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Add Nova driver order, SidecarTridge ROM/floppy notes, Geneva/NeoDesk switching to monsterboard

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stefankoelle
2026-09-12 20:49:34 +02:00
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retro/et4000-experiment/index.njk
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<h2>The Card and Driver</h2>
<p>I can confirm that a card with the RAMDAC SC11487CN works with the Nova T8 and T6 drivers. And importantly, this particular card does not need -12V, which simplifies the wiring considerably. The STGA adapter comes with its own VDI (STGA_VDI.SYS, v1.3b), a control panel as a CPX module, and a ROM module that switches to the VGA automatically at boot.</p>
<h2>Nova driver loading order</h2>
<p>When using the ET4000 with Nova drivers, the loading order in the auto-start folder matters. The correct sequence is:</p>
<ol>
<li><code>Emulator.prg</code> (must be first)</li>
<li><code>menu.prg</code> or <code>xmenu.prg</code></li>
<li><code>sta_vdi.prg</code></li>
</ol>
<h2>What Made It Difficult</h2>
<ul>
<li><strong>Power supply overload</strong>, the stock Mega ST PSU simply wasn't designed to feed a MonSTerBoard, an ET4000, and a MegaBus adapter at the same time. The 5V and 12V rails ended up right at their instability limit.</li>
retro/monsterboard/index.njk
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<h2>My Setup</h2>
<p>In my Mega ST 4 "High" machine the MonSTerBoard provides the 8 MB of TT-RAM that TOS 2.06 and Geneva use for real multitasking. For storage I use the dual IDE interface, booting the system directly from a CompactFlash card. I started with a 4 GB card, but that didn't work reliably, so I switched to a 1 GB card, which works fine. There's no ACSI hard drive connected in this machine; the IDE boot is noticeably faster than an ACSI drive would be. Combined with the <a href="/retro/et4000-experiment/">ET4000 graphics card</a> and its dedicated monitor, it's the most capable machine in the fleet.</p>
<h2>Geneva and NeoDesk</h2>
<p>Geneva and NeoDesk run together well on the MonSTerBoard, using the 8 MB of AltRAM. The two desktop modes can be switched without renaming any files:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Standard Desktop</strong>, the default TOS desktop.</li>
<li><strong>Geneva</strong>, start <code>auto\geneva.prg</code> with "G" and <code>auto\neoload.prg</code> also with "G". Rename <code>newdesk.inf</code> to <code>newdesk.inX</code> (with an X instead of F).</li>
</ul>
<p>Geneva and NeoDesk can also be started directly from the desktop without renaming anything.</p>
<h2>Gallery</h2>
<img src="monster-ide.jpg" alt="MonSTerBoard IDE adapter with CompactFlash card" width="640" height="480" loading="lazy">
<p class="caption">The MonSTerBoard IDE adapter with a CompactFlash card attached.</p>
retro/sidecartridge/index.njk
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<h2>My Setup</h2>
<p>The original Revision 0 SidecarTridge is in use on the Mega ST 4 "Low" machine. The new Revision 3 I've bought but not yet installed, so it's still sitting alongside the other uninstalled extensions until I decide where to use it.</p>
<h2>ROM and floppy emulation</h2>
<p>ROM emulation works, but only partially with TOS 2.06 on the MonSTerBoard. Floppy emulation, on the other hand, works very well: floppy images can be created with HxC Floppy Emulator on Windows and transferred to the SidecarTridge, making it easy to move data between a modern PC and the Atari.</p>
<h2>Sources</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://sidecartridge.com/products/sidecartridge-multidevice-atari-st/" target="_blank">SidecarTridge Multi-device for Atari ST - official product page</a></li>