SIO2IDE Version 3.0 Users Manual Revision 1 for Atari 8bit Home Computers Copyright (C) 2002 by MMSoft and the author: Marek Mikolajewski Gdansk Poland I. SIO2IDE CHARACTERISTIC The SIO2IDE is a simple interface that allows you to attach any IDE Disk Drive to your 8-bit Atari computer. Latest interface version has the following main features: * ATARI side: - uses standard Atari SIO at a speed of 19200 baud - emulates Atari disks D1: to D7: - can be used with any Atari DOS and OS - can be used without any problems with other SIO devices (disk drivers, printers, modems, SIO2PC, second SIO2IDE etc) - can be easy installed inside your Atari with 2.5' laptop HD - is easy to configure via special fdisk.com utility software (changing disks sequence and active directory) * IDE device side: - all IDE ATA/ATAPI devices can be used: Disk Drives (2.5' and 3.5'), CD-ROMs, Compact Flash cards etc. - supports PC file systems, FAT16 and FAT32 - supports CD file system, ISO9660 - supports ATR disk images (SD, DD up to 16MB) - supports directory change (multiconfig) - is easy to configure, many text configuration files (sio2ide.cfg) can be stored in different directories - disk configuration can be checked by special checkfs.exe PC utility - standard disk utilities can be used (defrag.exe, scandisk.exe etc) II. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS The SIO2IDE interface is intended to function like other Atari peripherals attached to the SIO connector. Because of that there are no special system requirements from this side. Interface can operate properly with all standard Atari 800, 600/800XL and 65/130XE Atari computers. Additionally all OS and DOS extensions can be used without any problems. From the Hard Disk Drive side there are the following limitations: - only IDE disks (devices) can be used with SIO2IDE - 2.5' laptop disks are recommended (small, only one +5V, low power consumption) [3.5" to 2.5" converter cable would be needed, available from Cables N More: http://cablesnmor.com/hard-drive-converter.html ] III. TECHNICAL INFORMATION This information is covered in the technical notes for SIO2IDE (ref. 1). IV. FDISK.COM UTILITY SOFTWARE The FDISK.COM utility is Atari software that can be used for configuring the SIO2IDE and attached IDE disk. The software has the following menu structure. Start Menu Main Menu -------------- --------------------- (M) Master SIO2IDE -> (P) View parameters (D) Change active DIR (A) View ATR files (E) Edit Atari disks (S) Save configuration (Esc) Exit (S) Slave SIO2IDE -> (as above) (Esc) Exit After starting the user must select the Master or Slave SIO2IDE interface (depending on the MS_ZW jumper). This is important when two interfaces are attached to the Atari SIO. IV.1. View interface status (M-P or S-P) This option allows you to examine the Disk Drive and SIO2IDE parameters. The following information is displayed (example only): ---------Disk Drive parameters ---------- HDD mode : CHS Heads : 8 Cylinders : 762 Total Sectors : 273441 -------- Interface parameters ----------- Device mode : MASTER Soft version : 3.0 ATR files : 24 Part. type : FAT16 big Sec per Clust : 4 ----------------------------------------- IV.2. Change active directory (M-D or S-D) This option allows viewing disk directories and changing active directory. User can select directory (using keyboard or JOY1) and enter to the selected directory (using 'RETURN' or FIRE). To activate current directory press 'A'. Note that only directories with configuration files can be successfully activated. IV.3. View ATR files (M-A or S-A) This option allows viewing the all ATR files available in the active directory. Note that selected ATR file is described in the 'ATR file details' window. IV.4. Edit Atari disks (M-E or S-E) This option allows editing SIO2IDE disks table (disks sequence). User can select one of Atari disks D1 to D7. For empty slots it is possible to assign an ATR files. For used slots it is possible to delete current assignment. Additionally it is possible to make selected disk as Read-Only ('R' key) or Read-Write ('W' key). Note that for CD-ROM this finction is not allowed. Note that you can save this settings to the sio2ide.cfg file (M-S or S-S). IV.5. Save configuration (M-S or S-S) This option allows saving current configuration to the sio2ide.cfg file in the active directory. V. INITIAL INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS The following checklist is a procedure to connect an SIO2IDE on a new IDE Hard Disk Drive. V.1. Hardware and Disk set-up: - connect suitable SIO_IO pins to the Atari SIO connector SIO_IO Atari SIO Signal ----------------------------------------- pin 1 pin 5 Data_Out pin 2 pin 3 Data_In pin 3 pin 7 Command pin 5 & pin 6 pin 4 GND pin 7 pin 10 +5V - prepare HDD for SIO2IDE: - if disk is not partitioned or formatted please do that under DOS or Win9X operating system, Note: only primary partition will be used by the SIO2IDE - write all PC software that you want (including OS files), I recommend to write the following utilities (example only): - defrag.exe - chkdisk.exe or scandisk.exe - checkfs.exe (SIO2IDE utility) - makeatr.exe (SIO2IDE utility) - SIO2PC, Atari emulator etc - write your ATR files (create directories if needed), Note: you can create empty ATR files with makeatr.exe utility and format it using Atari emulator (i.e. XFormer for DOS) - create all needed sio2ide.cfg files (c:\sio2ide.cfg is required) I recommend to write ATR file with Atari DOS (i.e. MDOS453.ATR) to the c:\ and put the following line to the c:\sio2ide.cfg file: D1:=MDOS453 Note: MDOS453.ATR file can contain fdisk.com utility software - use defrag.exe to defragment your disk - check your configuration in c:\ directory (use checkfs.exe utility), if all is OK correct disks sequence should be displayed on screen - connect IDE_IO with the HDD using standard IDE cable Note: for the 2.5' laptop HDD special adapter is required (visit http://cablesnmor.com/hard-drive-converter.html for a converter adapter) - connect supply voltage to the HDD Note: for the 3.5' HDD +5V and +12V from external power supply; for the 2.5' laptop HDD only +5V from external power supply or directly from the Atari computer (if HDD current consumption is less that 650mA) - set SIO2IDE jumpers Jumper Setting Description --------------------------------------------------- HD1_ZW On Disk D1: On INIT_ZW Off Normal disks sequence MS_ZW On Master mode V.2. System start: Now you can start your system from SIO2IDE disk. - switch on the system and wait for Atari and HDD power-up, during initialisation the SIO2IDE reads c:\sio2ide.cfg configuration file and initialises assigned Atari disks, after correct initialisation: - Atari computer works normally (in BASIC mode) - only the PWR_LED on the SIO2IDE is active Note: in case of initialisation error check the hardware setting - from the Atari BASIC prompt type 'BYE' command - press RESET key to restart the computer and load the DOS from the SIO2IDE disk (D1:) Note: for automatic system start the Reset_Out signal (SIO_IO pin 4) must be used (see SIO2IDE schematic, ref. 5) - run the fdisk.com and check and/or change your configuration (ref. IV) VI. RELATED DOCUMENTS AN SOFTWARE 1) MMSoft 2002 "SIO2IDE ver 3.0 Technical Specification" 2) MMSoft 2002 FDISK.COM - utility software for Atari 3) MMSoft 2002 CHECKFS.EXE - utility software for PC 4) MMSoft 2002 MAKEATR.EXE - utility software for PC 5) MMSoft 2002 S2I_SCH_3.0.DOC - SIO2IDE schematic & PCB layout