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81 lines
3.3 KiB
HTML
81 lines
3.3 KiB
HTML
<HTML>
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<HEAD>
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<TITLE>X-LOAD 1.0 Manual</TITLE>
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</HEAD>
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<BODY BACKGROUND="6502proc.gif">
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<CENTER>
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<H1>X-LOAD version 1.0</H1>
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by <A HREF="mailto:pfusik@elka.pw.edu.pl">Fox/Taquart</A><P>
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<HR>
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</CENTER>
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<H2>INTRODUCTION</H2>
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This tool can be used for loading executable files from PC into real
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Atari computer via SIO2PC interface. Only input and output lines are
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used, so that X-LOAD should work with all types of interface.<P>
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However, it is experimental version. I'm not sure if it will work
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with every hardware. I've noticed it is not stable and sometimes
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transmission can hang or distortions in loaded data may appear.
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The reason is that there is no error-checking, while transmission is
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fast (57.6 kbits/sec).<P>
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<H3>CHANGES</H3>
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<H4>Version 1.0</H4>
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<UL>
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<LI> first release
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</UL>
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<HR>
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<H2>USAGE</H2>
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You run X-LOAD from DOS prompt with executable filename and optional
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options:<P>
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<DL>
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<DT><TT>/1</TT> - <TT>/4</TT>
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<DD>Specify COM port number, which interface is attached to.
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Default is COM2.<P>
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<DT><TT>/p</TT>
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<DD>Force using 'professional loader', which allows you to load
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code/data under ROM and disables ROM and interrupts while starting program.
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By default, standard loader is used, which can load any Atari executable
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not demanding DOS or any special loader.<P>
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</DL>
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After you run X-LOAD, you only have to boot your Atari and the program
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will be loaded and run.<P>
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While loading, you can watch on your PC memory locations, which program
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loads to.<P>
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After program was loaded and run, X-LOAD terminates. You may exit it
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earlier at any time by pressing ESC key.<P>
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<HR>
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<H2>DETAILS</H2>
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First X-LOAD sends a byte to Atari and then waits until Atari is booted.
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That byte can be used to detect from Atari, that PC is ready for transmission.
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When you are testing your program, you may code periodic checking
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if a byte was received, and performing cold reset in that case.
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So that you needn't touch your Atari to run program on it.<P>
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While booting, X-LOAD accepts two commands for disk drive 1:<P>
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<UL>
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<LI> <TT>'S'</TT> - read status. Used for checking presence of disk drive.
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<LI> <TT>'R'</TT> - read sector (only first). Used for reading boot program.
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</UL>
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After Atari receives and runs its loader, the transmission runs at 57600
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bits/sec. You can not hear any transmission sound, because the frequency
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is too high for a human.<P>
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Transmission protocol is very simple: Atari sends a byte to inform that
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it is ready for receiving data. Then PC sends a 3-byte header and a block
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of data. First two bytes of header are high and low byte of address
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of last block byte minus $ff. Third byte equals low byte of
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($100-block_length). Then come block data, which are loaded directly
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into their memory location.
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For more details, view sources of loaders:
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<UL>
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<LI>Standard: <A HREF="xloadstd.asx">XLOADSTD.ASX</A>
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<LI>Professional: <A HREF="xloadpro.asx">XLOADPRO.ASX</A>
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</UL>
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You may have noticed that X-LOAD is somehow similar to X-BOOT, which also
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has two loaders. The main difference is that X-BOOT loaders use system
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routines to get sectors at regular speed of 19200 bits/sec.
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They use sector buffer and require some low memory locations not to be changed
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because of operating system. In this respect X-LOAD loaders are better, because
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allow loading into whole memory except for loader code.
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</BODY>
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</HTML> |