disk Drives/Atari 1050 vA.rom
    4096  Defl:N     2645  35% 09-07-2021 07:37 3abe7ef4  tnfsroot/Hardware Roms/Disk Drives/Atari 1050 vB.rom

 

US Doubler has two versions: Drive letters 1-4, and 5-8.

I have no idea what 1050 vA and vB ROM are by looking at just the name.

 

And for everyone having issues with the original ZIP:

No errors detected in compressed data of All%20ATR%20Thread.zip.

887 Files.

 

 

[+SoulBuster]

I replaced the zip in POST ONE that now also includes programs that start with B.  You should always replace what you have with the latest zip from the first post.

 

Notes:

• I added a couple of indicators for using an XEX, COM, EXE as an AUTORUN.SYS. If it does not boot, I try a 3 sector boot disk.
• Games that use two disk drives.  Brimstone is one of those. In fact, it seems to be required.
• Check out the Boulder Dash Folder.

[+SoulBuster]

I have resumed this project and will release another file soon.

 

In the mean-time I want to showcase a gem.

 

DOS II+D Ver. 6.4 with English Docs (non-original, not protected).atr

 

I ran a across:

 

Catch the Skull v1.2 (2014-11-03)(Szpilowski, Michal)(PL)(en)(FW).atr

 

which uses DOS II+D, but it does not boot into the game.  It just drops you to the DOS prompt.  Not only that, it is set up on a double density ATR.  Two goals with this project, of many, is to have everything easily bootable and on SD ATR's when possible. Since the game will fit on a SD ATR, I taught myself how to use the DOS.

 

It is DOS 2 compatible, has a DOS prompt like Sparta DOS and uses 3 letter commands, which fits into how I like shortcuts (you've seen my batch files).

 

The most impressive part is autobooting programs. You use the command JOB, which the original Catch the Skull above did not use. 

 

Assuming a blank disk in drive one and the above Catch the Skull disk in drive 2, the following single image shows the steps to make a bootable SD copy.

 

FS# formats the disk in drive 1 in single density.

IN# Writes Dos.sys to drive 1.

COP is for copying files from drive 2 to default (drive 1)

JOB to run the executable after DOS has loaded

 

With those steps you end up with this:

 

Catch the Skull v1.2 (2014-11-03)(Szpilowski, Michal)(PL)(en)[FB AO].atr

 

[+CharlieChaplin]

Author of DOS II+D is Stefan Dorndorf from Germany. He is an active user here on AA and on the Abbuc forum. He is also author of QMEG-OS and Hyper-XF-OS.  If you need some short instructions for DOS II+D, here they are attached (use TYP *.BAT to display them).

 

 

 

DOSIID64.zip

[+SoulBuster]

Man, I do not even remember writing this one:

 

Craps (19xx)(Naber,Tim)(US)[BASIC][B SB].atr

 

[+SoulBuster]

New file v.04 available on POST ONE.

 

Titles processed through the letter 'C'.

 

Files 3,337
ATR's 3,163 - 94.7%
ATX's 18
CAS's 22
CAR's 32
XEX's 46
ROM's 52

 

250+ Tape to Disk conversions
Removed OS-B Requirement on a several ATR's, like the Matchmaker titles.
There are a few titles that I could not find on A8SP, Atarimania or Atarionline. I really do not know where they came from.
 

[+SoulBuster]

New file v.05 available on POST ONE. Titles processed through the letter 'D'.  I hit 96% ATR.

 

Files 3,937
ATR's 3,783 96.0%
ATX's 20
CAS's 22
CAR's 33
XEX's 57
ROM's 52
CON's 287 Tape Conversions
OSB's 25 Removed OSB/OSA requirements. 

[+SoulBuster]

New file v.06 available on POST ONE. Titles processed through the letter 'E'.  You should always pick up the new file as I have been changing titles that I have completed previously, but found a new/better way to convert them.

 

Files 4,258
ATR's 4,055 95.2% (a lot of XEX's that would not convert caused the drop)
ATX's 20
CAS's 22
CAR's 35
XEX's 68
ROM's 52
CON's 305 Tape Conversions
OSB's 45 Removed OSB/OSA requirements.

[+SoulBuster]

Back in the day I wanted everything on Disk. Menu disks were better to save on disks.

 

Today, disk saving is not a concern. Furthermore, to use menu disks today only complicate locating that one particular game.

 

The thought today is that all ATR's will be used in a device list.  A menu, if you will.  I do not know about you, but I do not want a menu of a bunch of menus (menu disks).  I want to see every single title listed individually in my Fujinet, or other device.

 

So in order to get this, I am breaking apart compilations so each title is its own ATR.  I have done a few already but I wanted to showcase 2 that were more difficult than the previous ones.  They had more protection than CSS eliminated.

 

The Casten Game Disk
Edufun Titles.

 

The files on these are all accessible, not hidden. The BASIC menu of both were protected from listing, so I used

 

Backup Master, The v3.0 (1986)(Duplicating Technologies)(US)(Side B)[BASIC][X A8SP]

 

to unprotect them.  Next was to change the menu so it does not display and then run one title automatically.  I had to leave the menu intact as it either loads a screen or has some necessary code in it for the programs to work.

 

The Edufun Titles were done previously, but were taken from cassette.  This eliminated the title screen. I have learned quit a bit since I made those titles and tried this method from the disk versions.  It worked and I have replaced those that I made from cassette and they now include the title screens. All except for Golf/Compubar.  I could not find a disk version of that one.  I used parts from other titles to put in a title screen, but it does not work the same as the rest.

 

The Casten Game disk had all kinds of things happening.  

1. The directory has illegal files names, which make copying difficult.
2. There is code necessary to run the games in Autorun.sys and CASTENGA.MES (menu file).
3. The games are on the disk in list format, but missing some code.  They do not run simply entered.  The menu ENTERs them and then runs them.

In the end, I basically did the same as I did for the Edufun titles. Change the menu to NOT display and run only 1 program automatically.

 

Edufun Titles - Inividual Titles (198x)(Milliken Publishing Company)(US).zip

The Casten Game Disk - Inidividual ATR's (1985)(Antic)(US)[BASIC].zip

[+SoulBuster]

I got to F-15 Strike Eagle with the access code text file.

 

That got me to thinking about the Antic [documentation] B sides.

 

Any title that has docs that are not built into an ATR some way, I am going to build one of these for it.

 

Here are a couple examples:

 

F-15 Strike Eagle (1985)(MicroProse Software)(US)[!][cr CSS].zip

Factorman (1983)(Cutter Biological; Miles Laboratories)(US)[AM].zip

 

[+SoulBuster]

I am using K-Files as a last option for a Title. I hate them, but sometimes the better loading version is a K-File.  I have been removing the 'k' on them when I do use them.

 

Some time ago, I played with using DISK RX to extract the files from a K-File. It did not work.

 

Today I decided to play with it some more.  Here's what I came up with.

 

K-Files start on sector 4 for however many consecutive sectors in the program.

K-Files use all 128 bytes of a sector, not 125 for data and 3 for a pointer to the next sector. I learned this just today.

 

So I decided to write an Extractor.

 

I started with this program: 

Atari Diskfile Tutorial - Part III (atariarchives.org)

 

and modified it into what I wanted. It is not elegant, but is functional.

K-File Extractor v1.2 (2023-10-22)(Naber, Tim)(US)[BASIC][SB].atr

 

This is the first file I tested it on:

Fastpack v3.3 (1991)(-)[k-file].atr

 

With This Result:

Fastpack v3.3 (1991)(-)(-)[PAL].xex

 

I will add a new indicator to show that it was a K-File Extraction, similar to [k TOSEC]

[+SoulBuster]

Already a new version of the K-File Extractor.

 

Increased the buffer from 20k to 32k, max 250 sectors.

 

Compiled with MMG Compiler.

 

Get it again if you have vers 1.0

 

[+SoulBuster]

Ran into buffer problems with the compiled version, reverting back to BASIC.

 

Also had to limit the number of sectors as this will run under DOS 2.5, not SDX.

 

SDX gave me a bigger buffer.  So if you load it with SDX, you can get 250 Sectors at a shot.

 

 

Get it again if you have anything less than v1.2

[+SoulBuster]

a couple of other k-File conversions:

 

Art Converter (1987)(Antic)[K TOSEC].atr

Fastpack v3.3 (1991)(-)(-)[K TOSEC].atr

Atlantis (1983)(Imagic)(US)[K TOSEC].atr

[+CharlieChaplin]

38 minutes ago, SoulBuster said:

a couple of other k-File conversions:

 

Art Converter (1987)(Antic)[K TOSEC].atr 90.02 kB · 1 download

 

Hmmm, one stupid question: What does Art Converter do ?

(Or what kind of graphics does it convert into what other kind of graphics?)

 

[+SoulBuster]

16 minutes ago, CharlieChaplin said:

 

Hmmm, one stupid question: What does Art Converter do ?

(Or what kind of graphics does it convert into what other kind of graphics?)

 

I have no idea. Just something I ran across.

[+gnusto]

On 10/22/2023 at 12:42 PM, CharlieChaplin said:

 

Hmmm, one stupid question: What does Art Converter do ?

(Or what kind of graphics does it convert into what other kind of graphics?)

 

 

I believe it's this: https://archive.org/details/1987-07-anticmagazine/page/n19/mode/2up

 

Converts into ASCII art.

[+SoulBuster]

Updated K-File Extractor.  It can now pull 128 byte sectors or 125 byte sectors. I also added some trapping.

 

K-File Extractor v1.4 (2023-10-22)(Naber, Tim)(US)[BASIC][SB].atr

 

[+SoulBuster]

New file v.07 available on POST ONE. Titles processed through the letter 'F'.

 

Always pick up the new file as I have been changing titles that I have completed previously, but found a new/better way to convert them.

 

Files  4,748
ATR's 4,528 95.4%
ATX's 24
CAS's 24
CAR's 39
XEX's 68
ROM's 52
         331 Tape Conversions
         37 Removed OSB/OSA requirements.
 

[+SoulBuster]

Thank you Luckybuck and ABBUC.  Without the Atari Community, I would have no motivation.

 

 

 

[+SoulBuster]

This was a little weird.

 

Good Luck (b).atr

 

This ATR has a cassette component to it.  When it boots it has RUN"C:" as part of the bootup process.

 

So I used my K-File Extractor from sector 10 to sector 58 at 128 bytes per sector.

 

I ended up with a BASIC program that I set for autoboot on an ATR.

 

Good Luck (1987)(Mopy Games)(FR)[BASIC][R cr SB].atr

 

[+SoulBuster]

As I have been processing files, I ran across BAS2BOOT files. 

 

I am trying NOT to use them. I am also trying to figure out how breakout the three that I have had to use for this project already.

 

However, I think I have a case that may only work with BAS2BOOT.

 

Fotbalovy Trener 3 (1994)(Datri Software)(CZ)[CLOAD+RUN][BASIC].cas

 

This file is a simple basic program. Loads from cassette just fine, but try to load it after DOS and you run out of memory.

 

I tried a wide variety of DOS's. With the exception of SDX, it cannot be loaded.  It needs at least 2k more in BASIC (anyone know how to get this?).

 

Using SDX is not appropriate for this project because not all devices can load Carts.

 

So I tracked down BAS2BOOT (I could only get it to work under WINXP).

 

bas2boot_bin.zip

 

and made this file.

 

Fotbalovy Trener 3 (1994)(Datri Software)(CZ)[BASIC][bas2boot][TR TOSEC].atr

[+DjayBee]

This might be a case for @CharlieChaplin, the king of weird and not so weird tools.

[+CharlieChaplin]

Okay,

so you need a lower memlo for that BAS program.

 

- DOS 2.5 with 1 drive and 1 buffer: $1Bxx **

- LiteDOS: $1000 *

- uDOS: $0937 (manual says $0938, but memlo.com program says $0937) **

- DOS2XL: $0786 (uses RAM under the OS, but thats no problem for Atari Basic programs) **

   [Note: This is not DOS XL!]

- CasDis 2.0 by Vervan or Stocksoft: loads most BAS files that overwrite DOS *

  (creates a bootdisk, thus memlo unknown; loads programs that use CLOAD or RUN"C:" from diskette, but has problems with programs that use OPEN"C:" or ENTER"C:" to load additional data; max. 8 stages / parts)

 

* NOT or not fully DOS II compatible

** DOS II compatible

 

The "Good Luck" program above with the POKE 842,12:RUN"C:" command is using CasDis... and allthough it says RUN"C:" it is loading from diskette. Guess it was originally a tape and someone converted it to diskette with CasDis.

 

[+SoulBuster]

Lite DOS does not do it.  It loads, but does not run the program properly. Also, the disk format is not compatible in SpartaDOS (148 Unknown file system). I do most of my file manipulation in SDX, so that makes this cumbersome.

 

In addition, when a basic program autoloads with [RUN"D:XXXXXXXX.BAS"] showing during the boot process, I replace that autorun.sys file with a new one so the boot process does not show it. There are several programs that create AUTORUN.SYS files for BASIC without showing [RUN"D:XXXXXXXX.BAS"] when booting. LiteDos still shows [RUN"D:XXXXXXXX.BAS"] when booting.  Not really what I want on this project.

 

I may use LiteDOS to convert some XEX's to ATR since there are several I could not get to run under other DOS's. It may also be handy for Titles that have more than one ML program to load.  LiteDOS can sequentially load up to 10 ML programs when the extension is labeled AU0-AU9.

 

I could not find uDOS or DOS2XL (not DOS XL), but I imagine that having any DOS loaded is the secondary problem with this program right behind running out of memory.

 

Since CASDIS 2.0 basically does the same as BAS2BOOT, I'll stick with BAS2BOOT since it was easy and I already know how it works.

 

Thanks for the info @CharlieChaplin.

 

That being said, when making ATR's, BAS2BOOT seems to make the smallest ATR it can (Short ATR's) using the default settings.

 

I remade the ATR using the "-long" switch.  This made a full sized working ATR.

 

Fotbalovy Trener 3 (1994)(Datri Software)(CZ)[BASIC][bas2boot][TR TOSEC].atr