SMSQ/2 on Atari

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Derek_Stewart
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Re: SMSQ/2 on Atari

Post by Derek_Stewart »

Hi Per,

Thank you for the infotmation.

I used to create hard disk partition on the W60 eith a programme called atari-fdisk.

But atari-fdisk used be available in most Linux distros, only seems to be available for Gentoo linux.

The fdisk dupplied with Linux now does not understand Atari partitions.

But it deems as you have confirmed that a SMSQ/E partition should have a QWA partition identifier.


Regards,

Derek
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guibrush
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Re: SMSQ/2 on Atari

Post by guibrush »

thank you verry much for the update, this is much appreciated. I'm glad that the community still have people like you wanting to go further to preserve all this knowledge.


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pjw
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Re: SMSQ/2 on Atari

Post by pjw »

I thought Id have a wee fiddle after all, and so spent a fruitless
hour gaining nothing but (painful) experience:

I set up the Hatari virtual hard disk and copied what remains of my
old setup to it. Everything seemed fine, even Calamus loaded and ran,
but SMSQE337 would not boot. It hung forever on the memory test. Id
not made any changes to the Hatari settings, AFAIK. The only change
was about the virtual hard disk, so there was no reason it shouldnt
work as well as it did last time I tried, about a week ago.

I thought maybe the program had become corrupted, so I decided to
install a new copy. You cant just write to a virtual hard disk from
outside, so I thought the simplest would be to just copy it onto a
floppy and boot from there. I then stumbled into the floppy puzzle
house:

Using a USB floppy drive I inserted a QL formatted DD disk intending
to format it as MSDOS. But no, Windows couldnt see any floppy disk at
all. Switching over to QPC2, that same floppy was just fine! But thats
no good as I was hoping to boot SMSQ/E from GEM and I seemed to recall
that Ataris could just about manage to read MSDOS disks, although
certainly not Qdos ones. So I booted my Linux laptop thinking maybe I
could format it there, but that too freaked out on the floppy disk and
refused to mount it. Luckily, I found an old disk that I hadnt
formatted to Qdos format, and so, using QPC2 on Wine, I copied
SMSQ.PRG to it.

It turns out Hatari doesnt do real floppies - or at least I couldnt
find a way - only virtual ones. Damn! So I created one of those. Atari
formatted, of course. I attached that to QPC2 with FLP_DRIVE and, lo
and behold! copied SMSQ.PRG to it without any problems. Hatari couldnt
see that a new file had arrived on the floppy without me exiting the
emulation and starting it up again, but there it was!

So, after all that kerfuffle, hoping my troubles were over at last, I
clicked on SMSQ.PRG, but sadly, no luck; the program hangs in the same
place as before. I tried SMSQ/E V3.36 too, but the result was the
same. So Ive packed it in for now. I'll have to revert to the initial
conditions and try to see where things go wrong.

Great to see that SMSQ/E natively handles MSDOS, Atari, and Qdos
formats, where the big boys just sniff at a disk and if they dont like
the smell, just give up and send you off to Amazon to buy a new one,
or whatever the idea is..


Per
dont be happy. worry
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Derek_Stewart
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Re: SMSQ/2 on Atari

Post by Derek_Stewart »

Hi Per,

I run Hatari with SMSQ/E v3.37 from the SMSQ/E binaries file downloaded from Wolgang web site.

The Hatari setup is:

System: STE
CPU: 68000, 32Mhz
Ram: 8Mb
Rom: emutos-512k-1.0.1
Atari Screen: Mono, 2 Colour, 640x400
Keyboard: Scancode selected
GDOS Drive: /home/derek/GDOS/

I used a Linux setup so the Gdos drive is a folder in my home directory, where Atari files can be stored without using Atari disk partition image files.

I save a copy of SMSQE.PRG to the GDOS Drive.

Starting up Hatari, gives a C icon to the GDOS drive and opening the C drive, I double click the SMSQE.PRG gile. SMSQ/E starts up eith a long ram test in monochrome 640x400 screen size.

To QDOS disks, a blank Atari disk image has to be made, from the Hatari Floppy Disk menu. The Atari disk image has to be converted with Dave Walker's 'QXLFORMAT" programme.

As I mentioned earlier, this is quite clumbersome, I had hoped the Atari QL emulator would access the Atari Disk Controller directly. Maybe I am going this wrong.

I will upload a QDOS disk image with the required software.


Regards,

Derek
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pjw
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Re: SMSQ/2 on Atari

Post by pjw »

Hi Derek,
Thanks for that. As I described, I had SMSQ/E up and running last time I tried. The object of the exercize today was to set up a QLWA disk inside the Atari virtual disk, but for some reason SMSQ/E didnt start up at all. I'll try some more next week, perhaps, if the spirit moves me.
No need to process Atari floppies - virtual or real - in any way: SMSQ/E can read them directly! Just attach your virtual Atari floppy to QPC2 (or, presumably, any SMSQ/E-capable emulator) an' Bob's yer uncle. You need to re-boot (not only reset!) Hatari to re-read the floppy afterwards if you made any changes on the SMSQ/E side.


Per
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Derek_Stewart
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Re: SMSQ/2 on Atari

Post by Derek_Stewart »

Hi Per,

I did get the emulator reading QWA files using the TT mode in the System option.

But, I think without any colour, it is not as good as other emulators.

As I have mentioned, the Q68 in 1024x768 Mode 4 is a very nice QVME style display, which runs most software.
Last edited by Derek_Stewart on Thu Mar 07, 2024 9:05 am, edited 1 time in total.


Regards,

Derek
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pjw
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Re: SMSQ/2 on Atari

Post by pjw »

Derek_Stewart wrote:Hi Per,

I did get the emulator reading QWA files usingbthe TT mode in tge System option.
I dont understand how thats possible. I'll have to try it some day.
But, I think eithout any colour, it is not as good as other emulators.
I only want to use it for testing certain software in mono mode.
As I have mentioned, the Q68 in 1024x768 Mode 4 is a very nice QVME style display, which runs most software.
I prefer hicolor, for which Q68, sadly, is rather slow. But ok for some things - like Qombi ;)


Per
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guibrush
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Re: SMSQ/2 on Atari

Post by guibrush »

Looks like QLvsJaguar will try to make a hardfile for SMSQ/2 on the ST too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEwjvXgn3bY

Did you go further in your experiments?


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RalfR
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Re: SMSQ/2 on Atari

Post by RalfR »

Would be good, if Urs scans the Reference Manual.


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Derek_Stewart
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Re: SMSQ/2 on Atari

Post by Derek_Stewart »

Hi,

I am sorry for the spelling mistake, I was entering the message on my Android Moble phone.

I can get the Hatari emulator to read and write to floppy disk images, by converting a pre-formatted Atari Disk image, with a QL programme called QXL_FORMAT, by Dave Walker. I will look for more information on this application.

The SMS2 cartridge, I have never seen, only in magazine articles, I think the SMS2 system was sold by Furst Ltd and maybe still copyright. But I did have a beta test copy of a floppy disk version, I tested on an Atari STE in the 1990s, I will see if I can find the disks and see if they are readable after 20 years. I did try to buy a copy of the SMS2 ROM based system,in 1990s, but the representitive in question, did not want to complete the sale.

There was an article in Atari ST User or ST Format, it certainly looked good. I would still buy a SMS2 Rom now,


Regards,

Derek
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