HiassofT's Atari 8bit world

Here is some info about programs I have written and hardware I developed for Atari XL/XE computers.

AtariSIO driver and utilities for Linux

Current version: please use the development snapshots

• A Linux kernel driver to handle the lowlevel SIO protocol. The interface is quite simple, so you can develop your own applications if you like!
• atariserver - an Atari disk drive emulator, similar to SIO2PC or APE. At the moment atariserver supports up to 8 disk drives, up to 126 kbit/sec high speed SIO, and various tracing/debugging levels.
• atarixfer - a small tool to read/write Atari disk images to an Atari disk drive connected by a 1050-2-PC or ProSystem cable

Please note: AtariSIO code is still beta. If you have some troubles, please contact me by email!

AtariSIO requires a 2.2, 2.4, 2.6 or 3.x series Linux kernel (with enabled module support) and a serial port with a 16550 or 16C950 compatible chip. So far I've tested it only on i386 and x86_64 architecture (I don't have any other platforms running Linux). It works well on my laptop (a Compaq Contura Aero with a 486SX/33 and 8MB RAM running Debian potato with a 2.2.19 kernel), on my main PC (Core2Duo 6750, 6GB RAM, running Debian Squeeze with kernel 3.0) and several other Linux boxes.

Attention: please use the same gcc version to compile the kernel module as you used / it was used to compile the kernel. If you mix gcc versions, your system might crash or lock up!

Download the atarisio tarball and read the file README for usage and installation instructions.

Here's the Changelog, if you are interested.

Atari Tools for Win32

Current Version: V0.30-101002

This package contains some of the tools from my AtariSIO package, compiled as a Win32 console application:

• dir2atr: Create an (optionally bootable) DOS 2.x/MyDOS ATR image from a directory on your PC. Includes MyPicoDos and support for creating MyPicoDos long filenames (PICONAME.TXT).
• adir: Print the DOS 2.x/MyDOS directory of an image.
• ataricom: "swiss army knife" for working with Atari executables (COM/EXE/XEX). List the blocks in a file, convert a COM file into raw data (and vice versa), merge/split blocks etc.

AtariDsk

Current version: V1.2

Ataridsk is a program for MSDOS-PCs that allows you to access Atari floppy disks in double density (180k). All you need is a PC (XT or 286 should be sufficient) and a 5.25" floppy drive.

Features of this tool:

• Menu driven user interface
• read, write and format Atari disks on the PC
• small size (only 35k)

The source code to AtariDsk is available here. Please note: You need TopSpeed Modula-2 V1.17 to compile the source.

WriteAtr

Current version: V0.92b

With WriteAtr you can write double density ATR-images to Atari floppy disks on your MSDOS-PC. You can also create ATR-images of double density floppy disks! All you need is a PC and a 5.25" and/or a 3.5" floppy drive.

Version 0.92b added experimental support for the enhanced density (1040 sectors/128 bytes per sector) format. Please note: this format doesn't work with a lot of floppy controllers - use it at your own risk!

Unzip the file and read writeatr.doc for installation notes.

MyPicoDos

Current version: V4.05

MyPicoDos is a "gamedos" for the 8-bit Ataris that can read COM, EXE, BIN and BAS files. It's main feature is the ability to cope with the special MyDOS features like subdirectories and large disks (eg 3.5" HD disks). The current version supports all single and double density DOS 2.x and MyDOS formats from 720 up to 65535 sectors and can access D1: to D8:.

Starting with version 3.0 MyPicoDos is GPL'ed and comes with the full source code in Atasm format.

MyIDE Tool

Current version: V0.30

MyIDE Tool is a program that provides direct access to harddrives in MyIDE format on your Linux/Windows PC. It will work with IDE harddrives, with Compactflash cards attached to either a CF-IDE adapter or to an (USB) cardreader and with images.

You can easily write ATR images and MyIDE movies to your MyIDE drive, list the contents of your drive or back up your data to your PC.

The current version V0.30 also supports Shawn Jefferson's MyIDE Image Manager. You can set the image category when writing (new) images to your disk, or quickly sort the image manager info (a lot faster than on your Atari).
Note: you need to use version 4.1 or higher of the MyIDE Image Manager, older versions are not supported.

Highspeed SIO patch for XL/XE OS and MyIDE OS

Current version: V1.30

This patch extends the SIO routine of the OS so that the following highspeed SIO modes are supported:

• Ultra speed (Happy 1050, Speedy, SIO2PC, ...) up to 126kbit/sec
• 1050 Turbo
• XF551
• Warp speed (Happy 810)

It is the first patch that is 100% compatible with the MyIDE OS (tested with versions 3.x and 4.x). Of course, it also works with the stock Atari XL/XE OS.

The package includes the full source code and a precompiled EXE (patchrom.exe) so that you can create a patched ROM file on your PC (and then, for example, program it into an EPROM).

512k SRAM extension for Atari XL/XE

Current version: V1.3 (released 2010-12-14)

The main goals when designing this SRAM extension was that it should be cheap (less than 10-15 EUR), easy to build (you just need a 512k SRAM, a GAL 22V10 plus a few wires and resistors) and compatible with as many programs as possible.

The extension can be configured to 4 modes (using 2 switches or jumpers):

• 0k / off
• 256k - using PortB bits 2, 3, 5, 6 (compatible with the "Atari Magazin" ramdisk)
• 256k with separate Antic access - using PortB bits 2, 3, 6, 7 (Rambo/CompyShop compatible)
• 512k - using PortB bits 2, 3, 5, 6, 7

Optionally you can add battery back-up so that the contents of the RAM extension are preserved when you power off your Atari.

Here are some pictures of an early prototype version installed in my 600XL:

• 600XL mainboard with SRAM extension
• close-up of GAL
• close-up of PIA, with pull-up resistors
• close-up of RAM, from the back of the 600XL

If you are searching for a cheap GAL programmer, have a look at GALBlast. It's a DIY project and it's reported to work very well (but I haven't tried it myself, yet).

Turbo Freezer XL/XE 2005

The original Turbo Freezer, developed in the end 1980ies by Bernhard Engl, was a very neat hardware device plugging into the PBI that allowed you to halt your computer any time, modify memory and to save or restore a complete snapshot to/from disk, extended RAM or cassette. It was a very valuable device both for developers and for gamers.

The goal of this project was to rebuild the original Turbo Freezer using currently available parts, finally we ended up with a largely enhanced device: The new Turbo Freezer XL/XE 2005 is equipped with 512k flash ROM (64k reserved for the Turbo Freezer software, the rest available to the user) and 128k RAM (16k reserved, rest available to the user, can also be used to store snapshots). The free flash and RAM can be used to emulate cartridges (the hardware supports emulation of standard 8k and 16k carts, 16k OSS-type bankswitching carts and 64k SDX style carts). The built-in software was also significantly enhanced, several new functions like block-move/compare/set, value search, load/save snapshots to Turbo Freezer RAM, swap Atari memory with extended RAM/Turbo Freezer RAM contents, control the cartridge emulation, online-help etc. were added

The documentation, software (including source), schematics etc. are available here:
http://turbofreezer.horus.com/
Please note that there are a few minor errors in the schematics, the 00README.txt in the hardware directory contains an errata.

The first production run of 100 boards is currently (as of 2010) sold out in the ABBUC shop, but we are already working on a new production run which should be available in 2011.

Contact

If you have suggestions for future versions or problems with these programs, please send email to hias+atari@horus.com