SpartaDOS X MyIDE Driver

[+Larry]

I bought a couple from

http://ec.transcendusa.com/product/product_memory.asp?Cid=59&indexnum=2

I would say that prices have gone up a little, but still pretty reasonable. IIRC, I don't think that Transcend USA sells/ships outside the USA. But I also think that Transcend has offices/sellers in other countries.

 

Yes, pin 20 Power works fine on my MyIDE flash cart. I also have one on a KMK-JZ interface. As Stephen says, couldn't be more compact, and that is especially nice if you put it inside an XL or XE.

 

-Larry

 

 

1. Where is this transcend module available? I currently have CF adapter plugged into mine and 2 or 3 CF cards for it.
2. Does it require the power mod to the MyIDE (pin 20 I think it was???).

[+Larry]

Nice layout. Is this correct -- it combines the features of a Atarimax MyIDE flash cart PLUS an added RTC PLUS a RAMCART? What is the purpose of the ramcart -- expanded ram or use for the cart internals?

-Larry

 

 

HArdware for it is also almost ready.

 

On board, flashable Sparta DosX, slot for cf card, 2x 128kb ramcart and RTC clock .

[candle]

think of it as sdx cart + maxflash cart + ide + rtc rather than ramcart - there is not a single ram chip on this board

[+Larry]

I see!

Thanks, Candle.

 

think of it as sdx cart + maxflash cart + ide + rtc rather than ramcart - there is not a single ram chip on this board

[+Stephen]

1. Where is this transcend module available? I currently have CF adapter plugged into mine and 2 or 3 CF cards for it.
2. Does it require the power mod to the MyIDE (pin 20 I think it was???).

1. EBay is where I've looked, but they tend to be expensive. I gave up on them after I realized they don't support CFA mode, and thus no 512 byte sectors. Shame, because they look damned neat.

 

2. Yep - pin 20. I think it works with IDE modules.

Damn - I need (rather want) 512-byte sectors. Looks like I'll be sourcing a CF adapter & CF cards. At least I'll be able to quickly write to them in my PC.

 

I am going to have to get a second job to support my Atari habit

[flashjazzcat]

Damn - I need (rather want) 512-byte sectors. Looks like I'll be sourcing a CF adapter & CF cards. At least I'll be able to quickly write to them in my PC.

Correction: you NEED 512 byte sectors. It's the way DOS should always have been.

 

I'm still hacking away at FDISK: Drac030 has stepped me through virtually every avenue of SDX's API. You can now write the partition table out to a file (using the snazzy file selector), and then read it back again. Error handling with the API is very tricky, so if that's not fixed before the beta comes out, don't be surprised if the app dumps you back in the command prompt if an error occurs.

 

Seriously not much more to do now before I can sit down and put a beta release package together. I can bullet-proof FDISK during the testing phase, then hopefully everything will be tried, tested and bug free ready for SDX 4.43's general release.

Edited October 29, 2010 by flashjazzcat

[+bf2k+]

think of it as sdx cart + maxflash cart + ide + rtc rather than ramcart - there is not a single ram chip on this board

 

I want one!!!

[flashjazzcat]

I tried my other CF cards today with the MyIDE cart to see if the RC driver behaved any better with them. Mixed results: Sandisk 512MB, 32MB and Peak 2GB appeared to partition and format but all suffered fatal read/write errors. My 2 x Transcend 256MB modules are still the only ones I own which work, but they work perfectly and always have. Perhaps the SIDE cart will be more tolerant to different CF cards the the original MyIDE hardware.

 

Anyway, I am putting together the custom SDX 4.43RC ROMs as I speak, and I'll send them to the beta testers some time tomorrow (once I've figured out who the beta testers are: I have PMs, emails and lists everywhere!).

 

In light of the new Side cart, I've added some extras for Compact Flash cards such as displaying the CF card make/model number at boot. This is only possible when using a CF card, since we cannot access the whole 16 bits of a normal HDD's data register.

 

Speaking of standard hard drives, I'd like to see more testing with them in order to ensure the driver/FDISK does not falsely detect compact flash cards.

 

Hopefully the driver code itself is just about finalized. FDISK is turning into an epic job since it's also the testbed for the UI library, and I'll continue finishing that while the beta software is out in the field. I was rather alarmed to find that it's just over six weeks since I started work on the MyIDE driver, and now we have six thousand lines of code and brand new hardware to go with it.

Edited October 30, 2010 by flashjazzcat

[zaxon]

I hope so, becouse hardware attached to cf card is more complicated and i think be better.Also on cart is added hardware for it. Thanks, Flashjazzcat , first assembled cart going to you.

[flashjazzcat]

Thanks, Flashjazzcat , first assembled cart going to you.

Thank you!

 

Betas have been sent out; just busy with the final few emails now. If there's anything seriously wrong I'll fix it fast: my main problem is that I have limited scope for testing with different hardware setups (since I only have one IDE adapter and a few flash carts).

 

The idea is to get the driver itself completely bullet-proof as a priority. FDISK can be bug-fixed any time since it's disk based (although it occurs to me that we might as well put it on the 8Mb flashrom).

[flashjazzcat]

Beta testing is going well. I cleared another difficult hurdle today: making FDISK access the drive solely via the installed driver routines (makes sense, given the driver will always be resident when the IDE hardware is installed). This has cut down on a lot of bloat. It also involved decyphering the Polish MADS documentation, with special reference to STRUCTs (which are a great way of sharing data structures between programs, via a common header file; you change the data table, and all the dependant programs automatically comply with the revised offsets).

Edited November 3, 2010 by flashjazzcat

[+orpheuswaking]

Run a contest: person who guesses meaning of acronym correctly wins a prize (that is, SIDE, not MBAC).

 

 

Sebastian IDE

[spookt]

Run a contest: person who guesses meaning of acronym correctly wins a prize (that is, SIDE, not MBAC).

 

 

Sebastian IDE

 

SpartaDOS IDE?

[candle]

tell you what, one that actually guess, gets one free

 

as for now - you're all deep in the woods, and wolfes are hauling

[+Larry]

Sebastian's IDE or Sebastian IDE?

-Larry

 

tell you what, one that actually guess, gets one free

 

as for now - you're all deep in the woods, and wolfes are hauling

[+Larry]

Hi Jon-

 

A happy note. Your new driver allows the MyIDE + flashcart to work with Bob's XL7 accelerator. This is the first HD that works properly in the XL7. It may well work with the internal MyIDE's, but I can't test that due lack of vertical clearance under the XL7 in the 1200XL. As it is for now, you can have BASIC -or- MyIDE, but not both.

 

-Larry

[flashjazzcat]

A happy note. Your new driver allows the MyIDE + flashcart to work with Bob's XL7 accelerator. This is the first HD that works properly in the XL7. It may well work with the internal MyIDE's, but I can't test that due lack of vertical clearance under the XL7 in the 1200XL. As it is for now, you can have BASIC -or- MyIDE, but not both.

We like happy notes. Long time since I heard about that XL7, but this is good news.

 

That clearance problem: that's why I never bought an internal MyIDE (I like internal SDX better). Best solution is to make one...

[candle]

there is no Sebastian or any other name it it

[zaxon]

Excluding nickname of course, LOL

[flashjazzcat]

 

At last: manufacturer IDs.

[flashjazzcat]

Just finished a first draft of the technical reference notes for the SDX MyIDE/Side Driver:

 

SpartaDOS X MyIDE Technical Reference (draft).pdf

 

NOTE: This document refers to the unreleased version which the beta testers don't yet have. Most of the information should pertain petty much to the finished article.

[+Stephen]

 

At last: manufacturer IDs.

Cool - when I boot SDX , it shows "IDE 0: TRANSCEND DOM128M".

[+Stephen]

Just finished a first draft of the technical reference notes for the SDX MyIDE/Side Driver:

 

SpartaDOS X MyIDE Technical Reference (draft).pdf

 

NOTE: This document refers to the unreleased version which the beta testers don't yet have. Most of the information should pertain petty much to the finished article.

Checking this out now.

[zaxon]

Hmm, binary loader Sdload don't working, any chance for similiar software?

[flashjazzcat]

Hmm, binary loader Sdload don't working, any chance for similiar software?

What does SDLOAD do? I never looked at it before. I'll download it now...

 

By the way: I neglected to mention Kyle Dain in the draft technical notes. This will be rectified when they're finalised. The driver bears little resemblance to the experimental version he wrote, but without his source code and the work he put into it, this project would never have started.

 

EDIT: OK, just read about SDLOAD. There is little or no chance of getting something like this working with MYIDE.SYS. As soon as "COLD /N" is typed, the hard disk is entirely out of reach. Best use an SIO device for games, or go back to MyIDE OS ROM... or dig out KMK/IDEa. If only mine worked...

Edited November 6, 2010 by flashjazzcat