NEW USB Host Controller via ACSI

[spiny]

running out of drive icons now though on my 'main' STe (with CF drives)

usb2.jpg

I asked on a different thread ages ago but didn't get an replies - is there an alternative desktop that uses smaller drive icons ?

[alanh]

You've wasted 4GB on that stick though, by only creating 1GB partitions, you can do up to 2GB each.

As for alternative desktops with smaller icons, don't know. Jinnee/Magic ??

[alanh]

Oh, and with BigDOS you can support up to 32 drives now.

[spiny]

ooh, didn't know BigDOS added more drive letters, I'll read the docs And yes, I'll re-do the USB drive for 2gig partitions.

[Cogweasel]

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.

Thanks for the link! Was just looking for a solution to this !

[Cogweasel]

I have now tested the 2912 drivers together with Bigdos. I partitioned my memory stick with EaseUS on a PC ... and now its working better! Everything boots fine and I can add a C drive. Systems seems more stable. But the computer still resets when I encounter a read error on ANY floppydisk. Trying to copy a file with a Swedish characters in the filename will also crash the computer. Not sure if this is Bigdos doing or if its related to something else.

But as I said, the system seems a lot more stable now, with the exception of read errors. I will do some further testing and see..

[alanh]

Just an update to let people know I've started work on the ethernet drivers for USB & TOS, i.e. STiNG support. I'll send another update when I've got something working.

[troed]

Just an update to let people know I've started work on the ethernet drivers for USB & TOS, i.e. STiNG support. I'll send another update when I've got something working.

Awesome!

[Cogweasel]

Hope everyone has had a brilliant holidays! I have now done some further testing. It seems that the only time my ST crash now is when I encounter a read error on the floppy or there's Swedish characters in the file name... and then only using the TOS file copier. I have tried some different imaging programs on the ST; Pasti and MSA and they all seem to run fine, I assume it's because they are not using TOS file handling.

Are these crashes normal or is there a way to fix them? I do see a Cancel / Retry window pop up for a split second when this happens, but there's no time to read what it says before my ST resets itself. Also worth noting is that my floppy drive still refuses to stop spinning at times and this only happens when I have the Unicorn drivers installed.

More good news is that when my ST does crash, it doesn't eat all the files on my memory stick as it did before. However it does sometimes get "stuck" and I need to unplug the stick to be able to install the C: drive again, but so far all files on the stick are still there and in working condition.

BTW aren't you supposed to be able to Save the Desktop once you have installed a hard-drive so the icon is there when I boot the next time? This refuses to work for me...

BIGDOS seems to be working fine, but it keeps thinking that the floppies I am inserting is supposed to be PC formate and asks me if I want to fix the boot sector. It's not a huge issue, but it's a tad annoying. Apparently there's a program called Setter that can disable this. I have found it, but I don't understand how its supposed to work. Does it alter the BIGDOS.PRG somehow?? And is it even a good idea for me to mess with this, or will Setter just eat my cat and destroy BIGDOS.PRG?

[alanh]

I'll need to see if I can generate a bad floppy disk to test this as all my floppies are good, and I don't know about the Swedish characters.

I can't say it's high priority to fix it though as it's pretty rare to have a bad floppy, or at least it should be.

I'm also not sure what's causing your floppy drive to not stop spinning, as I don't have that problem here.

The Save Desktop should save a DESKTOP.INF to your floppy disk, and it should load that from the same floppy on the next boot. It won't save it to the C: drive because it's not the boot disk. So just make sure you have it on the floppy.

BIGDOS moans at me too about my TOS formatted C: drive on my IDE card, so I'll need to find SETTER and see what it does.

[Cogweasel]

I'll need to see if I can generate a bad floppy disk to test this as all my floppies are good, and I don't know about the Swedish characters.

I can't say it's high priority to fix it though as it's pretty rare to have a bad floppy, or at least it should be.

It could be a problem with BIGDOS, so maybe not an driver issue ... and it's not a huge issue, just a bit annoying to have to reboot and mess around with it. I do have some bad disks, since I am attempting to transfer most of my old disks. So there's bound to be some bad sectors here and there... BTW anyone else out there having this problem?

I'm also not sure what's causing your floppy drive to not stop spinning, as I don't have that problem here.

Its a bit odd ...

The Save Desktop should save a DESKTOP.INF to your floppy disk, and it should load that from the same floppy on the next boot. It won't save it to the C: drive because it's not the boot disk. So just make sure you have it on the floppy.

Yeah, that was what I doing. I did try again just now and actually discovered that it doesn't actually write anything to the floppy disk. The disk light doesn't turn on... missed this before... hmm .. odd!

BIGDOS moans at me too about my TOS formatted C: drive on my IDE card, so I'll need to find SETTER and see what it does.

You can find Setter here : http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/software/atar ... moda06.zip I don't think I am brave enough to mess with it though, its not a huge issue really

[troed]

It could be a problem with BIGDOS, so maybe not an driver issue ... and it's not a huge issue, just a bit annoying to have to reboot and mess around with it. I do have some bad disks, since I am attempting to transfer most of my old disks. So there's bound to be some bad sectors here and there... BTW anyone else out there having this problem?

I find it better to use MSA 1.41 to archive the disks. You can then extract individual files from images in an emulator.

I'm also not sure what's causing your floppy drive to not stop spinning, as I don't have that problem here.

Its a bit odd ...

I find it happening quite often on the ST for various reasons.

[alanh]

troed,

Do you find any problems with bad sectors or swedish characters and the USB drivers ?

Do you see the drive not spinning without the USB drivers too ? I think I've seen this happen without the drivers when you remove a floppy too early and the motor still runs until a floppy is put back in.

[Cogweasel]

I find it better to use MSA 1.41 to archive the disks. You can then extract individual files from images in an emulator.

Yeah, I have been using that a bit. But had some initial problem when a MSA file didn't work, not sure what happened. So I held off using it, but now it seems to be working fine. Been using Pasti as well, takes longer but probably a good idea for original disks I guess...

Do you see the drive not spinning without the USB drivers too ? I think I've seen this happen without the drivers when you remove a floppy too early and the motor still runs until a floppy is put back in.

It happens to me when the disk is still in the drive, the light turns off and there's no use of the drive, but it wont spin down until I remove the floppy ...

[troed]

Do you find any problems with bad sectors or swedish characters and the USB drivers ?

When copying lots of files I've hade som reproducible weird characters show up as files which TOS then couldn't find corresponding real files to. I don't think it had with bad sectors or Swedish characters to do though. It seemed more to be some sort of counter. I might have photos of it laying around somewhere ...

But no resets due to error dialogs. I'm mostly on TOS 2.06 when using Unicorn though.

[alanh]

I suspect that wasn't with recent drivers, and you might want to try the recent drivers with your MegaSTE again.

[spiny]

RE: floppy drive spinning, I noticed one of my STs does this, but the others dont. Alas, I dismissed this as 'one of those things' so I can't remember which one has the issue I will try and find time to check them all again and see what differences the 'stays spinning' ST has.

[spiny]

Do you find any problems with bad sectors or swedish characters and the USB drivers ?

When copying lots of files I've hade som reproducible weird characters show up as files which TOS then couldn't find corresponding real files to. I don't think it had with bad sectors or Swedish characters to do though. It seemed more to be some sort of counter. I might have photos of it laying around somewhere ...

But no resets due to error dialogs. I'm mostly on TOS 2.06 when using Unicorn though.

are they zero byte 4 character named files ? As I get this if I copy stuff from my PC that happens to have been in a folder with a long filename. The issue only shows up when using BigDos as it seems BigDos can 'see' these hidden files, but TOS can't interact with them.

[alanh]

RE: floppy drive spinning, I noticed one of my STs does this, but the others dont. Alas, I dismissed this as 'one of those things' so I can't remember which one has the issue I will try and find time to check them all again and see what differences the 'stays spinning' ST has.

I suspect it could be just the drive itself, probably you have two different drives. Check the make/model.

[alanh]

Do you find any problems with bad sectors or swedish characters and the USB drivers ?

When copying lots of files I've hade som reproducible weird characters show up as files which TOS then couldn't find corresponding real files to. I don't think it had with bad sectors or Swedish characters to do though. It seemed more to be some sort of counter. I might have photos of it laying around somewhere ...

But no resets due to error dialogs. I'm mostly on TOS 2.06 when using Unicorn though.

are they zero byte 4 character named files ? As I get this if I copy stuff from my PC that happens to have been in a folder with a long filename. The issue only shows up when using BigDos as it seems BigDos can 'see' these hidden files, but TOS can't interact with them.

Yeah, LFN could be the issue here.

[troed]

are they zero byte 4 character named files ? As I get this if I copy stuff from my PC that happens to have been in a folder with a long filename. The issue only shows up when using BigDos as it seems BigDos can 'see' these hidden files, but TOS can't interact with them.

I don't use BigDos (yet) and while I do edit the USB stick on my Mac I run "Cleanup SMB mess" afterwards so I don't _think_ there are weird files. But, maybe

[ijor]

Do you see the drive not spinning without the USB drivers too ? I think I've seen this happen without the drivers when you remove a floppy too early and the motor still runs until a floppy is put back in.

It happens to me when the disk is still in the drive, the light turns off and there's no use of the drive, but it wont spin down until I remove the floppy ...

They are two different issues.

If you remove the disk when the motor was still on, it will never turn off. The FDC needs the disk index pulse to count revolutions. Without the disk there are no index pulses. Without index pulses the FDC motor off counter will never expire. Same thing happens if you turn on the ST without a disk.

OTOH, if the drive is deselected while the motor wasn't yet stopped, it is a software issue (TOS, drivers, game, or whatever). Again, if the drive is not selected, the FDC doesn't get index pulses and its motor off counter never expires. Normally TOS doesn't deselect the drive until confirming the FDC stopped the motor.

[Cogweasel]

OTOH, if the drive is deselected while the motor wasn't yet stopped, it is a software issue (TOS, drivers, game, or whatever). Again, if the drive is not selected, the FDC doesn't get index pulses and its motor off counter never expires. Normally TOS doesn't deselect the drive until confirming the FDC stopped the motor.

Yupp, definitely feels like a software issue for me. I have left the disk in the drive for quite a long time and it wont spin down. And again, this doesn't happen normally, only with the Unicorn drivers. It's not a big issue though, just thought I would report it, if it somehow helps Allan to track down problems

[alanh]

Try the attached updated UNICORN.PRG.

unicorn.zip

[Cogweasel]

Try the attached updated UNICORN.PRG.

unicorn.zip

What have you fixed in this version?