SymbOS 3 released

[Poliander]

664 as in "only a pathetic RAM of 64k" ?
You can't even launch a desktop background with that...
 

Except it has a X-MEM ;-) Again, SymbOS 2.1 does run on that machine with both X-MEM and X-MASS.

[Shaun M. Neary]

664 as in "only a pathetic RAM of 64k" ?
You can't even launch a desktop background with that...
 

To be fair, you can't really do much with SymbOS on 128k RAM either. You can load a desktop background...
... and that's it.


(at least I couldn't  )

[KaosOverride]

I have an issue with SymbOS 3.0 final and the Z-MEM. Only 512kb is reported.


Wasn't 1024kb the limit with, for example, the 4mb expansion? Or the Z-MEM uses a different selection system?


Or I'm making something wrong 

[HAL 6128]

The final version of SymbOS 3.0 only supports 512kB. A "newer" 1MB version is still under development as far as I have read.

[Kris]

It would be better to support directly 4Mb 

[protek]

I am happy to report that I got Symbos working with X-Mass!


All it took it was getting a Gotek drive flashed with FlashFloppy firmware, and getting AcmeDos ROM with which I was able to format X-Mass the way it worked with Symbos. Now I have Symbos 3.0 running on X-Mass.


Have to say that the Gotek makes the file transfer between the PC and CPC a lot easier. No need to write images to disk on one PC and wishing that it would work on the CPC drive.

[protek]

And now it’s not working again. I had to temporarily remove the mother X4 in order to utilize the tape and it lost the partition.


Acme formats the Xmass okay and I can initialize it in Symbos and even create folders but copying stuff on the Xmass crashes the whole system.


I’m really beginning to think that either the DoM or the XMass is somehow buggered. I probably should try to find another DoM from somewhere.

[GUNHED]

Maybe you need a stronger PSU??

[protek]

It’s an Iomega Zipdrive PSU. It should have enough oomph for a couple of cards. Anyhow, I changed the Xmass to a different slot and got things working again.

[protek]

And now I found the reason. If I use the external PSU, the Xmass goes into an indetectable state. Without the external PSU and powered by the expansion bus it works just fine.

[GUNHED]

And now I found the reason. If I use the external PSU, the Xmass goes into an indetectable state. Without the external PSU and powered by the expansion bus it works just fine.

Oh, interesting! What happens if you use the same PSU for the CPC and the Mother-X4 board? Should it all be fine thein?

[protek]

Have really no way of trying that as I would need to rebuild my power adapter for three outputs.

[Skunkfish]

Can you not use a splitter cable? They're pretty cheap on eBay..

[protek]

I guess, but does the X-mem and X-mass actually draw that much power that it would be putting a strain on the 5V line of the expansion bus?

[protek]

It does work with the splitter from the same source if both CPC and X-mass are powered at the same time. If the MX4 receives power first then the X-mass won’t be detected.


This probably should be discussed under the X-mass thread rather than here.

[GUNHED]

Cool! Problem solved!

[Audronic]

It does work with the splitter from the same source if both CPC and X-mass are powered at the same time. If the MX4 receives power first then the X-mass won’t be detected.
This probably should be discussed under the X-mass thread rather than here.

Or if somebody can design a Delayed (Voltage) output for the MX4 ( Or on the next design of the MX4 a small delay could be built in ?)
Thanks     Ray

[protek]

Cool! Problem solved!

Not really, because it makes powering up the system pretty cumbersome. It’s easier just power it from the expansion bus.

[simulant]

Hey can anyone help me out with how to setup Symbos on the M4 board. I've re-read the readme.txt and user manual etc and I must be missing something!

If I just copy the roms to slots on the m4, and don't copy any files at all to my sd card I can boot symbos but any apps I click on I get an error 26 about drive A:

If I go to "Run" on the start menu like the manual advises and "browse" there is just an option for drive a: and drive b: with no mention of drive C: or my sdcard...

So I thought, maybe I have to copy the m4 contents to my sd card from the symbos download m4 folder.

Tried that too and still get the same unbrowseable sd card and error 26 when I boot from rom.

If I type run"sym it boots fine from the sdcard bin files and the wallpaper shows up etc, again I still get error 26 though with any apps I click.

I even downloaded that old Preview zip file and tried renaming symbos1.ini to symbos.ini but that didn't help either.

I just have a stock m4 card with no extra ram upgrades or such. Should I need any files or symbos directory on my sd card at all? I didn't think I would need anything except maybe some kind of symbos.ini file (though not sure where to get the right one from)...

Sorry if I've missed something obvious. Any help is appreciated. Ideally I just wanted to run everything from the m4 rom slots and put the minimum files needed on the sd. My drive a: disc drive is on the blink at the moment anyway so I can't use it for now

[Duke]

Any help is appreciated. Ideally I just wanted to run everything from the m4 rom slots and put the minimum files needed on the sd. My drive a: disc drive is on the blink at the moment anyway so I can't use it for now

The rom version is not for M4. What you need is this:
http://www.symbos.de/download.htm
SymbOS CPC core package
Inside the zip is another zip called SymbOS-CPC-M4BoardFull.zip
Unpack it to the root of your microSD
Insert to M4
run"sym

That's it.

[simulant]

The rom version is not for M4. What you need is this:
http://www.symbos.de/download.htm
SymbOS CPC core package
Inside the zip is another zip called SymbOS-CPC-M4BoardFull.zip
Unpack it to the root of your microSD
Insert to M4
run"sym

That's it.

wow really, no wonder it doesn't work! That's a shame cos it does boot well enough from m4 so maybe a rom version could be released - maybe there is no advantage to that though?

A problem I have though when I boot the non-rom version on m4 is I get an "out of memory" error when I click on the system terminal SymShell shortcut on the desktop, or Control Panel... Do I need a ram upgrade to use most things on a stock 6128?

ps. M4 is absolutely awesome by the way!!

[Duke]

wow really, no wonder it doesn't work! That's a shame cos it does boot well enough from m4 so maybe a rom version could be released - maybe there is no advantage to that though?

Yeah no advantage as far as I have understood. There is pratically no boot-time on M4 anyway.

A problem I have though when I boot the non-rom version on m4 is I get an "out of memory" error when I click on the system terminal SymShell shortcut on the desktop, or Control Panel... Do I need a ram upgrade to use most things on a stock 6128?

Yup, there's not much you can do with 128KB memory in SymbOS.

[simulant]

Yeah no advantage as far as I have understood. There is pratically no boot-time on M4 anyway.Yup, there's not much you can do with 128KB memory in SymbOS.

What is my best option to add more RAM and still use the edge connector M4? Or am I best selling it and buying another with MX4 connector so I can use Z-Mem?

[Duke]

What is my best option to add more RAM and still use the edge connector M4? Or am I best selling it and buying another with MX4 connector so I can use Z-Mem?

You could use my adapter and plug M4 into the end and put Z/X-MEM into the IDC connector. It's not a great solution as it will add a bit of weight to the expansion port, unless you add some support.
Also I think @Piotr made a ram expansion with passthrough.

[simulant]

You could use my adapter and plug M4 into the end and put Z/X-MEM into the IDC connector. It's not a great solution as it will add a bit of weight to the expansion port, unless you add some support.
Also I think @Piotr made a ram expansion with passthrough.

Hi thanks Duke, how much is your expansion board or where is it available from? (or can you email me any details from my previous order if you'd prefer to keep it separate from the forum)