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#61
News / Re: How to be useless
Last post by Petari - 21-10-2023, 08:32:11And new thread at atariage: "Net to floppy"
At moment last post there says: "Usually complaining about how "stoopid" people at AtariAge are.
"
That would be me, of course.
Let's see what is the reality: First of all, I started this thread not with goal to call people stoopid, shallow. Goal is to give proper answers to questions. To point on mistakes, wrong claims. And yes, when you see something very stupid may happen that you say it openly. Why people tend to write things in them when self are not sure ? I mean, can see lot of post where says: "I think ..." . Maybe to not write in that thread ? There is already enough confusion about all it.
So, here are my answers about questioned in that thread, but first I need to correct thread title:
It is called not 'convert', conversion . And not "programs from the net" . Distribution of SW originally on floppies started before Internet era. Yes, first way was to send copies to customers. But little later BBS way was used too - and that needed image files of floppies (their content) . Or some archiver what contained all files on floppy. So, the proper question would be: how to write files, floppy images for usage on Atari ST with PC ?
Of course, that's old thing, need for it was present from beginning, and especially since Internet era.
ColecoGamer got useful answer very soon: link to my FloImg page. There is lot of things explained - so the reasons why USB floppy drives are not good, with details on linked page: Floppy Mistery.
But ColecoGamer obviously did not read it at all. He went with his USB drive.
So, I need to write it again: USB floppy drives are not useful, or better said not usable for Atari ST usual formats. They have limited geometry support - will not work with very common 800 KB format. Some work only with 1440 KB format (not used with Atari ST(E), only with Mega STE, in very rare cases) .
Later answers in thread were about how to transfer files on floppies, with PC. That's useful, but I think that in most cases it will be floppy image files what people can DL on Internet - that's the usual way of preserving Atari ST SW , and that's good. In some cases it must be in that format to work at all.
If just writing files on floppies is goal: format DD (720KB) floppy on PC, or with my formatting program for Atari ST, set to PC compatible format (DL on FloImg page). Then copy files on it. It will work with Atari, any TOS version. Better said, will be readable with any TOS version. Work may be TOS version dependant.
Well, it may be that some SW will not fit on 720 KB. Because needs 800 KB floppy. That's the case when you need FloImg. And that's the reason why I went in hard work of making it - did not say 'programmed' because there is much more in all it - research, plenty of tests, doing WEB pages, etc ... Yet, some people don't care about all time and effort, they care only about own ego, and to solve something with minimal effort. Well, not everything is possible to solve simple and in short time. Trying it may be just waste of time.
I know that people likes simple explanations, but there is no such in this case. Ad no in many cases. Simple explanation is just not enough, and will cause more confusion than help. That's what I want to prevent - and then may come some 'insulting' words: 'shallow', 'stoopid' . I do that not often, usually when it is really over the line. Of course, there are such ones who will remember it for whole life, and pull it over and over again - because they care only about own ego, not about how to be useful, how to solve technical problems. Surely, banning is one of the solutions - to make those with good knowledge, experience with Atari ST, SW, HW for it away from forum - all problems solved ! Now forum will be so nice, polite and like ... and that's most important ! Not efficiency, getting proper answers in short time, being able to solve things. No, those like PLM are doing only harm. They think that just because made some SW they can write everything ! No, they should not correct people, saying that what wrote was shallow ! That's worst thing. Not wasting lot of time because of stoopid answers ! Yes, efficiency is evil ! I'm evil persona, because I wrote all that SW for Atari ST, supporting SW for PC. That's pure evil ! I should instead it waste my time in old lady fashioned sweet talk on forums. Much more useful spending of time. Thank you for your time reading this.
At moment last post there says: "Usually complaining about how "stoopid" people at AtariAge are.
"That would be me, of course.
Let's see what is the reality: First of all, I started this thread not with goal to call people stoopid, shallow. Goal is to give proper answers to questions. To point on mistakes, wrong claims. And yes, when you see something very stupid may happen that you say it openly. Why people tend to write things in them when self are not sure ? I mean, can see lot of post where says: "I think ..." . Maybe to not write in that thread ? There is already enough confusion about all it.
So, here are my answers about questioned in that thread, but first I need to correct thread title:
It is called not 'convert', conversion . And not "programs from the net" . Distribution of SW originally on floppies started before Internet era. Yes, first way was to send copies to customers. But little later BBS way was used too - and that needed image files of floppies (their content) . Or some archiver what contained all files on floppy. So, the proper question would be: how to write files, floppy images for usage on Atari ST with PC ?
Of course, that's old thing, need for it was present from beginning, and especially since Internet era.
ColecoGamer got useful answer very soon: link to my FloImg page. There is lot of things explained - so the reasons why USB floppy drives are not good, with details on linked page: Floppy Mistery.
But ColecoGamer obviously did not read it at all. He went with his USB drive.
So, I need to write it again: USB floppy drives are not useful, or better said not usable for Atari ST usual formats. They have limited geometry support - will not work with very common 800 KB format. Some work only with 1440 KB format (not used with Atari ST(E), only with Mega STE, in very rare cases) .
Later answers in thread were about how to transfer files on floppies, with PC. That's useful, but I think that in most cases it will be floppy image files what people can DL on Internet - that's the usual way of preserving Atari ST SW , and that's good. In some cases it must be in that format to work at all.
If just writing files on floppies is goal: format DD (720KB) floppy on PC, or with my formatting program for Atari ST, set to PC compatible format (DL on FloImg page). Then copy files on it. It will work with Atari, any TOS version. Better said, will be readable with any TOS version. Work may be TOS version dependant.
Well, it may be that some SW will not fit on 720 KB. Because needs 800 KB floppy. That's the case when you need FloImg. And that's the reason why I went in hard work of making it - did not say 'programmed' because there is much more in all it - research, plenty of tests, doing WEB pages, etc ... Yet, some people don't care about all time and effort, they care only about own ego, and to solve something with minimal effort. Well, not everything is possible to solve simple and in short time. Trying it may be just waste of time.
I know that people likes simple explanations, but there is no such in this case. Ad no in many cases. Simple explanation is just not enough, and will cause more confusion than help. That's what I want to prevent - and then may come some 'insulting' words: 'shallow', 'stoopid' . I do that not often, usually when it is really over the line. Of course, there are such ones who will remember it for whole life, and pull it over and over again - because they care only about own ego, not about how to be useful, how to solve technical problems. Surely, banning is one of the solutions - to make those with good knowledge, experience with Atari ST, SW, HW for it away from forum - all problems solved ! Now forum will be so nice, polite and like ... and that's most important ! Not efficiency, getting proper answers in short time, being able to solve things. No, those like PLM are doing only harm. They think that just because made some SW they can write everything ! No, they should not correct people, saying that what wrote was shallow ! That's worst thing. Not wasting lot of time because of stoopid answers ! Yes, efficiency is evil ! I'm evil persona, because I wrote all that SW for Atari ST, supporting SW for PC. That's pure evil ! I should instead it waste my time in old lady fashioned sweet talk on forums. Much more useful spending of time. Thank you for your time reading this.
#62
Software / Re: New game adaptations
Last post by Petari - 18-10-2023, 19:35:32And finally:
Utopia - was pretty hard case, floppy code is strange, so needed lot of tracing and thinking about how to solve code what redirects it to hard disk/cache.
And needed some IKBD code fix too. In any case, pretty good game.
Utopia - was pretty hard case, floppy code is strange, so needed lot of tracing and thinking about how to solve code what redirects it to hard disk/cache.
And needed some IKBD code fix too. In any case, pretty good game.
#63
Hardware / Re: 16mhz mod for ST/STE
Last post by DarkLord - 18-10-2023, 07:55:39My understanding is that for a 16mhz accelerator to work efficiently, it really needs a good cache.
I have an AdSpeed in my Mega ST and it runs at 16mhz with a cache. The documentation included with the AdSpeed is emphatic about what the cache does. It's very significant.
When you read posts from people experimenting with accelerators over the years, and look at their benchmarks, no cache consistently seems to show a big performance "hit".
Hope this helps.
I have an AdSpeed in my Mega ST and it runs at 16mhz with a cache. The documentation included with the AdSpeed is emphatic about what the cache does. It's very significant.
When you read posts from people experimenting with accelerators over the years, and look at their benchmarks, no cache consistently seems to show a big performance "hit".
Hope this helps.
#64
Software / Re: New game adaptations
Last post by Petari - 16-10-2023, 14:53:50And few more:
Lorna
Tangram - hardest part was to find image of it
Battle Master - yet one more with bad IKBD code. Needed some correction to start reliable. Yes, not only 'converting', changing disk code , it is about fixing some not so good code, what passes when run from floppy, and not when run from much faster storage.
Dalek Attack - this was harder case because really strange floppy code, then needed some extra measure to make intro part being not skipped .
This latest new adapts are available for now only on latest compilation. What has many improvements over downloading files one by one. Plus, I was not able to update page with game table because of health issues caused by poisoned food and drinks. E-mail me with details about your Atari ST(E) config, used mass storage adapter type, storage media. You saw it correct: number is 2070 . So much items in game list. Count of games is not same - there are multiple versions of same game - like older version of adapt, newer version. Then original game, same with some improvements. Aka game titles - pointing to same DIR, so one version. Really don't see need to deal with both versions only because different title screen (text). And there are opposite cases too: multiple games in one DIR . Like 21 simpler, shorter games.
What is real count of games ? Really hard to get correct answer, that need some time. I guess that number is right around 2000 . And it is more complicated in fact - should we count as separate game all those Tetris, Boulder Dash ... versions, remakes ?
Lorna
Tangram - hardest part was to find image of it
Battle Master - yet one more with bad IKBD code. Needed some correction to start reliable. Yes, not only 'converting', changing disk code , it is about fixing some not so good code, what passes when run from floppy, and not when run from much faster storage.
Dalek Attack - this was harder case because really strange floppy code, then needed some extra measure to make intro part being not skipped .
This latest new adapts are available for now only on latest compilation. What has many improvements over downloading files one by one. Plus, I was not able to update page with game table because of health issues caused by poisoned food and drinks. E-mail me with details about your Atari ST(E) config, used mass storage adapter type, storage media. You saw it correct: number is 2070 . So much items in game list. Count of games is not same - there are multiple versions of same game - like older version of adapt, newer version. Then original game, same with some improvements. Aka game titles - pointing to same DIR, so one version. Really don't see need to deal with both versions only because different title screen (text). And there are opposite cases too: multiple games in one DIR . Like 21 simpler, shorter games.
What is real count of games ? Really hard to get correct answer, that need some time. I guess that number is right around 2000 . And it is more complicated in fact - should we count as separate game all those Tetris, Boulder Dash ... versions, remakes ?
#65
News / Re: How to be useless
Last post by Petari - 16-10-2023, 11:16:30Conversion from sts to flux image
This is old idea. I worked on STX image support with HxC emulator coder some 10 years ago. We both stated that STX format can not hold all informations needed for writing to real floppies - in case of some harder copy protections and special formats. Or in other words, it is good for emulators. Or: conversion is possible in many cases, but not in all. As is possible to covert STX to ST format - myself made program for that . Of course, not everything is possible to convert 100% .
Ijor could write all it in that thread, but simpler was to not go in details, because that would be saying something negative about STX format, and that's insult !
Well, my goal was not to insult but to explain things, to write facts, experience.
And to add: of course that Aufit can convert SCP to STX, but not opposite. SCP just holds more information than STX .
This is old idea. I worked on STX image support with HxC emulator coder some 10 years ago. We both stated that STX format can not hold all informations needed for writing to real floppies - in case of some harder copy protections and special formats. Or in other words, it is good for emulators. Or: conversion is possible in many cases, but not in all. As is possible to covert STX to ST format - myself made program for that . Of course, not everything is possible to convert 100% .
Ijor could write all it in that thread, but simpler was to not go in details, because that would be saying something negative about STX format, and that's insult !
Well, my goal was not to insult but to explain things, to write facts, experience.
And to add: of course that Aufit can convert SCP to STX, but not opposite. SCP just holds more information than STX .
#66
News / Re: How to be useless
Last post by Petari - 16-10-2023, 11:08:30And they read this, it seems. Darklord added some post, where he clarifies :-)
Then of course Tillek had something to say: "HDDriver is great. It's a far more professional package, with great support. The author won't call you "stoopid" for asking questions. Uwe is a great asset to the community. "
Interesting - I never saw Uwe Seimet on any Atari forum. Maybe banned ? :-) So, I don't give professional package, good support. I only know to insult people . Sure, when something is very stupid I call it stoopid. And will say it clearly. Will then persona get insulted - that's on his level of self awareness, education. Instead getting offended may think little about seld, and what can do better. Btw. Tillek forgot to mention that I called him 'shallow' - well, maybe because he again and again proves that he is it.
Now I need to work on myself. How to become really good 'asset'
Adding new features to driver SW is not good for community. Who needs Virtual Floppy, LFN filtering, automatic drive icon creation for TOS 1.00-1.62 ? All those pages on my site about TOS, hard disk handling and others. No, all it is only my lack of assetity :-)
Tillek, you are not only shallow, but moron. Don't see what is in front from you.
Then of course Tillek had something to say: "HDDriver is great. It's a far more professional package, with great support. The author won't call you "stoopid" for asking questions. Uwe is a great asset to the community. "
Interesting - I never saw Uwe Seimet on any Atari forum. Maybe banned ? :-) So, I don't give professional package, good support. I only know to insult people . Sure, when something is very stupid I call it stoopid. And will say it clearly. Will then persona get insulted - that's on his level of self awareness, education. Instead getting offended may think little about seld, and what can do better. Btw. Tillek forgot to mention that I called him 'shallow' - well, maybe because he again and again proves that he is it.
Now I need to work on myself. How to become really good 'asset'
Adding new features to driver SW is not good for community. Who needs Virtual Floppy, LFN filtering, automatic drive icon creation for TOS 1.00-1.62 ? All those pages on my site about TOS, hard disk handling and others. No, all it is only my lack of assetity :-)
Tillek, you are not only shallow, but moron. Don't see what is in front from you.
#67
Software / Re: New game adaptations
Last post by Petari - 13-10-2023, 16:45:00More games 'harddiskified' :
Elektron
Location Crisslefridge
Logic
Magical Math III
Maths Dragons
Rugby the World Cup
Space Crusade - with mission expansion disk
Train-Set
Warship
Elektron
Location Crisslefridge
Logic
Magical Math III
Maths Dragons
Rugby the World Cup
Space Crusade - with mission expansion disk
Train-Set
Warship
#68
News / Re: How to be useless
Last post by Petari - 13-10-2023, 16:26:53Hdd solution for playing games
Sure, HDDriver (Seimet) is 'defacto standard' - for those who want problems in many cases. That driver tends to set too much RAM for buffers, what results in problems for game starters.
Not to mention that it costs pretty much . Hmm... maybe that's why DarkLord recommends it ? Let's sell expensive stuff, even if it does not task best, but he is good with it's author. This are such times.
Not any hard disk adapter requires specific TOS version. I did read all kind of posts where is obvious that most of people have no clue how hard disk SW, HW works. Communication with hard disk or Flash card always goes on very low level - computer gives command and then parameters. Main commands are read and write, after what need to give exact address of sector(s) on disk/media/card and count of them (all them are in one block, of course). Disk, adapters don't 'know' to witch partition those sectors belong. It is task of OS (TOS by Ataris).
Simbo (was active at AF earlier) claimed that Satandisk deals with files, partitions. When I wrote that maybe someone who wrote hard disk driver SW knows that, those things better he still stayed by that ridiculous claim. So it goes by many self declared experts.
Sure, HDDriver (Seimet) is 'defacto standard' - for those who want problems in many cases. That driver tends to set too much RAM for buffers, what results in problems for game starters.
Not to mention that it costs pretty much . Hmm... maybe that's why DarkLord recommends it ? Let's sell expensive stuff, even if it does not task best, but he is good with it's author. This are such times.
Not any hard disk adapter requires specific TOS version. I did read all kind of posts where is obvious that most of people have no clue how hard disk SW, HW works. Communication with hard disk or Flash card always goes on very low level - computer gives command and then parameters. Main commands are read and write, after what need to give exact address of sector(s) on disk/media/card and count of them (all them are in one block, of course). Disk, adapters don't 'know' to witch partition those sectors belong. It is task of OS (TOS by Ataris).
Simbo (was active at AF earlier) claimed that Satandisk deals with files, partitions. When I wrote that maybe someone who wrote hard disk driver SW knows that, those things better he still stayed by that ridiculous claim. So it goes by many self declared experts.
#69
Software / Re: New game adaptations
Last post by Petari - 28-09-2023, 19:29:59 New, 7 GB image is under work, and will be ready in day-two. It is for TOS 1.04 and higher. Extra size will be useful for additional material as pictures, videos, and of course state saves.
Currently there are 2048 DIRs - I added many (less known) games in last 2 months. There will be not much more - I don't see that many quality games left. What need to work on is doing screenshots for most of games, some new videos. That needs plenty of time. More details in e-mail.
7 GB image demo video
Currently there are 2048 DIRs - I added many (less known) games in last 2 months. There will be not much more - I don't see that many quality games left. What need to work on is doing screenshots for most of games, some new videos. That needs plenty of time. More details in e-mail.
7 GB image demo video
#70
Software / Re: New game adaptations
Last post by Petari - 27-09-2023, 22:24:40At the Carnival Aka Puzzle Gallery
Companion 1 Vertical scrolling shooter with small sprites and smooth scroll, movement
Fun School 3 , for 5 to 7 years Diverse tasks - journey, collect, toyshop, electricity, funtext, time
Getaway Wimp adventure
Glass Buttock of Tharg RPG
Rockfall Special Edition No cheat, better try to solve it normally. State saves may help.
Companion 1 Vertical scrolling shooter with small sprites and smooth scroll, movement
Fun School 3 , for 5 to 7 years Diverse tasks - journey, collect, toyshop, electricity, funtext, time
Getaway Wimp adventure
Glass Buttock of Tharg RPG
Rockfall Special Edition No cheat, better try to solve it normally. State saves may help.