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AspeQt: Yet another SIO2PC/APE clone


cyco130

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How would XEP80 stuff even work? Nothing expects it over SIO - what could possibly use it?

 

Any software that does not directly access the hardware (does such software even exist) might work assuming a new device handler is written and emulation code is added to AspeQt.

I am just speculating here as I have never owned a XEP80 and don't know how it works, so as I said before it's way over my head. Even if i had knowledge of the hardware it still sounds like a lot of work to me....

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I'd like to make some requests (hopefully not previously mentioned).

 

- Make XEX boot persistent for the session

- Command line switches with any options provided overriding the stored settings. Perhaps have the overrides default to temporary (i.e. for the session only) with the choice to make them permanent

 

One more request is more of a novelty.

 

-XEP80 simulation. Obviously this cannot be an emulation as XEP80 is connected via game ports. XEP80 control sequences would be sent via SIO instead.

 

Here's a quick and dirty little fix for you until I can actually implement the feature. If you want the XEX boot dialog to persist (assuming you want to be able to re-boot the same game several times - i.e each time the GAME is OVER (hehe) - simply drag and drop the same file from Windows Explorer to AspeQt main window several times. The first drag and drop will open the boot executable dialog, the subsequant ones will simply be queued by Windows. The next dialog will open immediately after the previous one closes. This way you can re-boot the same (or any other) game several times without having to open the "Boot Atari Executable" menu option. ;)

 

Beauty of drag'n'drop

Edited by atari8warez
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version 0.8.3 is now available:

 

+ Added option to keep the Boot Executable dialog open for succesive reboots of the same XEX file

 

+ Updated turkish language translation

 

+ Added a non-verbose version of AspeCl called AspeClQ (Q for quiet). AspeClQ does away with all help, status and error messages

reducing the exe file size considerably. This is the version to use if memory is scarse or in a batch file without disturbing

the current screen content.

 

+ Added new command line switches to AspeCl and the code to support it in AspeQt

More than one switch can be specified on the command line and switches must be separated by at least one blank space.

 

DA[ds] => Toggle auto-save OFF (s=0) or ON (s=1), on a given disk image (d). Toggling auto-save switch to ON will commit all

pending changes to the affected disk image. Can be used to make sure all changes are committed before unmounting a

disk image remotely. If the toggle is set ON on a newly created and mounted disk image, operator intervention will

be required from the server (AspeQt) side to assign a file name to the image file before it's saved to PC hard disk.

(Currently in development)

 

DS[dd] => Swap disks, where dd are the drive numbers to be swapped (i.e DS15 will swap disks 1 and 5).

Implemented in version 0.8.3

 

DU[d/*] => Unmount disk(s). Will either unmount a single disk [d], or all disks [*]

Unmount will not unmount disks that have changes until the changes are commited.

Disks set to "auto-commit" in AspeQt will be unmounted immediately as the changes to these images are commited automatically.

Implemented in version 0.8.3

 

DM[fname.[ext]] => Mount an existing disk image,

Will mount a supported disk image file from the last disk image directory used by AspeQt.

The new image will be mounted to the first available disk slot (Currently in development)

 

DN[fname.{ext].[1/2/3/4/5]] => Create and mount a new disk image. Will create a new disk image, assign a name to it, and mount it.

The disk image will be created in the last image directory used by AspeQt (Currently in development)

1 - Standard Single Density

2 - Standard Enhanced density

3 - Standard Double Density

4 - Double sided, double density

5 - Double density Harddisk

 

Example: DNmyhd.atr.5, will create a double density harddisk .atr image with the name myhd

 

An example of invoking AspeCl with multiple command line switches:

ASPECL TF DS18 DMbasicxe.atr => Will set the date/time and turn TD line OFF, will swap disks 1-8, will mount basicxe.atr to

the first available disk slot, returning back the slot number to Atari. SEE ASPEQT USER MANUAL FOR COMPLETE ASPECL documentation.

 

+ Fixed a problem with AspeQt dropping from READY state when 1st opened. The bug was introduced by session enhancement in v8.0.2

 

+ Added a 250ms delay to allow for COM port successfuly closing before it's re-opened when a session file is loaded.

Without the delay AspeQt sometimes fails to re-connect to the COM port with a "Access Denied" error.

 

 

Source and Windows binaries

Edited by atari8warez
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IMO the "Boot Executable" option should have an entire pulldown column of it's own.

 

Another useful addition could be to list the last 8 or so files booted, and maybe even have a "favourites" where you can keep pointers to another few.

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IMO the "Boot Executable" option should have an entire pulldown column of it's own.

 

Another useful addition could be to list the last 8 or so files booted, and maybe even have a "favourites" where you can keep pointers to another few.

 

Those are options that come with the GTS version, add another few thousand to the base price :grin: . Back to completing the remote commands...

Edited by atari8warez
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version 0.8.3 is now available:

 

+ Added option to keep the Boot Executable dialog open for succesive reboots of the same XEX file

 

 

Source and Windows binaries

 

The dialog box stays open but I cannot load an XEX file on successive tries. The old progress bar stays at 100% from the first loading.

 

I haven't tried any of the other new features yet.

 

This is in linux.

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version 0.8.3 is now available:

 

+ Added option to keep the Boot Executable dialog open for succesive reboots of the same XEX file

 

 

Source and Windows binaries

 

The dialog box stays open but I cannot load an XEX file on successive tries. The old progress bar stays at 100% from the first loading.

 

I haven't tried any of the other new features yet.

 

This is in linux.

 

Sorry, I didn't test it on linux as I don't have it, but it does work on Windows (and works pretty good) with several xex files i tried. Actually I can't see why it shouldn't work with linux, did you try some other game or games.

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this page is german only ... oh and btw I don't deliver the GPL-text (or any hint at all), but here are the Linux and Mac OS X builds: http://www.abbuc.de/...nload/index.htm ...

 

Btw, 0.8.3 doesn't compile on Mac OS X ... same error as in 0.8.2

 

there are:

 

AspeQt 0.8.1 for Mac OS X (built on Lion, runs on Lion, but not tested if SIO works)

AspeQt 0.8.3 for Linux (built on Ubuntu 10.10, runs on Ubuntu 10.10 and debian 6, SIO works)

AspeQt 0.8.3 for Linux 64 bits (built on debian 7, runs on debian 7 AMD64, but not tested if SIO works)

 

and some other builds of 0.8.2 ...

 

for running on debian, install the packages libqtgui4, libqtcore4, libaudio2 and add yourself to the dialout-group

 

just try ...

Edited by atarixle
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version 0.8.3 is now available:

 

+ Added option to keep the Boot Executable dialog open for succesive reboots of the same XEX file

 

 

Source and Windows binaries

 

The dialog box stays open but I cannot load an XEX file on successive tries. The old progress bar stays at 100% from the first loading.

 

I haven't tried any of the other new features yet.

 

This is in linux.

 

Sorry, I didn't test it on linux as I don't have it, but it does work on Windows (and works pretty good) with several xex files i tried. Actually I can't see why it shouldn't work with linux, did you try some other game or games.

Ah! Thanks!

 

I found my problem. My own compiled Action! programs are what won't load on successive attempts. The mounted ATR in D1: loads instead.

 

I don't know what could be causing that but it's not a real issue for me. Only one of them is something I might even consider booting directly from aspeqt. Usually I just place it on a bootable ATR.

 

Sorry for the false alarm. My own programs were at hand so those are what I tried.

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Another useful addition could be to list the last 8 or so files booted, and maybe even have a "favourites" where you can keep pointers to another few.

 

When Kolja and I created the 800XL DJ we found out very soon that it is much more comfortable to have a list of files and assign the drives to them than vice versa - which sounds more intuitive first.

You can then perform various file sorting and filtering mechanisms on the list and never see that restricted file selector again.

Edited by Irgendwer
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Another useful addition could be to list the last 8 or so files booted, and maybe even have a "favourites" where you can keep pointers to another few.

 

When Kolja and I created the 800XL DJ we found out very soon that it is much more comfortable to have a list of files and assign the drives to them than vice versa - which sounds more intuitive first.

You can then perform various file sorting and filtering mechanisms on the list and never see that restricted file selector again.

 

I guess that depends on what you intend to do with the file list, I don't know about linux, but on Windows for sorting and searching Windows file selector screen is good enough. What else one could do with a list of files. One advantage maybe would be to collect files from different folders and present them on one list instead of changing folders, sort of like a library manager. Personally I organize everything in their proper folder already rather than scattered all over the places. Frankly I would prefer implementing more functional changes and leave the file housekeeping to the OS (which in fact does a pretty good job with folders/libraries in Win7). Folders and Libraries + Drag and Drop is a very convenient way to start executables, no need to open the file selector screen.

 

Having said that if anybody is willing to tackle this mod, they are more than welcome to contribute.

 

Ray

Edited by atari8warez
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I can get ASPEQT to work fine with a Prolific to Atari SIO serial to sio cable in Windows 7 and Windows Vista.

But, with linux, I set up the Prolific adapter, and it comes up as a serial back end called ttyUSB0.

When I select that in ASPEQT as the port, I get a message saying it is connected, but no data is transferred at all.

On another laptop with a true serial port, it works fine.

Also, when the connection is supposedly made, my processor usage goes way up.

And how does one tell linux what serial port the adapter is to use?

This is driving me crazy as I know the adapter works from use with Windows and ASPEQT.

I am just having major problems getting it to work with linux.

Has anyone been successful in getting ASPEQT working with a Prolific USB2serial adapter connected to an Atari SIO2PC cable in Linux?

If so, I would like to know how you accomplished the feat!

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Damn, what the f is this???

 

Even AspeQt 0.8.1 doesn't compile on my Mac anymore, even if I am sure it did already!!!!!!

 

The My Binary Build on my Homepage proves that!!!

 

I can certainly understand your frustration but sorry can't do much about that as I am not familiar with Mac OS, but maybe you should check if you need to include some Mac OS specific header files before you compile (doesn't the compiler say what's wrong with the compile?) or ask to some Mac OS guru among Atariage users. Shouting "damn it doesn't work" will most certainly not help with the situation. You need to be more specific about the problem.

 

I've mentioned that many times but here we go again, I am not a Mac or Linux coder and I don't have a clue about either of these platforms.

Edited by atari8warez
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I'm just wondering (and be angry to myself) cuz I compiled it already ... and the reason, why 0.8.3 not compiles has always been something else than I thought...

 

I will have to spend a lot of more time with that :/

 

I know the ultimate solution: I will ask Carsten on the Fujiama Event. He knows much about OS X as he worked on it years ago (when they still were cool) ;-)

Edited by atarixle
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I can get ASPEQT to work fine with a Prolific to Atari SIO serial to sio cable in Windows 7 and Windows Vista.

But, with linux, I set up the Prolific adapter, and it comes up as a serial back end called ttyUSB0.

When I select that in ASPEQT as the port, I get a message saying it is connected, but no data is transferred at all.

On another laptop with a true serial port, it works fine.

Also, when the connection is supposedly made, my processor usage goes way up.

And how does one tell linux what serial port the adapter is to use?

This is driving me crazy as I know the adapter works from use with Windows and ASPEQT.

 

I can get ASPEQT to work fine with a Prolific to Atari SIO serial to sio cable in Windows 7 and Windows Vista.

But, with linux, I set up the Prolific adapter, and it comes up as a serial back end called ttyUSB0.

When I select that in ASPEQT as the port, I get a message saying it is connected, but no data is transferred at all.

On another laptop with a true serial port, it works fine.

Also, when the connection is supposedly made, my processor usage goes way up.

And how does one tell linux what serial port the adapter is to use?

This is driving me crazy as I know the adapter works from use with Windows and ASPEQT.

I am just having major problems getting it to work with linux.

Has anyone been successful in getting ASPEQT working with a Prolific USB2serial adapter connected to an Atari SIO2PC cable in Linux?

If so, I would like to know how you accomplished the feat!

I am just having major problems getting it to work with linux.

 

Has anyone been successful in getting ASPEQT working with a Prolific USB2serial adapter connected to an Atari SIO2PC cable in Linux?

If so, I would like to know how you accomplished the feat!

 

I can't really comment on linux issues, however I can suggest using an FTDI based VCP. I too have a Prolific VCP and even though it works fine with AspeQt in Win 7, it only works up to 2 x SIO speed and not as reliably as an FTDI cable. an FTDI cable will work up to 6x SIO on Win7 with no problems because it supports more serial port baud rates than a Prolific cable does. Also FTDI drivers have a miriad of settings that you can customize, not so with the Prolific drivers which will only give you standard serial port options.

Cables with FTDI chipset can also be re-programmed as they include an inline programmable EPROM, you can even change the signal strength on the chip's pins.

 

AspeQt officially only supports the FTDI based cables.

 

Ray

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I'm just wondering (and be angry to myself) cuz I compiled it already ... and the reason, why 0.8.3 not compiles has always been something else than I thought...

 

I will have to spend a lot of more time with that :/

 

I know the ultimate solution: I will ask Carsten on the Fujiama Event. He knows much about OS X as he worked on it years ago (when they still were cool) ;-)

 

Ok nice to hear that.....

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version 0.8.3 is now available:

 

+ Added option to keep the Boot Executable dialog open for succesive reboots of the same XEX file

 

 

Source and Windows binaries

 

The dialog box stays open but I cannot load an XEX file on successive tries. The old progress bar stays at 100% from the first loading.

 

I haven't tried any of the other new features yet.

 

This is in linux.

 

Sorry, I didn't test it on linux as I don't have it, but it does work on Windows (and works pretty good) with several xex files i tried. Actually I can't see why it shouldn't work with linux, did you try some other game or games.

Ah! Thanks!

 

I found my problem. My own compiled Action! programs are what won't load on successive attempts. The mounted ATR in D1: loads instead.

 

I don't know what could be causing that but it's not a real issue for me. Only one of them is something I might even consider booting directly from aspeqt. Usually I just place it on a bootable ATR.

 

Sorry for the false alarm. My own programs were at hand so those are what I tried.

 

No problem....One thing about the exe, xex, or com files is that NOT ALL OF THEM WILL WORK with the AspeQt loader. The majority does however there will always be some which doesn't. I am not sure why, but my guess is it could be the custom SIO code (which I haven't written myself). Some executable files will not work with High Speed loader, in that case try the normal speed (an option in AspeQt). If it still doesn't work then there is no fast and easy answer as to why?

 

Also some files which load and run the first time will not reboot when you leave the executable loader dialog open. At this time I am not sure why this happens, i will check the code again to try to find an answer.

 

Ray

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How would XEP80 stuff even work? Nothing expects it over SIO - what could possibly use it?

I believe applications that communicate with XEP80 do it via the supplied handler or the patched one.

 

Couldn't a new handler, one that sends the commands and data over SIO, be substituted?

 

The idea just seemed interesting to me and since a computer is already committed to AspeQt no additional hardware would be needed.

Edited by a8isa1
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Thanks for adding persistent XEX sessions but I think I have a better idea, batch mode boot loading.

 

To make testing new XEXes easy it would be nice if I could have AspeQt load the file(s) and then terminate. Something like this:

 

aspeqt OTL game1 game2 game3 game4

 

OTL is an acronym for One Time Load . OTL1 could be the parameter for 1X SIO for One Time Load.

 

In the above example a new game loads for each cold boot. AspeQt terminates after game4 loads.

 

For persistent sessions we revive your idea but add it to command line thusly

 

aspeqt OTL game1 game1 game1 game1

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Thanks for adding persistent XEX sessions but I think I have a better idea, batch mode boot loading.

 

To make testing new XEXes easy it would be nice if I could have AspeQt load the file(s) and then terminate. Something like this:

 

aspeqt OTL game1 game2 game3 game4

 

OTL is an acronym for One Time Load . OTL1 could be the parameter for 1X SIO for One Time Load.

 

In the above example a new game loads for each cold boot. AspeQt terminates after game4 loads.

 

For persistent sessions we revive your idea but add it to command line thusly

 

aspeqt OTL game1 game1 game1 game1

 

That sounds interesting but I guess I am done with XEX loading for the time being ;)

Edited by atari8warez
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To make testing new XEXes easy

There's a much better way to achieve this and it's also the reason why I love AspecQt.

Just put a MyPicDOS boot disk in D1: and mound D2: to a PC folder where you put/drop that stuff.

It works just perfect, with HIGH speed etc. ...

That's the way to test/use it while compiling with WUDSN IDE.

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