This is the update/release/bug thread for the FAT32 Loader for MyIDE-II

The FAT32 Loader is a quick way to load XEX/COM/EXE games, ATR games and some ROM/RAM Images, directly from a FAT32 partition on your CF card.

Features

• Supports loading of XEX/COM/EXE games, ATR disk images and 8k/16k/"MyIDE-II Native" ROM/RAM Images.
• Supports hot swapping, just take out the card and replace it, no rebooting/reloading required.
• Joystick and keyboard selection, various hotkeys for faster directory navigation.
• Support for sub-directories and directory navigation.
• Full support for long filenames.
• Full support for directory sorting. (see notes)
• Parsing and detection of broken/corrupted EXE files.
• Automatic installation of OSB OS for Atari 800 only disks/executables.
• Support for hiding files/directories from browsing.
• Support for 'self programming' MyIDE-II Boot Flash from FAT32.

Setting up a card for use with MyBIOS and FAT32

You can use a card only formatted with FAT32, as you would create on a blank card in your PC.

You can also use the MyBIOS init program to create a MyBIOS partition and a separate FAT32 partition, so both can be used on the same card. Please see the MyBIOS documentation for instructions on setting up your card this way.

Once you have a FAT32 partition on the card, you can just deposit the files you want to use with the FAT32 loader there, then put it in your MyIDE-II.

Navigating the On-Screen menu

Joystick Navigation

Up/Down - Move lightbar up/down one entry.
Right/Left - Move lightbar up/down and entire screen.
Fire - Launch selected file.

Keyboard Navigation

Up/Down Arrows - Move lightbar up/down one entry.
Right/Left Arrows - Move lightbar up/down and entire screen.
Enter/Space - Launch selected file.
"ESC" - Returns to FAT32 root directory.
"Delete/Backspace" - Up to parent directory. (same as selecting ".." in a subdirectory)
">" - Move to end of current directory list.
"<" - Move to beginning of current directory list.
"O" - Execute highlighted item with OSB compatibility ROMs, even if not marked "[OSB]".
"Ctrl+O" - Execute highlighted item *without* OSB compatibility ROMs, even if marked "[OSB]".
"B" - Execute highlighted ATR disk image with BASIC enabled, regardless of filename tags.
"S" - Sort/Resort the currently loaded directory.
"Q" - Quit Program and Restart Cartridge
"Ctrl+F" - Program MyIDE-II Boot Flash using highlighted BIN/ROM image as source.

Notes on hot-swapping CF cards

MyIDE-II has native hardware support for CF swapping and media detection.

The FAT32 loader was written to take advantage of this. To 'hot swap' from one card to another in the menu, simply pull out the old one and insert the new one.

Notes on long filename and directory support

Directories containing more than 50 files will NOT be automatically alpha-sorted when loaded.

Sorting hundreds of long strings on a 1.79mhz CPU takes a LONG TIME. Just loading them can take awhile if you use huge directories.

For this reason, try to keep your directories to less than 50 files, use sub-directories to catagorize them.

If you want to force the sort of a directory that wasn't automatically sorted, press 'S'.

If you really want large directories and really want them sorted in alphabetical order, I suggest you use one of the many free utilities that will pre-sort the actual FAT32 directory entries on the card into the order you want.

The maximum filename/path length is currently set at 256 characters to preserve RAM.

Notes on "OSB" 800 compatibility

The FAT32 loader will automatically install and configure the Atari 800 OS for any COM/XEX/EXE file that has the tag "[osb]" or "-osb" in the filename.

You can force the loading of the OSB OS for any executable by pressing "o" on the keyboard to launch it, instead of Enter/Fire/Space.

You can force disable loading of OSB for an OSB tagged file by pressing "ctrl+o" on the keyboard to launch it, instead of Enter/Fire/Space.

You must have the following Atari 800 ROM images in the root directory of your FAT32 partition:

osb.bin
mathpack.bin

These files are available in a ZIP file attached to this posting.

If you don't want these files (or any other files/directories) to show up in the directory listing while browsing, you should mark those files as 'hidden' using your OS of choice.

Notes on ATR image loading

Supports single/double density disk images up to 512kB.

A loading indicator will appear across the bottom of the screen when the OS is loading from the disk image stored in the MyIDE-II application RAM.

Will automatically enable BASIC for any disk image tagged with "[bas]", "[basic]" or "-bas" in the filename.

Images running from the FAT32 loader are READ ONLY, the software must play nice with having the OS in RAM and it must not bypass the OS disk routines.

Using MyBIOS for disk images is a much better way to load disk images, using the image space functionality, which will allow read/write access, better compatibility, etc.

The ATR function of the FAT32 loader will always just be a convenient item for quickly playing a few ATR games that are compatible with having the OS in RAM and don't need to save changes to disk. For more demanding use of disk images from CF, use MyBIOS w/ the Image Space functionality.

Notes on "ROM Image" loading

The following types of ROM images are supported:

MyIDE-II Native RAM/ROM, up to 512kB. (Currently only SDX exists, filename must end in ".rom")
16kB cartridge ROM images (must end in .rom and be exactly 16kB)
8kB cartridge ROM images (must end in .rom)
"R16" ROM/RAM image (must end in ".r16", see notes below for how this image type works)

Note: Any file type that accepts ".rom" will also accept ".bin" as a file extension, they are treated as identical.

MyIDE-II was not designed to simulate legacy bank-switching formats, other ROM images will not work with the standard MyIDE-II core.

Notes on MyIDE-II Flash Programming

As of version 20130110 the FAT32 loader supports 'self programming' of the onboard boot flash using a image stored on the FAT32 partition as the source.

To create a compatible flash image, load your source workbook into Maxflash Studio and click:

File -> Export -> Export Collection to BIN Cartridge Image -> MyIDE-II CompactFlash Cartridge

Save the resulting BIN image to the FAT32 partition of your Compact Flash card.

Insert the card into your MyIDE-II cartridge and start the FAT32 loader, version 20130110 or higher.

(Hint: You can load the newest FAT32 loader using the old version if you need to 'boost' your FAT32 loader version to get it working the first time)

Select the MyIDE-II Flash Image (.BIN) that you created and press Ctrl-F to start the flash programming process.

WARNING ABOUT FLASH PROGRAMMING - READ THIS FIRST BEFORE TESTING

The flash programming procedure ERASES the boot flash of your MyIDE-II cartridge.

If the programming process fails or is interrupted, your boot flash could be left in a partially programmed and potentially unbootable state.

For this reason I recommend you do not beta-test this feature unless you have a backup flash programming method on hand such as a SIO2PC setup or a Maxflash USB programmer, both of which can be used to restore the boot flash should it be corrupted/erased.

To Do List

Search for a file within a directory.
Read optional .ini file matching a particular executable.
Multi-disk sets for ATR loader

Bugs

Please report any bugs you find here, or via e-mail at classics@atarimax.com.

Note: Not much can be done about ATR images that won't load, many will just be plain incompatible with a software copy of the OS running.

MyBIOS "R2" ROM OS Compatibility

If you have replaced your Atari OS ROM with the MyIDE "R2" ROM OS, then you *MUST* upgrade to version 4.8.05 or higher to use this version of the FAT32 loader. It is no longer compatible with older versions.

This only applies if you have removed/replaced your OS ROM chip with Sijmen's custom OS. If you're not absolutely sure this applies to you, it doesn't.

Downloading

A ready to use workbook containing this version should also be available in the "Shipping Workbook" thread, or you can add the attached XEX to your own workbooks.

Do they not show up at all in the menu, or do they not load when selected?

Can you post a zip file containing these files, or point me to the ZIP file you mention?

Steve

I have it sorted out now. I droped all my rom folders together and all not on the ROOT folder. I am down to 8 folders now and the Fat32 loader is seeing all the folders. It must have been a folder problem.

Awesome loader you made

Thanks!

Uploading FAT32 loader v20130102.

Updates:

Pressing "B" will launch an ATR with BASIC enabled, regardless of any tags present or not present.
Smaller more compatible XEX loader.
New faster ATR loader, should be more compatible than old version as well.
ATR loading indicator bar was causing flickering in some games, this has been resolved.

Enjoy!

Steve

Going to do some MyBIOS work today.
New year, new updates!

BOOT-SDX will be removed reading the progress on AtariAge.
I'll ask the SDX-guys for a 256k version too.

Users can use your loader to load the SDX-rom-image.
This will save the hassle of crc-checking their customized SDX.
I will upload some SDX-images for standard-64k and >64k users and with MYIDE2.SYS

Perhaps some improvement of the R1/F1 MyBIOS to support the flashportion of MyIDE-II.
I'll change some routines to support upto 256k cartridges running from protected SRAM.

Oh goody goody goody
Sijmen.

[EDIT]
Steve, can you add a ESC-function if nothing found or the user wants to go back to the cartridge menu?

Updated the download to version 20130105.

Changes of note:

Added "Q"uit option. Causes program to exit and return to cartridge menu.
Added a new ATR disk loader. Loads slightly slower within the menu, but more programs should run.
Added compatibility for MyBIOS ROM OS "R2" versions 4.8.05 and higher, see note above if you are using the "R2" ROM OS.
Pressing RESET within the FAT32 loader will cause it to re-initialize and restart.

Updated the download to version 20130107.

Changes of note:

Added support for ".r16" rom/ram image. Same startup profile as a 16k ROM image, just with starting banks at the end of the image if its larger than 16k.
Images with extensions ".bin" are treated the same as ones named ".rom"

Updated to version 20130110.

Added the ability for the FAT32 Loader to 'self program' the MyIDE-II Boot Flash using an image found on the FAT32 partition.

Please see the information above in the first post regarding using this feature.

Steve

Crossfire uses the key-table from OSB.
That starts at $FEF6.

Not present in XL/XE nor MyBIOS.
Some keys give response, but only because the mapped value correspond with
the keys used in the game.

So you have to patch the game to make it work on XL/XE or MyBIOS.
(attached)

Updated FAT32 loader to 20130224.

Added a fix for a bug reported where adding a file to a FAT32 directory might cause all files added afterward to be invisible to the FAT32 loader.

Steve

Bug in fat32loader when 2 directory name have the first char different at a space.
Example real directory names:
"Tower"
"Tower Toppler"

when entering the "Tower Toppler" directory the listing is from the "Tower" directory instead.

If instead the different character is not a space it all works:
"Something something 1"
"Something something 2"

is OK but:

"Something something"
"Something something 2"
is NOT.

Is any further work being done on this? I'd really love to see support for multi disk sets.

You can load multi-disk with the aid of the MyBIOS.