Force your Atari STe/Falcon to be a virtuell slave!...

800dj info-screen
 

You have probably heard that PC-users use their hardware as a virtuell drive for XL. On XL-side you dont realize that the PC+his Harddisk is not a "real 8-Bit Hardware"! and thats a dream!. The Hardware/Softwarecombination which you need is SIO2PC-Interface to connect XL via SIO-cable to the modem(seriell)-port. The APE-Software is watching the XL-Bus and transfering the commands from XL-side...(well, I have no PC so I can not describe APE actually...take a look onto the APE-Homepage...)

I was always searching for such a tool for my ST or Amiga... But unfortunatly just found some software on the XL-Pool-CD-Room. As I am not a Hardware-guru I could not build such a simple-Interface... I plaid then around with the STXformer (XL-Emulator) and there was a nice dok found in that archive, how to build a Xformer-cable. You need NO additional cuircits, so even I could build it! ;) This was magic watching the ST accessing 1050 ;) But this was not the "real"-feeling I wanted to have...because you have always to start the software and transfer the files manually on ST side...NO booting or something else on XL-SIDE was possible...

Then came my SIO2PC-interface... I was thinking after using the STXformer for more than a year now as a file-transfer-machine that this hardware-module could be the solution I was searching for...

Following advantage could I see for the STXformer3.0-Solution:

  • XFD-compatible (of course... XFD is Xformer-Format!)
  • Sort of virtuell Harddisk (XHD-format)
  • stable sio-routines
  • easy-to-build cable 

    • Disadvantages:

  • Xformer is a XL-Emulator... so you need XL-Software (esp. DOSes) to run stable on the xformer...f.e. mydos,spartados for the virtuell harddisk...
  • the 1050 is the SLAVE of the STXformer (and for ST) not otherwise...
  • Xformer sux on non 8mhz machines (falcon)
  • 1050 connected to printer-port (parallel) ("non-standard")

    • Haleluja 800XL Deejay V2.41

    A dream comes true... I got the SIO2PC-Interface (well, theoreticly I should call it now SIO2ST-interface... ;) ) and found the ST-program DJ800 !!! THIS Software is actually that what I (and maybe other?) have searching for. DJ is a SERVER for virtuell-Drives!!! (1050/XF551 Diskdrive Emulator) you can load/save/boot software from your ST-Harddisk (ST-fileformat or DJ-virtuell-disks) without Software on your XL. You can even Boot your XL without any diskdrive (ok... you have to connect your ST via SIO2ST)!!!

    Here are some screen-shots taken from my Atari ST-Monitor (640x400x2)

    main menu

    The picture below shows the virtuell disks which are loaded by starting DJ

    It is a dream for software-coders which such a toll... I don`t want to use another software/hardware connected to my lovely 130XE. If your machine-code destroys the dos... no problem... just a few mousclicks and you can reboot your system without hardware(1050)-killing disk flipping operations... ;) btw. the diskimages are loaded faster than via a normal 1050 because the sio-routines run in full 19200 baud and without moving the disk-read-head around... the first time I heard the "normal" sio-sound but produced by dj-routines... something told me "hey... something is missing" and that was the time-lag between 2 tracks on the 1050...

    button Download 800XLDJ.zip (372 KB)
    This archive contains software versions for both Atari ST and the Atari Falcon. Also included are the following virtual disks.

    The reason to include "total daze" is to show you how well dj works since the demo uses custom SIO routines.

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    Last changes: 24 Mar 1998

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    email_icon HeAvEn, Member of TaquarT