The Sinclair QL Forum

I'm testing a 768K TrumpCard with a 2.17c ROM, TK v.2.20. The trumpcard works correctly with an older Rom (1.21b - TK 2.13).
The systems starts and the toolkit activates without typing TK2_EXT
But some commands don't work (MAKE_DIR, SDUMP....). I typed "EXTRAS" for the list of commands, and some commands are missing. Please see the following link for the list:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3974809/extras.jpg

Maybe the new Rom is compatible only for certain TrumpCard models?

I'm not 100% certain but this looks like it might be an upgrade ROM, since it has the ATR_DEV keyword, meaning it might have an inbuilt device called ATR (ATR1_, etc) which lets it read Atari/DOS disks.

Would it be possible for you to tell us what the ROM header banner (the message you see at startup) says?

Dilwyn, Cristian

the ATR_DEV keyword definitely points in that direction. But also opens up a number of questions:

The ATR_DEV driver I have also has some other commands like ATR_USE and ATR_CONV - Seems to be missing here. Also all the ATR device drivers I have seen so far were also Level 2 device drivers, so should definitely support MAKE_DIR et al (Anything else doesn't make a lot of sense anyhow - You would only be able to access the root directory of Atari/MSDOS disks.)

With regards to your question: I have yet to see a single ROM that would activate commands only if specific pieces of hardware are found. Rather woud code just crash if the right hardware isn't found. But I stand to be corrected.

I would rather assume that this would be an incompletely (or would the right word be "Incompetently"?) "patched" ROM mixup from an original Trump Card ROM + ATR that someone has patched together on their kitchen table

Cheers,
Tobias

Random thought is ATR_DEV a command ? If so is it possible that typing it installs the ATR_ related device and commands?

Cheers.

Phill.

tofro wrote: I have yet to see a single ROM that would activate commands only if specific pieces of hardware are found. Rather woud code just crash if the right hardware isn't found. But I stand to be corrected.

I would rather assume that this would be an incompletely (or would the right word be "Incompetently"?) "patched" ROM mixup from an original Trump Card ROM + ATR that someone has patched together on their kitchen table

About the first point: I'm sure you're right, thanks for the information.
For what it regards the second point, well everything is possible since I don't know exactly who created this Rom code...
So what now? Find the correct Rom image and reburn, I suppose.

It would be interesting to know what the start up banner says but my guess is that yes, someone has tried patching the ROM unsuccessfully - might be worth dumping the ROM to a file and see what commands are actually in there!

RWAP wrote:It would be interesting to know what the start up banner says but my guess is that yes, someone has tried patching the ROM unsuccessfully - might be worth dumping the ROM to a file and see what commands are actually in there!

If I type "ATR_DEV", then "DIR atr1_", it can read and write MS-DOS disks (but 720K only) I can also WCOPY flp1_ TO atr2 , and transfer QDOS floppy files into a MSDOS disk!

On the other hand, it seems impossible to read normal Qdos disks if written by QemuLator
Only a partial list and a number of square roots, then "bad or changed medium":

RWAP wrote:dumping the ROM to a file and see what commands are actually in there!

So EXTRAS does not display all the commands? The awareness of my incompetence is growing day by day...
Will I be able at least to create the ROM dump with your kind help?

Hi,

Can you make a copy of the ROM code for the QL Preservation Project.

I have a Trump Card with 1.21b ROM code.

Your one seems to be quite old. If you can programme eproms, I can send to you copy of the ROM, or I can programme an Eprom for £5 plus postage.

The MAKE_DIR command is a Level II driver command, make a file a Hard directory with a file type of 255, so will not work in Level 1 drivers, unless there is extensions added.

Hard Directories first appeared in Rebel Hard Drives and Miracle Hard Drives, also in Toolkit 3 did something with Hard Directories.

I thought ATR was still copyright with Albin Hessler. I have copies of ATR as loadable extensions, but non-distributable due copyright, unless this has been made freeware?

Cristian wrote:

RWAP wrote:dumping the ROM to a file and see what commands are actually in there!

So EXTRAS does not display all the commands? The awareness of my incompetence is growing day by day...
Will I be able at least to create the ROM dump with your kind help?

EXTRAS displays all of the commands linked into the system - if the ROM has been patched at home (which is suggested by the (c) Jo on the start up page, then it may well contain the other commands but the linking wasn't done correctly