Altirra 4.20 released

[reifsnyderb]

Feature Request:

 

Since the Sweet 16 document listed the option jumpers, is there a way to set them or could it be added? 

 

 

Thanks!

 

Brian

 

[phaeron]

19 hours ago, fox said:

Feature request:

Developing Atari software using a cross-assembler or a cross-compiler requires reloading the XEX file after every compilation.
Could Altirra reboot the last selected XEX file if it changes?
I mean there would be an Altirra option to watch the last opened XEX file and reload it when it changes.

This is something I've thought about myself. Altirra doesn't currently track the executable after it loads, though (the debugger keeps symbols, but that's about it). Another issue, if you're using the emulator through Wine, is that directory change notifications are broken on some Wine platforms, which I've had to work around.

 

There is one workaround that is currently available: if you launch Altirra with the /singleinstance (/si) flag, it'll force reuse of an existing instance -- which you can use to trigger a restart with an updated executable.

 

16 hours ago, reifsnyderb said:

Since the Sweet 16 document listed the option jumpers, is there a way to set them or could it be added? 

 

 

 

The pot 4 jumper is supported (System > Console Switches > Force self-test), but pot 5-7 aren't because they usually aren't exposed on the motherboard, they're typically hardwired to ground. Bit odd that they exposed P4 even, since the post-1200XL OS doesn't use it. For that matter, even the pot 4 "jumper" is often if not always a soldered link on the motherboard.

 

[reifsnyderb]

10 minutes ago, phaeron said:

 

The pot 4 jumper is supported (System > Console Switches > Force self-test), but pot 5-7 aren't because they usually aren't exposed on the motherboard, they're typically hardwired to ground. Bit odd that they exposed P4 even, since the post-1200XL OS doesn't use it. For that matter, even the pot 4 "jumper" is often if not always a soldered link on the motherboard.

 

Thanks!  That should be good enough for now.  If I can get one to work, I can get all 4 to work.  I am trying to get all 4 option jumpers working as I added them on the 800XL Remake board I created.  Flashing the ROM, to test, slows things down a bit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 22 by reifsnyderb

[fox]

6 hours ago, phaeron said:

if you launch Altirra with the /singleinstance (/si) flag, it'll force reuse of an existing instance

Good to know there's a command line switch! That does the job if I'm developing myself. But for a Makefile on GitHub, I need to hardcode the path to Altirra (or put it on the PATH) instead of relying on Windows file associations. Or perhaps lookup the registry for the Altirra location.

What's wrong with the file watcher on Wine?

[phaeron]

8 hours ago, fox said:

Good to know there's a command line switch! That does the job if I'm developing myself. But for a Makefile on GitHub, I need to hardcode the path to Altirra (or put it on the PATH) instead of relying on Windows file associations. Or perhaps lookup the registry for the Altirra location.

What's wrong with the file watcher on Wine?

Had confirmed reports that on some systems ReadDirectoryContentsW() simply didn't work through Wine and never reported any file changes, had to put in a fallback to file polling. It may be specific to the macOS implementation.

[+Philsan]

Does anyone know whether Altirra X64 runs on Windows 11 Snapdragon X PCs?

In fact there is an ARM version.

 

I am thinking of buying a Microsoft Surface Laptop but I am afraid Atari related utilities don't run.

[phaeron]

57 minutes ago, Philsan said:

Does anyone know whether Altirra X64 runs on Windows 11 Snapdragon X PCs?

In fact there is an ARM version.

 

I am thinking of buying a Microsoft Surface Laptop but I am afraid Atari related utilities don't run.

It should, I ran it on Windows 10 during the period where the Windows 10 insider build had x64 emulation. The 32-bit (x86) version definitely does. But the native ARM64 build runs 3x faster and supports everything that the x86/x64 builds do, so I'm not sure why you would want to. The x86 and x64 builds will detect if they're running on an ARM64 device and note that the ARM64 native build is available.

 

In general, I wouldn't advise getting a Windows on ARM device. You will run into problems with anything that needs a kernel driver (e.g. VPN software) and even if you don't hit CPU emulation problems, you can still run into troubles with Qualcomm's display drivers. And they're pretty expensive for what you get.

 

[Tim Stone]

Hi Phaeron,

 

    I am having problems with the H: devices.  I tried different Atari DOS's from Atari 2.5, Spartados disk 3.2d, and MyDos.  I can see the contents of the H1: device, but I can't copy from it or run any .com files from dos.

I can only view and that is it.  I tried to create another folder and dump files in but yet it did the same thing.  

 

1.   NOTHING IS SET TO READ ONLY.

2.    I am using the latest test version 4.30-test19

3.    I am getting an error if I copy something to another floppy when I can copy other things to the same floppy and I can't execute any programs like Unarc.com or TDLINE.com

4.    If I try to run Unarc.com I get an Error 146. 

5.    If I try to copy the file it will give me Illegal wildcard in name

6.    I am on Windows 10 and I tried to even create a new folder called TEST and dump the same files in and still problems.

 

Any help you can give me, I would really appreciate it.  I want to use H: as loading a folder on my windows machine so I can have more room instead of a virtual floppy.

 

 

 

 

[ryswoj2]

On 2/19/2024 at 7:33 AM, phaeron said:

https://www.virtualdub.org/beta/Altirra-4.30-test7.zip
https://www.virtualdub.org/beta/Altirra-4.30-test7-src.7z

• Fixed an crosstalk issue between input ports 1/2 and 3/4.
• Fixed registration of file types for the current user only and added support for more direct entry to the default settings page for the program (Windows 11 only).
• Tweaked the inactive selection colors in dark theme.
• Super Archiver full emulation now supports slow disk speed.
• Added initial BitWriter emulation.

 

 

How to run Super Archiver and Bitwriter in an emulator?

[phaeron]

11 hours ago, Tim Stone said:

Hi Phaeron,

 

    I am having problems with the H: devices.  I tried different Atari DOS's from Atari 2.5, Spartados disk 3.2d, and MyDos.  I can see the contents of the H1: device, but I can't copy from it or run any .com files from dos.

I can only view and that is it.  I tried to create another folder and dump files in but yet it did the same thing.  

 

1.   NOTHING IS SET TO READ ONLY.

2.    I am using the latest test version 4.30-test19

3.    I am getting an error if I copy something to another floppy when I can copy other things to the same floppy and I can't execute any programs like Unarc.com or TDLINE.com

4.    If I try to run Unarc.com I get an Error 146. 

5.    If I try to copy the file it will give me Illegal wildcard in name

6.    I am on Windows 10 and I tried to even create a new folder called TEST and dump the same files in and still problems.

 

Any help you can give me, I would really appreciate it.  I want to use H: as loading a folder on my windows machine so I can have more room instead of a virtual floppy.

These are limitations on the H: device due to the way DOSes make assumptions about CIO device behavior. In general:

• Wildcard operations on the H: device often won't work. DOS DUP.SYS blocks these on non-D: devices, and SpartaDOS assumes that the directory listing is in SpartaDOS format instead of DOS 2 format.
• When copying a file off H: with SpartaDOS, the destination filename has to be copied with a full name instead of just a drive letter, or SpartaDOS tries opening the destination file with an invalid filename (e.g. D2:*.*).
• Running programs off of H: device won't work with SpartaDOS as they use DOS-specific commands to do the executable load.

 

[phaeron]

3 hours ago, ryswoj2 said:

How to run Super Archiver and Bitwriter in an emulator?

System > Configure System > Devices > Add > Super Archiver w/ BitWriter, and then run the Super Archiver software. You'll need to Super Archiver firmware to run this configuration.

 

[Tim Stone]

48 minutes ago, phaeron said:

These are limitations on the H: device due to the way DOSes make assumptions about CIO device behavior. In general:

• Wildcard operations on the H: device often won't work. DOS DUP.SYS blocks these on non-D: devices, and SpartaDOS assumes that the directory listing is in SpartaDOS format instead of DOS 2 format.
• When copying a file off H: with SpartaDOS, the destination filename has to be copied with a full name instead of just a drive letter, or SpartaDOS tries opening the destination file with an invalid filename (e.g. D2:*.*).
• Running programs off of H: device won't work with SpartaDOS as they use DOS-specific commands to do the executable load.

 

1) I never used wildcards. The error is misleading...

     COPY H1:UNARC.COM D1: uses no wildcards at all.

2) I tried running .COM files off of AtariDos 2.5 too and it didn't work either.

3) I will try this...

 

     COPY H1:UNARC.COM D1:UNARC.COM and see if this works...

 

Can you work on the H: Device to be more robust?  It's really useless at this point.

[Tim Stone]

1 hour ago, phaeron said:

These are limitations on the H: device due to the way DOSes make assumptions about CIO device behavior. In general:

• Wildcard operations on the H: device often won't work. DOS DUP.SYS blocks these on non-D: devices, and SpartaDOS assumes that the directory listing is in SpartaDOS format instead of DOS 2 format.
• When copying a file off H: with SpartaDOS, the destination filename has to be copied with a full name instead of just a drive letter, or SpartaDOS tries opening the destination file with an invalid filename (e.g. D2:*.*).
• Running programs off of H: device won't work with SpartaDOS as they use DOS-specific commands to do the executable load.

 

I was able to copy a file in SpartaDos 3.2 using this method..

 

COPY H1:UNARC.COM D1:UNARC.COM 

 

This worked...

 

However, I tried to run it off of AtariDos 2.5 and this is the screen I got...

[dmsc]

Hi!

1 hour ago, Tim Stone said:

1) I never used wildcards. The error is misleading...

     COPY H1:UNARC.COM D1: uses no wildcards at all.

2) I tried running .COM files off of AtariDos 2.5 too and it didn't work either.

3) I will try this...

 

     COPY H1:UNARC.COM D1:UNARC.COM and see if this works...

 

Can you work on the H: Device to be more robust?  It's really useless at this point.

My advice: don't use SpartaDOS, use BW-DOS, it is smaller, faster and compatible with the H: device  

 

Also, the COPY.COM program from BW-DOS should work in SpartaDOS.

 

Attached is my current optimized version, from https://github.com/dmsc/bwdos-mads

 

Have Fun!

bwdos.atr

[phaeron]

1 hour ago, Tim Stone said:

Can you work on the H: Device to be more robust?  It's really useless at this point.

I've already explained what's causing this. Feel free to write your own implementation if you don't like mine.

[+MrFish]

5 hours ago, Tim Stone said:

It's really useless at this point.

It certainly isn't useless. I've used the H: device extensively in Altirra for many years (and in Atari800Win PLus for many years before that), including running executables, copying/duplicating files, and all other DOS functions, running BASIC and TBXL programs, saving, loading, listing, entering, auto-translating files with PC line returns, creating, processing, saving, and reading data files from within my own programs. To the contrary, it's an entirely indispensible component of my 8-bit emulation/development setup. I use all four H: drives, often on a daily basis.

 

[Tim Stone]

2 hours ago, phaeron said:

I've already explained what's causing this. Feel free to write your own implementation if you don't like mine.

 

   Okay, so what about flipping this on it's head and expand on the virtual folder to the D drive? 

I tried to check the box for mounting the D drive and I can't get that to work. I don't know what number it mounts to on Atari Dos 2.5.  Can we get a dropdown instead of just checking a box to go to whatever D drive we want?

 

If H: is too limited why can I just load them on a higher D drive than D1: through D4:?

[Tim Stone]

2 hours ago, dmsc said:

Hi!

My advice: don't use SpartaDOS, use BW-DOS, it is smaller, faster and compatible with the H: device  

 

Also, the COPY.COM program from BW-DOS should work in SpartaDOS.

 

Attached is my current optimized version, from https://github.com/dmsc/bwdos-mads

 

Have Fun!

bwdos.atr 90.02 kB · 0 downloads

Thank you brother.  I have downloaded it and give it a go. I never actually used this one from the past before. I will take a look at it.  Thank you so much!

[Tim Stone]

3 hours ago, dmsc said:

Hi!

My advice: don't use SpartaDOS, use BW-DOS, it is smaller, faster and compatible with the H: device  

 

Also, the COPY.COM program from BW-DOS should work in SpartaDOS.

 

Attached is my current optimized version, from https://github.com/dmsc/bwdos-mads

 

Have Fun!

bwdos.atr 90.02 kB · 0 downloads

I love the type blah.txt like on MSDOS that is cool, but when I run supunarc.com it gives me an error 146.

 

This H: stuff is just horrible. Even under BW-DOS, I can't run executables like Super Unarc on an H: drive.   

 

Edited August 26 by Tim Stone

[Tim Stone]

2 hours ago, phaeron said:

I've already explained what's causing this. Feel free to write your own implementation if you don't like mine.

Also, I don't want to appear ungrateful because this emulator is the best on any platform to be honest.  Just would like to see more work done here to be able to find a way to get around the limitations.

I live 2 and a half hours north from you across the Golden Gate Bridge in Mendocino.  Right outside Ukiah, CA. Just north of the town.

[dmsc]

Hi!

39 minutes ago, Tim Stone said:

I love the type blah.txt like on MSDOS that is cool, but when I run supunarc.com it gives me an error 146.

 

This H: stuff is just horrible. Even under BW-DOS, I can't run executables like Super Unarc on an H: drive.   

 

 

That is easy: you need to implement XIO $28 in Altirra/source/hostdevice.cpp, line 1327  

 

Have Fun!

 

[Tim Stone]

3 minutes ago, dmsc said:

Hi!

 

That is easy: you need to implement XIO $28 in Altirra/source/hostdevice.cpp, line 1327  

 

Have Fun!

 

Why should I have to mess with the source code when the author should be doing that for everyone?  Seems very shortsighted.  I assume that one of you is going to buy Visual Studio for everyone?

Edited August 26 by Tim Stone

[woj]

1 hour ago, Tim Stone said:

I assume that one of you is going to buy Visual Studio for everyone?

Working on the Altirra sources and compiling them to get the final product does not require buying anything. 

 

IMO what you are doing is working with a 40 year old design and technology  and complaining about its usabiility to the emulator developer... honestly.

[Tim Stone]

2 hours ago, woj said:

Working on the Altirra sources and compiling them to get the final product does not require buying anything. 

 

IMO what you are doing is working with a 40 year old design and technology  and complaining about its usabiility to the emulator developer... honestly.

No, not at all. Altirra itself isn't 40 years old and it can use windows functionality. I used it on other Windows Atari 8-bit emulators in the past and the support was better than this to be honest.

I love this emulator.  I just want to fight for the better of it and not be okay with mediocre.

 

It's okay to want better support otherwise this emulator would have ended years ago.

 

He could have said, forget printer support.  We don't need it.  Yet he added it to make it better and it's very nice and I love it.

 

NEVER SHOOT FOR MEDIOCRE IN LIFE.  GO AS FAR AS YOU CAN.

[Irgendwer]

14 hours ago, Tim Stone said:

Also, I don't want to appear ungrateful

Maybe it's just me, but this is exactly not my impression.

13 hours ago, Tim Stone said:

when the author should be doing that for everyone?

@phaeron is highly regarded and a very respected part of this community. Not only for his outstanding emulator but also for his very supportive nature, his level of professionalism and in-deep documentation of the A8 and peripherals, Basic and OS.

His offers are for free. He owes us nothing and we can be proud to have such a knowledgeable member in reach. What he "should" do or not, is absolutely his decision.

 

Of course you can request a feature or change (he fulfilled a lot of them!), but statements like

14 hours ago, Tim Stone said:

This H: stuff is just horrible.

aren't very helpful and look like belittling his work, while others (including myself) have used this device successful. 

 

8 hours ago, Tim Stone said:

NEVER SHOOT FOR MEDIOCRE IN LIFE.  GO AS FAR AS YOU CAN.

This sentence (easy said BTW), esp. targeting phearon, is a joke - knowing how elaborate his work is and with how much dedication he develops Altirra.

But it seems to fit you, going with your critique "full monty"... 😉

 

(And just a side note (if you didn't know): WRITING IN UPPER CASE IS REGARDED AS SHOUTING!)

Edited August 26 by Irgendwer