Re: [MSX] Sunrise IDE interface
Hello Raymond, What exactly do you mean with 'it does not boot'? Do you see the MSX logo or the boot text of the IDE? If not, then your 2048KB memory module is probably not working fine, causing the MSX to hang. Grtz, Jon -Original Message- From: msx-boun...@stack.nl [mailto:msx-boun...@stack.nl] On Behalf Of Raymond Sent: dinsdag 3 januari 2012 17:20 To: msx@stack.nl Subject: [MSX] Sunrise IDE interface Hello, I have a strange problem with my Sunrise IDE interface. When I have the interface connected to my NMS8280 and have a 2048KB memory module installed, it won't boot. However when using a seperate DOS 2 cartridge (without IDE interface), I can use the 2048 KB (create a ramdisk for example). When I use only the IDE interface it does boot, but not together... I am using the 2.40 firmware for the IDE interface and I know it includes DOS-2. Is it a modified version? Hope someone has a usefull tip for me! Thanks. Raymond ___ MSX mailing list (msx@stack.nl) Info page: http://lists.stack.nl/mailman/listinfo/msx ___ MSX mailing list (msx@stack.nl) Info page: http://lists.stack.nl/mailman/listinfo/msx
Re: [MSX] Colour loss
Hi colourless people, you could try the following two things: 1. The V9958 requires a *clean* 5V on pin 21 to power the video outputs; If there is noise on this 5V, then this will result in noise on your video signals and degrades image quality. On the 5V which is used to power all digital circuits in the MSX there is a lot of noise, especially where the 5V enters a large digital chip like the V9958! So it is not a good idea, like described in the patch of Hans Oranje, to connect pin 21 with pin 58 (digital supply of V9958). It might be better to connect pin 21 to somewhere else in the MSX where you have 5V (with less noise). Like in the other patch that Laurens mentioned (for the 8245). Here they get the 5V from solderhole 26. Probably in the 8245 there is 5V here. This is not the case for the 825x: here there is a 10k pullup resistor to 5V (R166). So you might try connecting to the side of the resistor where the 5V is (and remove the 10k resistor because now the V9958 is outputting a wait signal on pin 26). The noise can also be seriously reduced by putting a decoupling capacitor (e.g. 100nF) between pin 21 and pin 20 (Analog GND). Keep the length of the leads of this capacitor as short as possible (5mm). 2. for a NMS82xx the composite video signal is generated with a MC1377 chip. It uses the RGB info from the VDP, but also the Csync signal. Perhaps the timing for one of those signals has changed a little bit in the V9958. If this is the case, then the timing when the colour burst should happen in the cvbs signal, will also be shifted (and wrong). You can adjust this by adjusting the variable resistor VR301. It is located on the separate video board of the NMS825x next to the big black MC1377 chip. I don't know if it will help, but at least it is worth a try. Best regards, Jon ___ MSX mailing list ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) Info page: http://lists.stack.nl/mailman/listinfo/msx
Re: [MSX] Colour loss
Alex Wulms wrote: I know (from the v9938 databook) that the v9938 comes in three versions. I have always wondered about the difference. see page 123 of the V9938 databook: the difference is in the timing of the VRAM interface. So this won't be the problem... Bye, jon ___ MSX mailing list ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) Info page: http://lists.stack.nl/mailman/listinfo/msx
Re: [MSX] minimum hardware configuration
Jun Sung Kim (???) wrote: Hi again, Maybe some of you misunderstood me... I want the minimum configuration NOT for MSX standard but for EXECUTING EXISTING BIOS. ... * PPI is needed to set up address space because of the slot/page conception of MSX standard. * So PPI must be configured at a very early stage of boot sequence. * Hmmm... To configure PPI, boot codes in ROM should be executed. * That ROM should be configured in memory space correctly before exection of the codes. * To configure that space, PPI should be configured... !#$%^* ^^ I think you could run the BIOS without PPI/A8 register if you have the ROM fixed on -7FFF and RAM in C000-: all writes to the A8 port are ignored; all reads from that port will return nonsense, but the BIOS will probably use that nonsense (after masking some bits to select a slot) to write it back to A8, so this won't do any harm. It will appear for the BIOS that you have 4 slots filled with BIOSrom and RAM. Of course you will encounter other difficulties (like reading nonsense from the keyboard...) Regards, Jon ___ MSX mailing list ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) Info page: http://lists.stack.nl/mailman/listinfo/msx
Re: [MSX] PSG REPLACEMENT WORKS FINE!!!
Hi all, If japanese people were a bit less sceptic about non-japanese people skills and projects, I think this would be a good idea. ... Their culture is so different from ours it's impossible to communicate at the same level as you do with most of the rest of the world. Even if a japanese person speaks perfect english, his usage and interpretation of the language will still differ from yours. In other words, a language barrier can be broken, but a culture barrier is far more difficult to break. I just wanted to say that from time to time I have very good contacts with the japanese hardware people and Tsujikawa even asked me to join his project. Too bad I don't have that much time left for MSX and I'm already writing VHDL all day for my job. About the approach of replacing chips in stead of making a new board: I don't think you can do it for all MSX chips, since some chips probably also contain analog logic (the VDP?), and thus can't be rebuilt with an FPGA only. Regards and success to all hardware people out there ! jon ___ MSX mailing list ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) Info page: http://lists.stack.nl/mailman/listinfo/msx
Re: CD audio
You can use Nestor CD Player for IDE (by Sergio Guerrero). It is memory resident and can be used in BASIC. I believe it is on http://www.msx.ch/sunformsx/ Greetings, Jon adisak wrote: Hi! I want to start/stop/skip songs on an audio CD from basic. Does anyone know how to do this with Sunrise IDE? (I don`t want to have to go to dos to use cdp.com) Thanx in advance! -Dan Derpaux / www.algorythms.com / [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- For info, see http://www.stack.nl/~wynke/MSX/listinfo.html -- For info, see http://www.stack.nl/~wynke/MSX/listinfo.html
Re: MSX slot interfaced to PC
JP Grobler wrote: HI This topic was mentioned a few times with no serious input. I think it will be possible to connect a msx slot to a pc and emmulate a ROM cartdridge (etc.) on the pc. The msx will think it is talking to a normal rom. not possible... The MSX executes buscycli in the range of a few hundred nanoseconds; the PC has to react to these signals *in real time*. With a simple interface this is not possible. And probably you can't use an OS on the pc, you will need full control in assembler of the x86 CPU to poll for the incoming MSX signals... 2 Parallel port woul possibly be enough to do this. In a Bi PC Parallel port is way too slow... forget it Regards, Jon -- For info, see http://www.stack.nl/~wynke/MSX/listinfo.html
Re: Stupid SCSI questions - Novaxis
Manuel Bilderbeek wrote: Adriano Camargo Rodrigues da Cunha wrote: Anybody knows what the LUN parameter (Logical UNit) means for the Novaxis interface? Is it important? The docs I have say that LUN is usually 0. Can I use LUN allways equal to 0? I have no idea. I believe LUN is used to indicate the medium in devices with a 'changer mechanism' (eg. a CDROM unit which can store 4 discs). Since most devices can only store 1 medium, LUN is 0. Jon -- For info, see http://www.stack.nl/~wynke/MSX/listinfo.html
Re: IDE technical questions
Adriano Camargo Rodrigues da Cunha wrote: Hi, Jon. Can you answer some questions about Sunrise IDE, please? no problem; just returned from holiday 1. Checking my HD sector 0 I think that the partitions start and length numbers are stored in (32 bit values) offsets Ah (length) and 6h (start), starting at 1FAh (partition 0). In other words, the sector 0 of an IDE device has: partition 0: start sector (32 bits) stored in 1FAh length stored in 1F6h caution! start sector: #1f6 length: #1fa partition 1: start sector (32 bits) stored in 1EAh length stored in 1E6h partition 2: start sector (32 bits) stored in 1DAh length stored in 1D6h partition 3: start sector (32 bits) stored in 1CAh length stored in 1C6h ... partition 30:start sector (32 bits) stored in 1Ah length stored in 16h Is this right? Can I rely on this? The are indeed 31 available entries to define a partition. An entry contains various information: *about start/size of the partition (both CHS and LBA format) This is 'standard' in the computer world *the partitiontype code (1=FAT12, 4=6=FAT16, FAT32, linux, ...) This is 'standard' in the computer world *some extra infobits: (offset #1EE,#1DE,#1CE,...) -bit7: 1=partition is the boot partition (standard, not used on Sunrise IDE) -bit1: 1=disabled partition (no standard, only used on Sunrise IDE) -bit0: 1=read-only partition (no standard, only used on Sunrise IDE) Normally you don't need this info, since all partitionstuff is handled by the IDE bios. A maximum of 6 partitions (divided over all devices connected to 1 IDE cartridge) is selected and the necessary info to access these 6 partitions is stored in the 6 drivefields. (see IDESYS.TXT) Note that the partitionstuff is far more complex than a fixed harddisk. A 100MB ZIP disk with 3 partitions can be inserted, and hot-swapped with a non-partionized ZIP medium, ... LS120 drive with a 1.44HD floppy replaced by a 120MB UHD partitioned medium, ... The IDE bios will detect the swap and take the necessary actions and update the drivefields. The IDE bios does not support the thing called 'extended partition' (partitiontype code 5) used by Microsoft FDISK to create more than one partition on a harddisk. Because of that only 1 partition of a Windows hd with 3 FAT16 partitions will be visible and not the other two extended partitions. 3. If I have a CDROM connected to my IDE (sorry, I don't have one at this moment), will it appear on IDE workspace? yes Where? In the drive fields (IDE workspace)? In the device info field (IDE workspace)? in both: devicetype codebyte of the Master or Slave will be set to: xxx01110 =CDROM,LBAsupport,ATAPIdevice The device codebyte in the drivefield will also contain an appropriate value (bit 2 and 1 set to '1', see IDESYS.TXT); using this value when calling #7F89 will have the expected result of reading CD sectors. (These are 2048 bytes in size) Greetings, Jon -- For info, see http://www.stack.nl/~wynke/MSX/listinfo.html
Re: IDE interface not detected
Maybe some broken program accidentally wiped the FlashROM. Try to re-flash the IDE BIOS. Not possible. IDEFLOAD cannot detect the IDE interface. then you have to select the apropriate slotnumber yourself (with the cursorkeys); (when the flashrom is completely erased, the computer can't detect it; this is normal) However, it seems to me that your MSX is broken (or not really MSX compatible ?!) because it doesn't support the /CS1 signal on the cartridgeconnector which is used by the IDE interface when reading the ROM contents. This also explains why some games in ROM won't run on your machine... Success with the repair :-/ Jon Thanks for your attention. Greetings from The Got Still Crazy, - Jun. * As I already mentioned, it is detected on another MSX2 machine. -- For info, see http://www.stack.nl/~wynke/MSX/listinfo.html -- For info, see http://www.stack.nl/~wynke/MSX/listinfo.html
Re: SCART to composite
I just want to add: be VERY CAREFUL with the NUMBERING of a floppy drive flatcable. The numbering is NOT like most flatcables. (Check Manuel's FAQ) I believe the numbers are printed on the PCB of the NMS82xx, but perhaps these are not correct! Jon Maarten ter Huurne wrote: On Wednesday 28 February 2001 01:38, you wrote: Well, I bought the thing a new floppy drive, connected pins 33 and 34 of the main board (where it connects to the cable) with a jumper, connected it... nothing. It still complains about "disk offline". Any ideas, anyone? Does the drive spin when you access it with a disk in it? Does the drive LED turn on when you access it? And when you don't, is it off? You are using a DD disk, not a HD disk, are you? Can you format a disk? (use CALL FORMAT from BASIC) Bye, Maarten -- For info, see http://www.stack.nl/~wynke/MSX/listinfo.html -- For info, see http://www.stack.nl/~wynke/MSX/listinfo.html
extended ROM format - Addresses
I didn't follow the whole discussion about the ROM format, but perhaps it is a good idea to use 'masks' for emulating the 'sensitive' addresses in ROM/RAM mappers. In most cases, the hardware only checks certain bits of the address and not all of them. For example, when only the 3 uppermost bits of the address are checked, writing to #6000 has the same effect as writing to #6001, #6002, ... #7fff. You can model this by using ANDmasks (a bit like TCP/IP subnetaddressing): entry mask action #6000 #e000 area from #6000..#7fff is addressed = update mapper register #8000 #e000 area from #8000..#9fff is addresses = do something... ... The emulator should apply the mask to each address and see if the result matches the entryvalue and perform the necessary actions... I don't know if this detail of hardware emulation is really necessary, it was just an idea :) greetinx, jon -- For info, see http://www.stack.nl/~wynke/MSX/listinfo.html
Re: CDR, CD-Rom with MSX question
Maarten ter Huurne wrote: On Thursday 09 November 2000 02:32, you wrote: it is possible if the diskrom is changed in such a way that DISKIO maps sector 0,1,2 3 to CDsector 0, sector 4,5,6,7 to CDsector 1, ... (now DISKIO of IDEbios returns an error when reading from CDROM.) Is it possible to implement this efficiently? I mean, in such a way that reading 512-byte "virtual sectors" 0..3 doesn't cause sector 0 of the CD to be read (and seeked!) 4 times? it is possible to buffer the last read CDsector, but of course that will 'cost' a 2048 bytes buffer in page 3. That seems a bit 'too much' for me. Anyway, I don't think it is worth all the trouble to implement it: if you want to use files from CD, just use the normal CDEX procedure. The only thing that might be useful is: modify DISKIO in such a way that only the first 512bytes of CDsector0 are returned. In that way, it is possible to provide some bootcode in CDsector0 which can be used to boot your own soft on cd with its own CDROMdrivers. greetinx, jon -- For info, see http://www.stack.nl/~wynke/MSX/listinfo.html
Re: CDR, CD-Rom with MSX question
Siebe Berveling wrote: Can this be modified with one of the settings who were 'like chinese to me' (see my previous message) ? the 'boot-options' in PC software are useless, because these options generate x86 bootcode, which are only useful for PC's... Jon note: I noticed you are trying to experiment with the PC recording software to obtain 'something bootable/readable' on MSX, but that is just a waste of time, because it won't work. Perhaps some of the SCSI interfaces have boot/mappingpossibilities for CD's, but I'm affraid that's not the case... -- For info, see http://www.stack.nl/~wynke/MSX/listinfo.html
Re: CDR, CD-Rom with MSX question
Laurens Holst wrote: other partition (session). So that means -on a PC- DOS can read the CD as a floppy, and therefor I think it should also be possible on MSX. it is possible if the diskrom is changed in such a way that DISKIO maps sector 0,1,2 3 to CDsector 0, sector 4,5,6,7 to CDsector 1, ... (now DISKIO of IDEbios returns an error when reading from CDROM.) Then, if you are able to burn a CD with a partitiontable or MSX bootsector, it will normally boot like any other device. Jon -- For info, see http://www.stack.nl/~wynke/MSX/listinfo.html
Re: IDE Problem
Sandy Pleyte wrote: Hi, I recently bought an ATA-IDE + RS232C cartridge, but I think it doesn't work, or maybe I need a HowTo manual. When I start my MSX TR ST with the cart in slot 1 it detects my HD, then it's loading MSX DOS 2.30 (same version as my msx-dos kernel). When I try to load idefdisk.com it say's: No IDE system installed during startup! probably because no valid partitions were found on the hd. Press DEL key during startup when you want to format a hd for the first time. (see IDE201.TXT) greetinx, jon Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] See also http://www.faq.msxnet.org/
Re: 'beginners' corner (was GIMP)
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: ObMSX: I'm planning to create a kind of 'beginners' corner/column in the next issue of MCCW (when I get /usr/bin/time running ;-)) Does anybody have any idea for a subject? 'The things you need first if you want to program for MSX' 1. some Z80 course 2. V9938 manual from Yamaha 3. 'BDOS voor beginners'(MCM from long time ago) 4. DOS2 programmer's references from HSH 5. good utility to disassemble other software, assembler, debugger, monitor (no, I don't want to mention any names ;) ) Greetinx, Jon (As a ref: I quote here the 1st paragraph Ive written: INTRO If you open any book about a given programming langue, chances are that the very first example is the (in?)famous 'Hello World' program. It stands for the beginning of programming, the first step towards mastering the art of coding. And that is exactly what this column will be aboutDASHit aims at the starting programmer, who wants to master the SCMSX/SC. /INTRO ) Ciao, Eric Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] See also http://www.faq.msxnet.org/ Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] See also http://www.faq.msxnet.org/
Re: CDR, CD-Rom with MSX question
to be short: I don't think it is possible to boot from a CDROM in DOS2. DOS2 uses the DISKIO entry for reading the bootsector, and since this entry only supports 512kB sectors, I think you can forget it :( About only accessing the partitions (not booting): best thing to do is just make a normal ISO9660 cd and use the CDEX utility to access files on the cdrom. Jon Maarten ter Huurne wrote: On Saturday 04 November 2000 19:13, you wrote: Hmm. I don't have linux (yet) but I can ask someone with Linux. Or does someone know if there's no W98 or DOS program able to fix this. The source of wrdsk is part of the fMSX source distribution. It seems wrdsk uses the parameters from the boot block (boot sector contents) to calculate the disk size. So feeding it a harddisk boot sector should be sufficient to allow up to 32MB of data. There is another problem though, which is that wrdsk doesn't support subdirectories. Hmm.. let's see if i got you correct: So you suggest that I should make a file which contains concatenated binary copies of the files I want to put on my disc . Then I should create in a hex-editor a BERT-partition table _however it might look like_. It's almost for sure that the beginning and the end (or the length) must be specified in the table. Then i should figure out these values so that they are at the start of new files. This binary file then should be concatenated to the file containing the software I want on CD. Did I understand you correct? I'm not sure. I'll explain more formally, so there is less chance of misunderstandings. CD = boot_block + partition[0] + partition[1] + ... + partition[N-1] boot_block contains the partition table, boot sector and probably some empty space. partition[i] is a partition image, which is like a disk image only bigger. The "+" operation is binary file concatenation. Usually a partition table contains the number of the first absolute sector of a partition and the number of the last (inclusive) absolute sector of a partition. Also, there is data like "partition type" (primary FAT, secundary partition etc) and "bootable flag" (bootable yes/no). You have to make a partition table (either using hex editor or by writing a program) that points to the absolute sector addresses at which the partition images are located. If you mean partition images by "at the start of new files", you understood correctly. There may be another problem: it's not sure the BERT interface (or rather its disk ROM) will allow you to use partitions from CD-ROM. CD-ROM sectors are 2048 bytes in size, while harddisk sectors are 512 bytes. You've got a point there, I didn't knew about that. To access a CD-ROM i need the programs ccd.com (to enter a directory), ccopy.com (to copy files from CD-ROM to eg Harddisk) and cdda.com (to start/stop/.../pause an audio-CD) I always thought that they were only necessary to deal with the FAT12-problem. They are needed anyway to understand the iso9660 filesystem, which is used on CD-ROMs. But I don't know whether sector length is also an issue. Or does the fact that the BERT supports a CD-ROM drive tell enough about dealing with the different sector size? That depends on whether ccd.com and ccopy.com use the same routines to read sectors as DOS2 does. Also, DOS2 itself must be able to handle larger sectors, if it loads 2048 byte sectors into 512 byte buffers, it will most likely crash. Does anyone know the size of ZIP disk sectors? Those work under DOS2. Siebe -today subscribed to this mailinglist- Berveling Welcome! Bye, Maarten Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] See also http://www.faq.msxnet.org/ Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] See also http://www.faq.msxnet.org/
Re: IDE answers
Laurens Holst wrote: By the way, IF you (Jon) are going to update the IDE disk variable area, best do it good. It won't be compatible anyway, so I think it's a good idea to use OFFSET +4 +5 +6 +7 (for example) for the 32-bit disk size instead of OFFSET +4 +5 and +8 +9... by making the order '+4 +5 and +8 +9' like you say, you can keep it compatible with current bios1.x and 2.x utilities which use the IDE system variables. I can't see any advantage of using the normal order '+4 +5 +6 +7'. I almost all cases you use the IX/IY registers for reading the variables, so the actual offsetorder doesn't matter... It will only be compatible with the older BIOSes for the A: drive. The rest no, it is not. You shall use the getaddressentry to obtain the start of each drivesection. You don't have to do the multiplication yourself. has to be calculated by multiplying the drive with 16 instead of 8, so if you read the DIB of drive B:, one way or another, it will always give the incorrect result if you use an older BIOS. Greetinx, Jon Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] See also http://www.faq.msxnet.org/
Re: IDE answers
Laurens Holst wrote: ... The new BIOS v2.0 isn't compatible with the old one already because of the added 24-bit sector access. what you are saying is not correct Programs ignorant about the 23 bit DISKIO access, must set the MediaID (#f0) in register C like usual. So most direct-interface-access programs already don't work. they will work ok because they set the MediaID in C. Why didn't you increase the size of the drive info block at the same time??? 32 bit sector access requires a kind of new MSX standard; probably a new diskromentry. That also means that DOS has to be modified in order to use that new entry. Perhaps that can be done in future when a new DOS3 will be made... if it will be made. As you can imagine, 32bit access is not for tomorrow. But no problem, because I DON'T think that 32bit access is the thing that is most needed in the MSX community. We can better spend our time creating games and utils. Now all direct-access software has to be adapted for version 2.0, not true and once again for version 3.0... It would be easier to do this in one go I think... ~Grauw Jon Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] See also http://www.faq.msxnet.org/
Re: IDE answers
Laurens Holst wrote: ... don't work. Which program will not work? I don't know exactly. The programs which directly access the IDE-BIOS (v2.0) without clearing the C register... 'old' programs must always set the MediaID in C. If they don't set the C register, these programs are wrong. I think EVAIDE does it. don't think so; EVAIDE uses the new 23bit sector access. ... By the way, IF you (Jon) are going to update the IDE disk variable area, best do it good. It won't be compatible anyway, so I think it's a good idea to use OFFSET +4 +5 +6 +7 (for example) for the 32-bit disk size instead of OFFSET +4 +5 and +8 +9... by making the order '+4 +5 and +8 +9' like you say, you can keep it compatible with current bios1.x and 2.x utilities which use the IDE system variables. I can't see any advantage of using the normal order '+4 +5 +6 +7'. I almost all cases you use the IX/IY registers for reading the variables, so the actual offsetorder doesn't matter... ~Grauw Jon Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] See also http://www.faq.msxnet.org/
MetalGear for XBOX
maybe a bit offtopic... [News] Konami unveils its lineup of Xbox games -- and yes, Metal Gear is right at the top! more news can be found in the xbox section on http://www.dailyradar.com Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] See also http://www.faq.msxnet.org/
IDE answers
About the bootprocess: To boot from a partition, the following things must be ok: 1. the partition must be assigned to a driveletter: this action is performed by the IDEbios at startup. It looks for a valid partitiontable (byte #EB on offset +#000 and #55AA on offset +#1FE). If this fails, it looks for a normal bootsector: I think only #EB on +#000 is checked (can't remember). The same is done for the FAT12/FAT16 partitions in the partitiontable. Other FAT12/FAT16 parameters are extracted from the bootsector and filled in in the DPBareas. (start of directory, etc...) So, if you create your own bootsectors, make sure the first byte is #EB and provide some realistic parameters, even if the filesystem you want to implement is not a FAT type. This will make sure the partition is linked to a driveletter. 2. the actually booting takes place by the running DOSkernel. So this thing has nothing to do with the IDE software anymore. Refer to the email from Bifi: the DOSkernel calls the bootroutine at #c01e with various registers set up. (at home I have some info on that lying around) But for things like UZIX, I think you can just ignore these parameters in HL,DE,AF,... and you can immediately do what you want to do. BUT here comes another issue: on TurboR computers, the bootsector is examined before the call to #c01e takes place. If it don't detects a 'DOS2 bootsector', then the DOS1 core is installed. If I remember well, the only thing that the TR checks is the 'VOL_ID' string in the DOS2 bootsector. So, if you create your own bootsectorstuff: keep the VOL_ID string in place ! --- about UZIX: don't destroy any MSX system variables in the higher memory region ! (I think you can destroy everything below the address that can be found on location #F349.) So don't just erase everything till #f000 because it is possible that some system work areas are located below #f000... Another important remark concerning entry DISKIO #4010: when loading/writing data to page 0 (#..#3fff) or to page 1 (#4000..#7fff), the diskromsoftware expects some slotswitchingroutines at address #f36e (not sure about the address). These routines are normally provided by MSXDOS(2).SYS. But if you write your own OS, then you have to provide these routines yourself OR much better: simply don't read/write data in page 0 or 1. 1. Assigning driver letters. Is it possible that I use only two drive letters for a IDE harddisk when there are more than two partitions? yes, more info: read IDEFDISK.TXT, enabling/disabling partitions 2. Maximum Capacity. According to a document from Sunrise home page (IDEFAT16.TXT), 2GB is possible to for one parition. Is it correct? yes, that is correct. Note that it is NOT EXACTLY 2GB for FAT16 and 32MB for FAT12. Like said in IDEFAT16.TXT, it is approx. 2GB. And what is the maximum capacity of a harddisk (not a partition) which can be handled by IDE interface/file system. by the IDE hardware: ALL IDE harddisk types can be connected. (1MB, 10GB, 40GB, 123GB, ...) by the IDE software: current bios 2.01 'only' support reading/writing of sectors in the first 8 GB range of the device. So if you're using a 10 GB harddisk, the last 2GB can't be accessed. The IDEFDISK software which you need to generate partitions, will automatically limit your partitions to the 8GB boundary. Greetings, Jon Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] See also http://www.faq.msxnet.org/
IDE questions answers
if you have IDE related questions or remarks, you can always post them on the IDE messageboard on the site of Sunrise: http://www.msx.ch jon Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] See also http://www.faq.msxnet.org/
Re: Idefdisk 3.1
Some remarks... -- Ivan Latorre wrote: ... Now I want to partition my Seagate 1.2Gb HD. I push "DEL" button in order to start MSX-DOS1 from floppy disk. When pressing DEL, no IDE driveletters are created (and thus preventing to boot from a not yet good formatted disk), but this has NO influence on the DOSkernel that is used by the system. On TurboR the internal DOS2.3x is used. On MSX2(+), the internal DOS2.2x from the IDE interface is installed. THIS ALSO MEANS THAT YOU SHOULD BOOT FROM A FLOPPY WITH THE APPROPRIATE MSXDOS2.SYS FILE. When using a 'DOS1 disk' this will likely result in a malfunctioning system. (old MSXDOS.SYS uses direct calls into the DOSkernel, but since this DOSkernel is not version 1.xx, things might go wrong) Then I execute idefdisk.com (version 3.1). But the screen turns brown and the computer hangs up. My computer is a MSXturboR A1-GT. Does anyone what am I doing wrong? ==use a DOS2 formatted floppy with MSXDOS2.SYS ver 2.3x. -- Anne de Raad wrote: 1) Copy MSXDOS2.SYS, COMMAND2.COM and FDISK.COM (v3.1) to an MSX DOS2-formatted Floppydisk and start your computer pressing DEL on startup... ok 2) Start fdisk 3.1 with the fat16-option, so type 'fdisk /fat16' ok; except that you must type 'idefdisk /fat16'... :) 3) Display partitiontable and delete ALL partitionsTo be sure this is not really correct; if you are using a 'new' harddisk, you must first do a 'Autogenerate partition table' to create an MSXIDE partitiontable. After that you can do the 'display partition table' and rearrange (kill/add) partitions as you like. If IDEFDISK can't detect an MSXIDE partitiontable, the Add/Kill options won't be available in the display menu. So in your case you should do: 'Autogenerate..' and then 'Display' and then Kill all autogenerated partitions (it is only possible to kill the last partition, you have to begin with number 30). 4) Move with the cursor to the first line and choose Add partition. Then type the size of the partition. Watch it, you have to type sectors and one sector is about 512 bytes it is also possible to type something like 2000K for 2000 kilobyte partitions.. (refer to the TXTfile) 5) After you have typed i.e. 6 (which gives you a approx. 30mB FAT12partition) you move the cursor down to the second line if you want the maximum size for your FAT12 partition, you can type: 65401, but it is of course much easier to choose the predefined size with the Up- and Downcursors. (try it !) 6) There you again choose Add partition. It now shows how many sectors are still available. Just type this number and a FAT16-partition is being created. ok 7) Go back to the main menu and choose the option with which you can WRITE the created partitions ok 8) Then choose the option with which you can ENABLE all partitions. ?? there is no such option... all created partitions are already enabled by default. probably you mean the 'Initialize all enabled partitions (logical format)' With this option all created partitions, are formatted with the appropriate filesystem. Choose this option. 9) Reset your system and copy MSXDOS2.SYS and COMMAND2.COM in BASIC from your diskdrive to the FAT12-partition (probably your A-drive)..So 'copy "c:command2.com" to "a:" C: is floppydrive in this example ok 10) Rebooting will get you into DOS booted from drive A. ok 11) To access the FAT16-partitions you have to load FAT16.COM every time you start upSo put this in your AUTOEXEC.BAT or something ok 12) Also remember you have to patch COMMAND2.COM to make the filehandling correct with FAT16-partitions. the filehandling is correct even without the patch; as far as I know, it only patches the routine to display the correct amount of K free when doing DIR. Therefor you need to execute PATCHCOM.COM only 1 timeNo need to start this program again and againJust do it once ok Hopefully this will be of any help. It worked for me! ;-) almost 10/10 :) Anne --- Many thanks! Now all is working well. Why we cannot find detailed step by step instructions at Sunrise home page? ask Sunrise; I don't assume it to be my job to make detailed manuals, etc. There are enough experienced IDE users around who can make such manuals (and have free MSXtime!) I´ve read all the .TXT files and they are not very clear. I know.. the TXTfiles are not supposed to be manuals, but contain only most important (technical) information that is not obvious to find out yourself. Did you solve the Wrong version of MSX-DOS problem? If so: how? No, I didn't solve this problem. It solved itself! That's why I have the feeling something is still not 100% with either the Fdisk or the FAT16.com. I did some research: the message 'Wrong version...' is displayed by MSXDOS2.SYS when the DOSkernel that is active is a DOS1 kernel. Normally on TurboR,
Re: Fat 16 / chkdsk.com
MSX NBNO wrote: One question aries to me: Do programms like chkdsk.com work on this fat16? of course that kind of programs don't work correct on a FAT16 drive... It would be nice if disk errors can be solved... greetings -+-+-+-+-+-+- Maico Arts [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] -+-+-+-+-+-+- Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] See also http://www.faq.msxnet.org/ Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] See also http://www.faq.msxnet.org/
COMMAND2.COM and FAT16
The patch of COMMAND2.COM is not really necessary. It only makes sure that the number of kilobytes free is correctly displayed when doing 'DIR'. Jon ps. on turboR the IDE internal DOS2.2x is not installed. = DOS2.3x from TR is used as kernel. Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] See also http://www.faq.msxnet.org/
Re: Wrong version of MSX-DOS
Anne de Raad wrote: Hi there! ... Because of the fact OKEI's patchcom.com doesn't work on Dos2.4x I use Dos2.3x You should use MSXDOS2.SYS version 2.2x and COMMAND2.COM version 2.2x because the DOS2kernel you are using (inside the IDE) is version 2.2x. I think SYS and COM version 2.3x are only suitable when the DOSkernel is also 2.3x and only Turbo-R computer have such a kernel. DOS2.3x is only suitable for TurboR (that's why DOS2.2x is inside the IDE and not DOS2.3x) I hope that helps, Jon Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] See also http://www.faq.msxnet.org/
IDEstuff
I noticed that Sunrise has put all new IDEstuff online on their site. however, a textfile 'IDEFAT16.TXT' is missing... Probably they will put that online somewhat later :-\ Greetings, Jon Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] See also http://www.faq.msxnet.org/
Re: C-TNG blocked
Albert Beevendorp wrote: Aren't you guys comming by train? no :( it is way too much expensive (175 euros)... We have decided to build an 'MSXparty' at David's place :) CU in tilburg next year ! :-/ Jon Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] See also http://www.faq.msxnet.org/
Re: News from the CTNG lab :-)
What Maarten thinks is correct; When you save to the ASMformat, also the precompiled code is saved. So if you load an ASMfile, the compilationprocess goes equally fast as when you just typed it. :-) Loading and saving ASMfiles goes very fast (is only a dump of the internal memorybuffers to disk). On the other hand, when you load an ASCIIfile, then the loading process takes a bit longer (I am not able to verify it yet), but that is in my opinion not a big problem since you probably always use the ASMformat. The ASCIIload/save is only there for exchangability with other environments. - Use 8 bit JR when displacement fits in 8 bits, otherwise use 16 bit JR that's just the big problem: the displacement can be dependent on the fact if you will be using 8bit or 16bit JR! The snake that bites its tail... The same goes for DJNZ, but since almost all DJNZ jump to somewhere before the DJNZ, the displacement is not dependent on the 8/16/24bit type. So in that case it is possible to automatically choose the offset type. So I guess I will do it the easy way, and just introduce a new mnemonic 'JRR'.. or is 'JR16' better? since there is also 24bit JR 'JR24' ? cu Jon Maarten ter Huurne wrote: On Thu, 14 Sep 2000, you wrote: However: compiling 8000 lines in 2 seconds is a bit of a misindication. You said it is compiled while editing. So the compilation time very much depends on what you did before. If I boot Compass, load the 8000 lines and then compile it, it will take much longer won't it? My guess is that the source is pre-compiled at loading time. So loading ASCII will take longer than before, but assembling it once it's loaded is fast. If you regularly use Compass, you can save in its native format and that probably loads real fast. Bye, Maarten Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] See also http://www.faq.msxnet.org/ Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] See also http://www.faq.msxnet.org/
News from the CTNG lab :-)
Yo guys girls, good news and bad news: the bad news: Compass 2.0 is still not finished despite past 2 months of programming. It is difficult to say when the non-beta version will be released, but it will be worth waiting for. One of my favourite new things is the clockcycle-indication: when entering mnemonics, the clockcycles needed for that instruction are displayed. (you can choose between Z80/R800 and add the extra waitstate if you like) Of course you can also select a block and calculate the total amount of cycles. The assembly process will also be much faster since the code is already assembled as much as possible when you are editing. Exact timing results are not known yet, but I've already measured 2 seconds for Pass1 of a source of 8000 lines without labels. (7MHz MSX2) Who will need a cross-assembler ? ;-) The new ASMformat was also designed to support new instructionsets, so probably Z380 will be supported in the final version. But I have noticed a problem: Z380 supports 16bit relative jumps, so if there is in the source something like this: JR label, how can one decide whether to use the normal 8bit JR or the 16bit JR, if you take in consideration that the value of label can be dependent on your choice?! (and also: what is the use of 16bit relative addressing: it takes 3 bytes, then you can better use a normal JP; maybe 'relocatable code'..) A possible easy solution could be using a new mnemonic like JRR (like the new CALR)... The good news: the new IDEFDISK 3.1 program is completely finished; the TurboR bootproblem with the new type of bootsector was fixed. Now you can add/kill variable-sized partitions like you wish, even FAT16 partitions. Works great with the newest IDE bios 2.01 and Okei's FAT16 driver. I will take the programs with me to Bussum, but probably it will also be available at Sunrise. Due to circumstances, CTNG will not have a booth on the fair in Bussum, but some of us will come as visitor. Greetings, Jon Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] See also http://www.faq.msxnet.org/
Re: QIC-80 tape driver for IDE-interface?
All depends on the IDE devicetype code of that device. The IDE bios supports ATA (=harddisk), ATAPI direct access (LS120, ZIP100, ZIP250, JAZZ?, ...) and ATAPI-CDROM. Connect the device to your MSX and use IDEFDISK to show the Extended infopage. Look at the 2nd byte. bit76: 0x = ATA 10 = ATAPI 11 = reserved bit5:reserved bit43210: 0=direct access 1=sequential-access device (?probably your tapedrive?) 00101=CDROM Complete IDE specs can be found at the WesternDigital ftpserver (url see one of the IDE*.TXT files which can be found on www.msx.ch) I think it is easier to connect a second harddisk to your MSX for making backups :) Jon - just returned from holidays and now reading 477 emails from the list... ps. some days ago, an MSX2 (I think Philips NMS8245) was shown on Belgian television (in prime time :), TV1 '1000 Zonnen en Garnalen') It was a few seconds visible in a story about disabled people making a magazine) Pierre Gielen wrote: Since I have a spare QIC-80 tape drive for IDE, I was wondering if it can be used as a backup device for my MSX with a Sunrise IDE-interface. Any hints on where to find info about building drivers for a IDE tape drive? Pierre Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] See also http://www.faq.msxnet.org/ Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] See also http://www.faq.msxnet.org/
Re: FAT16 for Sunrise IDE interaface
This week I've finished it with her and it seems to work perfect. But I still have to make a new IDEFDISK program to make FAT16 partitions. That will be for July... For now you will have to create the FAT16 partition on a PC... Soo, how are things going? :) Making any progress? *nag*nag* ;) I _realy_ wouldn't mind if you'd release the driver/bios update without the fdisk program you know... neither am I... IDEbios 2.00 was already available since June,18th But Sunrise doesn't want to take the risk of customers screwing up their PC FAT16 partitions and endless questions and telephonecalls of customers with not enough experience. So they are waiting for the new IDEFDISK program and they will release everything together. I got IDEFDISK verion 3.0 ready a few weeks ago; it features userspecified variable sized partitions and of course FAT16 format when the partitionsize exceeds approx. 32MB. Nevertheless there seems to be a bootproblem with DOS2.3x on Turbo-R when using partitions made with the new fdiskprogram. On MSX2 with DOS2.2x everything works perfect. I have very limited internet access these months (and thus slow communication between me and the sunrisetesters), so you will have to wait some more weeks till the last problems have been solved. Holiday Greetings, Jon *nag*nag* I can use FAT16 on my MSX and you ? *nag*nag* ;) Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] See also http://www.faq.msxnet.org/
Re: FAT16 for Sunrise IDE interaface
Albert Beevendorp wrote: ... We're working on it. oh? are you also still working on your 'ultimate-fdisktool-for-all-interfaces' ?? Greetinx, Jon Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] See also http://www.faq.msxnet.org/
Re: Q...
Laurens Holst wrote: ... How to access the DISKROM, use entry #4010 DISKIO to read/write LOGICAL sectors (=sectors in a partition) Info about parameters can be found on the net. Important: one of the error codes is 'medium changed' (24 I think), then you must retry reading the sector. Normally DISKIO only supports 16bit sectornumbers. MegaSCSI and new IDEbios (to be released soon) supports 23bit sector access. (more info: see IDEbios #2.0 docs) You will also need some info on drivenumbers; if you type SCANDISK C:, then you will have to convert C: to the correct diskromslot and local drivenumber. (in DOS2 c: can even be redirected to another drive by ASSIGN!) See drivenum.txt for more info. (I believe long long time ago, I've sent it to this list) and how to read absolute sectors no need for your program to read absolute sectors from a drive (not from the entire harddisk please because then I also will have to process the partition table). not necessary; btw... you can't even know if the medium you are accessing has a partition table ! - And to avoid problems with FAT16 etc. (Improve has to be rewritten for that, by the way), how can I recognize the FAT system??? I bet I'll have to read the correct value from the Dos DPB (Disk Parameter Block) function... What value should I check for? I can guess it but I'd like to hear it 'officially', then I'll be sure about it. To check for FAT12 or FAT16: read logical sector 0 with DISKIO (=bootsector) and check at offset #011/2 (number of dir.entries): If it is #0200, then it is FAT16. Other values are FAT12. This is the easy way Okei checks for FAT16. Then you must also know how many sectors there are for this partition. If FAT12, use the value at offset #013/4 (16bit) If FAT16, use the value at offset #020/1/2/3 (32bit) Now all you have to do, is to read/(write?) all sectors to see if they are ok. Also useful: read/write sectors preferably in page 2 or 3 (#8000-#). Reading/writing in page 0 or 1, can be really slow because of complex slotswitching done by diskroms in that case) Hope this helps, Jon MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes) in the body (not the subject) of the message. Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] More information on MSX can be found in the following places: The MSX faq: http://www.faq.msxnet.org/ The MSX newsgroup: comp.sys.msx The MSX IRC channel: #MSX on Undernet
Re: Start EP
Francisco Alvarez wrote: ... By the way, the EVA player for IDE works better with HD's with better quality. With CHS mode 0 HD's the sound isn't good. But with other HD's the sound is (casi) like it sounds with EVA player for MegaSCSI. CHS requires a few 24 bit divisions to calculate CylinderHeadSector number out of the sectornumber. That makes it a little more slow, than modern hd's which support LBA mode.(sectornumber is passed directly to hd) And of course modern harddisks are faster because they are made with newer technology. Other soundrelated issues: IDE bios leaves interrupt unchanged when accessing harddisks, but when ATAPI devices are accessed (CDROM, ZIP, ...) IDE bios sets DI. Greetings, jon MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes) in the body (not the subject) of the message. Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] More information on MSX can be found in the following places: The MSX faq: http://www.faq.msxnet.org/ The MSX newsgroup: comp.sys.msx The MSX IRC channel: #MSX on Undernet
Re: FAT16 for Sunrise IDE interaface
Siebe Berveling wrote: Uses the FAT16 system some specific IDE-interface only features? not really, but DISKIO routine in diskrom should be capable of using 16bit sector numbers. New IDE bios 2.0 does feature this in the same way as MEGASCSI does. So routines for MEGASCSI and IDE were kept completely equal. (and there will be only 1 FAT16 program needed for both interfaces) however, when uninstalling the driver, the original DOSkernel code has to be put back in place and for that purpose there IS a difference in code for both interfaces. Or can they easily (by experts) be adapted for other (SCSI) interfaces? it all depends if their diskROM can be upgraded to use 16bit sectornumbers... I'm interested! Siebe. Greetings, Jon FAT16... patience is silver... ;) MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes) in the body (not the subject) of the message. Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] More information on MSX can be found in the following places: The MSX faq: http://www.faq.msxnet.org/ The MSX newsgroup: comp.sys.msx The MSX IRC channel: #MSX on Undernet
Re: FAT16 for Sunrise IDE interaface
Manuel Bilderbeek wrote: ... When you finished your work on it, would you like to write an article about it for MCCW? Grtjs, Manuel ((m)ICQ UIN 41947405) no. sorry ! Looking at the positive reactions on this list, I guess there will be enough IDE users around who can write articles about their experience using FAT16 :) I will be too busy with other MSXthings (like Compass) in the coming months... Grtjs trg, Jon MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes) in the body (not the subject) of the message. Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] More information on MSX can be found in the following places: The MSX faq: http://www.faq.msxnet.org/ The MSX newsgroup: comp.sys.msx The MSX IRC channel: #MSX on Undernet
Re: Top 100 MSX games
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: ... I have a non functional IDE interface (bought it a couple of years ago, they promissed it would work and that they would send me a plastic case for it, but till now nothing) Contact Sunrise (email: see CC field of this mail) ; they will rebuild your interface for free I think. (see also their homepage www.msx.ch) Greetings, Hans-Peter Zeedijk (Hapzee), Vaassen Holland (just north of Apeldoorn) Greetz, Jon MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes) in the body (not the subject) of the message. Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] More information on MSX can be found in the following places: The MSX faq: http://www.faq.msxnet.org/ The MSX newsgroup: comp.sys.msx The MSX IRC channel: #MSX on Undernet
Re: Greetings and IDE problems
Francisco Alvarez wrote: ... One month ago I received the new ATA-IDE interface (with 512KB and without RS-232). Today I wanted update the flash-bios (1.98 -- 1.99) but I had problems. First, during startup, I press INS key to disable interface. DOS1 appears. After that, I type in Dos command 'idefload ide199', I choose the slot where IDE is (and where Idefload says me that the interface is) and tachan! the computer says me: 'Flashrom Test: Failed' Is it normal??? If you don't use the latest version of the IDEFLOAD program (1.4), it is normal. Only version 1.4 supports 512kB flashrom. Personally I've never tested the 512kB programming because I have only an old interface, but people from Sunrise told me that the IDEFLOAD program worked ok for 512kB flashrom. You can download latest IDE stuff from www.msx.ch (I don't know if JDS read the list). If not, what should I do? write him an email :) Good luck, Jon MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes) in the body (not the subject) of the message. Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] More information on MSX can be found in the following places: The MSX faq: http://www.faq.msxnet.org/ The MSX newsgroup: comp.sys.msx The MSX IRC channel: #MSX on Undernet
Re: FAT16 for Sunrise IDE interaface
Ivan Latorre wrote: Does the Sunrise IDE interface support FAT16 file system? Is anyone developing it for this interface? Yes, Okei is working on it. This week I've finished it with her and it seems to work perfect. But I still have to make a new IDEFDISK program to make FAT16 partitions. That will be for July... For now you will have to create the FAT16 partition on a PC... Greetings, Jon ps. It will take some time before it will be available on the Sunrise pages, cause I still have to change some small things... MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes) in the body (not the subject) of the message. Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] More information on MSX can be found in the following places: The MSX faq: http://www.faq.msxnet.org/ The MSX newsgroup: comp.sys.msx The MSX IRC channel: #MSX on Undernet
IDE System Info
A new IDESYS.TXT file (info for IDE programmers) can be downloaded at the renewed site of Sunrise http://www.msx.ch or at the IDE section of the MSX FAQ: http://www.faq.msxnet.org Jon MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes) in the body (not the subject) of the message. Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] More information on MSX can be found in the following places: The MSX faq: http://www.faq.msxnet.org/ The MSX newsgroup: comp.sys.msx The MSX IRC channel: #MSX on Undernet
Re: IDE Kanji
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Jon, ... 2. Like said in previous mail: Also technically speaking it is not possible to call R800 switching routines from within the IDE bios... ...because the IDEBIOS doesn't know anything about the slotswitching paging state when it is called. It only knows that page 3 contains the system ram and some (disk)systemroutines/variables. But it is not sure that interslotcallroutines to do R800switching are available... You should check this with Alex. not necessary: you don't get the point: on the moment that Alex's routines do the slotswitching (somewhere in a hook), he knows that R800 switching routines are available. But the routines IN THE IDEBIOS can't know if R800 routines are available. Routines in the diskrom can be called from anywere... It is important to note that the IDEbios is not only used by DOS2, but often also directly by games or by tools like CDplayers, ... I hope you understand it now Cya, Jon MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes) in the body (not the subject) of the message. Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] More information on MSX can be found in the following places: The MSX faq: http://www.faq.msxnet.org/ The MSX newsgroup: comp.sys.msx The MSX IRC channel: #MSX on Undernet
Re: IDE Kanji
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: That too Alex, but the point I was trying to make is to get the driver code within the IDE Bios... no, because: 1. such thing should be done by the OS and not by the hardwaredevicedriver. It just doesn't belong in there. Furthermore it would be a waste to do unnecessary switching in the idebios if a new 'DOS3' would run at R800 speed. 2. Like said in previous mail: Also technically speaking it is not possible to call R800 switching routines from within the IDE bios... ...because the IDEBIOS doesn't know anything about the slotswitching paging state when it is called. It only knows that page 3 contains the system ram and some (disk)systemroutines/variables. But it is not sure that interslotcallroutines to do R800switching are available... cu, jon GreeTz, BiFi Alex Wulms [EMAIL PROTECTED] schreef in nieuwsbericht [EMAIL PROTECTED]:ðÐÁ^ÀÐÁ^ÐÁ^pÐÁ^`ÐÁ^0ÐÁ^... ] that's what the Xeladriver is for ! ] ] ] The CPU-switching itself is done within RAM, referring to the version made ] by Alex Wulms, who gave permission to use his code for this. ] ] Actually, what is the point you are trying to make in this mail ??? I suppose he simply wanted to mention my name :-)) Kind regards, Alex Wulms -- Visit The MSX Plaza (http://www.inter.nl.net/users/A.P.Wulms) for info on XelaSoft, Merlasoft, Quadrivium, XSA Disk images, the MSX Hardware list, SD-Snatcher on fMSX, documentation and lots more. MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes) in the body (not the subject) of the message. Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] More information on MSX can be found in the following places: The MSX faq: http://www.faq.msxnet.org/ The MSX newsgroup: comp.sys.msx The MSX IRC channel: #MSX on Undernet -- MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes) in the body (not the subject) of the message. Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] More information on MSX can be found in the following places: The MSX faq: http://www.faq.msxnet.org/ The MSX newsgroup: comp.sys.msx The MSX IRC channel: #MSX on Undernet MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes) in the body (not the subject) of the message. Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] More information on MSX can be found in the following places: The MSX faq: http://www.faq.msxnet.org/ The MSX newsgroup: comp.sys.msx The MSX IRC channel: #MSX on Undernet
Re: IDE Kanji
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hmm... I guess I have to talk to Rob about the part you not receiving the issues about the IDE. I never hear anything from Sunrise, so I guess everything works fine... I agree with you about the part it should be done by the operating system. indeed; it is done with the Xeladriverpatch for the OS. However, most disk access can be sped up using R800 in stead of Z80. The problem is, the Turbo-R always switches back to Z80 with every disk access. that's what the Xeladriver is for ! The CPU-switching itself is done within RAM, referring to the version made by Alex Wulms, who gave permission to use his code for this. Actually, what is the point you are trying to make in this mail ??? Jon GreeTz, BiFi Jon De Schrijder [EMAIL PROTECTED] schreef in nieuwsbericht [EMAIL PROTECTED]:ðÐÁ^ÀÐÁ^ÐÁ^pÐÁ^`ÐÁ^0ÐÁ^... [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Sander Zuidema [EMAIL PROTECTED] schreef in nieuwsbericht 000601bfa87c$c2c27c40$175feed4@benjaminb:ðÐÁ^ÀÐÁ^ÐÁ^pÐÁ^`ÐÁ^0ÐÁ^... I think this 512Kb was very useful for things like it is 512kB flashROM; it is a very slow procedure to write data into it... - Good floppy-drive emulation (like megaSCSI) A Japanese has made a floppy emaulator for IDE; I don't have the program, but according to Ikeda 'HDDEMU is good program' - Automatic caching/turbo-R reading at R800 no caching in slow flashrom - Fat16 compatibility (my personal favorite!) something for DOS3 first we need a new diskromstandard (16bit sector numbers,etc..) etc. Still trying to convince Jon of implementing the automatic R800-reading on the turbo-R. Hope he will implement it soon. ?! that's the first thing I hear about that ! I don't think that automatic R800 switching belongs inside the IDE bios. That should be done by the OS. There are programs around for that. (I believe it was made by Xelasoft) With that driver the IDE transferspeed is significantly increased (doubled) on Turbo-R. Also technically speaking it is not possible to call R800 switching routines from within the IDE bios... Greetings, Jon MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes) in the body (not the subject) of the message. Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] More information on MSX can be found in the following places: The MSX faq: http://www.faq.msxnet.org/ The MSX newsgroup: comp.sys.msx The MSX IRC channel: #MSX on Undernet -- MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes) in the body (not the subject) of the message. Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] More information on MSX can be found in the following places: The MSX faq: http://www.faq.msxnet.org/ The MSX newsgroup: comp.sys.msx The MSX IRC channel: #MSX on Undernet MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes) in the body (not the subject) of the message. Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] More information on MSX can be found in the following places: The MSX faq: http://www.faq.msxnet.org/ The MSX newsgroup: comp.sys.msx The MSX IRC channel: #MSX on Undernet
Re: [phoenixmsx] MSX3: The BIOS (hardware)
Laurens Holst wrote: By the way, it would be nice if the Sunrise-IDE interface could be used as FlashCart Yes, it easily can if you have an IDE version #4.1 interface because that one has a socket for the flashrom. Flashrom types that can be used: AM29F010 (128kB) and AM29F040 (512kB); manufactured by AMD. I don't know about their prices; for that you should ask Sunrise. So you can reprogram the flashroms from within the IDE interface and put them back into the new motherboard. Greetz, Jon MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes) in the body (not the subject) of the message. Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] More information on MSX can be found in the following places: The MSX faq: http://www.faq.msxnet.org/ The MSX newsgroup: comp.sys.msx The MSX IRC channel: #MSX on Undernet
Re: URL of Diamond Logic SuperATA IDE interface
Werner Augusto Roder Kai wrote: Laurens Holst wrote: I never heard of a "Diamond Logic" IDE interface. The only one I know is from Sunrise. It has some FlashROM inside for the BIOS and Dos2. There also is a 512kB model, which has an extra high amount of FlashROM for (future) use with for example ROM games (like some sort of MegaRAM). since the pages are 16kB mapped and only in page 1, it will not be possible to play 8kB mapped KonamiROMs. The IDE and DOS2 take up only 64kB flashrom. With some new utils and idebios, it will be possible to install your own applications in the remaining pages. (primarily meant for things like G-Basic, internal fdiskprogram, other utils, ...) ~Grauw Oh, sorry ! I forgot to send the URL in my first mail... Hardware-a-holic people, just take a look at: http://195.178.221.229/msx/projects/index.htm Oh it is the old russian ide interface; long long time ago I took a quick look to the bioscode, but it only supports harddisks in CHSmode; no CDROM, ZIP or other stuff. It is also IO mapped: so only 1 interface can be connected to your MSX. Greetz, jon Its reality or fiction ? Do it works ? []s Werner MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes) in the body (not the subject) of the message. Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] More information on MSX can be found in the following places: The MSX faq: http://www.faq.msxnet.org/ The MSX newsgroup: comp.sys.msx The MSX IRC channel: #MSX on Undernet
Re: ACE 002 and ADVRAM...? New MSX?
Daniel Jorge Caetano wrote: What you call indirect? If you create a character table on your RAM and create a routine to copy blocks from RAM - VRAM, you'll have the fast renderer you've never seen! (-: Send blocks to VRAM directly is a lot faster than OTI or OTIR. note: this is not true for the existing 3.58MHz MSX'es: OTIR and LDIR are both equally fast. (17 cks/byte) So building the ADVRAM system into existing 3.58MHz MSX models is quite useless. However for Z180/Z380, LDIR will probably be faster and ADVRAM can be useful. You'll have to do some operation (like an out) before use Z180 codes. This have no solution, unless we remap every thingle instruction on Z180 to a new mapping code, where we put Z180 opcodes only where there is no R800 opcodes. (-; But then, we will have to build a new assembler to work... (which is not impossible, but some hard work... :-) I don't think it will be a major problem to include Z180/Z380 support in the new Compass #2.0.00 (release probably Bussum2000) The longest instruction on Z380 or Z180 is 5 bytes long; is that correct ? Can someone verify that ? MULTW nn : #ED #CB #97 #n #n Greetz, Jon MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes) in the body (not the subject) of the message. Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] More information on MSX can be found in the following places: The MSX faq: http://www.faq.msxnet.org/ The MSX newsgroup: comp.sys.msx The MSX IRC channel: #MSX on Undernet
Re: IDE Kanji
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Sander Zuidema [EMAIL PROTECTED] schreef in nieuwsbericht 000601bfa87c$c2c27c40$175feed4@benjaminb:ðÐÁ^ÀÐÁ^ÐÁ^pÐÁ^`ÐÁ^0ÐÁ^... I think this 512Kb was very useful for things like it is 512kB flashROM; it is a very slow procedure to write data into it... - Good floppy-drive emulation (like megaSCSI) A Japanese has made a floppy emaulator for IDE; I don't have the program, but according to Ikeda 'HDDEMU is good program' - Automatic caching/turbo-R reading at R800 no caching in slow flashrom - Fat16 compatibility (my personal favorite!) something for DOS3 first we need a new diskromstandard (16bit sector numbers,etc..) etc. Still trying to convince Jon of implementing the automatic R800-reading on the turbo-R. Hope he will implement it soon. ?! that's the first thing I hear about that ! I don't think that automatic R800 switching belongs inside the IDE bios. That should be done by the OS. There are programs around for that. (I believe it was made by Xelasoft) With that driver the IDE transferspeed is significantly increased (doubled) on Turbo-R. Also technically speaking it is not possible to call R800 switching routines from within the IDE bios... Greetings, Jon MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes) in the body (not the subject) of the message. Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] More information on MSX can be found in the following places: The MSX faq: http://www.faq.msxnet.org/ The MSX newsgroup: comp.sys.msx The MSX IRC channel: #MSX on Undernet
Re: IDE Kanji
David Heremans wrote: [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Still trying to convince Jon of implementing the automatic R800-reading on the turbo-R. Hope he will implement it soon. I think it would help if you donated a turbo-R to Jon. LOL ! Good try David : Even with a TR I don't have much MSXtime in the coming months because of exams... :( CU Jon MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes) in the body (not the subject) of the message. Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] More information on MSX can be found in the following places: The MSX faq: http://www.faq.msxnet.org/ The MSX newsgroup: comp.sys.msx The MSX IRC channel: #MSX on Undernet
Re: FM-PAC questions
David Heremans wrote: Laurens Holst wrote: Well since the I/O ports are used and they both have mapped the same ones, they will probably both play the same (unless they are used through their BIOS, which however rarely happens, I think only in Basic). How how how, Explain this to me please. I think you're wrong. You say yourself that they have the same I/O ports. I/O are visible on all busses of the MSX system. The BIOS is a Z80 ML prog like any other and it uses the I/O ports to talk to the no David, I think the 'ports' of the Panasonic FMPAC are also mapped to some memorylocation, which can be accessed by paging the slot in (like the floppydrive biosses, IDE, ...) CU soon, groeten aan 'onze Wouter' Jon MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes) in the body (not the subject) of the message. Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] More information on MSX can be found in the following places: The MSX faq: http://www.faq.msxnet.org/ The MSX newsgroup: comp.sys.msx The MSX IRC channel: #MSX on Undernet
Re: MSX CD Player ?
Laurens Holst wrote: The answer is: JDSCDP, by Jon de Schrijder, downloadable from the Sunrise website (and probably also on the disk with IDE software). it is only a roughly patched version of the old CDP utility from Gilvad. not very nice, but it works. Once I had the intention to convert the Nestor CD Player, but due a lack of time... I'm very happy to see that Sergio Guerrero has made the conversion :) I'll check it out asap. Cya Jon MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes) in the body (not the subject) of the message. Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] More information on MSX can be found in the following places: The MSX faq: http://www.faq.msxnet.org/ The MSX newsgroup: comp.sys.msx The MSX IRC channel: #MSX on Undernet
Re: Looking for a slotexpander
Pierre Gielen wrote: Do you liked it ? =) Yes, I'd like to build one, so I'll try to locate a copy of a PCB design program now. check out: http://www.cadsoft.de greetz, Jon MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes) in the body (not the subject) of the message. Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] More information on MSX can be found in the following places: The MSX faq: http://www.faq.msxnet.org/ The MSX newsgroup: comp.sys.msx The MSX IRC channel: #MSX on Undernet
Re: Adding resistor to FMPAC for use with a NMS 8250
Roel de Wit wrote: Hi, Thanks for the extra info.. but... I still need to find out where R428 and R429 is somewhere on the NMS8250 motherboard. I've removed the casing It is NOT on the motherboard, but on the audio/video board (the one that you see when you remove the casing. Greetz jon MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes) in the body (not the subject) of the message. Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] More information on MSX can be found in the following places: The MSX faq: http://www.faq.msxnet.org/ The MSX newsgroup: comp.sys.msx The MSX IRC channel: #MSX on Undernet
Re: Expanding RAM on the music module
Roel de Wit wrote: Hi, I'm looking for information on how to expand the RAM on my Music Module (I want to run unknown reality correctly). Can somebody please help me with this ? Grtzz Roel... check out the downloadsection of CTNG's homepage: http://studwww.rug.ac.be/~jedschri/msx/ctng.html cya jon MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes) in the body (not the subject) of the message. Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] More information on MSX can be found in the following places: The MSX faq: http://www.faq.msxnet.org/ The MSX newsgroup: comp.sys.msx The MSX IRC channel: #MSX on Undernet
Z80 - was Interrupt modes?? (coding question)
Frits Hilderink wrote: According to the official documentation on the Z80 regarding interrupt mode 2 says that bit 0 of the lower address byte is always 0. To be short, only the 7 most significant bits are used. Can someone mail me a PDF (or alike) datasheet of the Z80 ?? thanx jon MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes) in the body (not the subject) of the message. Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] More information on MSX can be found in the following places: The MSX faq: http://www.faq.msxnet.org/ The MSX newsgroup: comp.sys.msx The MSX IRC channel: #MSX on Undernet
Re: 7MHz with normal sound???
Laurens Holst wrote: Hmmm, this all sounds very encouraging. Maybe I should just lay a wire from the clockchip to the PSG and the slotexpander pin??? By the way, I don't think external RAM uses the sync signal, does it? older memorymappers (like those from Checkmark, ...) rely on the 3.58MHz clock signal for DRAM access. These don't work with a clock of 7MHz. (you can recognize these by looking at the chips on the board: if you see a chip with two times the number 74 on it; like 74LS74) 'modern' memorymappers don't rely on the clocksignal. So these will work ok at 7MHz busspeed. Otherwise it wouldn't work on an MSX-turboR either, because that one has 3.58 MHz on the pin in the slot too. yes.. but busspeed on the cartridgeslots *IS* only 3.58MHz. All memory reads and writes to the cartridgeslots are @3.58MHz. That's why a Turbo-R is rather slow when programs are executing in an external mapper... (but it is still faster than a normal MSX2 because R800 cpu core is faster when executing the instructions.) So all you have to do to obtain good sound @7MHz: - replace the clockconnection to your cartridgeslot with the (old) fixed 3.58MHz signal (can be found somewhere in the computer) - don't use old memorymappers - MSX-Audio will work ok (except sometimes wrong notes,... because of too fast I/O; but this can probably be solved by rewriting the replayercode) - SCC will always work ok - MSX-Music: I don't know: probably the same as the MSX-Audio; BUT it can be possible that for the MSX-Music, the clock has to be synchronized with the busspeedsignals (read/write which happens @7MHz) (for MSX-Audio this is not necessary) - PSG: big problem I think: it is integrated in the msxengine; does that have a separate clockinput for the PSG sound generation?? Greetings, Jon MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes) in the body (not the subject) of the message. Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] More information on MSX can be found in the following places: The MSX faq: http://www.faq.msxnet.org/ The MSX newsgroup: comp.sys.msx The MSX IRC channel: #MSX on Undernet
Re: External HD case
Ivan Latorre wrote: Jon De Schrijder wrote: IDE versions 4.0 and 4.1 have inside a 2-pin connector to connect a led... Be careful when opening the case... I´ve opened the IDE interface case and I´ve seen that is version 4.1. What two pins are you referring to? The two pins where the LED is connected or the three pins that are below the LED and are free? the 3 pins (I believe pin 1 and pin 3 of the 3-pin jumper) Another question: the LED of the external HD case has two wires: one is red coloured and the other one is black coloured? Can these wires be connected indistinctly to those 2-pins (the pins of the IDE interface board)? you will have to test it: if the LED doesn't light up, swap the 2 wires. Misconnecting it, is not harmful for the LED, nor the IDE interface circuitry. Greetz, Jon Many thanks MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes) in the body (not the subject) of the message. Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] More information on MSX can be found in the following places: The MSX faq: http://www.faq.msxnet.org/ The MSX newsgroup: comp.sys.msx The MSX IRC channel: #MSX on Undernet MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes) in the body (not the subject) of the message. Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] More information on MSX can be found in the following places: The MSX faq: http://www.faq.msxnet.org/ The MSX newsgroup: comp.sys.msx The MSX IRC channel: #MSX on Undernet
Re: External HD case
Ivan Latorre wrote: Hello all I´ve just bought a external hard disk case where I have put an IDE hard disk. This hard disk is connected directly to the Sunrise IDE interface (with an IDE cable). The external case has a LED. Does anyone know how can I manage in order to make this LED light up when hard disk is being used? Many thanks IDE versions 4.0 and 4.1 have inside a 2-pin connector to connect a led... Be careful when opening the case... Greetz, Jon MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes) in the body (not the subject) of the message. Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] More information on MSX can be found in the following places: The MSX faq: http://www.faq.msxnet.org/ The MSX newsgroup: comp.sys.msx The MSX IRC channel: #MSX on Undernet
Re: Harddisk and CDrom drive under MSXDOS2
Hello, the following was message was never sent (got stuck in my unsent messages folder), but maybe it contains some useful things. So, here it is: -- Hi, some short notes: * only 6 driveletters can be assigned to the IDEinterface=6*32MB To use the other partitions, use the IDEPAR.COM utility to (temporarily) reach the other partitions. The partitions that are used at startup can be set with the IDEFDISK program (enable/disable partitions) If you want to use Cdrom, make sure a maximum of 5 hd partitions are enabled, so you've got 1 driveletter left for the CDROM * don't use old PAR utilities, only use IDEPAR.COM * 31 partitions is the maximum and won't be extended: in future FAT16 partitions will be possible, so there's no need for 31 partitions... A big problem is also that the CDrom drive is not found. I've put the switch on the back of the drive on 'Slave' but the IDE interface just says it can't find a slave check power supply and check harddisk jumpersettings (I believe Seagate HD have a separate jumpersetting for masteronly and masterwithslave) Is the flatcable well connected Is the cable 46cm (IDE STANDARD SAYS: IDE CABLE 46cm BUT EVERYWHERE I SEE THESE HORRIBLE LONG FLATCABLES grrr.. :) ) and IDECDEX.COM aborts with the error message 'IDE driveletter not found. This error occurs if: - no CDROM is detected at startup - a CDROM is detected, but the 6 driveletters are used by the HD (use IDEFDISK to enable only 5 or less partitions) first make sure that the CDROM is detected at startup. It might be very useful to see if the CDROM is functioning ok when it is connected as the master without a harddisk...) greetz, Jon MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes) in the body (not the subject) of the message. Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] More information on MSX can be found in the following places: The MSX faq: http://www.faq.msxnet.org/ The MSX newsgroup: comp.sys.msx The MSX IRC channel: #MSX on Undernet
Re: Drive emulation via pc printerport?
JP GROBLER wrote: HI Would it be possible to emulate an ide disk drive via the printer port of a pc to be connected to (for example) the svi 738 second drive port should be possible; I believe MtH has done something like that with the MSXjoystickport connected to PC (or main ide cable - disk a)? that can be done with any MSX IDE interface (and will be much faster) Greetings, Jon Thanks Pieter Grobler [EMAIL PROTECTED] MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the body (not subject) "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes :-) Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] (www.stack.nl/~wiebe/mailinglist/) MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the body (not subject) "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes :-) Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] (www.stack.nl/~wiebe/mailinglist/)
Re: FAT16
I'm sorry, but FAT16 (patch program) is only for MegaSCSI. I released source code, but anyone has adapted it to other interfaces :( Well the IDE-interface has got FlashROM, so that should be possible too... The other SCSI-interfaces all have EPROMs, so on those an implementation won't work. Maybe you can send it to Jon de Schrijder or ask him about it. you can send it to me and I will take a look at it next month. If it doesn't use the megascsi sram to store variables, it shouldn't be too hard to convert it for the IDE. Greetz, Jon MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the body (not subject) "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes :-) Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] (www.stack.nl/~wiebe/mailinglist/)
Re: FAT16
Peter Burkhard wrote: On 11 Jan 2000 12:11:38 +0100, [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Manuel Soler) wrote: Hola Pazos, New version of FAT16 has been released. It should support up to 2Gb partitions. Due to some problems with my program to create my WEB page, if you want FAT16 tell me and I will send it by e-mail. Do you know if an EIDE cartridge (not SCSI) would support the FAT16? I am thinking of buying one so I would like to know beforehand. Manuel Hi Manuel No, it is for the IDE not possible to support the FAT16. better put: the above mentioned program was written for a SCSI interface (probably only megascsi?) and will not work with the IDE. Of course FAT16 handling is also possible with the sunrise IDE; however, the software doesn't exist yet... Greetings, Jon Gretz Peter MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the body (not subject) "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes :-) Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] (www.stack.nl/~wiebe/mailinglist/) MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the body (not subject) "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes :-) Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] (www.stack.nl/~wiebe/mailinglist/)
Re: Sony HiFD
Pierre Gielen wrote: Jon De Schrijder wrote: As long as it has an IDE interface connector, it will work with the Sunrise IDE interface. There is no new special software required. Do you mean that a CD-rewriter will also work with the IDE interface, without special software? well, you will be able to use it as a normal CDROM I guess. Of course for writing CD's, new software is required. (And I don't know if it is possible because for writing CD's the computer must be fast enough to prevent writebuffer underruns.) Can someone test if a CD-writer is recognized as a CD-ROM at startup? or is it detected as a ATAPI device? Greetz, jon MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the body (not subject) "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes :-) Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] (www.stack.nl/~wiebe/mailinglist/)
Re: Sony HiFD
Ivan Latorre wrote: Hello Can I connect a Sony HiFD drive to my MSXturboR with the Sunrise IDE Interface? I was going to buy a Iomega Zip 100 or 250 drive but I´ve seen that Sony HiFD can read and write current 2HD floppy disks, even 2DD floppy disks! Greetings what is a sony HiFD ?? Is it the same as a LS120 drive ??? As long as it has an IDE interface connector, it will work with the Sunrise IDE interface. There is no new special software required. Greetz, Jon btw: a ZIP drive is about as fast (200kB/s) as a harddisk (300kB/s), but a LS120 is slow (50kB/s); but still much faster than normal floppy (10kB/s). If you don't use floppy that much and speed is important, I think ZIP is the best choice. But if you use lots of floppies and want to be able to use 1.44MB disks, LS120 is the way to go. I don't know about a 'sony hifd' MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the body (not subject) "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes :-) Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] (www.stack.nl/~wiebe/mailinglist/)
Re: New IDE and RS232 interfaces
the story is as follows: 'konamisized' cartridgeboxes can't be found anymore and making a new mold costs a fortune (15000 Guilders!) At sunrise they have a 'Moonsoundbox' mold and they want to use it for the IDE interface. However, the size of the moonsoundboxes are a bit to large, so they've decided to put 'some extras' on the IDE pcb. In this case they have chosen to add the RS232 interface. The RS232 only works with 'IO-ports', the IDE is 'memorymapped'. So they can work together without problem. The prices will be the same, or maybe a tiny little bit more expensive because of increased production costs. probably the box However, this time also a combined IDE / RS232 interface will be made, so that you only need one slot for both! This will also work in a subslot (or at least, I hope so :) it will work in a subslot I think you will have the option to choose if you want only IDE, only RS232 or both. Probably you will also be able to choose if you want 128kB flashrom for the IDE or 512kB flashrom. The extra memory can be useful in future to install own ROMprograms in... In the current IDE 128kB flashrom, 64kB is not used. Greetz, Jon MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the body (not subject) "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes :-) Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] (www.stack.nl/~wiebe/mailinglist/)
Re: Sprite pointers - mixed and scrambled
Jorge wrote: R5: A14 A13 A12 A11 A10 1 1 1 Graphic 3 Mode (Screen 4): R5:A14 A13 A12 A11 A10 A9 A8 A7 Weird! Where you've got this info? I use *THE ONE AND ONLY* V9938 MSX-VIDEO Technical Data Book by Yamaha/ASCII Corporation/Nippon Gakki Co. Ltd I can advise this manual to everyone. It contains all info about the VDP. (also IO timing) It doesn't cover *applications* like screensplitting. About the sprites: screen 1,2,3,4 : R5: A14 A13 A12 A11 A10 A9 A8 A7 screen 5,6,7,8 : R5: A14 A13 A12 A11 A10 1 1 1 Greetz, jon MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the body (not subject) "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes :-) Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] (www.stack.nl/~wiebe/mailinglist/)
Compjoetania TNG
Hello folks, just to announce that Compass 2.0.00 is not finished yet; I'll do my best to release the Real thing before 2000 :-) All works except the editor; so it is not possible to assemble either... The new features of the monitor (I/O monitor) and debugger (shelling, userscreen, etc...) are already very useful, so we've decided to release this as a betaversion on the Bussum fair. It will be on a new nice-labeled disk. Of course we will still sell Compass #1.2 and an update for current users to version 1.2.09 will be available. (So bring your original 1.2 disk along!) (INCLUDE-bugs fixed, macro-with-more-than-1-parameter-sometimes-crashed-bug fixed) Other stuff at CTNG's place: *Final release of our new puzzlegame SandStone (and also containing a hidden demopart) It's really addictive !!! *Who is intrested can copy the most recent IDE software from my hd. *Demonstration of the new Compass 2.0 features CU all Saturday, Jon of Compjoetania The Next Generation PS. Compassusers who can't come to the fair, will receive the upgrade and betaversion by email. PPS. This summer I've also removed some remaining, serious hardwarebugs from the IDE interface. A new IDE series with the new design will be sold at the stand of Sunrise. MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the body (not subject) "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes :-) Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] (www.stack.nl/~wiebe/mailinglist/)
DOS System variables
current DOS kernels (DOS12) use the memorylocations from #f1c9..#f37F. I've never seen any official document describing their contents as 'standard'. However many locations can't be changed in future DOS versions, because of compatibility reasons (example: F36E hook used by diskroms, F34D also used by diskroms, F37D used by many programs). There are also a lot of useful variables that a lot of programs use. Maybe this is illegal. But I can't see any reason why we shouldn't keep these variables in a future DOS3 version of the system. Not doing so will cause a *lot* of programs to malfunction... So it would be very good to decide which values we should keep and standardize and which adresses can be reassigned for other purposes. Perhaps this is something for the Phoenix project... Perhaps we can say: when it is used by a certain program, it should be kept... Or maybe everyone can make a list of his 'favourite' DOS variables and submit them on the Phoenixpage. After some evaluation period we can decide which variables can be assumed fixed... Very useful for things like #f2c7/8/9/a, where the memorymapperpaging state is kept in DOS2. Useful when doing your own fast mapperswitching... There are a bunch of others, but I don't have the time now to discuss them all... CU jon MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the body (not subject) "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes :-) Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] (www.stack.nl/~wiebe/mailinglist/)
disktransfers
disktransfers: +always use page 2 or 3 (#8000-#fffe) +In MSX-DOS (12) environment it is also possible to pass parameters in page 0 and 1, but it is slower (diskrom needs additional slotswitching) +Always make sure that the transferarea is located in the primary ramslot. (in the official way you can obtain the mainramslot with the DOS2 extended biosfunction (see section 5.2)) I don't know in DOS1... But we all know (?) that this info is also located on address #f341/2/3/4, both DOS1 and DOS2. Why they made 4 locations with the same value is a mystery to me. probably overdesigning before the memorymapper age... (also the official DOS2 docs say (also section 5.2, last lines) that the slotselection of all 4 pages is the same.) Jon phoenixmaintainers: you can add these addresses to the list :) MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the body (not subject) "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes :-) Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] (www.stack.nl/~wiebe/mailinglist/)
Re: BDOS
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: "environment strings and disk transfer areas must be in the mapper RAM slot." ... Is there a workaround for this problem ? no you must allocate a primary mapper segment for your disktransfers or use a TPA segment for that purpose. And copy the data to another non-primarymapper segment if needed. (TPA segments are the segments that are paged in when you enter the COMfile. They are always situated in the primary mapper and thus will do fine for disktransfers. Their mappernumbers must be read out trough 'legal' ways (most of the time, these are 3,2,10, but this must not be assumed!). In DOS1 they ARE 3,2,1,0 since there is no other way to figure this out. (NO MAPPERPORTREADING!)) I was wondering: can you assume the mappernumber of page 3 to be zero in all circumstances (the specs say that you never should alter page3)? Jon - it's getting time to set up detailed information about the MSX specs... MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the body (not subject) "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes :-) Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] (www.stack.nl/~wiebe/mailinglist/)
Compass
Another question remains: how can i arrange that compass (development env) does not use the primary mapper so that that one is free for my program.. because i need segments for that mapper and not from the 1Mb mapper that resides in slot 1.. you can just change the memorysettings in the SYSTEM/MEMORY menu like you wish (and save these settings in the INSTALLATIONS/MAININSTALL menu if you want to) Note: the first Labelsegment and the second Compass-segment will always be in the primary mapper... (yeah.. also Compass needs to do his diskfunctions somewhere :) ) cu jon (trying to finish a Compass 2.0betaversion before Bussum...) hmm anyway thanks for the response, Antal MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the body (not subject) "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes :-) Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] (www.stack.nl/~wiebe/mailinglist/)
Re: S/F motor off
Hi all, when cleaning up my email, I came across the following: Maarten ter Huurne wrote: At 01:20 AM 07/25/99 +0200, you wrote: ] By the way, do you know a way to find the DiskROM slot ID for a drive under ] DOS2? Under DOS1 you can use the #FB21 table, but I doubt that will work ] under DOS2, which supports re-arragning drive letters, gaps in drive ] letters (A,B,H) etc. I think that the FB21 table is the only viable method. Though, it will indeed only give a mapping of the physical drive to the interface. Not of the logical drive to the interface. Stupid DOS2... Anyone knows of a mapping from logical drive to physical drive? Bye, Maarten I've written a text about it and attached to this mail, Greetz, jon ps. the new IDE interface is almost finished pps. I'll continue my work on Compass 2.0 (I will do my best to have a beta ready at Bussum fair) File: DRIVENUM.TXT - 22/08/1999 Subject: Informative text about drivenumbers in the MSX system By: [EMAIL PROTECTED] / Compjoetania TNG There are 3 different kinds of 'driveletters' or 'drivenumbers': 1. the local drivenumber 2. the physical drivenumber 3. the logical drivenumber Storage media are connected to the MSX by means of a diskinterface in a system slot. The software in such an interface is called a 'diskrom'. There can be a maximum of 4 diskinterfaces connected to one MSX. Each diskinterface can be used to control more than one drive. Example 1: in most MSX2 models there is already an internal diskrom present to control two floppydrives. Example 2: the partitions on a harddisk are treated as separate drives connected to one (hard)diskinterface The drives connected to each diskinterface are identified with their 'local drivenumber'. This is a number counting from 0 without any 'gaps'. If there are 5 drives connected to a diskinterface, their local drivenumbers *must* be 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4. When using the standard diskrom routines like DISKIO (#4010), the local drivenumber is passed in the A register. When the MSX computer is turned on, all diskinterfaces install themselves into the system. There is an 8-byte table at address #FB21: #FB21: number of drives connected to the 1st interface #FB22: slotcode of the 1st interface #FB23: number of drives connected to the 2nd interface #FB24: slotcode of the 2nd interface #FB25: number of drives connected to the 3rd interface #FB26: slotcode of the 3rd interface #FB27: number of drives connected to the 4th interface #FB28: slotcode of the 4th interface Each drive is given a physical drivenumber starting from the first interface. Example: if there are 3 drives connected to the first interface and two drives connected to the second and none to the other interfaces, then the situation is as follows: local drive 0 on the 1st interface = physical drive 1 local drive 1 on the 1st interface = physical drive 2 local drive 2 on the 1st interface = physical drive 3 local drive 0 on the 2nd interface = physical drive 4 local drive 1 on the 2nd interface = physical drive 5 The number of physical drives is limited to 8. (When a diskrom installs itself, it should check that no more than 8 physical drives are created.) Driveletters (e.g. A: B: ...) used in programs represent *always* logical drivenumbers. (There is one exception, see below) A: =always logical drive 1 B: =always logical drive 2 C: =always logical drive 3 ... H: =always logical drive 8 In DOS1 environment there is no difference between the logical and the physical drivenumber. So logical drive 1 corresponds with physical drive 1, etc. (Also in the case of 1 floppydrive with logical drives A: and B:, there are two physical drives 1 and 2.) In native DOS2 environment there can be difference between the logical and the physical drivenumber. This is achieved by using the command ASSIGN or by the DOS function call #6A. With ASSIGN you can remap a logical drive to another physical drive. Example: ASSIGN C: A: This will redirect all access to logical drive C: to the first physical drive. Note that in this case 'A:' represent the first *physical* drive. This is the only exception, in all other cases 'X:' represent a logical drive. When you want to access a drive directly, this is by using the standard diskromroutines like DISKIO (#4010), you need two things: the slotcode of the diskrom the drive is connected to and the local drivenumber of the drive you want to access. The following code can be used to do this: ;input: (drive) contains logical drivenumber (A:=1 B:=2 ...) ;output: (drive) contains physical drivenumber (A:=1 B:=2 ...) ;No Carry=diskrom found ;(local) contains local drivenumber on the interface ;(slot) contains slotcode of corresponding diskrom ;Carry=error diskrom not found LD C,#6F ;get DOS kernel version CALL BDOS LD A,B CP 2 JR C,DOS1 ;in DOS1 physical=logical number LD
Re: Z380 is working!!!
Rafael Corrales Pulido wrote: Hello MSX world, Two weeks ago Padial got the impossible, a Z380 based system board started to work in a MSX slot, finally he solved all the hardware problems and the Z380 board is totally finished except in the software part. great!, but eh... I got the impression that our nice Z80 MSX is transformed in some powersupply for the Z380 board. As far as I can derive from the info, it is impossible that the Z380 communicates with the MSX videochip because it is put in a cartridgeslot and cartridges can't do 'OUTs'. Therefore it will not be possible to run 'old' programs on the Z380. (Even programs getting their vdp portnumbers from the bios, won't work. So probably a second VDP has to be plugged in into the Z380 board?! More or less this Z380 board is gonna be a kind of coprocessor ?! (or of course: the Z80 can be 'VDP coprocessor' for the Z380) Greetz, Jon - not very optimistic about the external Z380 board MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the body (not subject) "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes :-) Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] (www.stack.nl/~wiebe/mailinglist/)
Re: Compass bug?
Laurens Holst wrote: Jon, pay attention please!!! just returned from holiday :) and reading about 400 emails... I had a quite small Compass-program, though very often saved and changed. The size of it was about 65000 bytes. I already though this was absurd but since it .ASM-files are a direct dump of Compass memory I guessed a lot of additional information had to be saved. when you do a lot of 'cut 'n pasting', there are many empty gaps generated in the textbuffers. That's why it takes up so much space. It's the fastest method though. However, when I copied the source into another sourcebuffer and saved it under another name, the .ASM-file was only 6000 bytes!!! When you copy the text to another buffer, all gaps disappear... You can also achieve this by saving the source in ASCII format and reload it again. That's a factor 10 reduction in size Jon!!! Explain please??? see above; I will try to make Compass 2.0 a bit more intelligent when cutting/pasting. But I don't know for sure yet... I've experienced that for most sources you gain about 10kB unless you do a lot of 'big' rebuilding of your sourcecode. CU jon MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the body (not subject) "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes :-) Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] (www.stack.nl/~wiebe/mailinglist/)
Re: Meaning of VRAM size speed bits
MkII wrote: ... The first time I laid my hands on an MSX I POKED the PSG register 7 directly... with 00xx!!! My 8250 sounds real bad when doing phaser effects, so I presume perhaps I blowed something with that POKE?!?!? A lot of NMS8250/55/80 computers have an assembly error in the audio output circuitry. Perhaps that's what bothering you. NMS8250/55: R428R429 (100R) should both be replaced by an elco 100uF/10V with the negative side towards connector 'AB'. NMS8280: R426 (100R): replace by 100uF/10V (same as above) Greetz, Jon MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the body (not subject) "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes :-) Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] (www.stack.nl/~wiebe/mailinglist/)
Re: Compass
Adriano Camargo Rodrigues da Cunha wrote: Guys, But if you're programming assembler: GO GET COMPASS!!! (Yes, I'm shouting!) In the last months I'm using my PC for programming in ASM for MSX, with M80/L80 or GEN80. The reason is that is much more easy (and fast) for me writing, editing and compiling ASM sources using PC text editors and M80/L80 than MSX. If I use only my MSX, I should use MPW, exit, call M80, identify the errors, call MPW again, edit, save, compile again... And it tooks much time (hey, I don't have HD!). But this messages about COMPASS took me curious. Can someone tell me what're the advantages of COMPASS? difficult to say, but once you've used it, you don't want to live without it anymore :) some keywords: all-in-one, memory-resident, easy-to-use, r800, hdd, MemMan, ... more info see: http://studwww.rug.ac.be/~jedschri/msx/ctng.html (I know: our page is a bit out-dated, but we rather like to spend our time behind an msx...) There is a demo or trial version of COMPASS for testing? yes, we made a special fully-functional promoversion. It is only available on the MCCM CD, but since you live in Brazil... I don't have it here with me, but I guess someone can send it to you. Greetz, Jon (Compjoetania The Next Generation) (...busy with Compass 2.0.00...) MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the body (not subject) "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes :-) Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] (www.stack.nl/~wiebe/mailinglist/)
Re: Compass improvement??? Jon! Listen!
Laurens Holst wrote: - source length limit of about 20K, even though the source is tokenized, this is not enough (especially comments take lots of space) Hey... hey!!! JON!!! Listen!!! I'm here!! Can't you tokenize the source in Compass??? This has two advantages: 1. the assembling-speed will be increased drastically, and 2. the size of the .ASM-files will be reduced a lot! You can include an option to let the user decide if the code is upper-or lowecase... I'm busy with that sort of stuff for version 2.0. It's not really tokenized, but during the editing process, the format is already optimized for the assemblermodule... Well, maybe it's not a good idea... Just check it out. that's what I've been doing past months... Another remark: the TABS are wrong sometimes. If a label is exactly the length of the TAB, then if I put comments behind it the space inbetween will not be taken into account by Compass, resulting in the comment not being seperated from the code. Example: LD(COPYFILENAME+8),A;Fill in copydata... Do you get what I mean? yup, but depends where you like the ;blabla... immediately behind the code or on the next TAB. It is assembled correct if I'm right... CU jon MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the body (not subject) "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes :-) Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] (www.stack.nl/~wiebe/mailinglist/)
Re: UZIX DOS2
On Tue, 13 Jul 1999, Adriano Camargo Rodrigues da Cunha wrote: Jon, Well... What I do is clear hooks and fill the area D000h-F000h with zeros... hmmm... seems dangerous to me: some hardware drivers can be installed in this area at startup. (example: workspace of diskroms). MSX system area is from #F380...#. Below that area, the DOS kernel area; Remember that UZIX doesn' uses DOS. It acesses peripherals directly (using their ROM, if available). well, that's the problem: if you want to use the diskrom, you should keep the diskromvariables in page 3 and not overwrite them with zeroes! It is no problem to overwrite the DOS kernel area in page 3 (#F1C9..#F37F), but the diskromvariables below #F1C9 should be maintained! Cya! Jon MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the body (not subject) "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes :-) Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] (www.stack.nl/~wiebe/mailinglist/)
Re: MSXCDEX and IDECDEX...
Maarten ter Huurne wrote: At 11:06 PM 7/8/99 +0200, Jon wrote: 2. a way to figure out of which type a connected drive is and to figure out if a diskrom supports this standard. If the DiskROM doesn't support a drive, ?? a diskrom does support at least one type of device. That's why it is called a diskrom. (note: in many cases there is more than one diskrom in a msx. In most cases this diskrom contains also the DOS kernel code. The slot with the most recent version of this kernel, becomes *the* master diskrom) how do you even know that the drive is present? at startup, a diskrom installs some driveletters for its devices connected to it. (table at #FB21, etc.) so, you can always know how many 'drives' are present. But next, you need to know which kind of device is associated with a drive. (CDROM/DVD (2048bytes/sector and ISO9660 filesystem) or a 'direct-access' device like floppy, HD, ZIP, LS120 (512bytes/sector and a DOS filesystem) This info should be obtained by new standardized extended diskrom functions. 3. Creation of new entry somewhere in the area of #7Fxx ? Won't this conflict with the memory mapped I/O in some systems? don't know; no problem for IDE and MegaSCSI, but I don't know about other interfaces. Most of them use port I/O. Bye, Maarten cu, Jon MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the body (not subject) "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes :-) Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] (www.stack.nl/~wiebe/mailinglist/)
Re: S/F motor off
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: heya... well.. LD B, 255 Loop: CALL$FD9F DJNZLoop does the trick, but this is much faster: xor a ld ($f1c1),a Ooooh no!!! that will only work if the internal floppydrive is the only diskrom present in your system. In that case the area from #F1C1..#F1C8 is used for it. With other (harddisk)interfaces in the system, this area is located somewhere else. In that case writing to #F1C1 can cause nothing but trouble! Therefore the best method is to call the fd9f hook 255 times. Works for all configurations. mzl. d-fader^TwZ Yep, I still have a lot to learn!.. indeed ;) Greetz, jon MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the body (not subject) "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes :-) Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] (www.stack.nl/~wiebe/mailinglist/)
Re: MSXCDEX and IDECDEX...
Hello, Laurens Holst wrote: I have debugged a large part of the MSX-Dos-kernel, and it has a patchtable, so it shouldn't be that difficult to add CD-ROM support to MSX-Dos... Then you wouldn't even need to load an external program... There's only one condition: if CD-ROM support is included in MSX-Dos, then it should as well support IDE as SCSI, otherwise it would result in versions of MSX-Dos which can only be run with a certain interface... and that would be no good. DISKIO (#4010) and some other standard routines in diskroms should be expanded to handle other media in a *standard* way. Things that should be standardized: 1. 16-bit sectornumber support 2. a way to figure out of which type a connected drive is and to figure out if a diskrom supports this standard. 3. Audio CD interface(Play,Stop,...) The main concern is: it should be a standard and used by Mega-SCSI, IDE and other interfaces who want to join the club. 1. Long time ago, this item was discussed on this list. 2. Perhaps this can be done by calling a yet existing routine like GETDPB (#4016) with an invalid parameter (like drivenumber with bit 7 set) An 'old' diskrom will return error, and a new one can return useful info about the drive. 3. Creation of new entry somewhere in the area of #7Fxx ? for the moment I'm too busy with other msx stuff, but if you guysgirls can come up with some nice ideas, don't hesitate (or contacting MegaSCSI bios programmers to see what they think...) Ask for the source and you can get it. nice, I'm interested in it! Greetz, Jon ~Grauw MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the body (not subject) "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes :-) Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] (www.stack.nl/~wiebe/mailinglist/)
Re: UZIX DOS2
Adriano Camargo Rodrigues da Cunha wrote: I bet that Uzix is overwritting the DOS2 mapper area. Why you don't try to detect and kill DOS2 during boot ? (Maybe the problem has notting to do with this ... But I said anyway) Well... What I do is clear hooks and fill the area D000h-F000h with zeros... hmmm... seems dangerous to me: some hardware drivers can be installed in this area at startup. (example: workspace of diskroms). MSX system area is from #F380...#. Below that area, the DOS kernel area; from #F1C9 to #F37F for the DOS2.x kernel (probably the same for DOS1 kernel). Hardwaredrivers (like floppy, ide, ...) are installed below the DOS kernel area. (so below #F1C9). So if you delete all data till #F000, it is possible that you destroy important driverdata. There is a way to obtain the most lower address used by a cartridge: look in the table SLTWRK (#FD09). This table contains the start of the workarea of each cartridge. Search for the lowest address and don't erase any data above that address. Another remark: most (all?) diskroms (DISKIO #4010) use routine at #F36E when loading/saving data in page 0 or 1. (#...#7FFF) This is only possible in MSX-DOS environment. (at #F36E there is a JP to a routine in the MSX-DOS area. This area is located below the driverarea and is certainly deleted by your program.) Therefore UZIX shouldn't try to load/save data via #4010 to page 0 or 1. Greetz, Jon MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the body (not subject) "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes :-) Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] (www.stack.nl/~wiebe/mailinglist/)
Re: Acessing MegaSCSI/IDE disks directly
On Wed, 19 May 1999, Maarten ter Huurne wrote: At 05:27 PM 5/19/99 -0300, you wrote: I'm talking about direct access. Like using 4010h of DiskROM for reading/writing disk sectors (yeah, it's insane). You can access harddisk sectors inside a partition using #4010, just like floppies. If you want to access sectors regardless of partitions (like the partition table or master boot record), you'll need routines specific for the interface. I think there was some info on this list when FAT16 was first discussed. Try to search the archives. Info about the IDE interface can probably be provided by Jon (who also reads this list). ;) All info about Sunrise's IDE can be found in the downloadsection of their homepage: http://www.msx.ch There is also an additional IDE section in Manuel's FAQ: http://www.faq.msxnet.org If you only want to read/write sectors within a partition, use the DISKIO entry at #4010. Cya, jon But why do you want direct access to a hard disk anyway? Only thing I can think of is FDD emulation, in that case you can best use #4010. Bye, Maarten MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the body (not subject) "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes :-) Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] (www.stack.nl/~wiebe/mailinglist/) MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the body (not subject) "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes :-) Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] (www.stack.nl/~wiebe/mailinglist/)
Re: IDE-problem
On Wed, 5 May 1999, Anne de Raad wrote: I checked it, but I couldn't find any error! You were right after all, it was a matter of Master and Slave.. My ZIPdrive works just fine now!! Thanx!! Cool isn't it ? :) I do have another problem right now...Of course it probably is just as easy to solve, I can't help I am such an ass.. :) I have connected ONLY a cdromdrive to my IDE right now... The CDROMdrive is on Master, Slave is empty... My IDE interface is in slot 1. When I boot my computer, it finds a CDROMdrive in master, Slave nothing found So far, everything normal, I guess.. But now what happens?!!? My turboGT boots in the TAPEBasic (so to speak)And I absolutely don't press SHIFT, which has the same effect... In this BASIC the floppydrive is NOT there, 'files' just gives an illegal function call and here I sit with nothing.. that is strange; I will take at look at that situation. BUT!! When I insert my slotexpander in slot 2 and the first subslot my SCSI-interface and I boot, again the IDE-interface finds in Master a CDROMdrive, in Slave nothing, then the SCSI-interface takes over and DOES find my HDCOOL.Then booting is absolutely normal and also my Floppydrive is found... Okay, what to do now?! Try the UTILITIES John supplied for handling the CDROMdrive!! But DAMNED, it does NOT work They are all called JDSxxx.xxx That is normal; the JDSxxx.xxx programs are betaversions; patched versions of the old gilvad utilities to make use of the internal ATAPI driver of the bios. It was not my intention to spread them, but Sunrise did because these programs are working properly. BUT like the original gilvad utilities they will only work for slave CDROMs. etc. etc. and they all do NOTHING AT ALL.I can press the PAUSE-key, so my system is not completely DEAD but I can't do anything anymore.Resetting is the only option left... normal if there is no slave cdrom CU Jon MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the body (not subject) "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes :-) Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] (www.stack.nl/~wiebe/mailinglist/)
Re: IDE-problem
Anne de Raad wrote: this is strange. I guess I made an error in the bios when pressing CTRL; I suppose the bios returns too early before installing the appropriate parameter in SLTWRK. I'll check it out and fix it in bios 1.92. Sorry! jon I checked it, but I couldn't find any error! Is there any other diskinterface in your computer? If this other interface uses all driveletters, the IDE won't be able to install itself. Is the detection of your IDE device(s) ok at startup? (so: IDE Master: Iomega ZIP... IDE Slave: not detected) If there is an error (like: IDE slave failure!) , the whole thing will abort and the IDE system will not be installed. Hello Jon, Nice to get a reaction from you! And thanx for the fast answer! Maybe it helps to say that I work on an MSXturboR GT..I have tried it a few times again, but it doesn't work in any way, it doesn't matter if I put the ZIP-drive in Slave or Master or whatever, it does not work yet... the ZIP drive I've used had some weird jumpers: I had to set the jumper on 'SCSI address setting 1' to configure the device as IDE master and on 'SCSI address setting 2' for IDE slave. First make sure the device detection goes fine at startup. CU MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the body (not subject) "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes :-) Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] (www.stack.nl/~wiebe/mailinglist/)
RE: IDE slotexpander
On Fri, 30 Apr 1999, Hans Otten wrote: When i had a small hard disk (SCSI) with only one partition on it i used the DOS Assign to have the first floppy drive be A:, the second B:, the hard disk partition was C. I never wanted to get used to the differences between PC and MSX drive lettering. But with the large IDE disks it is a waste of drive letters for partitions. if you don't like so many driveletters, you can disable some of the partitions with the idefdisk program. Example: if you leave 1 partition enabled, this partition will be A:, your floppies become B: C:. So you and i have to get used to it... -Original Message- From: Roberto Pinna [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Thursday, April 29, 1999 10:32 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: IDE slotexpander Anytime I try to acces them, the computer reads the first or second (depending on what drive I'm trying to acces) partition of my harddisk... The MSX differs a bit from the PC. On the PC your diskdrives will always be drive A: and B:, your 1st HDD partition will be C:. Because the IDE interface is initialised 1st on your machine, the 1st and 2nd partitions become A: and B: (3rd part will be C:, etc). For instance if you have 5 partitions on your HDD, the letters A,B,C,D and E will be your HDD partitions, Drive F: and G: will be your floppy drives. Hopefully this helps... GreeTz! MTC MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the body (not subject) "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes :-) Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] (www.stack.nl/~wiebe/mailinglist/) MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the body (not subject) "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes :-) Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] (www.stack.nl/~wiebe/mailinglist/) MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the body (not subject) "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes :-) Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] (www.stack.nl/~wiebe/mailinglist/)
Re: IDE-problem
On Thu, 29 Apr 1999, Anne de Raad wrote: Hello, On the Tilburgfair I bought the IDE-interface from SunriseI flashed the latest BIOS in the cartridge (1.91) and I connected the IDE-interface to my I believe Sunrise has distributed still the 'old' bios 1.86 in Tilburg on the softwaredisk. So make sure you really got 1.9x ZIPdrive in my pc. I inserted a blank ZIPdisc and I wanted to create some partitions on it.. But I can't get this done. I want to boot idefdisk from my diskdrive, but the IDE system has to be installed to be able to partition Okay, the manual says keep pressing CTRL during startup. The IDE system will load but no driveletters are assigned. ok. this is all normal. there will be booted from floppy. I have tried this many times, but nothing works. When I startup with CTRL and I try to start idefdisk from floppy, the program says No IDE system installed during startup! The IDE bios should be at least version 1.9! this is strange. I guess I made an error in the bios when pressing CTRL; I suppose the bios returns too early before installing the appropriate parameter in SLTWRK. I'll check it out and fix it in bios 1.92. Sorry! jon Well, I don't know what to do!! In this case I can never create an MSXpartition on one of my ZIPdiscs, it is simply impossible to use idefdisk this way Please help!! Greetz, Anne de Raad MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the body (not subject) "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes :-) Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] (www.stack.nl/~wiebe/mailinglist/) MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the body (not subject) "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes :-) Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] (www.stack.nl/~wiebe/mailinglist/)
Re: Some questions
Laurens Holst wrote: ... Disadvantage: it is approx 4* slower than the ZIP, it is not possible to read copy-protected disks Well ain't that useful. A disk is copy-protected so you can't read it. huh? *** What's the damn use of such a disk??? *** ~Grauw copy-protected disks are disks that can't be copied without special direct access to the floppydiskcontroller. (because the floppies are formatted in a 'special' way) Sunrise uses such a copy protection for their products. Jon MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the body (not subject) "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes :-) Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] (www.stack.nl/~wiebe/mailinglist/)
Re: Some questions
Hans Otten wrote: 1/ Can I use a PC HDD on MSX Yes, you can use IDE disks on MSX with the Sunrise IDE interface. (http://www.msx.ch). Note that the disk should not be too old. Disks above 512Mb are ok. also smaller ones are ok you can even connect Iomega ZIP or an LS120 drive. The LS120 drive is capable of reading/writing 720kB 1.44MB floppies and also 120MB floppies. Main advantage of the LS120: faster when reading normal floppies, ability to use 1.44MB disks on msx. Disadvantage: it is approx 4* slower than the ZIP, it is not possible to read copy-protected disks CDROM can be accessed (filesaudio) with some old CD utilities from Gilvad that I've patched to be able to handle all CDROM devices. Has someone some sourcecode of MSXCDEX for SCSI? Are there any other IDE devices except the ones I mentioned above? (If I have some free time -not very likely- I can try to make a driver for a CD-(Re)writer :-) ) And you need to modify it. See the Sunrise pages. additional QA concerning the IDE can be found at http://www.faq.msxnet.org Jon MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the body (not subject) "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes :-) Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] (www.stack.nl/~wiebe/mailinglist/)
Re: NestorBASIC IDE problem
Néstor Soriano wrote: Hi people, since I think this message from Italo Valerio has interest for more people, I publish it... My friend tested nbasic in DOS-2 megaram (Brasiliam Cartr.), (no IDE) and he make the tests to go to DOS and return to Basic, the symptom is same. So, Have same one "bug" in xbasic area. It happen with xbasic too, so not nbasic problem, it's only in xbasic area in the nbasic. Maybe the xbasic wasn't work properly in DOS-2, only DOS-1. I think, maybe will be need study and adapt the xbasic area in the nbasic to work in DOS-2 properly. told you it had nothing to do with IDE :) Anyway, I have also discovered the fact that some of you try to stop the floppydisk led/motor by writing to address F1C1. This is not 'legal'; it only works when the floppydiskrom is the only diskrom in your MSX; in that case the floppydiskrom workspace in page 3 is in most cases from F1C1..F1C8. But when using another diskrom/interface, F1C1..F1C8 is occupied by that other interface. So writing to F1C1 in that case is hazardous. (Next version of IDE bios will allocate those 8 extra bytes so that programs writing to F1C1 can't do any harm) Greetz, Jon This is Solid Snake... PSX stoled our game... your reply, please... - MSX-scene will get it back ! Hang on! ;) MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the body (not subject) "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes :-) Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] (www.stack.nl/~wiebe/mailinglist/)
Re: mapperports - megademo :)
On Mon, 29 Mar 1999, shevek wrote: On Sat, 27 Mar 1999, Maarten ter Huurne wrote: Besides, what kind of program would leave the mapper in a different state than when it was started? I am busy on a muli-tasking system that cuts programs off on the interrupt. It is very well possible that one program sets the mappers is some state and when an other program is called, it's memory-status will be saved. Therefor I need a way to read all settings:slots, subslots and mappers. Like said before: for this kind of TSR things in DOS1 without Memman you really have to read mapperports! (and I think that you have to read mapperports when using Memman too, because MemMan will probably just return a mapperport value that was last written to the mapper by MemMan; so if an 'old' dos1 program does its own mapperswitching, MemMan won't detect this (unless Memman uses itself mapper read-back)) About your other mail (sorry, I can't cut/paste here; using a simple stoneage terminal, perhaps running on a Z80 :) ) you said to leave the mapper-read back mechanism 'undefined'; I don't agree with it, since mapper-read-back is necessary for the TSR stuff. Also all official mappers support read-back. The cost/design of the read-back mechanism is almost zero (two extra 74LS670 ic's if I'm correct) About the minimum of 64kB size: that is defined by ASCII with the picture of the 'optional' mapper (64kB at least and the rest optional) About the unused bits you stated: 'these are pulled up by MSX databus', well this is true for a lot of computers, but not for all of them. This brings me to a new problem we didn't observe yet: when a mapper is in a slotexpander and the mapperports are read: if unused bits are high-imped and cause a zero on the bus by accident, this zero is actively put on the MSX databus by the buffers of the slotexpander! This can cause a short-circuit with a larger mapper that want to return a 1 on the bus. Same story if a random 1 is created and put actively on the MSX bus when a larger mapper want to return 0 on the bus Because of this the readback of the bits 'in conflict' may be wrong. Some TSR stuff won't work. Solutions: use 8-bit registers to store the mappervalues, even if the mapper is smaller than 4MB. (most of the time this will not be a big problem because a lot of mappers use already 5 bits and have still 3 unused bits on the 74LS670 chips) Note: slotexpanders not having a buffer between the expansion slots and the msx bus, don't have this problem of course. So, the perfect mapper: *stores the complete 8bit values that were written to its ports *provides read-back for the whole 8bit value *is at least 64kB *has all useable RAM in consecutive mapperblocks: 0,1,2,3,4,..., Such mapper(s) will work in all cases witthout problems, except on computers with the engine-problem. Here the read-back won't be correct in some cases. Greetz, jon MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the body (not subject) "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes :-) Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] (www.stack.nl/~wiebe/mailinglist/)
Re: Mapperports
On Sun, 28 Mar 1999, Alwin Henseler wrote: Jon De Schrijder [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: ... *The size of a memorymapper is at least 64kB (four pages of 16kB) Makes sense. At least I've never seen, or built anything smaller... see the ASCII specs in which a memorymapper is displayed as 'optional', but it is at least shown as 64kB. *Mapperports are of course writeable. It is not required for the mapper to store all written bits. Storing more bits than are actually used by the mapper is not illegal. (see the Philips MSX with 4 bit-mapper and only 64kB RAM connected) Ehh, that's 3 bits for that Philips machine... For the rest: agree. oops, sorry, 3 of course. -Since all valid memory mappers contains at least 4 mapperblocks, at least 2 bits are used for the mapperports. When writing data to a mapperport, the two least significant bits can always be read back. (useful to check if there is a memory mapper present in the system) I disagree (see below). when all mappers support read-back, this should be no problem; however, most programs that want to know if there is a mapper present, also want to know the size of the mapper (with the RAMtest algorithm). So checking the presence of a mapper by reading the ports is a bit obsolete. -You can not determine the size of the mapper by just reading the mapperports; you'll have to write different values to the mapperport(s) and check for RAM. Absolutely. Here we need to establish some extra rules; is the following allowed for a mapper? 4-bit 128kB mapper: 0,1,2,3=ram 4,5,6,7=nothing (no ram, databus high-imped) 8,9,a,b=ram (other memory than blocks 0,1,2,3) c,d,e,f=nothing I think we should not allow such mapperconstructions (we can allow them, but programs that can't detect the ram of 8,9,a,b should not be considered as faulty) The reason to not allow such 'things' is to make life easier for programmers. (otherwise you have to make tables of each mapper with all valid mapperblocks) I don't think such mappers exist today. -- message for hardware designers: don't make such mappers. all agree? About the software problems: - I would suggest the following, separating normal programs, and resident software (drivers, TSR's, replayers etc): For normal programs: If there exists mapper support routines or MemMan: use it if possible. With no memory management (DOS1, and no MemMan loaded): assume default mapperblocks setting (3, 2, 1, 0 for pages 0-3). I agree with the assumption of blocks 3210 If (without memory management) a program ends with the mapper set differently from the default setting, you can call that a bug. agree, so in that case it shall always end with 3210. (and to be more precise: a program not altering the mapper, is not obligated to actively setting the mapperports to 3210) For software that has to work together with other programs (TSR's, drivers, etc.): USE MEMORY-MANAGEMENT !!! Try to support DOS2 mapper routines. If not present, you could bring in your own memory manager (MemMan). If for some reason you have to work without DOS2 mapper routines, AND without MemMan: Then you have to read the mapper ports. Treat the value returned as a full 8-bit number. The mechanism with multiple mappers as described above, will return the value of the mapper controlling the largest number of bits. Higher bits are don't cares, and you don't even need to know how many bits are controlled. that will do in most cases, but if you want to compare blocknumbers you should mask the upper bits to obtain the correct blocknumber. (because unused bits can return random bits) This can easily be done when you know the size(number of bits used) by the largest mapper present in the system. This will work in 99% of all cases. If that still doesn't work: too bad. agree For hardware builders: -- Try to include read-back for the mapper registers. this should be really mandatory Preferably don't use more bits than is needed for your mapper. not really necessary, but do it if you can. (some bad-programmed programs rely on this) And if read back, don't control any bits that can't also be written on your mapper. is the most important thing (necessary to avoid short-circuits with other mappers) Another issue: are there many mappers around with a read-back system not complying with the rules above? In a home-built mapper I have, I left out the read-back for ease of construction, and to see what troubles this might give. You can run megaROMs on it as with any other mapper, DOS2 uses it just fine, MemMan uses it just fine. In a 2+, the memory count counts the correct size. And, if you select blocks 0-15 (it's a 256K mapper), you GET blocks 0-15. In other words: consider this a perfectly normal working mapper, even if its mapper registers can't be read back. You want to throw the use
Re: mapperports - megademo :)
Hi all, Can you all agree with the following? It is important for both MSX software- and hardware-developers that we all can come to an agreement. Probably there are still memorymappers procuded nowadays and also software depending on these. Go get some coffee (don't spill on the keyboard ;) ) and read: *memorymapped RAM is optional for MSX2 *The size of a memorymapper is at least 64kB (four pages of 16kB) Here i have the msx technical databook , micro$oft 5 feb. 1986 rel.6.0 It says on MSX2 memory mapper specification chapter 1 line 4 - The mapping registers are at FCH to FFH of I/O address. The are both read and write addresses. - *There can be more than one memorymapper in an MSX2 or higher. even if it was not meant to be that way, we all know that there are no real big technical problems related to it and that the advantage is enourmous. *Mapperports are of course writeable. It is not required for the mapper to store all written bits. Storing more bits than are actually used by the mapper is not illegal. (see the Philips MSX with 4 bit-mapper and only 64kB RAM connected) *When powering up the system, the bios should initialize the mapperports by writing the apropriate values to it. *Mapperports may be read. However, the returned information is limited (see below) *The read-out mechanism of a mapper should comply with the the following: when reading a mapperport the last written BITS should be returned. So only the bits that were actually stored when the mapperport was written, should be outputted on the databus. The other bits of the databus should remain in a high-impedance state. As a result of this the following things are true: -There occur no short-circuits on the databus; or a databit is not controlled at all (high-imped) or it is controlled by one or more mappers at the same time; in that case all mappers return the same databit (the databit that they stored when the mapperport was written) (Note also the fact that it is no problem when there exists a small delay between the several mappers when outputting their data, because the 'slow' outputs will still be in a high-impedance state and will not affect the 'fast' outputs.) -It is possible that databits not controlled by any mapper return random bits. There is no reason to assume these bits to be 1 or 0. -Since all valid memory mappers contains at least 4 mapperblocks, at least 2 bits are used for the mapperports. When writing data to a mapperport, the two least significant bits can always be read back. (useful to check if there is a memory mapper present in the system) -You can not determine the size of the mapper by just reading the mapperports; you'll have to write different values to the mapperport(s) and check for RAM. -You can obtain the paging state of all memory mappers just by reading the mapperport(s). However in most cases you have to mask some upper bits depending on the detected size of the largest mapper. +++As far as I know, there are no official MSX products violating the rules above.+++ But then there was the HORRIBLE S1990 engine used in some MSX computers (Turbo-R and some 2+ models I think) :(( And this, ladies and gentlemen, screws up the whole story above! In these computers bit 5, 6 and 7 are always read back as 1; no matter if there is a large memorymapper present that uses bit 5, 6 or 7 to store mapperbits. Even worse: connecting such big mapper and writing 0 to those bits is no problem, but when reading the bits there occurs a short-circuit. (5V from S1990 and 0V from the mapper read-back system) Nevertheless as far as I know this hardware problem is not that worse. The worst problem is the software problem: like stated above: the read-back value returned from a large mapper (=1024kB) is not correct. This means it is not possible to know which mapperblock is paged in. This information is vital for all kinds of purposes (TSRs, ...) Lucky for us, there is a work-around: when writing to a mapperport, also store a backup of the value in RAM. This feature is supported by DOS2, but it isn't by DOS1. --when using DOS2, use the backup values in RAM (all problems gone) --when using DOS1 and *your* program modifies the mapperstate: make your own backups in RAM. You will have to initialize these backups at the beginning of your program (see below) --when using DOS1 and you want to know in which state *another* program has set the mapper (applies only for TSR's): only one solution: just read the mapperports. This will work 100% for non-S1990 computers and it will work 100% for S1990-computers with mappers 1024kB. About initializing your own backups in DOS1: I think the mapperstate is always 3, 2, 1 and 0 when you start your own program from BASIC or from MSX-DOS. But perhaps there were some 'shell programs' created, letting you return in BASIC or MSX-DOS with another paging state than those 3,2,1,0. The question to you all is: should we take this into account or can we assume 3210 right away. An intermediate
Re: Problems when changing stack
On Thu, 25 Mar 1999, Jeroen Smael wrote: Nestor Soriano wrote: Hi people... problems again... this time, when changing stack. In a new update of NestorAcentos I'm developing, I put the following piece of code attached to the timer interrupt hook. The code is placed in a reserved zone on page 3: ld (SAVESP),sp ld sp,NEWSP+100 push all . . (changes slot and segment on page 2, do stuff and restores old status) . pop all ld sp,(SAVESP) jp old interrupt hook SAVESP: dw 0 NEWSP: ds 100 Well, a program executing such code causes the system to crash when any other program is executed. Someone knows where is the problem? Thanx! Hi Nestor, Perhaps a stupid remark, but do you call this routine or do you jump to it? If you call it, the JP at the end causes your problem. If you jump to this routine, I don't see anything wrong with it (somebody else?). hmm.. it is just the other way around; if he CALLs it, it is ok because the old_interrupt_hook RETurns. Do you perform BDOS routines during your interrupt Nestor? And do you use it in DOS1 or DOS2 environment? Also stupid: don't forget to push/pop IX/IY and shadowregisters. Greetz, jon MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the body (not subject) "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes :-) Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] (www.stack.nl/~wiebe/mailinglist/)
page 1 diskloading (was: 64K VRAM?)
On Tue, 23 Mar 1999, shevek wrote: On Mon, 22 Mar 1999, Marco Antonio Simon dal Poz wrote: On Mon, 22 Mar 1999, shevek wrote: On Mon, 22 Mar 1999, Marco Antonio Simon dal Poz wrote: For the most part of diskroms, DMA can be in page 1, because they have access to FDC through addresses 7FF8h-7FFCh and also BFF8h-BFFCh, and they transfer a small routine to F1BFh (or something like that) that allows a disk transfer to happen in page 1. I don't think this is true. The DISKIO(#4010) can transfer data in page 1 through the following mechanism: when data is transferred in page 2 or 3, no slotswitching is needed. (bit 15 of the startaddress=1) When bit 15 of the startaddress=0: transfer to page 0 or 1: (also special slotswitching in page1 is needed when begin of transfer is in page 0 because transfer can be partially in page 1 too! example: from #100 to #6000) In that case: DISKIO gets sector bufferaddress in page3: pointer at address #F34D/E. This seems to be the standard address, both in DOS1 and DOS2. (It has to be, otherwise a floppydrive (DOS1) diskrom would not function anymore when running DOS2) This is a 512 bytes buffer, large enough to fit 1 sector. So when reading from device: data is transferred to the sectorbuffer. Then the registers are filled with values like for a normal LDIR (from sectorbuffer to final destination in memory) and a call is made to address #F36E (also standard for DOS1 and DOS2 kernels). Here a routine is provided to make the main ramslot active in page 1. Before making the ram active, the diskromslotcode is fetched by calling a 'where_am_i' routine in the diskrom (#402D I believe). When ram is selected in page1 an LDIR instruction is executed and the diskrom is reselected in page1. But this routine is only provided in MSX-DOS(2) environment; when in BASIC, a RET instruction is placed at #F36E. So: disktransfer in page1 in BASIC is probably not possible (or perhaps the F37D entry temporarily changes the #F36E hook; didn't test it); This is logical: BASIC ROM is normally selected in page 1. Is that MSX-standard or just the case on many MSXs? The standard doesn't say anything about the method that the diskrom should use. So, it's just the case on many MSXs. The standard only says that the interface should use memory addresses to transfer data between CPU and FDC. Ok, but this means that using DMA in page 1 is against MSX standard, or not? don't know; I only noticed the following: *diskrom DISKIO supports it *F36E routines provided by DOS1/DOS2 *when you make a diskrom with no support for page1 disktransfer, all things work fine. I don't think DOS2 uses it; don't know about DOS1. Can you all confirm this information? jon MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the body (not subject) "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes :-) Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] (www.stack.nl/~wiebe/mailinglist/)
Re: IDE
Hans Otten wrote: Ah, you are not alone with IDE problems. I had some success with the unmodified IDE interface, software form Henrik Gilvad and a Western Digital 6,5 Gbyte (nothing else lying around...). Worked without problems for several weeks on a unloaded 8280. how sure are you about that? As long as the buffercircuitry has not been modified, the datatransfer can be corrupted. Especially when transporting #FF bytes through the cable, there might something go wrong... Most textfiles, etc.. do not contain #FF bytes and everything seems to go ok... Then around xmas 98 is started playing with additional cdrom as slave and that was not such a gooed idea, with other words, a disaster. While experimenting the 8280 stopped working (due to a blown fuse to my relief, too many reboots, works again like a dream...) if you connect the IDE cable in a bad way, you cause a short-circuit on 5V of your precious MSX. So i was pleasantly surprised when Jon de Schrijder made new versions of the bios etc available. Downloaded, installed and it never worked afterwards. Not with the hard disk alone, and certainly not with the cdrom as slave. the new biosses perform a lot more checks and tests. Do note that i did not perform the hardware update yet. I can't express it enough: the hardware update is really necessary. It fixes both fan-out problems and IDE bustiming problems. The disk went into the PC, its intended use, and i am looking for a cheap but suitable disk for the IDE interface. Since the modified interface is capable of handling ALL (as far as I know) IDE harddisks, that won't be a big problem... Do note that Jon (he is reading this maillist too!) warns about these kind of problems, and did a great job writing new versions of the BIOS and also telling us how to do a hardware update. Hurray for Jon! 8-) More info: http://www.msx.ch http://www.faq.msxnet.org (chapter 13) I've also made a new textfile IDESYS.TXT, useful for IDE programmers (about IDE system variables and routines). Soon it will be on-line on the sites mentioned here above. About the LS120/ZIP: some DOSSCAN transferrates (MSX2): *Seagate 263MB harddisk: 243kB/s (7.16MHz) - 125kB/s (3.58MHz) *Iomega ZIP: 196kB/s (7.16MHz) - 113kB/s (3.58MHz) *LS120: 720kB floppy: 22kB/s (7.16MHz) *LS120: 1.44MB floppy: 38kB/s (7.16MHz Cool! A 1.44MB drive on my MSX :-) ) *LS120: 120MB floppy: 53kB/s (7.16MHz) I'm still busy with the new bios 1.90 that supports ZIPLS. I have some problems with the 'diskchange' system. DOS2 doesn't seem to call the DSKCHG(#4013) routines before it reads sectors. It also acts in another way when in BASIC or in MSX-DOS2. Has anyone detailed info about the use of the DSKCHG(#4013) routine??? Jon BTW Here in Flanders, there is a television presentator; his name is also 'Hans Otten' :) MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the body (not subject) "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes :-) Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] (www.stack.nl/~wiebe/mailinglist/)
Re: mapperports (was MegaRAM)
Laurens Holst wrote: ... !!! GRUWEL GRUWEL !!! -- for non-Dutch readers: !!! HORRIFYING HORRIFYING !!! Issuing an IN on the mapper-ports is against the MSX-standard!!! NEVER IN the Mapper-ports. The result is ABSOLUTELY unreliable and machine/mapper-dependant. One computer inverts the result, another sets the highest bits and other computers always return zero or crap. The debugger in Compass uses IN A,(mapperport) to trace/emulate IN instructions of mapperports :) Jon MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the body (not subject) "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes :-) Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] (www.stack.nl/~wiebe/mailinglist/)
Re: IDE troubles....
On Mon, 15 Mar 1999 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: hi, I have a sunrise IDE-interface, but I can't get it to work 100%... I'm using it on a NMS8250 with a Make sure you are using a hardware-modified IDE interface to avoid all types of hardware problems. (more info: http://www.faq.msxnet.org and look for chapter 13(!! ;) ) Maxtor 71084 AP hdd of 1Gb (1084Mb), but when I connect it to my msx, and try to fdisk it. It gets use idefdisk version 1.40 (downloadable at http://www.msx.ch) BTW you are using bios 1.86 I hope... (If you still use some old(before October98) bios, you will have to copy your files to another medium before installing bios 1.86. The old biosses and fdiskide.com arranged the data on the disk in a wrong way; in that case your data is actually scrambled all over the harddisk. When using the new biosses, you will have to format your hd with the new idefdisk program) splitted into 6 drives (a to f) and my 2 floppy drives become drive g h. but all drives on my hdd are only 32 mb large, so if 6x32=192Mb then that's like not even 20% of my total hdd HELP ME! how can I fix this? This is completely normal; You can't make the partitions larger, but you can enable other partitions and disable your current partitions. Run the idefdisk program and choose 'display partition table'; with the keys [E] and [D] enable and disable the partitions as you like (the first 6 enabled partitions become drives a:, b:,... f: ) After that choose 'write partition table' to save the new settings to your harddisk. After that, restart your msx. If there are partitions enabled that aren't formatted yet: do as described in the IDEFDISK.TXT file. (downloadable at http://www.msx.ch) In that way it is possible to access 31 partitions of each 32MB. Jon MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the body (not subject) "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes :-) Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] (www.stack.nl/~wiebe/mailinglist/)
