SMSQ/2 on Atari

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Derek_Stewart
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Re: SMSQ/2 on Atari

Post by Derek_Stewart »

stephen_usher wrote:
Derek_Stewart wrote:This driver is built into the TT, which is probably why the emulator recognises, the QWA file on the SCSI hard disk option.
That's actually not true.

The TT's ROM only has enough intelligence to scan the SCSI bus (as it does the ACSI bus, which is a simplified version of SCSI) and read the boot sector of disk ID 0. After this, as with ACSI, it relies upon the hard disk driver software, such as AHDI, ICD, HDDriver or PP's driver.

The MegaSTe only has ACSI but has an internal host adapter so that it connect to a SCSI drive. It's merely an STe in a TT case with a VME bus added plus a CPU booster (16MHz + cache).

As I mentioned, ACSI is actually a simplified SCSI bus and the host adapter acts as a translator. Early host adapters were simple and dumb.

Of course, once SMSQ/E boots it throws all of that away and relies upon its own drivers for the hardware.
Hi,

Thank you for the information, but why does the QLE.WIN file attached to SCSI 0 in the Hatari Disk setup only read and boot up when the System is set to TT, rather any other option on the system option.
Last edited by Derek_Stewart on Thu Mar 07, 2024 9:06 am, edited 1 time in total.


Regards,

Derek
Derek_Stewart
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Re: SMSQ/2 on Atari

Post by Derek_Stewart »

pjw wrote:I guess the "proper" way to do this would be to take the Atari virtual hard disk and partition that with fdisk to create the required QLWA partitions. Getting the stuff over from a QXL.WIN system after that could be a fiddly job, as it would require an intermediate medium both sides can talk to. But at least it wouldnt be impossible.
There is a pre-made Atari hard disk file on the Hatari web site, I will give it a try.


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Derek
Derek_Stewart
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Re: SMSQ/2 on Atari

Post by Derek_Stewart »

guibrush wrote:Hi,
I managed to find a SMS2 cartridge!
https://imgur.com/a/I9N7275

My problem is that I have no idea how I can dump this. Did you have any idea?
What do you mean "dump"?


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Derek
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guibrush
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Re: SMSQ/2 on Atari

Post by guibrush »

Derek_Stewart wrote: There is a pre-made Atari hard disk file on the Hatari web site, I will give it a try.
Nice! you would be my savior, i tried for a long time, but i couldn't. I probably didn't use the right tools. I hope you can sort it :-)

Derek_Stewart wrote: What do you mean "dump"?
I imagine, making a copy of the contents of the cartridge to clone it. I'm bouncing off what QLvsJaguar said in his last video, where he said he was planning to dump this cartridge.

The cartridge that I found does not belong to me and I have no possibility to buy it, it belongs to the Bolo museum in Switzerland. I can however access and use it on site, what I did yesterday late.


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guibrush
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Re: SMSQ/2 on Atari

Post by guibrush »

Derek_Stewart wrote:Hi,

I have the Hatari emulator booting into SMSQ/E v3.37, in glorius monochrome.

I had to change the keyboard options to symoblic code, as the _ does not work if it is selected.

If a ST or DOS disk image is attached to thevDidknDrive, SMSQ/E can read the disk image. But a disk image created on Qemulator can be read in.

I can not read a read a hard drive with a QWA container, I used QLE.WIN

Interestingly, the Hatari v2.1.0 from the Linux Mint repository, does not have a SCSI option in the hard drive setup. But the compiled Windows Hatari v2.3.0 has the SCSI option.

The windows version runs under Wine, so is working okay.
Didn't saw this one, sorry
You are at the same level as me, + the keyboard option (didnt had the idea to change to symbolic code). i wasn't able to attach the .win container (I tried with the .win file that I use on my real QL that came in the QLE distribution). The MacOS version don't have the SCSI option too, and the command line suggested failed too.

I hope you have more luck than me :-)


EDIT

Ha, you managed to boot the .win container, so cool!

So, if I understand right, now you are trying to put the content of the .win file onto a HDD image, so we can simply write it on a SD and be able to use it on a real ST with something like a Ultrasatan?


stephen_usher
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Re: SMSQ/2 on Atari

Post by stephen_usher »

Derek_Stewart wrote: Hi,

Thank you for tge information, but why does the QLE.WIN file attached to SCSI 0 in the Hatari Disk setup only read and boot up when the System is set to TT, rather any other option on the system option.
Well, none of the others had the SCSI chip so it wouldn't be emulated in Hatari. You'd need to attach it to ACSI ID0 instead.


Derek_Stewart
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Re: SMSQ/2 on Atari

Post by Derek_Stewart »

stephen_usher wrote:
Derek_Stewart wrote: Hi,

Thank you for the information, but why does the QLE.WIN file attached to SCSI 0 in the Hatari Disk setup only read and boot up when the System is set to TT, rather any other option on the system option.
Well, none of the others had the SCSI chip so it wouldn't be emulated in Hatari. You'd need to attach it to SCSI ID0 instead.
Okay will give it a try.
Last edited by Derek_Stewart on Thu Mar 07, 2024 9:06 am, edited 1 time in total.


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Derek
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guibrush
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Re: SMSQ/2 on Atari

Post by guibrush »

@ Derek:
Did you find a way to create the HDD image?


Derek_Stewart
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Re: SMSQ/2 on Atari

Post by Derek_Stewart »

Hi,

I am struggling a little with the creation of QDOS partition in an Atari file system.

I can create a QDOS floppy disk, with a programme by Dave Walker called QXL_FORMAT. This QL programme converts a MSDOS or GEM formatted disk or disk image to a QDOS format. This was recommended by a QL colleague.

I have to use this as, the SMSQ/E FORMAT command fails to create a QDOS disk from a GEM formatted disk, like in QPC2.

I have tried to attach a pre-made Atari Hard Disk partitioned image of 80Mb in size to Hatari, ( on Hatari web site), which the emulator loads up and assigns GEM drive letters.

Starting up SMSQ/E from a floppy disk image, does run SMSQ/E v3.37, with full access to all the commands. But I can not seem to get SMSQ/E to recognise the Atari partitions to format as QDOS.

The Atari Hard disk image, which has 4 partitions, is number 0 - 3.on the ASCI bus.

So for SMSQ/E to access the partition 0, the WIN_DRIVE command much be used to assign the partition to WIN1, for example:

Syntax: WIN_DRIVE win_no, target, unit, partition

So for first partition which is:
Target:0, Unit: 0, parition: 0

WIN_DRIVE 1,0,0,0
WIN_FORMAT 1,0 : REMark Make WIN1 available for formatting
FORMAT win1_

This fails, with the error message: "Medium Check Failed"

Clearly, I am not understanding the Atari disk partitioning system. So I will have a look at older QL Emulator documentation from Jochen Merz, there might be more information there.


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Derek
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Re: SMSQ/2 on Atari

Post by pjw »

Derek,
I believe I used to know this stuff, but it is now so long ago, I dont remember the details any more. IIRC you need to create a suitable partition table on the hard disk first. I seem to recall using a version of a program called fdisk for this. The partition table is located in sector 0 of the hard disk. You may be able to "hack" such a partition table yourself if you can access sector 0 and write to it. The following code may not work without some prior preparation of the (virtual ACSI) hard disk, but it may give some indication of what needs to be done:

Code: Select all

100 REMark QWA Partition Viewer
110 REMark ©pjwitte 2oo2
120 REMark V0.01
130 :
140 drv = 1
150 pid$ = CHR$($60) & CHR$(2)
160 qwa$ = CHR$(1) & 'QWA'
170 swp$ = CHR$(1) & 'SWP'
180 lnx$ = CHR$(1) & 'LNX'
190 xgm$ = CHR$(1) & 'XGM'
200 part$ = qwa$ & swp$ & lnx$ & xgm$
210 :
220 CLS
230 IF NOT drv THEN
240  c0 = FOPEN('win1_prg_hd_inf_sec0')
250  ERT c0
260  s$ = FSTRG$(#c0, -1, 512)
270 ELSE
280  c0 = FOPEN('win' & drv & '_*d2d')
290  ERT c0
300  GET#c0\ 0; s$
310 END IF
320 CLOSE#c0
330 IF s$(1 TO 2) <> pid$ THEN
340  PRINT 'Drive not recognised'
350  ERT -12
360 END IF
370 p = $1C6 + 1
380 FOR i% = 1 TO 4
390  pt = s$(p TO p + 3) INSTR part$
400  PRINT 'Partition'! i%! 'is ';
410  SELect ON pt
420   = 0: PRINT 'not recognised'
430   = 1: PRINT 'QWA'
440   = 5: PRINT 'SWP'
450   = 9: PRINT 'LNX'
460   = 13: PRINT 'XGM'
470   END SELect
480  PRINT 'Start sector:'! LONG(s$(p + 4 TO p + 7))
490  PRINT 'Size in bytes:'! LONG(s$(p + 8 TO p + 11))
500  p = p + 12
505  PRINT
510 END FOR i%
I made a copies of my partition tables at the time. That is what is referred to as 'win1_prg_hd_inf_sec0'. Ie if you set drv to 0 is simply simulates reading a partition table by reading a filed copy of some sector 0 instead.
This is what a typical partition table looks like (This one from my Q60, ie there is no GEM partition here):

Code: Select all

*d2d
sector 0 is partition table

01c6    dc.b 1
01c7    QWA
01ca    start sector
01ce    size in bytes
01d2    dc.b 1
01d3    QWA
01d6    start sector
01da    size in bytes
01de    dc.b 1
01bf    SWP
01e2    start sector
01e6    size in bytes
01ea    dc.b 1
01eb    LNX
01ee    start sector
01f2    size in bytes
....
0200    end

sector  n + 1 = QLWA FAT
So at the QWA start sector, thats where youd find the familar QLWA header indicating a QL hard disk partion.
Im sorry I dont have time to fiddle with this myself just now, but good luck if you do!


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