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#1
FAQ / Re: Mass storage (hard disk, n...
Last post by Petari - 10-07-2025, 19:39:40And what can see on ACSI2STM doc
Well, they even don't know that Falcon has no ACSI port.
Works with all SD cards except SDUC (was not tested yet). Well, my experience is that very high speed newer SD cards may have problems, especially by writing on them.
"In GemDrive mode, the SD card must be formatted either in FAT16, FAT32 or ExFAT format, with a single partition (the standard format for SD cards). The partition size is limited to 2TB."
So, only 1 partition. How it will look with some 10000 DIRs ? And surely will work slower than smaller size partitions. Yes, it is basically same is in Steem and Hatari - where 1 DIR on host is assigned as Atari drive.
TOS supports up to 14 partitions C-P . And more partitions means not lower speed, actually contrary - less data on 1 partition means faster work.
They say that few games with no copy protection will work. Yeah, considering originals. What about hard disk adaptations, patches ? As usual they have no clue what all is made.
"Software relying on bugs
These programs use the normal GEMDOS interface to access disk drives but rely on weird patterns or buggy TOS error codes to work properly."
And same idiocy as on page about how hard disks work on Atari (first post in this thread).
Buggy TOS error codes - huh ! They are not buggy. May be different than some later widely used ones - it is really so stoooopid to expect from SW done 40 years ago to be by some later standards .
"Software doing BIOS access
These programs access low level disks using BIOS or XBIOS interfaces.
Programs usually working like this:
Most disk utilities
Maybe some very weirdly programmed games
"
It is not weird to use (X)BIOS call to determine is it running from floppy or hard disk. I saw it many times, and is usually by games with hard disk install option, or declared that work from hard disk.
And they mentioning my early, freeware ACSI driver from 2008. I did lot of it from then.
What about extra functions like Virtual Floppy, automatic Desktop drive icons creation ? By them, it is also bug of TOS that only icon for C is created ... Is it bug that TOS is in limited size ROM ?
Lot of it is done with compromises because HW prices were pretty much higher then.
And really, why such huge disrespect toward Atari ST designers, OS programmers ? Sure, there were some smaller errors, maybe few bugs which show in rare cases. Just one example: it crashes when in drive Window in Desktop some file is of size 10 MB or more (TOS 1.xx) . Well, I did not know about it when I used my Atari at 1992 with 40-160 MB hard disks, simply because were no so large files. I saw it first time somewhere at 2008, when used Steem with it's hard disk system . And. btw I fixed problem in my iTOS .
Well, they even don't know that Falcon has no ACSI port.
Works with all SD cards except SDUC (was not tested yet). Well, my experience is that very high speed newer SD cards may have problems, especially by writing on them.
"In GemDrive mode, the SD card must be formatted either in FAT16, FAT32 or ExFAT format, with a single partition (the standard format for SD cards). The partition size is limited to 2TB."
So, only 1 partition. How it will look with some 10000 DIRs ? And surely will work slower than smaller size partitions. Yes, it is basically same is in Steem and Hatari - where 1 DIR on host is assigned as Atari drive.
TOS supports up to 14 partitions C-P . And more partitions means not lower speed, actually contrary - less data on 1 partition means faster work.
They say that few games with no copy protection will work. Yeah, considering originals. What about hard disk adaptations, patches ? As usual they have no clue what all is made.
"Software relying on bugs
These programs use the normal GEMDOS interface to access disk drives but rely on weird patterns or buggy TOS error codes to work properly."
And same idiocy as on page about how hard disks work on Atari (first post in this thread).
Buggy TOS error codes - huh ! They are not buggy. May be different than some later widely used ones - it is really so stoooopid to expect from SW done 40 years ago to be by some later standards .
"Software doing BIOS access
These programs access low level disks using BIOS or XBIOS interfaces.
Programs usually working like this:
Most disk utilities
Maybe some very weirdly programmed games
"
It is not weird to use (X)BIOS call to determine is it running from floppy or hard disk. I saw it many times, and is usually by games with hard disk install option, or declared that work from hard disk.
And they mentioning my early, freeware ACSI driver from 2008. I did lot of it from then.
What about extra functions like Virtual Floppy, automatic Desktop drive icons creation ? By them, it is also bug of TOS that only icon for C is created ... Is it bug that TOS is in limited size ROM ?
Lot of it is done with compromises because HW prices were pretty much higher then.
And really, why such huge disrespect toward Atari ST designers, OS programmers ? Sure, there were some smaller errors, maybe few bugs which show in rare cases. Just one example: it crashes when in drive Window in Desktop some file is of size 10 MB or more (TOS 1.xx) . Well, I did not know about it when I used my Atari at 1992 with 40-160 MB hard disks, simply because were no so large files. I saw it first time somewhere at 2008, when used Steem with it's hard disk system . And. btw I fixed problem in my iTOS .
#2
FAQ / Mass storage (hard disk, now r...
Last post by Petari - 09-07-2025, 10:04:13 I saw really lot of pages, threads about it, and can say only that most of it is far from good and useful. Errors, shallowness and often in some commercial purpose.
Now we have diverse SD card adapters, and probably most sold is ACSI2STM - in diverse variants. It changed since first releases, and now pushes so called GEMdrive mode .
Let see what is on Github about : How hard disks work on the Atari ST
Quote: "Remember that using ACSI drivers is discouraged, you should probably use GemDrive unless you have very specific needs or want an authentic user experience (read: having a hard time struggling against old buggy software)."
This is so idiotic, likely just in interest to force using GemDrive (so buy ACSI2STM and not some other adapter) . Old SW is not buggy at all. Sure, there are some bugs in some, but generally most of it is pretty decent and well tested. Unless thinking that it is bug that old SW does not support some new hard disk filesystems and like :-) Sure, it should support LFN, FAT32, 2 GB partitions (in era when usual hard disk sizes were about 100 MB) ...
Then there writes that it (ACSI port) has no real name - hahaha .
"Mega STE internal hard drive
Some models have internal hard drives, however it seems that only the Mega STE has an internal ACSI drive, sharing the DMA port. By default it is set on the device id 0, but this can be changed by internal DIP switches."
Stacy has it too. And it is not ACSI drive, it is SCSI drive + ACSI-SCSI adapter. Why people with so low Atari ST experience writes about this things at all ? Complete bad approach - but hey, they are sooo smart, so know it better than those who used such machines
AHDI driver is not full of bugs. And limitations are actually in TOS self. You can read about it on my site: Atari ST family and mass storage
TOS limitations can be overridden in different ways. Surely most useful and easy to implement is TOS/DOS compatible partitioning and hard disk driver. It does not need any HW changes, just SW - partitioner and hard disk driver - easy to install. And can do it even without floppy or Gotek.
The real question here is : with what SW most of nowadays Atari ST family users use them ? I'm pretty sure that it is gaming - playing good old games in first place. As lot of people plays even older, 8-bit games.
Now even can buy new version of Atari 2600 (with cartridge port for games on ROM cartridges) .
Sure, there is lot of quality productivity SW, but using them now, when we have several thousands time faster computers and much more advanced SW ? Now simple Internet browsing needs min 2-4 GB RAM .
So, my activity is about making good old games working from modern storage - what is now really cheap considering capacity. But making SW written for floppy run, with copy protections in looot of ways to work from mass storage (now SD cards, CF cards) is pretty hard. Even if game has hard disk install option (program what does it) it may not work good - some have install only to subdir in root of C: - not good for thousands of games on mass storage. So, it needs corrections too. Plus, and I saw many such cases - there is low level hard disk access in code - what means not access to some files, DIRs, by it's name, but to physical sectors . And that's what will fails with GemDrive . I wrote about it to man behind GemDrive, and just got reply in insulting style - he is smart, I'm nobody. Sure, after doing over 2500 games I know nothing ! This is real problem in 'Atari community' - some just push own ideas, limited knowledge, and do not listen to other's experience, knowledge (not so limited).
All in all, please do not believe everything what can see online. I did not say anything new, of course.
For running good old SW, games we don't need new TOS (like EmuTOS), new hard disk systems. Best way is compatible TOS version - so regular TOS 1.00 - 4.04 or my improved TOS versions, which are made to be compatible as much is possible with original TOS versions. And of course hard disk driver what is good with old SW and TOS/DOS compatible partitions. Latest mean easy data transfers with modern computers - Windows, Linux, MacOS . And lot of things can be done on them way faster than with old Ataris .
Now we have diverse SD card adapters, and probably most sold is ACSI2STM - in diverse variants. It changed since first releases, and now pushes so called GEMdrive mode .
Let see what is on Github about : How hard disks work on the Atari ST
Quote: "Remember that using ACSI drivers is discouraged, you should probably use GemDrive unless you have very specific needs or want an authentic user experience (read: having a hard time struggling against old buggy software)."
This is so idiotic, likely just in interest to force using GemDrive (so buy ACSI2STM and not some other adapter) . Old SW is not buggy at all. Sure, there are some bugs in some, but generally most of it is pretty decent and well tested. Unless thinking that it is bug that old SW does not support some new hard disk filesystems and like :-) Sure, it should support LFN, FAT32, 2 GB partitions (in era when usual hard disk sizes were about 100 MB) ...
Then there writes that it (ACSI port) has no real name - hahaha .
"Mega STE internal hard drive
Some models have internal hard drives, however it seems that only the Mega STE has an internal ACSI drive, sharing the DMA port. By default it is set on the device id 0, but this can be changed by internal DIP switches."
Stacy has it too. And it is not ACSI drive, it is SCSI drive + ACSI-SCSI adapter. Why people with so low Atari ST experience writes about this things at all ? Complete bad approach - but hey, they are sooo smart, so know it better than those who used such machines
AHDI driver is not full of bugs. And limitations are actually in TOS self. You can read about it on my site: Atari ST family and mass storage
TOS limitations can be overridden in different ways. Surely most useful and easy to implement is TOS/DOS compatible partitioning and hard disk driver. It does not need any HW changes, just SW - partitioner and hard disk driver - easy to install. And can do it even without floppy or Gotek.
The real question here is : with what SW most of nowadays Atari ST family users use them ? I'm pretty sure that it is gaming - playing good old games in first place. As lot of people plays even older, 8-bit games.
Now even can buy new version of Atari 2600 (with cartridge port for games on ROM cartridges) .
Sure, there is lot of quality productivity SW, but using them now, when we have several thousands time faster computers and much more advanced SW ? Now simple Internet browsing needs min 2-4 GB RAM .
So, my activity is about making good old games working from modern storage - what is now really cheap considering capacity. But making SW written for floppy run, with copy protections in looot of ways to work from mass storage (now SD cards, CF cards) is pretty hard. Even if game has hard disk install option (program what does it) it may not work good - some have install only to subdir in root of C: - not good for thousands of games on mass storage. So, it needs corrections too. Plus, and I saw many such cases - there is low level hard disk access in code - what means not access to some files, DIRs, by it's name, but to physical sectors . And that's what will fails with GemDrive . I wrote about it to man behind GemDrive, and just got reply in insulting style - he is smart, I'm nobody. Sure, after doing over 2500 games I know nothing ! This is real problem in 'Atari community' - some just push own ideas, limited knowledge, and do not listen to other's experience, knowledge (not so limited).
All in all, please do not believe everything what can see online. I did not say anything new, of course.
For running good old SW, games we don't need new TOS (like EmuTOS), new hard disk systems. Best way is compatible TOS version - so regular TOS 1.00 - 4.04 or my improved TOS versions, which are made to be compatible as much is possible with original TOS versions. And of course hard disk driver what is good with old SW and TOS/DOS compatible partitions. Latest mean easy data transfers with modern computers - Windows, Linux, MacOS . And lot of things can be done on them way faster than with old Ataris .
#3
General chat / DOOM on the ST!
Last post by Ronald J. Hall - 02-07-2025, 17:41:26"Power Of Vintage" has posted an interesting
video on running DOOM on Atari computers.
STDoom running on 8 different Atari systems
https://tinyurl.com/mcmm384z
video on running DOOM on Atari computers.
STDoom running on 8 different Atari systems
https://tinyurl.com/mcmm384z
#4
Software / Re: New game adaptations
Last post by Ronald J. Hall - 16-06-2025, 16:56:37Thanks Peter. I've always been intrigued by "Advanced Destroyer Simulator".
Another one of those titles I've not managed to get around to playing yet
but it's on my list.
Another one of those titles I've not managed to get around to playing yet
but it's on my list.
#5
Software / Re: New game adaptations
Last post by Petari - 16-06-2025, 12:25:29Found more interesting/quality games. So far done these:
2 in 1 Bar 2 games: The Pools Predictor and Turf-Form
5 Intelligent Strategy Games
ABZoo
Advanced Destroyer Simulator
Superstars Ice Hockey aka American Ice Hockey
Arena
Art de la Guerre
Atari ST Tour - includes Ranarama
Brian Cloughs Football Fortunes
Count and Add
Deep Space Operation
Demenage Man
Ferme les Cris des Animaux
Football Director 2
Francais CE1
Gambler
Geometrie Debutant
Grey Seas Grey Skies
Hlava Kasandry
J'Apprends I Heure
Killer Chess
Las Vegas
Magazin, Das
Objectif Europe
Petits Coloriages Malins
Power Cut
Premier Manager
Soccer King
2 in 1 Bar 2 games: The Pools Predictor and Turf-Form
5 Intelligent Strategy Games
ABZoo
Advanced Destroyer Simulator
Superstars Ice Hockey aka American Ice Hockey
Arena
Art de la Guerre
Atari ST Tour - includes Ranarama
Brian Cloughs Football Fortunes
Count and Add
Deep Space Operation
Demenage Man
Ferme les Cris des Animaux
Football Director 2
Francais CE1
Gambler
Geometrie Debutant
Grey Seas Grey Skies
Hlava Kasandry
J'Apprends I Heure
Killer Chess
Las Vegas
Magazin, Das
Objectif Europe
Petits Coloriages Malins
Power Cut
Premier Manager
Soccer King
#6
FAQ / Which e-mail service/provider ...
Last post by Petari - 15-06-2025, 09:22:16 Lately more and more problems with gmail - when sending attachment with image files - like floppy image, TOS image , shorter hard disk/SD card image files.
Please use some other e-mail provider/service than gmail. Especially if
ordering some SW/driver, image files. Because it rejects whole e-mails just because file extensions
(and there is some 40 listed by them). And does it without any check of file content.
Decent e-mail providers check content of attachments, mostly for viruses and other harmful content.
What of course needs little more code and CPU load. But all it is
not big deal with today computer power. I recommend Proton Mail
https://go.getproton.me/aff_c?offer_id=7&aff_id=11851
It is free and safe.
Additionally gmail wrote in e-mail rejection reply that my site has bad reputation . Huh !
Surely has it by morons mostly active at atariage - who wrote diverse nonsenses about my SW causing damages like hard disk content lose, even damaging some HW - like UltraSatan and similar.
What times are this ? Big Internet companies just accept such claims without any proof ? Welcome back Stalin era !
Rule number one: before declare someone as guilty listen to both sides. Think about what you heard. Use your knowledge about computers in cases like this - or if have no it - just don't judge.
Surely, most of those false accusations - it they can be called so at all, as they were really not serious. Instead it big words, mentioning big damages - most popular is losing hard disk content, without 'any chance to recover' . That happens when some can not admit that some can do it better than them.
And what to expect from cracking crews who write all time in style: "we are the best ..." .
C.J. even wrote at great atariage about I stole his ULS code 'byte by byte' - well, so his code is that was caused damages ! Arrest him !
Seriously: ULS has no any support for games using TOS functions, is only for games not using TOS, so not floppy file functions of TOS . And majority of Atari ST games using TOS calls (like 65%).
If I would not developed support for them - like TOS 1.04 in RAM, special launchers - and all it needed lot of time. I would be not able to do over 2600 game's hard disk (now rather SD card) adaptations. Yeah, adapts (in short) - this are not cracks, patches. Sure, there may be copy protection 'crack' by need, some changes in code, and they may be simple one - like correction only few bytes, or may be replacement of whole code parts. Then there are fixes to make it work under all TOS versions.
Lot of time is needed, especially now when dealing with less known games to find proper floppy images of them. I needed to make some fixes because of errors in images. Or combine from multiple sources.
Back to e-mail providers: if you can recommend some good one, free, and without bad filters, good for attachment sending and receiving, please write here.
Please use some other e-mail provider/service than gmail. Especially if
ordering some SW/driver, image files. Because it rejects whole e-mails just because file extensions
(and there is some 40 listed by them). And does it without any check of file content.
Decent e-mail providers check content of attachments, mostly for viruses and other harmful content.
What of course needs little more code and CPU load. But all it is
not big deal with today computer power. I recommend Proton Mail
https://go.getproton.me/aff_c?offer_id=7&aff_id=11851
It is free and safe.
Additionally gmail wrote in e-mail rejection reply that my site has bad reputation . Huh !
Surely has it by morons mostly active at atariage - who wrote diverse nonsenses about my SW causing damages like hard disk content lose, even damaging some HW - like UltraSatan and similar.
What times are this ? Big Internet companies just accept such claims without any proof ? Welcome back Stalin era !
Rule number one: before declare someone as guilty listen to both sides. Think about what you heard. Use your knowledge about computers in cases like this - or if have no it - just don't judge.
Surely, most of those false accusations - it they can be called so at all, as they were really not serious. Instead it big words, mentioning big damages - most popular is losing hard disk content, without 'any chance to recover' . That happens when some can not admit that some can do it better than them.
And what to expect from cracking crews who write all time in style: "we are the best ..." .
C.J. even wrote at great atariage about I stole his ULS code 'byte by byte' - well, so his code is that was caused damages ! Arrest him !
Seriously: ULS has no any support for games using TOS functions, is only for games not using TOS, so not floppy file functions of TOS . And majority of Atari ST games using TOS calls (like 65%).
If I would not developed support for them - like TOS 1.04 in RAM, special launchers - and all it needed lot of time. I would be not able to do over 2600 game's hard disk (now rather SD card) adaptations. Yeah, adapts (in short) - this are not cracks, patches. Sure, there may be copy protection 'crack' by need, some changes in code, and they may be simple one - like correction only few bytes, or may be replacement of whole code parts. Then there are fixes to make it work under all TOS versions.
Lot of time is needed, especially now when dealing with less known games to find proper floppy images of them. I needed to make some fixes because of errors in images. Or combine from multiple sources.
Back to e-mail providers: if you can recommend some good one, free, and without bad filters, good for attachment sending and receiving, please write here.
#7
Hardware / Re: Issue when duplicating dat...
Last post by Patrick_d - 14-06-2025, 18:23:40Sorry if I was not enough clear.
Yes, I can extract the files with your sotfware. Hard drive is an IDE drive
Yes, I can extract the files with your sotfware. Hard drive is an IDE drive
#8
Hardware / Re: Issue when duplicating dat...
Last post by Petari - 12-06-2025, 18:39:08Sorry, but not enough details to judge reliably what is real problem.
Extract files where, with what SW ?
What could work is to do image with PC. But that depends from what kind of drive is in Falcon. If it is SCSI you need SCSI card in PC (what is now barely used).
Image to CF - that may be problem with IDE port in Falcon .
Extract files where, with what SW ?
What could work is to do image with PC. But that depends from what kind of drive is in Falcon. If it is SCSI you need SCSI card in PC (what is now barely used).
Image to CF - that may be problem with IDE port in Falcon .
#9
Hardware / Re: Atari 520 STFM - Issue 4x ...
Last post by Ronald J. Hall - 12-06-2025, 16:13:37Quote from: DigitalSkunk on 12-06-2025, 05:46:09It really is a shame more software didn't use it. I think maybe I saw a forum somewhere about someone doing adaptations of games to make use of it, since it is such a wasted opportunity. Or maybe mentioning starting a project around that.
I get that a lot of thew time commercial software is made for "the lowest common denominator" but... you could even put a Blitter in most the earlier models with a manageable amount of effort. In fact, I feel like the ST was made for modding and upgrading. lol
Would be interesting to explore how manageable a task that would be. Would imagine that would be getting pretty deep in assembly, etc though....
Also that is amazing on the STacy! Sounds like it was fun to assemble also haha (I really enjoy that sort of thing)
I've had so much fun with my STacy. It's currently apart, where I've been doing a bunch of upgrades. I'm wanting to get it right before I put it back together (they are notoriously fun to take apart).
I've got a few short Youtube videos where you can see some of the things I'm doing with it, and it in action.
Some great Spectrum pictures:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbHhlOskuc8
Music to drive off the Monday blues:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1JI0sADi1A
STDOOM at 40mhz:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcOMiAHXenM
#10
Hardware / Re: Atari 520 STFM - Issue 4x ...
Last post by DigitalSkunk - 12-06-2025, 05:46:09It really is a shame more software didn't use it. I think maybe I saw a forum somewhere about someone doing adaptations of games to make use of it, since it is such a wasted opportunity. Or maybe mentioning starting a project around that.
I get that a lot of thew time commercial software is made for "the lowest common denominator" but... you could even put a Blitter in most the earlier models with a manageable amount of effort. In fact, I feel like the ST was made for modding and upgrading. lol
Would be interesting to explore how manageable a task that would be. Would imagine that would be getting pretty deep in assembly, etc though....
Also that is amazing on the STacey! Sounds like it was fun to assemble also haha (I really enjoy that sort of thing)
I get that a lot of thew time commercial software is made for "the lowest common denominator" but... you could even put a Blitter in most the earlier models with a manageable amount of effort. In fact, I feel like the ST was made for modding and upgrading. lol
Would be interesting to explore how manageable a task that would be. Would imagine that would be getting pretty deep in assembly, etc though....
Also that is amazing on the STacey! Sounds like it was fun to assemble also haha (I really enjoy that sort of thing)