Legacy support (discontinued hardware)

Following the release of the SIDE3 cartridge in September 2020, development of the SIDE3 Loader has been ongoing, and in July 2021 I embarked on a considerable re-write which resulted in the loader having full read/write access to FAT partitions on the SD card. Not only this, but the UI was enhanced with context menus and drop-down lists, and the loader gained a full complement of file management tools, including a recursive copier and the ability to create new disk images ‘on the fly’. Moreover, the read-only ‘mini FAT DOS’ present in older versions of the loader was replaced by a complete CIO DOS with read/write capability and a command processor.

SIDE3 Beta Loader

The FATFMS disk operating system

Below is a (not exhaustive) overview the features now on offer:

Read/write support for up to eight FAT partitions with long filenames
64KB FAT directory buffer allowing the browsing 1,024 files per folder
Fast recursive search facility
Intuitive context menu system
CAR/ROM file loading, ATR mounting, XEX loading
Powerful file management tools (recursive file copier, delete, rename, etc)
Windows-style cut/copy/paste facilities and keyboard shortcuts
PDM audio playback
BASIC file loading
Built-in FATFMS (an Atari/SpartaDOS FAT workalike with CLI)
Autorun facility
Bookmarks/favourites
Launcher shortcuts and aliases (with hotkey launching)
Disk image creation
History (remembers your most recently used XEX, ATR and CAR files)
Support for SD cards/FAT partitions of up to 128GB
Time/date stamping of new and modified files (via real-time clock)
Simultaneous HDD/ATR/CAR emulation
Bootable, OS-level disk image and HDD support with U1MB when present
Limited ATR support without U1MB
Remember the last accessed partition, folder, or file

Below is a table which compares the features offered by several popular multi-cart solutions:

SIDE3 Loader Download

Latest build:

SIDE3 Loader 0.69 240123

Includes:

SIMCovox support
Fix for cartridge mounting bug
UI fixes
JED 1.3 update (run with ‘X’ under SpartaDOS X)

See changelog for full details. Note that the latest loader works equally well with JED 1.1 and 1.3.

IMPORTANT – READ FIRST!

You do not need to update the JED if your SIDE3 already works satisfactorily. Only update from JED 1.1 to 1.3 if you’re experiencing stability issues. Moreover, the JED update only works on SIDE 3.0 and 3.1 cartridges with LATTICE CPLDs. These are generally the blue or black PCBs. Purple PCBs are equipped with GoWin CPLDs which all have JED 1.3 already applied and cannot receive JED updates via software. HOWEVER, recent GoWin CPLD SIDE 3.2s ship with JED 2.3, which is specific to the GoWin-equipped boards. JED 2.3 has been observed to create stability issues not present with JED 1.3 on some machines, so if your SIDE3 (of any generation) already has JED 1.3, I strongly advise you to leave it alone if it is already working reliably.

Discontinuation of SIDE3

In July 2024, Lotharek (manufacturer and vendor of SIDE3) withdrew SIDE3 from sale on an apparently permanent basis after I discovered and publicised issues surrounding JED update 2.3. This was two months after my private communications to Lotharek and the hardware designer concerning the problems I had encountered resulted in no action whatsoever.

For a full account of the cirumstances resulting in SIDE3’s withdrawal, please click here.