uflash: Ultimate / Incognito ROM editor and flasher

Since the introduction of the Ultimate 1MB upgrade for the XL/XE series and Incognito for the Atari 800,
it has been necessary to flash pre-edited 512KB ROM images to both devices using a flash tool which works
via the serial interface. uflash finally presents an editor and flashing tool which works in-situ on the
Atari, allowing selective flashing of any ROM slot without disturbing its neighbours. 64KB sector flash
ROMs are seamlessly handled by caching data in extended RAM, and the user follows an identical upgrade
procedure to that employed for boards with 4KB sector ROMs.

Moreover, ROM slot images (such as 8K BASIC, 16K BIOS and 256KB SpartaDOS X) can be retrieved from
partitions on the PBI hard disk, as well as from mounted ATR images. It will even be possible to copy
uflash and and desired ROM images onto the FAT partition of a Compact Flash card on your PC, and launch
uflash direct from the SIDE loader; the tool then loads the ROM images straight from the FAT partition,
using the same convenient file selector interface employed to browse HDD partitions, disk images and
serial disk drives.

Slot descriptions can be edited and flashed to the ROM at any time, as well as exported to plain text
files or imported from those same saved files. In addition, customized slot descriptions persist even when
the BIOS (in which the description data is stored) is replaced.

The content of any slot, or even the entire 512KB ROM, can also be dumped to disk. Built-in file signature
checks aim to ensure that failed flashes, bricked devices, and time-consuming ROM maintenance are things
of the past.

The above notwishtanding: uflash is currently beta software, and it's advisable - as when performing any
flash maintenance on your Ultimate 1MB or Incognito - to ensure you have some means of disaster recovery
available in the event that the main BIOS becomes corrupted. This could be an external PLCC flasher, or
a cartridge capable of reprogramming the 512KB flash ROM. That said, uflash has performed reliably
in testing.

The most recent beta version of uflash can be downloaded below as a zipped XEX file.


To obtain Ultimate and Incognito PBI BIOS updates for use with the new flasher (as well as stand-alone
PBI update tools), please visit the APT Tools page.

While uflash beta undergoes continued testing and refinement, please report any bugs or other issues to me
via the usual contact email address, or by posting on the AtariAge 8-bit forum.

http://atari8.co.uk/contact/index.html