XEX to Alphaload/Multiboot?

[spacedmonkeys]

This may seem strange but I'd like to "inject" some XEX files to Alphaload (or Multiboot) menus, so I can build some "favourite" real disks that my kids can use with the actual hardware. You'll see in other threads I am currently going through my old disks and archiving them at the moment, and it has raised the kids interest (but alot of the disks have read errors). They seem to prefer picking up the disks and reading whats on there, rather than scrolling through a list of titles on my SIO2SD!

 

I have found a few topics where people have used makeatr etc and various other tools. I also found a good one that creates a MyPicoDos menu from a dir full of xex using a simple bat file. I may end up going this route as it is proven working... but first just wondered if anyone had done similar, creating an Alphaload or Multiboot from xex?

 

Why Alphaload? well purely because this was my preferred menu back in the 80's, and it looks nice with the fuji logo

 

I have used some of the Alphaload tools to go the other way - extract a file from an Alphaload, write it to a newly created ATR in Altirra, resulting in a bootable disk with the game/util. But obviously Alphaload has no idea what an xex is.

[Rybags]

That's one of those non-Dos filing system types isn't it?

 

I was/am the opposite.  My mission in the day was to get everything possible as Xex on a Dos compatible menu disk.

I'm about sure most of these other menu systems would have had utilities to populate the disk.

But some of those menus aren't even executable loaders but multiboot in the sense that they're taking tape or disk dumps in a linear format.

So getting multi segment Xex onto them might not necessarily be a simple thing.

[Beeblebrox]

@spacedmonkeys Or just get yourself an uber cheap A8pico cart (16mb space) and pop your XEX's on there in folders.

 

£21 incl postage from this seller who I've bought lots of A8 items off before:

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/266831483071?itmmeta=01HZ21ZEWEBKGH6NN5W5099TRK&hash=item3e206550bf:g:ArsAAOSw4HVlb4Ra

 

      

 

Remember to get a cheap USB to top USB C data cable (£2ish on Ebay):

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/195788217047?

 

 

 

 

Edited May 29 by Beeblebrox

[TGB1718]

44 minutes ago, spacedmonkeys said:

Why Alphaload? well purely because this was my preferred menu back in the 80's, and it looks nice with the fuji logo

AlpahaLoad was designed to turn bootable disks into files runnable from it's menu as @Rybags says, non-DOS

[spacedmonkeys]

22 minutes ago, TGB1718 said:

AlpahaLoad was designed to turn bootable disks into files runnable from it's menu as @Rybags says, non-DOS

 

Ah ok so they are just (for want of a better term) "bin" files, and the menu incorporates some code to launch and execute those files? rather than classic dos compatible exe files.

 

So I guess I could faff about and write xex files to a mypicodos atr .. then use a bin-to-alphaload or dos-to-alphalod tool to copy those to an alphaload menu...

 

Or just go the easy route and use that "MyPicoDos" menu disk maker.

 

@Beeblebroxone of those kind of defeats the purpose though, kids can already use the sio2sd, but as I said they seem to prefer browsing the disks, reading whats on there, and trying out the titles.

[Beeblebrox]

16 minutes ago, spacedmonkeys said:

 

Ah ok so they are just (for want of a better term) "bin" files, and the menu incorporates some code to launch and execute those files? rather than classic dos compatible exe files.

 

So I guess I could faff about and write xex files to a mypicodos atr .. then use a bin-to-alphaload or dos-to-alphalod tool to copy those to an alphaload menu...

 

Or just go the easy route and use that "MyPicoDos" menu disk maker.

 

@Beeblebroxone of those kind of defeats the purpose though, kids can already use the sio2sd, but as I said they seem to prefer browsing the disks, reading whats on there, and trying out the titles.

Sure. Just thought I'd mention it as it's just a cheap, out of the box option that solves any issues converting loadsa of games, plus:

 

-Doesn't require you to have your A8 plugging into a windows pc

- Is pretty much instantaneous loading of games

- You can catagorise folders for different games

 

 

 

[Rybags]

Possibly compressing an Xex into a monolithic file then converting that to a boot image.

But it all gets pretty fiddly.

A better option might be to just create an Xex menu booter with the rainbow that you want.

 

But in the day, I had a 5 sector boot menu which I feel gave good balance between not being bloated but providing functionality.

You can get 3 sector menus I believe but they will often lack features.

The bigger ones took too long to load, and often the bigger footprint meant lots of software wouldn't work with them.

[xrbrevin]

if you convert the .xex to .atr and it boots, can you then use option 2 from the multi-boot utilities menu to populate your disks?

 

Edited May 29 by xrbrevin
syntax error at line 10

[spacedmonkeys]

Thanks - I am going to try this way, or the MyPicoDos menu.

 

I found another thread from 2008 with someone asking the same thing (these Alphaload menus must have a special place in our UK Atari users hearts). He ended up going the MyPicoDos route.

[spacedmonkeys]

I have succesfully built some MyPicoDos menu disks now using the dir2atr tool, kids are currently playing Matchboxes from one. Not quite the same nice look and feel as the Alphaloads but they are nice and fast and kids like them