New tool: WriteAtr - read/write ATR-images from/to floppy on your PC
Matthias Reichl
I have uploaded a new tool to my homepage:
The basic purpose of WriteAtr is to dump a double density (180k)
ATR-image to a 5.25" floppy disk in your PC, so that you can then put it
in your Atari floppy drive and boot off it.
WriteAtr also supports the other direction: put a double density Atari
floppy disk in your 5.25" PC disk drive and let WriteAtr convert it into
an ATR-image.
However, there are several limitations to WriteAtr:
- First of all: double density.
(Note: double density means 720 sectors/256 bytes per sector disks)
Since standard PC floppy controllers cannot access 128 bytes per
sector Atari disks (eg single density/90k, enhanced density/130k),
you need a true double density capable floppy drive on your Atari
(for example a 1050 equipped with an US-Doubler/Happy/Speedy/Turbo
modification).
The most important restriction to WriteAtr is, that it cannot be
used with single/enhanced density ATRs and floppys, only with double
density.
- WriteAtr can only be used in plain DOS.
Since WriteAtr has to reprogram the floppy controller, and therefore
needs direct access to the hardware, it will _not_ run inside a
Windows DOS-box!
Now that you have read so far, I will reward you with the URL :-)
http://www.horus.com/~hias/atari/writeatr-09beta.zip
Please note that WriteAtr is still beta! A detailed instruction on how
to use WriteAtr is included in the zip-file (writeatr.doc).
It would be great if you could send me some feedback if WriteAtr works
for you (indeed, even more interesting are the cases where WriteAtr does
not work for you, so that I can fix it :)
so long & thanks for every response,
Hias
ir...@nextra.at
Good to hear from you!
I've always used AtariDsk - great program.
Now I wonder why WriteAtr should not work in a DOS-Box, since AtariDsk does?
(I didn't try yet)
And why didn't you enhance AtariDsk instead creating a new program ... ?
Menus are nicer than command-driven programs ;-)
regards
rudi
Matthias Reichl <usenet-...@hias.horus.com> schrieb in im Newsbeitrag:
slrna3e6oo.11p....@camel.hias.horus.com...
machf
Hmmm... Could it be extended to r/w 360K disks/ATRs? (in XF551 DS/DD format,
I mean...)
--
__________ ____---____ Marco Antonio Checa Funcke
\_________D /-/---_----' Santiago de Surco, Lima, Peru
_H__/_/ http://machf.tripod.com
'-_____|( http://www.GeoCities.com/Hollywood/2645
remove the "no_me_j." in front of the address when replying
Matthias Reichl
> Hmmm... Could it be extended to r/w 360K disks/ATRs? (in XF551 DS/DD
> format, I mean...)
Sure, should be no problem!
The only slight problem is, that I don't have a XF551 at home, and thus
it's a bit hard to test.
Another thing I don't quite recall is the sector arrangement used by the
XF551. IIRC sectors 1-720 were located on side 1 in the tracks 0-39,
and sectors 721-1440 were locaded on side 2. The thing I don't know is
if the tracks were reversed on side 2 or not... (i.e. if you first read
sector 720, and then read sector 721, does the XF551 do a full seek from
track 39 back to track 0 and switch to side 2, or does it stay on track
39 and simply switches to side 2?)
If someone could shed a bit light onto this problem, I could implement
double-side support and then upload an (untested) version to my
homepage.
so long,
Hias
Matthias Reichl
On Sat, 5 Jan 2002 18:51:44 +0100, ir...@nextra.at wrote:
> Hi Hias!
> Good to hear from you!
> I've always used AtariDsk - great program.
Thanx a lot, I'm glad to hear that!
> Now I wonder why WriteAtr should not work in a DOS-Box, since AtariDsk does?
> (I didn't try yet)
Hmmm... strange. I have to admit I've only used AtariDsk (and WriteAtr)
in plain MSDOS-Mode. The last time I tried to use AtariDsk from a
dos-shell within Windows was several years ago (IIRC with Win95) and it
didn't work for me.
But if AtariDsk worked for you, WriteAtr should work, too, because it
shares the disk-access code with AtariDsk. Nevertheless, I'll check it
again.
> And why didn't you enhance AtariDsk instead creating a new program ... ?
Good idea (actually, I've already thought of that - see below).
Maybe, when I have some spare time again, I'll merge the code into a
single tool.
The main reason for the separate program was that WriteAtr started as a
very-quick-and-extremely-dirty hack approx. one year ago. During the
last days I dug it out again, cleaned up the code , added a lot of
sanity checks (and the code to create ATR-images), and finally decided
to release it.
> Menus are nicer than command-driven programs ;-)
Sure. But adding menus to WriteAtr (or integrating it into AtariDsk)
would have meant that I had to understand the code for the menu system
that I wrote 10 years ago - an awful nightmare :-)
so long,
Hias
Matthias Reichl
> Another thing I don't quite recall is the sector arrangement used by the
> XF551. IIRC sectors 1-720 were located on side 1 in the tracks 0-39,
> and sectors 721-1440 were locaded on side 2. The thing I don't know is
> if the tracks were reversed on side 2 or not...
I've just found it in the FAQ:
Side 2 is written in reverse track order[1].
Be prepared for another beta version later this day!
so long,
Hias
[1] Yes, I think Atari had a strange kind of humor, especially
when inventing new 'compatible' formats :)
machf
Regarding XF551 DS/DD disks...
Looks like you're reading the sectors in tracks (or some other kind of blocks),
and the sectors within the block are in reverse order... (I'm refering to
sectors 721-1440). Something like, instead of 721->729 they are written 729->721
or maybe instead of 721-738, 738->721 (more probably the latter). I'll email
you some ATR images... (3 total)
Matthias Reichl
On Mon, 07 Jan 2002 00:36:35 -0500, machf wrote:
> Regarding XF551 DS/DD disks...
>
> Looks like you're reading the sectors in tracks (or some other kind of blocks),
> and the sectors within the block are in reverse order... (I'm refering to
> sectors 721-1440). Something like, instead of 721->729 they are written 729->721
> or maybe instead of 721-738, 738->721 (more probably the latter). I'll email
> you some ATR images... (3 total)
That's correct - I just verified it with the ATRs I got from you.
I hope I can implement a fix during this week - if I have the time
(today's my first day back at my job, after two weeks of holidays...)
so long,
Hias
HuggyMike
difference, compare to APE software ?
Is there a site (FAQ?) that I can learned about AtariDsk?
I learned about APE (great program) but I want to learn more about ATR tools
(either for Mac or PC).
Thanks for the support! Trying to renew my Atari spirits! :o)
Mike
Ron Hamilton
http://www.horus.com/~hias/atari/
for both of his utilities and a game DOS.
--
-Ron
Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.
http://www.atariland.com/members/oldatarian
"HuggyMike" <hugg...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20020114003225...@mb-fh.aol.com...
Matthias Reichl
On 14 Jan 2002 05:32:25 GMT, HuggyMike wrote:
> Could you tell me more about AtariDsk? What is its purpose
With AtariDsk you can directly copy files from your PC to a 5.25"
floppy disk inserted into PC floppy disk drive, in Atari DOS 2
compatible double density (180k) format. You can also use it to
copy files from an Atari formatted floppy disk to your PC.
You could call AtariDsk kind of an "Atari DOS for your PC".
The biggest problem with AtariDsk is that it only supports true
double density (180k, 256 bytes per sector) disks. This means you
must either be using a double density upgrade with your 1050, or
a XF551 (or any other floppy drive that supports 256 bytes per sector).
> and what is the difference, compare to APE software ?
AtariDsk reads/writes your Atari floppy disk in the PC disk drive.
This means you can exchange floppy disks between your PC and Atari.
APE does something completely different: It simulates an Atari
floppy disk drive (eg a 1050) and you have to use a hardware interface
to connect your Atari to your PC (which now acts like an original
Atari floppy drive).
> Is there a site (FAQ?) that I can learned about AtariDsk?
Not really a FAQ, but have a look into the documentation that's
available with AtariDsk. Just visit my homepage at
http://www.horus.com/~hias/atari/ and download ataridsk.zip
The zip-file contains both the executable and the documentation.
so long & have fun with your Atari,
Hias