¢ o=o=o=o=o=¢ ¢ ____________________________________¢ ¢ TEXTPRO: MORE EXTENDED BANKS #9¢ By Frank Walters¢ ____________________________________¢ ¢ ¢ NOTE: In order to permit this text¢ file to be formatted and printed¢ with TextPRO, inverse characters¢ will be indicated by brackets: <=>¢ means inverse =, which is entered¢ from the keyboard by holding SELECT¢ when typing the = key. CONTROL¢ characters must be entered into the¢ editor by pressing [Esc] first.¢ [square] brackets indicate key or¢ key combinations without SELECT¢ pressed.¢ ¢ This is a further discussion of¢ TextPRO v.5.20X (TPX) and use of¢ extended banks of memory. If your¢ computer has 128K of RAM or less,¢ then disregard this article as it¢ does not apply to your system.¢ ¢ INTRODUCTION:¢ ¢ Since my article "TEXTPRO: USING¢ EXTENDED BANKS" (#7) was written, I¢ have researched further and found¢ some additional information¢ concerning the bank identification¢ table used by BANKUTIL.ADN. The¢ purpose of this table is to identify¢ 16k banks of upper RAM to be used by¢ TextPRO as additional text buffers,¢ called "banks" in TextPRO¢ documention.¢ ¢ BANKUTIL.ADN identifies up to 64¢ banks of RAM (16k each) using a¢ single byte used by PORTB address to¢ identify each 16k bank of memory.¢ These identification bytes vary¢ considerably, depending on which¢ type of memory upgrade you are¢ using. The 130XE compatible system¢ uses inverse <gcok> to identify four¢ 16k banks of upper RAM that is the¢ standard in the 130XE. Ronnie Riche,¢ the author of TextPRO, included the¢ 130XE standard PORTB bank¢ identification bytes <gcokgcok> in¢ the main program. TPX 5.20 can only¢ support 1 Set of 8 banks at a time,¢ therefore it only has an 8-byte¢ table of PORTB ID bytes. The 130XE¢ 4-banks are repeated twice. A user¢ of an expanded memory Atari must¢ replace this table with the¢ appropriate ID bytes for whatever¢ upgrade system is installed.¢ ¢ In BANKUTIL.ADN he also included the¢ same four ID bytes as the first 4 of¢ 64 total PORTB bytes. In order to¢ avoid conflicts, he simply repeated¢ the same four bytes sixteen times as¢ you can see if you load BANKUTIL.ADN¢ into the editor. The same table is¢ also within TOOLS.ADN as part of the¢ BANKUTIL portion of that Add-in.¢ When using BANKUTIL from either of¢ these Add-in modules, the ID bytes¢ are taken from the 64-byte table and¢ replace the 8-byte table within¢ TextPro itself.¢ ¢ It is left up to the you, the user,¢ to edit this bank table and¢ substitute the correct bytes used to¢ identify the 16k banks of memory you¢ wish to use with your particular¢ memory upgrade system. Once you know¢ what bytes to substitute in this¢ table, simply change the bytes in¢ the table and save BANKUTIL to¢ disk.¢ ¢ ATARI 130XE COMPATIBLE TABLES:¢ ¢ Here is the information about PORTB¢ identification bytes, sent to me by¢ Lee Barnes of Wild Horse, Colorado.¢ He is very proficient at RAM¢ upgrades for Atari computers. He has¢ tested these with his Peterson 320XE¢ upgrade computer. Larry Black also¢ tested them with his similar¢ upgrade.¢ ¢ For a 320K XE upgrade, here are the¢ ID bytes for 8 banks of 16k each,¢ allowing you to use 8 banks of Set¢ #1.:¢ ¢ ATASCII:¢ <gcokGCOK>¢ ¢ Note: All ATASCII bytes are INVERSE,¢ entered in TextPRO editor with¢ SELECT pressed.¢ ¢ MODIFYING TPX520.COM AND BANKUTIL:¢ ¢ In order to use one Set of 8 Banks,¢ I would simply modify the existing¢ table in BANKUTIL by changing the¢ second set of <gcok> to upper case¢ <GCOK>. Save BANKUTIL back to disk¢ with original filename. Then load¢ TPX into the editor using ,C to load¢ the whole file into two banks and¢ [CTRL_F] to find inverse <gcok>.¢ Then use [CTRL_A] in TEXT mode to¢ change the second set to upper case¢ so it looks like this: <gcokGCOK>.¢ Then save both banks of TPX to disk¢ using ,A append feature for the¢ second bank.¢ ¢ ACTIVATING UPPER BANKS:¢ ¢ Assume you have now modified TPX by¢ inserting the correct ID bytes for¢ the first 8 banks in your upgrade¢ system. To utilize your modified¢ table, insure that the modified¢ LISTBANK.ADN is the first section of¢ TEXTPRO.MAX. The original macro file¢ (TEXTPRO.MAX) should be at the END¢ of LISTBANK.ADN. Use CTRL_U to¢ insure the combined file does not¢ exceed 2000 bytes (the size of the¢ macro buffer).¢ ¢ Next Load TextPro from DOS and¢ LISTBANK.ADN will automatically load¢ as part of TEXTPRO.MAX.¢ ¢ Press [SELECT+CTRL_;]. The prompt:¢ "Use # of Banks (1-8): RETURN to¢ exit" will appear in the command¢ line at top of screen. Type "8" and¢ you should see (1,8) to the right of¢ the DOS type on the command line.¢ then press [SELECT+CTRL_B], reply¢ 'Y' to "Use Banked" and 'Y' to¢ "Clear Banks" prompts to insure all¢ 8 banks are cleared. You are ready¢ to now use Main bank and upper banks¢ numbered 1 to 8 by TextPRO. [CTRL_;]¢ should list all 8 banks (and also¢ Main if using LISTBANK.ADN dated¢ 7-3-94).¢ ¢ CREATING A MACRO TO AUTO-CONFIGURE 8¢ BANKS:¢ ¢ To automatically activate all 8¢ banks with TextPro each time you¢ load it, you can use a macro command¢ within TEXTPRO.MAX to to do this.¢ ¢ 1. Load TEXTPRO.MAX in one bank. In¢ another clear bank, load or type the¢ following data:¢ ¢ 64,189,251,56,144,38,129,Clear banks¢ [RETURN]¢ 130,Y,Y,20,50,20,49,38,189,130,Y,N,2¢ ,50,20,49[NO RETURN]¢ ¢ 2. Below this table press RETURN to¢ skip a line and use [SHIFT_INSERT]¢ to insert 255 spaces in the editor.¢ ¢ 3. Press the [Logo] key for Atascii¢ Mode.¢ 4. With cursor on line below the¢ table, press [SHIFT_TAB] and type¢ the first number (64) and press¢ RETURN. A '@' should appear in the¢ editor.¢ 5. Move cursor right to next empty¢ space and repeat step 4, typing next¢ data item (189), printing an inverse¢ <=>.¢ 6. Repeat step 5 until you reach the¢ text "Clear banks[RETURN]". Just¢ type the text and press [RETURN],¢ and then repeat step 5, except¢ typing the letters "Y" or "N"¢ instead of using [SHIFT_TAB] for¢ those items. The last character in¢ the macro is the number "1". Place¢ cursor in the next space and press¢ [SHIFT_DELETE] to remove all spaces¢ after the "1".¢ 7. Place cursor on the first byte of¢ the macro (@) and press [CTRL_D] and¢ [P] to delete the macro into the¢ paste buffer.¢ 8. Switch Banks to the one¢ containing TEXTPRO.MAX and place¢ cursor on any line below the end of¢ LISTBANK.ADN, in the top portion of¢ the macro segment. Be sure there is¢ no other macro defined for the [@]¢ key. i.e. @<=>. If there is, put the¢ new macro just above it and remove¢ the old one.¢ 9. Save the modified TEXTPRO.MAX to¢ your TextPro disk.¢ ¢ USING THE 8-BANK MACRO:¢ ¢ When you load TextPro, you will be¢ prompted "Clear Banks: Sure? (Y/N)"¢ Press "Y" the first time you load¢ TextPro to clear all banks. For¢ successive loads after exiting to¢ DOS you my reply "N" and your 8¢ Banks will be selected but the banks¢ will retain all previous data. Only¢ Main bank is automatically cleared¢ every time you load TextPro.¢ ¢ USING A RAMDISK WITH 8-BANKS IN¢ TEXTPRO:¢ ¢ Still assuming a 320K XE, using¢ 8-banks for TextPro still 128K of¢ unused RAM. If your DOS has a¢ configurable RAMdisk handler then¢ you can install the handler and¢ configure it to use the four 16K¢ unused banks as a RAMdisk. It¢ depends on the DOS how you must¢ configure it. Generally the TextPro¢ banks will be the highest numbered¢ banks in your upgrade but not¢ necessarily.¢ ¢ TOP-DOS:¢ ¢ Load the XL RAMdisk module and¢ configure as follows:¢ ¢ Peterson 320XE or Claudy 320XL:¢ SIZE: 256K¢ Bit 5: Y¢ RAMDISK BANKS: 0,8¢ (130XE BANKS: 12,16)¢ ¢ The XL module uses the format¢ (First,Next) to indicate banks. i.e.¢ (0,8) means RAMdisk uses First bank¢ 0 and up to bank 7, with 8 being¢ Next bank available for TextPro. The¢ standard 130XE banks are (12,16) and¢ the extra four banks for TextPRO are¢ banks (8,12). See TOP-DOS manual¢ under XL MODULE for v.1.5 Plus.¢ ¢ MyDOS:¢ ¢ You configure the RAMdisks from the¢ DOS menu. See MyDOS docs for how to¢ specify banks used but use above¢ TOP-DOS information as a guide. I¢ did not test this with MyDOS.¢ ¢ SPARTADOS:¢ ¢ The recommended RAMdisk handler for¢ memory upgrades is called PSIRD.COM,¢ a third party shareware program. It¢ comes with docs. Try it to configure¢ the PSIRD.COM using a batch file and¢ using banks 0,7 for RAMdisk. You¢ might have to experiment.¢ ¢ ATARI DOS:¢ ¢ I am not aware of a configurable¢ RAMdisk handler for ATARI DOS 2.5¢ but there may be one out there. You¢ can still use TextPro with 8 banks¢ but do not use RAMDISK.COM. Rename¢ it to RAMDISK, without the .COM so¢ it will not initialize upon bootup.¢ ¢ OTHER UPGRADES:¢ ¢ For upgrades other than the 320XE¢ and 320XL, I have some untested¢ PORTB ID bytes which I may include¢ in some future article. For now, it¢ is too complicated to inclued them¢ here.¢ ____________________________________¢ ¢ Frank Walters¢ T.A.C.O. Bell BBS¢ 11/01/98¢ ¢ o=o=o=o=o=¢
