NEW USB Host Controller via ACSI

[spiny]

TOS/Windows - should it work with just Windows partitioning ?

[spiny]

quick update:

re-enabled BigDos in my auto folder, created a 500Meg partitoin using HDD10.10 and it works perfectly. TOS/win compatable, no byte swapping.
Readable on my Win10 pc and hot swaps on ST
this is using the December 18th USB drivers.

[alanh]

BigDOS won't take effect with TOS/Windows partitions as TOS will automatically be used.

I've just made some changes here and I've used it with BigDOS on a 1.5GB (Windows only) FAT16 partition on the Unicorn.

This will allow folks to use USB sticks partitioned on a Windows machine directly on the Atari, without the need for additional partitioning tools.

I'll do some more testing yet before committing them.

[spiny]

sounds promising, I'll do some tests once the drivers are live and post here.

[Cogweasel]

Will try them out as well, after Christmas... thanks for the efforts Allan!

[alanh]

BigDOS 8 is available here.

http://rainer-seitel.onlinehome.de/bigdos.html

Install it, after the USB drivers into the AUTO folder.

USB.PRG
STORAGE.PRG
UNICORN.PRG
BIGDOS.PRG

Then your Windows-only FAT16 partitions will be usable on the desktop, from 32MB to 2GB I believe. Ensure any Atari partitions are bigger than 32MB, as I've heard that BigDOS disables partitions under 32MB.

The new Unicorn drivers are available right now from http://www.freemint.org under USB4TOS.

Enjoy, and let me know of any issues.

[alanh]

Oh, and remember USB is hot swappable, so as long as you've got USB.ACC installed too, you can hotplug these to your hearts content.

Happy Christmas !

[spiny]

Just found time to try the new drivers and I'm seeing a crash :/

If I have bigdos first in the auto folder, UNICORN causes a reset on boot, and it loops over and over.

If I have bigdos last in the auto folder, I get three bombs when it tries to run and it goes to desktop, but everything still works.

my setup:

STe, 4meg, 2.06 - your IDE board (pre monster model) with 2x CF, HDD 10.01

everything works fine with the 18th Dec USB drivers.

however, I haven't made any changes to the USB stick yet, it's still formatted TOS/WIN. too late to mess around tonight, and probably busy tomorrow

[alanh]

O.k. I saw a few issues yesterday and just committed fixes. Should be in tomorrows build.

Shouldn't be any need to change the partitioning.

[spiny]

cheers, will report back once I've tried them

[Cogweasel]

Hope you had a great Christmas Allan! I just tried the 2412 drivers. Here's the results:

- My old USB sticks still refuses to be detected at boot and the boot just freezes. Same as before.

- OBHD gives the same error as before; "Fehler beim Partitionieren!"

- HDDRiver; if I run it without their driver (HDDRIVER.PRG) in the AUTO folder I can start HDDRUTIL.APP fine, my memory stick is detected. I can get it to start partitioning and then I get a "Couldn't write boot sector error" and then its the same problem as before; I can add a C drive manually and then the systems becomes unstable. If I try and boot with HDDRIVER.PRG in the AUTO folder, HDDRUTIL.APP bombs just after I close the info window (the one that tells me its a demo just after the program has started)

[spiny]

Hi Alan,

I also hope you had a great Christmas, just to report that the 2612 drivers are working as expected on my setup, the issue I saw with the 2412 version is fixed

[alanh]

Hope you had a great Christmas Allan! I just tried the 2412 drivers. Here's the results:

- My old USB sticks still refuses to be detected at boot and the boot just freezes. Same as before.

- OBHD gives the same error as before; "Fehler beim Partitionieren!"

- HDDRiver; if I run it without their driver (HDDRIVER.PRG) in the AUTO folder I can start HDDRUTIL.APP fine, my memory stick is detected. I can get it to start partitioning and then I get a "Couldn't write boot sector error" and then its the same problem as before; I can add a C drive manually and then the systems becomes unstable. If I try and boot with HDDRIVER.PRG in the AUTO folder, HDDRUTIL.APP bombs just after I close the info window (the one that tells me its a demo just after the program has started)

Try todays drivers. You'll probably still get the error partitioning, but you should be able to partition your device on Windows now and use it directly if you use BigDOS. So you don't need to use HDDRUTIL/HDDRIVER or CBHD/CBHDCONF anymore.

[Cogweasel]

Try todays drivers. You'll probably still get the error partitioning, but you should be able to partition your device on Windows now and use it directly if you use BigDOS. So you don't need to use HDDRUTIL/HDDRIVER or CBHD/CBHDCONF anymore.

Will do! The previous attempt didn't involve BIGDOS at all, just didn't want to add another potential problem to the mix. Do you know what is causing the error when partitioning?

[spiny]

Try todays drivers. You'll probably still get the error partitioning, but you should be able to partition your device on Windows now and use it directly if you use BigDOS. So you don't need to use HDDRUTIL/HDDRIVER or CBHD/CBHDCONF anymore.

so just to clarify, if I have an STe and stick the USB drivers and BIGDOS in an auto folder on a floppy, I should be able to use a windows formatted USB stick in TOS ?

[alanh]

Right. Subject to BigDOS constraints. I used a 1.5GB FAT16 partition. It has to be FAT16 - Type 0x06.

[alanh]

Try todays drivers. You'll probably still get the error partitioning, but you should be able to partition your device on Windows now and use it directly if you use BigDOS. So you don't need to use HDDRUTIL/HDDRIVER or CBHD/CBHDCONF anymore.

Will do! The previous attempt didn't involve BIGDOS at all, just didn't want to add another potential problem to the mix. Do you know what is causing the error when partitioning?

Is the stick write-protected ?

[Cogweasel]

Is the stick write-protected ?

Nope.

What is Type 0x06 BTW?

[alanh]

Is the stick write-protected ?

Nope.

Then I'm not sure exactly why. Sounds like some quirky USB device. Unfortunately I have plenty of USB sticks around and none of them exhibit bad behaviour such as this. It may be that Windows has a workaround specifically for this device, as there are many USB devices that have quirks. If you've got more details on the device itself like USB vendor/device types I'll see if I have one that matches, otherwise just use another device.

What is Type 0x06 BTW?

Type 0x06 is what Windows usually uses for FAT16 partitions, but Linux partition tools can create various types, so I mentioned it for those who use Linux.

[spiny]

Right. Subject to BigDOS constraints. I used a 1.5GB FAT16 partition. It has to be FAT16 - Type 0x06.

neato, just grabbed a stock (ish) Ste (it has 2.06) and it's booted from floppy and I have a C: drive icon which shows the USB contents, excellent work

edit works on a stock 1.6 STe too, awesome

[alanh]

Nice. What size Windows partition ?

[spiny]

Nice. What size Windows partition ?

I used an 8Gig Lexar USB stick and used EaseUS free partition manager ( http://www.partition-tool.com/landing/home-download.htm ) to make a 999Meg Primary partition, and it worked flawlessly

Gonna have to check all the drawers at work to find all the old usb drives so I don't 'waste' an 8Gig stick

More probably obvious questions: If I connect a hub, can I use multiple USB sticks, or a stick and a mouse ? I don't know why i'd need multiple sticks, but it would be nice to know if I can

[spiny]

Is the stick write-protected ?

Nope.

What is Type 0x06 BTW?

are you on Windows ? if so, try making the partition using the EaseUS software http://www.partition-tool.com/landing/home-download.htm - the free version does what you need. Just make sure you create a primary partition, not a logical one.

[alanh]

I used an 8Gig Lexar USB stick and used EaseUS free partition manager ( http://www.partition-tool.com/landing/home-download.htm ) to make a 999Meg Primary partition, and it worked flawlessly

Gonna have to check all the drawers at work to find all the old usb drives so I don't 'waste' an 8Gig stick

More probably obvious questions: If I connect a hub, can I use multiple USB sticks, or a stick and a mouse ? I don't know why i'd need multiple sticks, but it would be nice to know if I can

Yes, hubs are supported and multiple storage devices as well as mice, etc.

With an 8GB stick, you might be able to do 4 primary partitions of 2GB each. That should work. Not tried it though.

[spiny]

multiple primary partitions seems to work

EaseUS config of USB stick:

ease.png

and the results on the STe (using 2.06 here) after selecting 'Install Devices'

usb.png

made a folder to check the STe can write OK. Neat