VBXE 80 Column Display for Atari Basic

[mmoec]

Apologies if this topic has been beat over the head time and time again, but I did try searching the forums and the internet (and I'm no genius at navigating websites) and was able to get bits and pieces of information, but not enough to put together a plan and get this thing done.

I recently installed a VBXE into my 8-bit Atari, and I would like to be able to program BASIC in 80 column mode, but there appears to be a shortage of information on how to achieve this (again, my web navigating skills could use some fine tuning). I did read something about SpartaDos X and some drivers that may need to be installed, but I can't find anything specific. Perhaps someone could be kind enough to point me in the direction of some clear cut instructions on how to make this a reality? Your help in this would be most appreciated.

 

Thank you, and good evening.

 

P.S...this machine also has a U1MB board installed, if that helps any.

 

[Piotr D. Kaczorowski]

2 hours ago, mmoec said:

Apologies if this topic has been beat over the head time and time again, but I did try searching the forums and the internet (and I'm no genius at navigating websites) and was able to get bits and pieces of information, but not enough to put together a plan and get this thing done.

I recently installed a VBXE into my 8-bit Atari, and I would like to be able to program BASIC in 80 column mode, but there appears to be a shortage of information on how to achieve this (again, my web navigating skills could use some fine tuning). I did read something about SpartaDos X and some drivers that may need to be installed, but I can't find anything specific. Perhaps someone could be kind enough to point me in the direction of some clear cut instructions on how to make this a reality? Your help in this would be most appreciated.

 

Thank you, and good evening.

 

P.S...this machine also has a U1MB board installed, if that helps any.

 

 

I think @drac030 might be able to help with this.

 

[+Stephen]

Easiest way, is using SDX with the CON80 and S-VBXE driver.  Load DOS, let the drivers load, issue a CON 80, then go to BASIC.  I do this with both standard Atari BASIC, as well as Turbo BASIC XL.

[mmoec]

When you say ‘let the drivers load’ where are these drivers located and how does one go about installing them? I tried the command CON 80 and nothing happens. My best guess is these drivers need to be pre-installed before issuing this command.

[+DrVenkman]

6 hours ago, mmoec said:

When you say ‘let the drivers load’ where are these drivers located and how does one go about installing them? I tried the command CON 80 and nothing happens. My best guess is these drivers need to be pre-installed before issuing this command.

Do you have SpartaDOS X in the machine with your VBXE? The drivers @Stephen is referring to are included with SDX. 

[mmoec]

Yes, I have SDX with the U1MB and the SIDE3 cart. I did search for these drivers under CAR: but couldn’t find them.

 

[+Stephen]

Sorry for the late reply, been swamped at work.  The drivers you'll need are in the SDX Toolkit and unfortunately, all the files are in ARC format.  I just downloaded the most recent bugfix version - let me attach them to the post here.  I don't have a recent version of con80.sys on my PC - you will have to grab that from the toolkit.

s_vbxe.sys

[_The Doctor__]

you can make different batch files to load drivers automatically or by choice each time SDX loads as well

[mmoec]

Thanks @Stephen, I’ll try this when I get home. I used to make batch files in Atari DOS 2.5 format, so I’m pretty sure I can figure out how it’s done with SDX. I just need to know which files and the command to install them.

 

[+Stephen]

Once you have the 2 files (S_VBXE.SYS and CON.SYS), you can either add them to a config file, or simply type the names at the command line, and it will load them.  Even though they end in sys, they are just binary load files.

[mmoec]

Interesting…I’ve managed to figure out how to look into an ARC file (still working on how to extract them), but this toolkit.ATR file I have doesn’t seem to have the CON 80 driver, just the CON 64 one 🤔. Perhaps this is an older version.

[mmoec]

Perhaps this CON.SYS file is the one I need?

[+Stephen]

Yes - very sorry for that.  The most recent driver, is CON.SYS.

[mmoec]

Thanks for your help @Stephen. I think I can figure out the rest. 👍

[mmoec]

💪

 

[macsonny]

Very useful - thanks!

[Piotr D. Kaczorowski]

 

A planned update for the 80-column driver will be tailored to the VBXE core for the NTSC region.

[Piotr D. Kaczorowski]