This is partially covered in other topics, I just want to "summarize" my experience so maybe someone can help.
I have an XEGS and I bought SIDE2 and U1MB form lotharek.
I installed U1MB myself [needed to trim the ICD adapters as on XEGS there's not much space].
My U1MB came flashed with the following OSes:
1)HiSpeed
2)Stock XL
3)QMegs
4)Stock XE
I did put a jumper on the U1MB XEGS mode pin header bridging the pins, I believe that is what is needed for XEGS mode.
No matter what OS I choose I cannot get to Missile Command, I believe for this to work I need an XEGS os rom in slot 4.
Now onto SIDE2.
If I disable SDX and SIDE HW on U1MB I can use the embedded SDX mode with FDISK to prepare the cart, and then put XEX and ATR on the FAT32 portion, then with the switch in Loader mode I can load XEXs fine.
now on U1MB + L (SIDE2 switch set in Loader mode):
1) Side HW Off, SDX Off, attempt to start an ATR => no PBI driver/device error [expected]
2) Side HW On, SDX Off, attempt to start an ATR => xxx not mounted error [expected, SDX seems necessary for this]
3) Side HW On, SDX On, attempt to start an ATR => led flashes then goes to basic prompt [NOT expected]
because of 3 I cannot flash U1MB as I cannot start any ATR, so I'm kind of stuck.
[I tried both Side HW On settings with and w/o button support, no difference]
During all this XEXs always work from any Side loader (either the SIDE2 or the U1MB + L).
Even more details, I can only FDISK thru SIDE2 SDX mode (and all settings off for the U1MB).
Otherwise U1MB keeps on complaining that it cannot recognize the device (in this case I have Side HW on, SDX on but I simply don't press L, I just get out of the U1MB setup menu).
I believe the issue may be in the U1MB PBI drivers, that are there but have issues maybe in recognizing the CF (and I only have 1 4GB DaneElec to play with), or alternatively in the U1MB SDX drivers that don't play nice with the PBI and fail to mount the ATR, not sure which is which.
For completeness pay attention that if you prepare the CF with MyIDE2 the APT partition is not compat with SDX on SIDE2. I noticed that the sizes reported are half on SIDE2 SDX than they are on MyIDE2 SDX [there's a SDX rom to which you can add MyIDE2.sys for MyIDE2] and SIDE2 SDX then fails to format them.
So I decided to stick to just one simple FAT32 as all I care are XEXs and ATRs and apprently U1MB should be able to support them both from the FAT32 partition (with SIDE2).
Because of the IDE register clash MyIDE2 cannot run as PBI device for U1MB, I know that, but the U1MB extra mem is usable from within MyBIOS just fine, so I was trying to use U1MB as memory expansion + multiOS.
What was I trying to achieve?
Having U1MB flashed with a XEGS stock bios so I can use my XEGS as normal XEGS (the onboard Stock XE does not seem to work for me) + MyBIOS R2/RE so I can use it with MyIDE2 [I like R16 support] because MyBIOS R2 compat is much better than MyBIOS F2 (soft OS versus rom os).
I bought SIDE2 because I thought it would be easy to make it work with U1MB as a way to reflash it but I got stuck.
I am now using the same CF among SIDE2 and MyIDE2 and YES I did try a complete ground up FDISK/Format cycle for CF completely from the SIDE2 to make sure only lotharek hardware was involved .... and nothing changed, so I went back to use MyBIOS to do the disk preparation (because it needs a special partition for its own support of mounted ATRs) and simply "share" the CF FAT32 portion among the 2 devices.
So to summarize:
U1MB + SIDE2 -> not capable of ATR launch from SIDE Loader, in specific it appears the SDX image in U1MB cannot recognize SIDE2 device (not sure if it may be the particular CF).
U1MB stand alone -> not capable of running as a stock XEGS, I believe because the Stock XE OS is not XEGS
U1MB + MyIDE2 -> can use the extra mem (I tried commando 320K and TowerToppler 128K file version and they worked), but because can't flash OS then can only use MyBIOS F2 with reduced compat.
I contacted lotharek about a week ago with no answer yet, now I ordered an (E)EPROM flasher in the hope that I can use the ROM generator output rom to reflash U1MB and hopefully fix the blunder ..... just not exactly a cheap solution (MyIDE2 FAT32loader allows MyIDE2 self flashing, I wonder if we can have SIDE loader on U1MB to embed a feature like it so as long as SIDE loader can see the file then it can flash U1MB).
I'll contact him again maybe he was just busy with life, I just checked here in case someone as a quick solution, keep in mind I have no access to SIO2PC, SIO2SD or any other device that can simulate real Atari devices, I only have SIDE2 and MyIDE2.
So please do not post anything about lotharek services, it's been too early and maybe he has a solution, for now I'm just being impatient. I like his skills, and the products look fantastic.
Anyone else experiencing my issues with U1MB + SIDE2?
If so did trying another CF help in any way?