Development of an XTIDE-Compatible IDE

[thorr]

Thanks! Hard drives back then were very slow. It would be very interesting to know what a real hard drive benchmarked at on a real machine of similar specs. I am guessing that the performance here is better than a real hard drive was back then.

[kathleen]

@spark2k06,
Good morning,
Did I miss something or maybe I do something wrong but since the new version of the core, while the Tandy & JukoST bioses work like a charm with the HDD that I've created (following the std rule as you explained), this same HDD is not recognized at all by other Bioses, even the TurboXT does not recognized it on my side. (Of course I used the new IDEXT) It is annoying because I do not use anymore JukoST for the mouse issue as you know.
Well, I can of course use the Tandy core which works fine but if I want to have a "standard" PC-XT then it won't work.
Any idea ?

[spark2k06]

@spark2k06,
Good morning,
Did I miss something or maybe I do something wrong but since the new version of the core, while the Tandy & JukoST bioses work like a charm with the HDD that I've created (following the std rule as you explained), this same HDD is not recognized at all by other Bioses, even the TurboXT does not recognized it on my side. (Of course I used the new IDEXT) It is annoying because I do not use anymore JukoST for the mouse issue as you know.
Well, I can of course use the Tandy core which works fine but if I want to have a "standard" PC-XT then it won't work.
Any idea ?

In those other BIOSes, are you using the new XTIDE in EC00 or in F000? Wherever it is, make sure it's the new XTIDE BIOS... there's no other reason than that.

[kitune-san]

@spark2k06
Has ide_xt rom in the repository been replaced by a new one?
Maybe pcxt_micro8088.rom or pcxt_pcxt31.rom has the old ide_xt rom embedded in it?

[kathleen]

In those other BIOSes, are you using the new XTIDE in EC00 or in F000? Wherever it is, make sure it's the new XTIDE BIOS... there's no other reason than that.

Yes, I'm pretty sure I have. But I'll double check this evening. I keep you posted.

[spark2k06]

@spark2k06
Has ide_xt rom in the repository been replaced by a new one?
Maybe pcxt_micro8088.rom or pcxt_pcxt31.rom has the old ide_xt rom embedded in it?

No, that's why I told her. I will do it when I release the update for everyone, but you have to wait for sorgelig to release the Main changes first, as it is vital for the IDE works.

If there are two XTIDE BIOSes, in EC00 and F000, the one in F000 will take priority and load with it.

[flynnsbit]

@spark2k06,
Good morning,
Did I miss something or maybe I do something wrong but since the new version of the core, while the Tandy & JukoST bioses work like a charm with the HDD that I've created (following the std rule as you explained), this same HDD is not recognized at all by other Bioses, even the TurboXT does not recognized it on my side. (Of course I used the new IDEXT) It is annoying because I do not use anymore JukoST for the mouse issue as you know.
Well, I can of course use the Tandy core which works fine but if I want to have a "standard" PC-XT then it won't work.
Any idea ?

I have a guess, the bios file has the older xt-ide built into it and it is taking precedent over the one that you are attaching from the pre-release. Try either creating your bios files again using the py script or grab an un modified version.

I am having success with a cleanly built 500mb version and installed a clean version of PCDOS2000. I'm backing images up along the way as I make changes so people can use them and not have to start from scratch. Doing it this way keeps the zipped 500mb disk in the range of 30MB-60MB which is nice for quick transfers and archiving it.

[kathleen]

@spark2k06,
I apologize, while I was thinking when I built the Bioses that I was using the new XTIDE, I in fact used the old one. I copied the wrong one in the folder where I put the .BIN...
I've just repeated the operation (with the new XTIDE at the right place ) and now everything work as it should. Very sorry..

@flynnsbit, your guess was true

[spark2k06]

@spark2k06,
I apologize, while I was thinking when I built the Bioses that I was using the new XTIDE, I in fact used the old one. I copied the wrong one in the folder where I put the .BIN...
I've just repeated the operation (with the new XTIDE at the right place ) and now everything work as it should. Very sorry..

@flynnsbit, your guess was true

I'm glad everything is going well, don't worry

[spark2k06]

Do you think you could make COM2 connected to /dev/ttyS1 so that it would work with the TCP modem?

I have re-enabled this COM2 feature to /dev/ttyS1, I attach binary, can you check its correct working?

COM2_TTY_S1.png (51.82 KiB) Viewed 11226 times

[kathleen]

Work on my side. At least both com ports are shown during the BIOS post (VTechLaserTurboXT)
The mouse is also working fine on Com1.

COM_Bios_Vtech.png (37 KiB) Viewed 11155 times

[bbond007]

I have re-enabled this COM2 feature to /dev/ttyS1, I attach binary, can you check its correct working?

Yes, it works!

I made First Contact with the 13Th level BBS!

PCXT-FirstContact.png (1.27 MiB) Viewed 11097 times

There is no UART OSD option... so

I'm guessing this is needed in the core to enable the option:

Code: Select all

localparam CONF_STR = {
	"PCXT;UART115200:115200;",

Anyway,

I just manually started the TCP modem emulation via SSH

Code: Select all

#midilink TCP BAUD 9600

Thanks for adding this feature as there are quite a few users of the TCP modem - and NML32 can play online Wordle clones

[thorr]

This is awesome. Does anyone know if there is an Amiga BBS that hosts the game Hack 'n Slash? I used to love playing that game in college. Every day at midnight there was a race to dial in to the BBS at just the right moment so you would get more turns to play for the new day. What about Prodigy?

[bbond007]

This is awesome. Does anyone know if there is an Amiga BBS that hosts the game Hack 'n Slash? I used to love playing that game in college. Every day at midnight there was a race to dial in to the BBS at just the right moment so you would get more turns to play for the new day. What about Prodigy?

This is the best guide I know of --> https://www.telnetbbsguide.com/

[thorr]

That's incredible. There are tons of BBS's to check out. I will have to put this on my ever growing and lengthening to-do list!
For Hack 'n Slash, so far I found this, which is a recreation: https://www.telnetbbsguide.com/bbs/dank ... ack-slash/ and several other possibilities: https://www.telnetbbsguide.com/?s=hack+slash
Edit: This one! https://www.telnetbbsguide.com/bbs/heights-bbs/ Thanks bbond007! I tried it via the web link and it doesn't seem to do much. Oh well, I will work on this later when I have time.

[spark2k06]

There is no UART OSD option... so

I'm guessing this is needed in the core to enable the option:

Code: Select all

localparam CONF_STR = {
	"PCXT;UART115200:115200;",

Right, I forgot that point. I just included it, can you check again that everything is correct?

[jordi]

I have re-enabled this COM2 feature to /dev/ttyS1, I attach binary, can you check its correct working?

Yes, it works!

I made First Contact with the 13Th level BBS!

PCXT-FirstContact.png

There is no UART OSD option... so

I'm guessing this is needed in the core to enable the option:

Code: Select all

localparam CONF_STR = {
	"PCXT;UART115200:115200;",

Anyway,

I just manually started the TCP modem emulation via SSH

Code: Select all

#midilink TCP BAUD 9600

Thanks for adding this feature as there are quite a few users of the TCP modem - and NML32 can play online Wordle clones

I see you used midilink. Do you have a procedure for it?

For dummies

[bbond007]

Right, I forgot that point. I just included it, can you check again that everything is correct?

Working well Thanks!

I see you used midilink. Do you have a procedure for it?

For dummies

With the UART option added to the OSD that is the option for dummies
Just select
UART:MODEM
LINK:TCP
Don't forget to set the BAUD.

Until there is a shared drive like ao486 and Minimig have, its kind of tedious to get little one-off files onto(or off) your image...

Using Procom 2.01, I can now fetch files off my Linux filesystem (and send) the old fashion way of downloading them by typing:

Code: Select all

ATRZ

atrz.png (62.84 KiB) Viewed 10855 times

So for example, I just want MYMENU.EXE as I have just made a new build:

I type 19, But if I wanted to see more files I'd hit [SPACE] or if I wanted to backup I'd hit 'p' and if I wanted to backup a directory I'd hit '-'.

Code: Select all

  [RETURN] / [SPACE] - Next page of results
  "P" - Return to pervious page of results
  "Q" - Quit without making selection
  "-" - change to parent directory 
  

ATHELP will show the "AT" commands which are kind of a mix of real Hayes commands then extra some stuff - like this example.

For the advanced user, the most current documentation for MidiLink is here --> https://github.com/bbond007/MiSTer_Midi ... /README.md

[flynnsbit]

Not sure where to put this so I am going to put it here since this is the build we are using. In working on a PCXT/Tandy pack I've come across a few issues that I need to see if someone can duplicate. The positive here is I am not having any issues with IDE disk mounting, VHDs, etc. Everything seems to be stable there. Super super super nice to have this in place so congrats to all of you that worked on this.

Current issues with latest build above:
1. copying files from a floppy mounted with the PC/AT 3.5MHz will fail with a General failure reading drive A (Abort, Retry....). All other speeds work fine. changing the speed of the core and then hitting retry will fix it. simply mount a floppy and copy the contents to C: to test.

2. EMSTEST.EXE test will fail if you set LTEMM.EXE to either /p:A000 or /p:E000. C000 and D000 will work properly and EMSTEST will pass. You can also see this issue if you allow MYMENU to swap to EMS by running a program from it with either of these set. (note I am setting LTEMM.EXE in config.sys as well as the core option for the EMS frame to match, leaving A000 UMB: Enabled. Enabling A000 or Disabling it had no change to the issue. I've attached the EMSTEST pack here, just run EMSTEST.EXE to verify the issue.

You can hack around this with this config.sys setup:

FILES=40
BUFFERS=30
DOS= HIGH, UMB
DEVICE=C:\USE!UMBS.SYS A000-AFFF D000-EC00
DEVICE=C:\DOSMAX\DOSMAX.EXE /R+ /N+ /P-
DEVICEHIGH=C:\LTEMM\LTEMM.EXE /p:C000 /n /x
REM /z
DEVICEHIGH=C:\DOS\ANSI.SYS
SHELL=c:\DOSMAX\SHELLMAX.com c:\COMMAND.COM C:\ /E:256 /P

Note: I am putting UMBS into A000 and D000-EC00 and then putting LTEMM into C000. Super hacky. This gets you 628K base memory free after loading lfndos, doskey, the shell, ctmouse, etc into high.

I don't know if I am just working around a bug with the memory by moving the problem somewhere else that wouldn't manafest until that memory space is used, but it allowed us to continue building the pack with ems swapping for MyMenu, and lots of apps loaded into high.

[spark2k06]

1. The PC/AT 3.5Mhz equivalent speed is obtained from 25Mhz without cycle accuracy. It also doesn't perform much better than how it was previously set, which was based on 14.318Mhz... so if this starts to give problems and is difficult to resolve, we could consider going back to 14.318Mhz without cycle accuracy as the maximum speed. Although now, with this speed, for example in Monkey Island, animations come out, like the pirate hanging from the lamp in the bar.

2. As for EMS, now A000 cannot be used as EMS memory frame, only C000, D000 or E000 as reflected in the OSD menu. The reason is that some games use that segment to detect the presence of EGA/VGA, and they do it by writing there, so it could overwrite essential content, and the same when used as UMB memory, that's why I also offer the possibility to disable it from the OSD menu.

In addition, the E000 segment cannot be used for EMS either and we have XTIDE in EC00. In order to use it there, XTIDE can only be embedded in the BIOS at offset F000 and writing to EC00 must also be enabled. Ultimately, it is best to use C000 or D000 for EMS, indicating it appropriately in the OSD menu.

[flynnsbit]

1. The PC/AT 3.5Mhz equivalent speed is obtained from 25Mhz without cycle accuracy. It also doesn't perform much better than how it was previously set, which was based on 14.318Mhz... so if this starts to give problems and is difficult to resolve, we could consider going back to 14.318Mhz without cycle accuracy as the maximum speed. Although now, with this speed, for example in Monkey Island, animations come out, like the pirate hanging from the lamp in the bar.

2. As for EMS, now A000 cannot be used as EMS memory frame, only C000, D000 or E000 as reflected in the OSD menu. The reason is that some games use that segment to detect the presence of EGA/VGA, and they do it by writing there, so it could overwrite essential content, and the same when used as UMB memory, that's why I also offer the possibility to disable it from the OSD menu.

In addition, the E000 segment cannot be used for EMS either and we have XTIDE in EC00. In order to use it there, XTIDE can only be embedded in the BIOS at offset F000 and writing to EC00 must also be enabled. Ultimately, it is best to use C000 or D000 for EMS, indicating it appropriately in the OSD menu.

Understood on #1, I just wanted to report the issue. No worries using the lower speeds, they work fine for me.

#2, What is the right config.sys entries now for both UMBS.SYS and LTEMM? The way I did it?

[spark2k06]

Understood on #1, I just wanted to report the issue. No worries using the lower speeds, they work fine for me.

#2, What is the right config.sys entries now for both UMBS.SYS and LTEMM? The way I did it?

Code: Select all

DEVICE=C:\USE!UMBS.SYS A000-AFFF D000-EC00

Using the A000 segment has that small risk that I mention, minimal but there it is... that someone will overwrite it. To avoid that problem, and also that nobody detects anything related to EGA/VGA, I advise you to disable it from the OSD menu and leave this line like that, even if you lose 64Kb of UMB memory:

Code: Select all

DEVICE=C:\USE!UMBS.SYS D000-EC00

But as I say, the risk is minimal, and it could be left that way too:

Code: Select all

DEVICE=C:\USE!UMBS.SYS A000-B000 D000-EC00

Setting B000 does not imply that this segment or its beginning will be used for anything, but it marks the limit where it should no longer be used... therefore, B000 is better than AFFF.

[flynnsbit]

Okay, cool. I'll test that out. Anyone tried QRAM yet?

[thera34]

I have re-enabled this COM2 feature to /dev/ttyS1, I attach binary, can you check its correct working?

Yes, it works!

I made First Contact with the 13Th level BBS!

PPP also works, same guide as here: https://mister-devel.github.io/MkDocs_M ... s-on-ao486

Launching the epppd is a bit different, as it uses COM2:

Code: Select all

epppd com2 115200 local

[flynnsbit]

Understood on #1, I just wanted to report the issue. No worries using the lower speeds, they work fine for me.

#2, What is the right config.sys entries now for both UMBS.SYS and LTEMM? The way I did it?

Code: Select all

DEVICE=C:\USE!UMBS.SYS A000-AFFF D000-EC00

Using the A000 segment has that small risk that I mention, minimal but there it is... that someone will overwrite it. To avoid that problem, and also that nobody detects anything related to EGA/VGA, I advise you to disable it from the OSD menu and leave this line like that, even if you lose 64Kb of UMB memory:

Code: Select all

DEVICE=C:\USE!UMBS.SYS D000-EC00

But as I say, the risk is minimal, and it could be left that way too:

Code: Select all

DEVICE=C:\USE!UMBS.SYS A000-B000 D000-EC00

Setting B000 does not imply that this segment or its beginning will be used for anything, but it marks the limit where it should no longer be used... therefore, B000 is better than AFFF.

Code: Select all

DEVICE=C:\USE!UMBS.SYS A000-B000 D000-EC00

With this setup above, what would you use for the LTEMM.exe page frame address?

[spark2k06]

With this setup above, what would you use for the LTEMM.exe page frame address?

C000

[flynnsbit]

1. The PC/AT 3.5Mhz equivalent speed is obtained from 25Mhz without cycle accuracy. It also doesn't perform much better than how it was previously set, which was based on 14.318Mhz... so if this starts to give problems and is difficult to resolve, we could consider going back to 14.318Mhz without cycle accuracy as the maximum speed. Although now, with this speed, for example in Monkey Island, animations come out, like the pirate hanging from the lamp in the bar.

More testing on this, floppy will fail unless CPU set to either 4.77 or 7.16. Good for people to know this.

Making good progress on a pack build for Tandy.

[venice]

Hi@all,
many many thanks for all the work you do to get this core working !

I am struggeling directly with the Quick Guide from here: https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/PCXT_MiSTer#quick-start

I have removed all PCXT configs from my MiSTer to start from Zero.
I run Update_All to get the latest MiSTer from the 24-11-22 and the latest PCXT Core, also from the 24-11-22.

I downloaded today (25-11-2022) the full PCXT Repository from MiSTer-Devel as ZIP and extracted the following files..

Code: Select all

\games\PCXT\hd_image.zip\Freedos_HD.img (had to change the extension to vhd to get it detected by the Menu)
\SW\ROMs\ide_xtl.rom (md5 26be1c20dec0d626b574f0ef82febf62)
\SW\ROMs\pcxt_micro8088.rom (md5 408f5825ed469e73ec4e54fe7c98f2b0)

I moved the files to MiSTer \sdcard\games\PCXT\ and started the Core.
I followed the Quick Guide from the PCXT Repository and got the following shown...

IMG_8532.JPG (159.28 KiB) Viewed 10314 times

IMG_8533.JPG (150.19 KiB) Viewed 10314 times

But here the system stops, the cursor is blinking but nothing more happens.
Any Idea why? Do I miss something .

Maybe someone can explain
Note 2: It is also important to update all ROMs based on the new XTIDE BIOS, and located in the folder "..\SW\ROMs"
to me. Do I have to update some ROM files manually?

Btw, there is a second "pcxt_micro8088.rom" within the ZIP of the freedos VHD which has another checksum.

Thanks again for this Cool-Core

[jca]

Thanks for all the work you did on this core.
When it initially came I made some tests but after that, seeing the pace of development, I decided to wait and see.
Today I decided to give it a try with my MISTer up to date.
I must say that I am also struggling but a lot more than Venice.
I used the HDD image and the BIOS from the zip and these are the only 2 files I have.
I followed the instructions from the Quick Start Guide.
I had to rename the HDD image to .VHD.
Contrary to Venice the core does not find anything on Master at 300h and I cannot boot from C:.
On the other hand I can boot from a DOS 6.22 floppy, the same image I use on AO486.
I am at a loss.

Edit:
I replaced the BIOS by the one used by Venice, it is a more recent BIOS. Guess what? I get the same result as Venice.
As I could boot MSDOS 6.22 from floppy I created an empty VHD, used FDISK to create a parttion which requires a reboot. The core tries to boot from C and says that there is no operating system but does not boot from A and I cannot figure out how to make boot from A while C is mounted.
I also tried using a HD from AO465 but it says Booting C, no .............. and stays there.

[jordi]

Hi@all,
many many thanks for all the work you do to get this core working !

I am struggeling directly with the Quick Guide from here: https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/PCXT_MiSTer#quick-start

I have removed all PCXT configs from my MiSTer to start from Zero.
I run Update_All to get the latest MiSTer from the 24-11-22 and the latest PCXT Core, also from the 24-11-22.

I downloaded today (25-11-2022) the full PCXT Repository from MiSTer-Devel as ZIP and extracted the following files..

Code: Select all

\games\PCXT\hd_image.zip\Freedos_HD.img (had to change the extension to vhd to get it detected by the Menu)
\SW\ROMs\ide_xtl.rom (md5 26be1c20dec0d626b574f0ef82febf62)
\SW\ROMs\pcxt_micro8088.rom (md5 408f5825ed469e73ec4e54fe7c98f2b0)

I moved the files to MiSTer \sdcard\games\PCXT\ and started the Core.
I followed the Quick Guide from the PCXT Repository and got the following shown...

IMG_8532.JPG
IMG_8533.JPG


But here the system stops, the cursor is blinking but nothing more happens.
Any Idea why? Do I miss something .

Maybe someone can explain
Note 2: It is also important to update all ROMs based on the new XTIDE BIOS, and located in the folder "..\SW\ROMs"
to me. Do I have to update some ROM files manually?

Btw, there is a second "pcxt_micro8088.rom" within the ZIP of the freedos VHD which has another checksum.

Thanks again for this Cool-Core

Hi! I did the quickstart! I'll try soon this freedos version and I'll come back to you . I hope it's not an incompatibility with free DOS