CHAPTER 12

Boot Software Formats


     There are three ways which programs may be booted (loaded
     automatically upon power-up):
     
      From the disk drive
     
      From the cassette recorder
     
      From a ROM cartridge
     
     
     DISK BOOTED SOFTWARE
     
     The disk drive is the primary source for programs (other than the
     BASIC interpreter in the computer ROM).  A program booted from disk
     must be a machine language program.  Secondly, the program is arranged
     on disk in a different manner from the DOS files.
     
     When the computer is first turned on, it will attempt to read a
     program starting at sector one in disk drive one.  The exceptions are,
     if a cartridge prevents the disk boot process or the [START] key is
     pressed.  The program is expected to use all 128 bytes of each
     sector.
     
     FORMAT OF A DISK BOOTED PROGRAM
     
     A disk booted program begins at sector one on the disk and continues
     in sequence.  The first six bytes of the first sector contain program
     information.  The rest of the bytes contain the program itself.
     
                           Disk boot program header
     
          1st byte  $00  flags, stored in DFLAGS [$0240]
                    $xx  number of sectors used by program
                    $xx  address to start load
                    $xx
                    $xx  initialization address
          6th byte  $xx
          7th byte  $xx  start of program
     
     The flags byte is usually unused and should be zero.
     
     The load address is stored in BOOTAD [$0242,2 (578)].
     
     The initialization address is stored in DOSINI [$000C,2 (12)].
     
     After the program is completely loaded the computer will JSR to the
     address stored in DOSINI for initialization.  It will then jump to the
     address stored in DOSVEC to run the program.
     
     The initialization part of the program should set the
     bottom-of-free-RAM pointer, MEMLO [$02E7,2 (743)], to point to the end
     of the program + 1.  This will protect the program from the computer
     and other programs.  The top-of-user-RAM pointer, APPMHI [$000E,2
     (14)], is also usually set to point to the same address.  This will
     protect the program from the video hardware.  It must also set DOSVEC
     [$000A,2 (10)] to actually point to the run address of the program. 
     The initialization should of course end with and RTS.  With DOSINI and
     DOSVEC properly set, the program will restart up pressing the [SYSTEM
     RESET] key.
     
     Rmember that the load address of  the program should be six bytes
     before where you want the program to reside in memory.  The six byte
     header will load at the specified start address followed by the
     program.
     
     CASSETTE BOOTED SOFTWARE
     
     The cassette boot process is nearly identical to the disk boot
     process.  The processes are so similar that cassette boot programs can
     usually be transferred directly to disk and vice-versa.  The two
     differences are:
     
     The cassette is booted instead of the disk if the [START] key is
     pressed when the power is turned on.
     
     A bug in early operating systems requires the booted program to turn
     off the cassette motor with the following command.
     
         LDA #$3C
         STA PACTL [$D302]
     
     CARTRIDGE BOOTED SOFTWARE
     
     The Atari 800 has two cartridge slots.  All other models have only
     one.  The second cartridge slot, slot B on the 800, resides from $8000
     to $9FFF.  The first slot, slot A, resides from $A000 to BFFF.  If a
     cartridge is inserted in a slot it will disable any RAM in the same
     area.
     
     Slot A, which is present in all models, can reside at the entire 16K
     used by both cartridges in the 800 ($8000 to $BFFF).
     
     Cartridges use the last six bytes for boot information.  In cartridge
     A these bytes are from $BFFA to $BFFF.  In cartridge B they are from
     $9FFA to 9FFF.
     
                         last six bytes of a cartridge
     
        $9FFA or $BFFA   xx   start address
                         xx
                         00
                         xx   flag byte
                         xx   init address
        $9FFF or $BFFF   xx
     
     
      Flag byte
     
          bit 0     1 = allow disk boot
          bit 2     0 = do not start cartridge after init
          bit 7     1 = cartridge takes control before OS is
                        initialized
     
     The initialization process for the cartridge should be similar to that
     for disk and cassette.  A minimum of an RTS instruction is required.
     
     The third byte of the cartridge tailer is used by the OS to check for
     the presence of a cartridge.  This byte must be zero.
     
     A 16K cartridge will use both cartridge areas and the cartridge B
     tailer area can be used for program code.
     
     THE CARTRIDGE HARDWARE
     
     Most cartridges consist of two ROM chips on a single circuit board. 
     Moreover, both chip sockets have identical pin assignments.  In other
     words, the chips can be switched to opposite sockets and  the
     cartridge will still work.  The difference is in the chips themselves.
     On one chip, the A12 pin acts as an active-low chip select.  On the
     other the A12 pin acts as an active-high chip select.  Therefore the
     state of the A12 pin selects between the two chips.
     
     
                        Cartridge slot pin assignments
     
                       BACK
     
                  111111
                  543210987654321
                  ---------------
                  ---------------
                  SRPNMLKJHFEDCBA
     
     
                       FRONT
     
     
          1    1 = 16K   A    A13 (16K only)
          2    A3        B    GND
          3    A2        C    A4
          4    A1        D    A5
          5    A0        E    A6
          6    D4        F    A7
          7    D5        H    A8
          8    D8        J    A9   __
          9    D1        K    A12 (CS)/(CS)
         10    D0        L    D3
         11    D6 __     M    D7
         12      (CS)    N    A11
         13    +Vcc      P    A10
         14    +Vcc      R    NC
         15    NC        S    NC
     
     
     The BASIC interpreter resides in the memory used by cartridge A.  In
     400, 800 and 1200XL models, a BASIC cartridge is required to run BASIC
     programs.  On other XL and XE models, inserting a cartridge into the
     slot or pressing the [OPTION] key upon power-up will disable the
     internal BASIC ROM.  If BASIC is disabled without inserting another
     cartridge, the area from $A000 to $BFFF will contain RAM.
     
     
                   Useful data base variables and OS equates
     
     
     APPMHI $000E,2       (14): low limit of screen region
     DOSVEC $000A,2       (10): run and program reset vector
     DOSINI $000C,2       (12): init and reset init
     CARTB  $8000      (32768): start of cartridge B
     CARTA  $A000      (40960): start of cartridge A
     PACTL  $D302      (54018): port A control register   Bit 3
                                 controls the cassette motor

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Craig Lisowski (clisowsk@mcs.kent.edu)