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Nextor 2.0 beta 1 released

by konamiman on 28-02-2013, 23:09
Topic: Software
Tags: Nextor
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After a year and a half since the last release a new version of Nextor, the disk operating system based on MSX-DOS 2, is finally available. This version is labeled 2.0 beta 1 and these are the main improvements it contains:

  • A bunch of bugs have been fixed. This version is much more stable and usable.
  • Added the BASIC CALL commands CURDRV, DRVINFO and DRIVERS, which are equivalent to the already existing .COM tools.
  • Added the CALL NEXTOR command, which shows a list of available CALL commands provided by Nextor.
  • The CALL CHDRV now works in MSX-DOS 1 mode, and admits a drive number as an alternative to a drive letter, so for example _CHDRV(3) is the same as _CHDRV("C:").
  • Added the CALL USR command, which allows to execute machine code in the same way as the MSX BASIC DEF USR command does, but allowing full control of the values of the Z80 registers.
  • The BASIC commands DSKI$ and DSKO$ now accept 32 bit sector numbers.
  • The FDISK tool now allows to create 4GB partitions.
  • The F7 key has the text load" assigned at boot time even on MSX1 and MSX2 computers, which have cload" by default.

A fully detailed list of changes is available in the user manual. This is the same version that will be distributed built-in with the recently released MegaFlashROM SCC+ SD cartridge. Remember however that there are also standalone and Sunrise IDE versions, and that anyone can develop its own driver to control any other kind of storage hardware.

Relevant link: Konamiman's MSX page

Comments (9)

By konamiman

Paladin (706)

konamiman's picture

28-02-2013, 23:58

Ooops, broken link!

By the way why the preview feature for news submission is gone? It was available in the old site if I remember correctly.

By Google

By Jorito

Mr. Ambassadors (1258)

Jorito's picture

01-03-2013, 07:51

Fixed the broken link!
You can preview your content by clicking the magnifying glass icon in the toolbar.

By edoz

Paladin (674)

edoz's picture

01-03-2013, 14:35

Very cool! .. Thanks for the memory slot fix. I will test and try it soon Big smile Big smile Big smile (on my sunrise IDE)
Hope it's stable now for a complete switch to nextor in future. (Hope that i can boot Symbos also)

Thanks!

By KdL

Hero (561)

KdL's picture

01-03-2013, 19:54

Hi Konamiman! You have wrote many of biggest tools for happiness of MSX users, thanks!!! Wink

By edoz

Paladin (674)

edoz's picture

02-03-2013, 20:23

Ok, i flashed my sunrise CF interface with the new BETA version.

1. If i start my MSX using nextor it's going to nextor-dos but then giving this error: "??????????COM (with some white text bloks) Reading drive" (just after the copyright text.) This happens 7 out of 10 times. (Same as in the alpha release)

2. If i use _fdisk i see the CF card but if i press 1, and then 1 again (CF CARD 2GB) to view the partitions, it's saying there are no suitable logical units available in the device.(?) If i choose esc and go to basic and the start _fdisk again i can see the partitions.(huh?) So sometimes it's working sometimes not. (same as in the alpha release)

(for the info: I created 2 partions,with nextor fdisk, both fat 16, and have two floppy drives connected in my MSX8280)

3. Memory (mapper) problem seems to be fixed! Smile .. yes .. no memory problems anymore Big smile Big smile

4. if i reset my MSX using the reset switch sometimes i end up in MSX basic and sometimes, nextor is starting nextor-dos but giving a error.... "Invalid drive reading drive C: choose (abort or Retry)" (If you press retry the floppy drive is starting but nextor trowa error: "wirting drive $:" and then the msx is not responding anymore.

5. Same as 4 but this time i have a floppy with nextor.sys in it. Nextor is booting this time. (but it's using the C floppy drive to load the nextor.sys.) Nextor ends up on drive B: (which is normaly drive A) Strainge ?

is the sunrise rom also new? Because it's still saying (C) 2009 konamiman ? while nextor itselve has a (c) 2013 time stamp.

So when i able to start nextor Wink it seems to be working fine Big smile but it is a lucky job to get it working overhere Smile

By mars2000you

Prophet (3160)

mars2000you's picture

02-03-2013, 20:25

Maybe idefl128.com is corrupted by the Zapp virus, check this French thread :

http://www.msxvillage.fr/forum/topic.php?id=1708

By konamiman

Paladin (706)

konamiman's picture

02-03-2013, 23:09

The Sunrise driver is the same as the previous version, only that it reports the devices as non-removable, since I have found that the hardware is not capable of recognizing a change of the CF card while the computer is switched on (a reset after the card change does not work either - the computer must be shut down), at least not if treating the devices as normal LBA block devices (maybe there is a special IDE command for that?)

This driver is experimental and very barebones, I made it mainly for the purpose of being able to test Nextor on blueMSX and it supports only LBA devices, no CHS or ATAPI; also as explained above it does not detect device changes. I really would need some help to improve the driver by anyone mastering the Sunrise IDE hardware and/or the IDE protocol so that it is really usable on real hardware.

Anyway, the problems reported by edoz are not normal and in fact I can't reproduce them (I have a CF reader too, have flashed Nextor on it, and seems to work fine). This indeed seems a corruption problem on any of the files used.

By the way I have checked that neither the IDEFL128.COM nor the Nextor related tools available on my page are infected by ZAPP.

By edoz

Paladin (674)

edoz's picture

03-03-2013, 09:58

Good news...my command2.com was infected by the ZAPP virus! i think the boot problems where created by the ZAPP virus. It seems now that Nextor is booting correctly.

But one problem i still have. Sometimes my partition is mapped to drive A and sometimes it's mapped to drive B after booting nextor. (may this has something to do with the driver on real hardware as you described ?)

By edoz

Paladin (674)

edoz's picture

03-03-2013, 15:36

I did some tests today with nextor.

Some problems i (still) have:
- Sometimes, say 3/10 times i end up in basic. When i power on my MSX, the Bios message is displayed, at this point the LED on the interface is ON and keeps ON. (Normaly it's blinking and it's booting to Nextor-dos) (This occurs only after a reset. Not after a power off/on)

- Sometimes my partition is mapped after booting to drive A and sometimes to drive B (It make no differents if i place the nextor.dat file on the root of the filesystem) Also it makes no differents if i define 1 or 2 partitions in Nextor.

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