Writable SIO solutions

[WizWor]

I see discussions about various devices all the time. I find a lot intriguing, but am not sure how to choose. I have an SIO2PC and a MaxFlash cart. I'd like some kind of device that I can attach to the Atari that will let me play games like Seven Cities of Gold and Alternate Reality that write to the disk. I don't want to dedicate a cart to one game. I'd like to be able to load a bunch of atrs on an SD card or something.

 

Can people who are actually using these devices to play games like this help me decide. I want something that can be attached directly to the A8 with no PC, that does not require concurrent attachment to a disk drive. IOW a writable MaxFlash cart.

[maguman]

I've had an SIO2SD for a while. I use it a bit to play games, but also for programming and testing code on real hardware.

 

It works a treat - if an assembler can write to a disk image I guess a lot of games could too.

 

Just transfer the disk images to an SD card using a PC, and you are off and running.

[HiassofT]

Hi!

 

Can people who are actually using these devices to play games like this help me decide.

Both the SIO2SD and the SDrive will do fine. I'm using both of them, so here's a short comparison of their features and limitations:

 

Nice thing about the SDrive is that it's cheap and easy to build. I built it by myself and the total costs were some 15 EUR (excluding a case and SD card).

 

After you power-up your Atari the SDrive configuration program is automatically started and then you can load up to 4 ATR images (into D1: to D4). Later, for example if you need to swap disks, you can use the buttons on the SDrive to swap D1: with D2:...D4:. So if you have a game that supports multiple drives you don't need to do anything. If you have a game that supports only one disk use the buttons to choose from your four possible images. The LEDs on the SDrive show which one is active in D1:.

 

And this is also the first hard limitation of the SDrive: you can't use software that requires more than 4 disks. Changing the SDrive configuration is only possible with the configuration program and this requires quitting the game/software.

 

The SIO2SD costs significantly more than the SDrive, mainly because of the display. IMO the small 16 character LCD sold with most pre-assembled SIO2SDs is far too small, I'm using a 24 character LCD so that I can actually use long filenames for the images (but: the display alone cost me some 30 EUR - twice as much as the SDrive).

 

When you power-up the Atari you can also boot the configuration software from the SIO2SD. I configured my SIO2SD so that the software is booted if I press the "shift" button on the SIO2SD during power-up, if you like you can also configure the SIO2SD so that the software is loaded on every powerup (plus some other options).

 

The SIO2SD configuration software is similar to the SDrive software. Personally, I prefer the SIO2SD software because it displays the long filenames by default - SDrive only gives you a list of short filenames, plus the option to (automatically) display the long filename of a single file at the bottom of the screen.

 

During gameplay you can use the buttons on the SIO2SD to load other images into D1:...D8:. Although the navigation through folders is not too comfortable (only one directory entry is displayed at a time - that's the limitation of a 2 line LCD) you have the great benefit that you can access an arbitrary number of ATRs if you like/need. For multi-disk games I'd recommend putting all game ATRs (plus some empty ATRs for your savegames/character disks/...) into a directory, then selecting the next image is quite easy (use K2/shift-K2 to scroll through the images, then use K4 to load it into D1:).

 

Both the SIO2SD and the SDrive have a somewhat annoying limitation: it's not possible to create a new, empty ATR if you need one (a data/character disk for example). So be sure to put some empty SD/ED/DD ATRs on your SD card.

 

With the SIO2SD it's also possible to remove the SD card, plug it into your PC cardreader (to create some new, empty ATRs, for example) and then re-plug it into the SIO2SD while the Atari is running. After re-plugging the card, all ATRs that you loaded before into the drives will be restored. The SIO2SD also remembers drive assignment when you power it off.

 

The SDrive has neither of these 2 features. If you remove the SD card or if you power off your Atari the SDrive will always default to a "blank" configuration, with D1: set to boot the SDrive configuration software.

 

So, basically, we could call the SDrive the "little brother" of the SIO2SD. I like and use both of them, but I guess you have to choose by yourself now (or also buy both, like me :-)

 

so long,

 

Hias

[WizWor]

Thank you Hias. Very nice differentiation. Do I understand you to say that five disk games like Alternate Reality The Dungeon will not be playable from the SDrive?

[Bryan]

And just so you know... if you're using something like APE on the PC, then those disk images can be writable too.

[HiassofT]

Do I understand you to say that five disk games like Alternate Reality The Dungeon will not be playable from the SDrive?

Yes. Unless I missed something, of course.

 

so long,

 

Hias

[AB Positive]

Best way to do AR would be Sio2PC with APE - up to 8 drives configurable. I have my 600xl right next to my PC anyway so perhaps it's not a big issue for me, but it works the fastest in my opinion.

[+bf2k+]

Best way to do AR would be Sio2PC with APE - up to 8 drives configurable. I have my 600xl right next to my PC anyway so perhaps it's not a big issue for me, but it works the fastest in my opinion.

 

MIO with 8 partitions would be faster!

 

Hmmm... I wonder if it would work in the MIO 1meg ramdisk partitioned into 5 drives - I see no reason why it wouldn't... now that would be fast.

Edited June 29, 2009 by bf2k+

[+remowilliams]

So, basically, we could call the SDrive the "little brother" of the SIO2SD. I like and use both of them, but I guess you have to choose by yourself now (or also buy both, like me :-)

Yes, good writeup.

 

I'd say in short to anyone -

 

SDrive supports one drive, with four image 'slots' - which are not modifiable once you have 'booted' your application/game.

 

SIO2SD supports four drives

 

SIO2USB supports three drives

 

SIO2PC (USB/serial) / APE supports eight drives

Edited June 29, 2009 by remowilliams

[WizWor]

Best way to do AR would be Sio2PC with APE - up to 8 drives configurable. I have my 600xl right next to my PC anyway so perhaps it's not a big issue for me, but it works the fastest in my opinion.

I thank you all for your thoughtful responses. I learned a lot about my Atari as I researched these options. While all these accessories are truly amazing, I have to agree with ABP that the sio2pc is probably the best solution.

[a8maestro]

So, basically, we could call the SDrive the "little brother" of the SIO2SD. I like and use both of them, but I guess you have to choose by yourself now (or also buy both, like me :-)

Yes, good writeup.

 

I'd say in short to anyone -

 

SDrive supports one drive, with four image 'slots' - which are not modifiable once you have 'booted' your application/game.

 

SIO2SD supports four drives

 

SIO2USB supports three drives

 

SIO2PC (USB/serial) / APE supports eight drives

 

Actually, SDrive supports 4 drives, D1: thru D4: all active at the same time, with D2-D4 swappable with D1 at any time.

 

Rick D.

[HiassofT]

SIO2SD supports four drives

The SIO2SD also supports 8 drives.

 

so long,

 

Hias

[kurtm]

Yes, good writeup.

 

I'd say in short to anyone -

 

SDrive supports one drive, with four image 'slots' - which are not modifiable once you have 'booted' your application/game.

 

SIO2SD supports four drives

 

SIO2USB supports three drives

 

SIO2PC (USB/serial) / APE supports eight drives

 

Actually, SDrive supports 4 drives, D1: thru D4: all active at the same time, with D2-D4 swappable with D1 at any time.

 

Rick D.

 

 

Yeah. And really, they *are* modifiable once you've booted the drive, it's just there isn't software to do so *yet*. The SDrive itself would be more than happy to do so though. And really, you *can* run the config software from a regular DOS. You just can't swap in other images from the front panel.

[HiassofT]

Yeah. And really, they *are* modifiable once you've booted the drive, it's just there isn't software to do so *yet*. The SDrive itself would be more than happy to do so though. And really, you *can* run the config software from a regular DOS. You just can't swap in other images from the front panel.

It is possible with some additional hardware, the TurboFreezer:

 

Boot into the SDrive config program, then activate the TurboFreezer and save the current state to the TurboFreezer RAM. Then return to the config program and boot into your software/game/whatever.

 

Later if you want to change the SDrive configuration, just activate the TurboFreezer and use the swap function to swap the currently running program with the SDrive config program. If you are finished re-configuring the SDrive, use swap again to return to the originally running program. You may do this as often as you like :-)

 

so long,

 

Hias

[+remowilliams]

The SIO2SD also supports 8 drives.

DOH, yes I forgot only the earlier versions were D1-4

 

You just can't swap in other images from the front panel.

Yes, I was trying to answer in the sense of a gamer who once their game is loaded, is not going to be able to swap images in and out of the slots.