atari800xl core support questions

[fierman [e-mail] [chameleon_64]]

Hi Mark and others,

forgive me for posting these questions in this ml, but I could not think of
a better place for now.
First of all many thanks for the recent updates. Core runs smooth and
native c64 keyboard + joystick support are awesome.

Just 2 questions:

1- sd-card now won't initialize on first boot (also not on reset), only way
the core will properly load is by manually taking out the sd card and
plugging it back in. (minor annoyance, but thought it would need to be
mentioned)

2- An odd one here (earlier reported by Tobias as well i think) -> some
diskimages are not visible in a directory, whereas others are.
Example: http://fierman.org/c64/a8games/
Only Elektra Glide.ATR <http://fierman.org/c64/a8games/Elektra%20Glide.ATR>
is visible, the others are not. What can cause this? it is unrelated to any
permission issues or unsupported image formats for sure.
(this particular image does not work in the core btw :))

Thank you!

Fierman

[Tobias [e-mail] [chameleon_64]]

Post by fierman fierman-***@public.gmane.org [chameleon_64]
Hi Mark and others,
forgive me for posting these questions in this ml, but I could not think of
a better place for now.
First of all many thanks for the recent updates. Core runs smooth and
native c64 keyboard + joystick support are awesome.
1- sd-card now won't initialize on first boot (also not on reset), only way
the core will properly load is by manually taking out the sd card and
plugging it back in. (minor annoyance, but thought it would need to be
mentioned)

did you try the menu hack i posted? http://beta.icomp.de/bin/rom-menu-sd-abort-hack.zip (however, the core should still work without it ideally =))

[fierman [e-mail] [chameleon_64]]

Post by Tobias tobias-S0d+***@public.gmane.org [chameleon_64]
did you try the menu hack i posted?
http://beta.icomp.de/bin/rom-menu-sd-abort-hack.zip (however, the core
should still work without it ideally =))

Ah, forgot about that one. Will do. Thanks for reminding:)

[Mark Watson scrameta-gM/[e-mail] [chameleon_64]]

Hi,

A good place to post Atari800 core issues is:
http://atariage.com/forums/topic/213827-potential-new-hardware/.

1) Yeah this is interaction with the menu - since the card init code
assumes an uninitialized card. I retry now and most sd cards work. There is
also a Chameleon menu patch to send an abort to the card before starting
cores.
2) This is a bug I was not aware of. Must be a problem in my filtering.
Note that only the .atr and the .xex files should appear (upper or lower
case), not the .atx (unsupported). I'll fix this...
(BTW I downloaded Elektra Glide.ATR from your link - runs just fine...
Remember to hold option at the start of boot (F5))

Or you can email me directly.

Mark

Post by fierman fierman-***@public.gmane.org [chameleon_64]
Hi Mark and others,
forgive me for posting these questions in this ml, but I could not think
of a better place for now.
First of all many thanks for the recent updates. Core runs smooth and
native c64 keyboard + joystick support are awesome.
1- sd-card now won't initialize on first boot (also not on reset), only
way the core will properly load is by manually taking out the sd card and
plugging it back in. (minor annoyance, but thought it would need to be
mentioned)
2- An odd one here (earlier reported by Tobias as well i think) -> some
diskimages are not visible in a directory, whereas others are.
Example: http://fierman.org/c64/a8games/
Only Elektra Glide.ATR
<http://fierman.org/c64/a8games/Elektra%20Glide.ATR> is visible, the
others are not. What can cause this? it is unrelated to any permission
issues or unsupported image formats for sure.
(this particular image does not work in the core btw :))
Thank you!
Fierman

[Mark Watson scrameta-gM/[e-mail] [chameleon_64]]

Just to clarify. F5 is option on C64 keyboard. F8 is option on PS2 keyboard!

Post by Mark Watson scrameta-gM/Ye1E23mwN+***@public.gmane.org [chameleon_64]
Hi,
http://atariage.com/forums/topic/213827-potential-new-hardware/.
1) Yeah this is interaction with the menu - since the card init code
assumes an uninitialized card. I retry now and most sd cards work. There is
also a Chameleon menu patch to send an abort to the card before starting
cores.
2) This is a bug I was not aware of. Must be a problem in my filtering.
Note that only the .atr and the .xex files should appear (upper or lower
case), not the .atx (unsupported). I'll fix this...
(BTW I downloaded Elektra Glide.ATR from your link - runs just fine...
Remember to hold option at the start of boot (F5))
Or you can email me directly.
Mark

Post by fierman fierman-***@public.gmane.org [chameleon_64]
Hi Mark and others,
forgive me for posting these questions in this ml, but I could not think
of a better place for now.
First of all many thanks for the recent updates. Core runs smooth and
native c64 keyboard + joystick support are awesome.
1- sd-card now won't initialize on first boot (also not on reset), only
way the core will properly load is by manually taking out the sd card and
plugging it back in. (minor annoyance, but thought it would need to be
mentioned)
2- An odd one here (earlier reported by Tobias as well i think) -> some
diskimages are not visible in a directory, whereas others are.
Example: http://fierman.org/c64/a8games/
Only Elektra Glide.ATR
<http://fierman.org/c64/a8games/Elektra%20Glide.ATR> is visible, the
others are not. What can cause this? it is unrelated to any permission
issues or unsupported image formats for sure.
(this particular image does not work in the core btw :))
Thank you!
Fierman

[fierman [e-mail] [chameleon_64]]

Thanks for the quick reply! Looking forward to the next revision:)

Post by Mark Watson scrameta-gM/Ye1E23mwN+***@public.gmane.org [chameleon_64]
Just to clarify. F5 is option on C64 keyboard. F8 is option on PS2 keyboard!

Post by Mark Watson scrameta-gM/Ye1E23mwN+***@public.gmane.org [chameleon_64]
Hi,
http://atariage.com/forums/topic/213827-potential-new-hardware/.
1) Yeah this is interaction with the menu - since the card init code
assumes an uninitialized card. I retry now and most sd cards work. There is
also a Chameleon menu patch to send an abort to the card before starting
cores.
2) This is a bug I was not aware of. Must be a problem in my filtering.
Note that only the .atr and the .xex files should appear (upper or lower
case), not the .atx (unsupported). I'll fix this...
(BTW I downloaded Elektra Glide.ATR from your link - runs just fine...
Remember to hold option at the start of boot (F5))
Or you can email me directly.
Mark

[[e-mail] [chameleon_64]]

Just a quick question.


It was mentioned previously that there may be some possibility of damage to either the chameleon or/and the c64 if the Atari core is running while it is plugged into the C64? Is this still the case? I don't really want to keep on removing and inserting the cartridge everytime


Regards

[Mark Watson scrameta-gM/[e-mail] [chameleon_64]]

I now have a C64 and have tested recent cores with that. The C64 joystick
and keyboard work.

I can't guarantee 100% safe, but think you are best to leave it connected.

Post by thealgorithm-***@public.gmane.org [chameleon_64]
Just a quick question.
It was mentioned previously that there may be some possibility of damage
to either the chameleon or/and the c64 if the Atari core is running while
it is plugged into the C64? Is this still the case? I don't really want
to keep on removing and inserting the cartridge everytime
Regards

[[e-mail] [chameleon_64]]

Nice


however what are the reasons why it may not be 100% safe


Regards

[Mark Watson scrameta-gM/[e-mail] [chameleon_64]]

Hi,

The danger with interfacing with the C64 is if the Chameleon drives the bus
at the same time as the C64. In that case it can end up fighting with the
C64 chips. Possibly for short time periods this is OK but it could cause
long term damage. Clearly the intention is to always avoid this. Its
actually a little tricky to get the signal timing correct to avoid though.
I'm using a common 'chameleon_io' component for the C64 communication
though that does all the difficult/important parts. Given that I'm using
that component, and given it works here, I'm pretty sure it won't do any
harm. Though I've not actually connected up a scope or logic and tried to
check this isn't happening for short time periods.

Note this is not Chameleon specific, its the same for any device that
connects in that port and drives the bus.

The risk is higher if core developers start doing more custom interface
pieces. e.g. when I try to map the SID into A8 memory - or display OSD
video on the VIC II via some custom logic etc.

Anyway, this isn't intended to worry you. Its probably completely fine.
Just explaining why I don't want to say '100% guaranteed safe'!

Mark

Post by thealgorithm-***@public.gmane.org [chameleon_64]
Nice
however what are the reasons why it may not be 100% safe
Regards

[[e-mail] [chameleon_64]]

Thanks for the explanation.

[[e-mail] [chameleon_64]]

Thanks for the information


Regards

[[e-mail] [chameleon_64]]

Hi Jens, I read on the EAB forum that you will participate on a show soon, and I guess that maybe you will show the TC64 there.

In case you want to show the a8 core, take care that there it is a bug on releases 20140731 and 20140802 that Mark will fix on a future release, that happens when the core is used on a setup of TC64 + docking station + joystick (the bug is that when the joystick is moved to the right to core do a “F9 Reset” and when the joystick is moved to the left, the core is doing a “F12 Systems settings” access).

The release http://www.scrameta.net/autobuild/20140730/ doesn’t have this problem.

I want that the TC64 looks great on the show! Good luck and success, Juan

[[e-mail] [chameleon_64]]

Hi, I just want to report that the joystick-docking station bug of the a8 core has been solved, thanks Mark! support ticket closed :-)

[[e-mail] [chameleon_64]]

Hi, just a small update: cartridge support has been added to the A8 Core (.CAR file extension).

More info on the forum topic:


http://atariage.com/forums/topic/213827-potential-new-hardware/page-22 http://atariage.com/forums/topic/213827-potential-new-hardware/page-22

And the new core can be downloaded as usual from here:



http://www.scrameta.net/autobuild/ http://www.scrameta.net/autobuild/
Thanks Mark!

[fierman [e-mail] [chameleon_64]]

awesome :)

Post by jugac64-***@public.gmane.org [chameleon_64]
Hi, just a small update: cartridge support has been added to the A8 Core
(.CAR file extension).
http://atariage.com/forums/topic/213827-potential-new-hardware/page-22
http://www.scrameta.net/autobuild/
Thanks Mark!

[fierman [e-mail] [chameleon_64]]

(almost) Complete a800 cartridge collection:
http://fierman.org/c64/a800carts.zip , 4MB. 291 images, all converted from
.bin or .rom to .car , so directly useable with the a800 core :)

Note that there are _no_ fresh dumps in there, only converts/overdumps with
added headers. So please make sure the collection does not get mixed up
with other collections!

Enjoy! (and take an especially good look at Space Harrier and Commando of
course, amongst others)

Post by fierman fierman-***@public.gmane.org [chameleon_64]
awesome :)

Post by jugac64-***@public.gmane.org [chameleon_64]
Hi, just a small update: cartridge support has been added to the A8 Core
(.CAR file extension).
http://atariage.com/forums/topic/213827-potential-new-hardware/page-22
http://www.scrameta.net/autobuild/
Thanks Mark!