Ultimate 1 Meg & Side 2 Cart

>>Last Updated 4/9/2013<<

I Rate these two hardware Products at 9.8 out of 10. This hardware is one that I would recommend to any hard core Atari User. This is a MUST have hardware. This along with an AtariMax SIO2PC. I do not sell this hardware and I purchased the hardware I used for this review. I liked this hardware enough that I ordered two more sets for use in other machines. Lotharek packs this hardware with care so you get what you pay for and do not have to worry about damage during shipment. It took 10 to 15 days for the items being shipped. The items were shipped US Postal Service and require a signature. The QUALITY of the boards are 100% Professional! I wished other hardware products were built at this level of quality. The Ultimate 1 Meg and Side 2 Cart will function as Slave or Master with my Multiplexer System

I have decided to link to the Designers web site and other web sites that support this device. Please e-mail me if any of these links get broken.

All the Link in this document are linked to the original web sites. This is to ensure you get the most current support information and files. Lotharek sells the Ultimate 1 Meg and Side 2 Cart together at a discount.

You can get this hardware from: http://www.lotharek.pl/

> > FlashJazzCats Web site http://www.atari8.co.uk/

> > Designer Web Site http://www.spiflash.org/

> > Flash Update Software Flash Software

> > Programming info Programming Equates

I purchased the Ultimate 1 Meg and Side 2 Cart from Lotharek. Lotharek Ultimate 1 meg is different from the one that Candle has on his web site. The difference is Lotharek device does not require you to cut any traces and install resisters. So telling you this do not get the installation instruction mixed up. Use Lotharek instructions. I installed mine into an Atari 130xe that a friend of mine socketted. With this being said only attempt this upgrade if you have the soldering tools and the skill to use them. The Atari 130xe is not a computer that a novice should attempt their first upgrade on. I am not responsible for your upgrade do this at your own risk. So you are a technician or you found one to install this upgrade. Since my 130xe was already in sockets this upgrade required me to only make 4 solder joints. Here is a picture of my 4 solder :

Here is the Ultimate 1 Meg Installed in the 130xe

Now There are some daughter boards that get installed into the Pal and Atari OS Chip Sockets

Once you get the Ultimate 1 Meg PCB mounted you are ready to start testing the Ultimate 1 Meg functions. The Image that comes with the Ultimate 1 Meg has a self test OS.

Ultimate1MB FLASH Chip Memory Map
0x000000-0x04FFFF SDX
0x050000-0x053FFF BIOS code space
0x054000-0x05FFFF reserved
0x060000-0x061FFF BASIC
0x062000-0x063FFF 8k GAME cartridge
0x064000-0x06FFFF reserved
0x070000-0x073FFF 1st OS slot
0x074000-0x077FFF 2nd OS slot
0x078000-0x07BFFF 3rd OS slot
0x07C000-0x07FFFF 4th OS slot

Installation Instructions for Lotharek Ultimate 1 Meg Board.

Customize Your Ultimate 1 Meg Flash Chip Upgrade. This is a must have utility!

Download:
ultimate1mb-v2.jed
Ultimate1MBv2.rom
Ultimate1MB.pdf
FlashUtility.rar
Ultimate1MB-manual.pdf
Ultimate2.atr

This is a snapshot of the configuration tool.

Once the Ultimate 1 Meg is installed and working you have SpartaDos X, Time Clock and a RamDisk you can configure from no RamDisk to 320k, 512k to 1 Meg. With this tool you can change your OS's change your 8k cart location. You can also Set the add on 8k cart to anything you like in cart format. I set it so I had both Basic and Atari Assembler Editor. This configuration tool makes this hardware very useful and since you can either onboard flash from an Atr file or you can take the rom image and flash the flash rom. This tool allowed me to use the ultimate 1 meg with my multiplexer setup. I am using it as a slave right now but I hope before long to use it as my Multiplexer Master. Now the other piece of this upgrade the Side 2 Cart.

Side 2 Cartridge!

The Side 2 Cart is the interface to the compact flash chip. Please take note when inserting a compact flash chip use a soft touch trying to avoid bending the tiny pins that are the socket. This cart by itself has a SpartaDos X, Time Chip, and Disk Interface. It is important to read the documentation before using this cartridge. Also the Side 2 Cart employs the APT init system. Prepping your compact flash chip is different than the sio2sd, sio2sd, and sio2usb uses. Please read the APT formatting system before trying to use this cart. The APT formatting system is a hybread system that I think is the best design I have ever seen. FlashJazzCat has an ATR for use with the Ultimate 1 Meg and Side 2 cart. You can download his utilities ATR from this link. Fully reading the documentation will help you understand this hardware and make it easier to use. What happend is you first format the APT part of the compact flash chip on the Side 2 Cart. Then create your APT partition list. Then the next step is to install your compact flash chip on your PC or Mac and format the none APT portion of the compact flash chip with FAT 32. Now you can create directories on the compact flash and move your ATR's and Programs and Games to the Fat32 portion of the compact flash. I prepped a 4 gig compact flash where I set up a 1024 meg APT and the rest of the chip for general use. here is what it looks like.

Here is what my Directory looks like:

###

###

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### SIDE/SIDE2 Soft Drivers For SpartaDOS X

#### Introduction

The SIDE interface, designed by Sebastian Bartkowicz, provides hard disk functionality and much more for 8-bit Atari computers, all packaged in a compact cartridge design. The device features:

- On-board SpartaDOS X
- Real-Time Clock
- Compact Flash card slot
- Switchable loader and SDX modes
- Programmable "SIDE button"
- 256KB external flash application cartridge space

SIDE 2 - produced by Lotharek - builds on the original SIDE concept by adding CF card hot-swap functionality and enhanced ROM banking capabilities.

Using the special SIDE and SIDE2 builds of SpartaDOS X, one can enjoy many of the benefits of a hard disk interface on the Atari by simply plugging in the cartridge and turning on the machine. The SIDE driver for SDX is loaded directly from SDX's "CAR" (Cartridge) device at boot-up, and all the necessary software tools are right there on the cartridge. SIDE files on the CAR device include:

- SIDE.SYS (driver)
- FDISK.COM (disk partitioning tool)
- HDDINFO.COM (hard disk information report utility)
- PARTINFO.COM (partition information utility)
- MOUNT.COM (dynamic partition mounting tool)

The SIDE driver for SpartaDOS X uses the APT (Atari Partition Table) scheme, devised by Konrad Kokoszkiewicz. This ensures storage media can be easily shared with other compliant interfaces (currently MyIDE for SDX, Incognito, Ultimate 1MB PBI, and the IDE Plus 2.0 APT Beta BIOS).

* SIDE is seen as PBI device (as regular HARD DISK INTERFACE) with Ultimate 1MB.

HOT SWAPPING DEMO by Flashjazz :-)

Side2 MANUAL -- preparing Compact Flash Card with FDISK

This is a first class easy to use setup. Once you get the Side 2 Cart all fixed up with your ATR files and inserted into your cart slot you just press Help+Reset and you enter the Ultimate 1 meg Menu then Configure it acording to your needs and Press "L" to load the Side 2 driver and get the menu of ATR's you installed into the Fat32 part of the Compact Flash chip. Either tag a list of atr's for just press enter for the exe for ATR you have selected and you are on your way. I really like the way these two hardware mods work together.

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