+Ksarul Posted July 1, 2014 Author Share Posted July 1, 2014 All cards in the wild with the exception of the first couple I sent to you and Acadiel are using the non-inverted 378 version of the board, Tursi. I kept the other 18 of the 379 boards safely separate from my customer stocks (I can alsways use them for some single purpose cartridges later, like making them into RXB carts or something. . .though that would be based on the early version of your dode, as the pin-outs on the AVR were moved around some from the final variants we're using now). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazoo Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 I've added 2 more sets of files to the post I made with the files for testing. That way everything is still in one place. If the files are tested in order, it should be easy to find what the problem is, if there is one. Hopefully, the last file works ok. http://atariage.com/forums/topic/193163-512k-cartridge-status/page-15?do=findComment&comment=3022027 Gazoo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tursi Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 All cards in the wild with the exception of the first couple I sent to you and Acadiel are using the non-inverted 378 version of the board, Tursi. Actually, I know this. What I forgot was that I used a 379 on my demo cartridge since I didn't /have/ a 378 in stock. So, basically, the flash data is backwards in the files delivered in the original archive. And that's why nobody else can make it work. This should work then. Fair warning: the GROM Configure tool is not complete and changing things in it may or may not work. It can't load or save files yet, which was where I left off. But you can use it to explore the layout and see how things map, as well as view the hex data (the hex data is meant for confirmation purposes, I don't intend to make it an editor.) gromdemocart2013Hex.zip 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazoo Posted July 4, 2014 Share Posted July 4, 2014 Hmm, that's actually worrisome. Don't do that anymore. I looked up how the Widget works on Thierry's page, and it disables GROMs by turning off the -5v line to them, so only one set of GROMs is powered at a time. The problem is, my AVR doesn't use -5v, so no matter where you put the switch, it is still powered and still responds to accesses. (I'm a little surprised it can't override the other cartridge's GROMs, but it may be that only the console GROMs can be overridden). At any rate, it's probably not good either for the AVR or the other GROMs. Jim, do we want to address this issue and make it compatible with the widget? We would need to add another line to the AVR (and take up one of the GPIO, I guess), and we would probably need to add an inverter circuit since the AVR can't take -5v in. Then we can detect presence of that voltage and disable the outputs when its not there. I guess nobody has ever had need to plug a GRAM Kracker into a widget, eh? (I am not advising it!) I would expect similar behavior... but... that makes sense. People expect a cartridge to work though. The Widget's double pole switch also switches line 34 in the cart port, which is the Rom chip select. Having that line enabling or disabling the AVR would probably be an easier solution than inverting the -5 line or using an opto-isolator. Gazoo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+arcadeshopper Posted July 5, 2014 Share Posted July 5, 2014 Actually, I know this. What I forgot was that I used a 379 on my demo cartridge since I didn't /have/ a 378 in stock. CIMG1020.JPG So, basically, the flash data is backwards in the files delivered in the original archive. And that's why nobody else can make it work. This should work then. Fair warning: the GROM Configure tool is not complete and changing things in it may or may not work. It can't load or save files yet, which was where I left off. But you can use it to explore the layout and see how things map, as well as view the hex data (the hex data is meant for confirmation purposes, I don't intend to make it an editor.) gromdemocart2013Hex.zip Ok I burned this and it comes up with 2 Multicart but just get a blank screen.. programmed the atmel and 512 Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tursi Posted July 5, 2014 Share Posted July 5, 2014 (edited) The Widget's double pole switch also switches line 34 in the cart port, which is the Rom chip select. Having that line enabling or disabling the AVR would probably be an easier solution than inverting the -5 line or using an opto-isolator. Gazoo ROM chip select is only active when the ROM is actually being accessed, so that doesn't do us any good. (Edit: unless it's actually driven HIGH when not active. Okay, this is worth looking at. ) Edited July 5, 2014 by Tursi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tursi Posted July 5, 2014 Share Posted July 5, 2014 Ok I burned this and it comes up with 2 Multicart but just get a blank screen.. programmed the atmel and 512 Greg If you see "2 MULTICART", then the AVR has (probably) executed the startup code, and it is no longer involved in anything until the multicart scans GROM. If you get a blank screen, I would suspect that your flash chip is having trouble being read - check for good connection with the socket and clean the pins, perhaps? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazoo Posted July 6, 2014 Share Posted July 6, 2014 So, basically, the flash data is backwards in the files delivered in the original archive. And that's why nobody else can make it work. If anyone has a file they'd like to invert in 8k chunks, Insanemultitasker has written a Geneve program to do it without all the drudgery. Thank you, Nutso! I use it all the time and it saves about an hour of drudgery on a 512k file. If you've got a file to invert, send it to me and I'll be happy to do it for you, only takes a few minutes. Gazoo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asmusr Posted July 6, 2014 Share Posted July 6, 2014 If anyone has a file they'd like to invert in 8k chunks, Insanemultitasker has written a Geneve program to do it without all the drudgery. Thank you, Nutso! I use it all the time and it saves about an hour of drudgery on a 512k file. If you've got a file to invert, send it to me and I'll be happy to do it for you, only takes a few minutes. Gazoo I wrote a small Java program to invert a file in case you don't own a Geneve bankinvert.zip. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted July 6, 2014 Author Share Posted July 6, 2014 Here are a couple of pictures of the most recent updates to the 512K Red series cartridge boards. They will work with all of the EPROMs used in the earlier run, but this version adds the capability to use several different sizes of Nonvolatile Static RAM chips (it will need a loader of some sort to put data into the chip, but the hardware is ready for those programmers who need that functionality). The board also has an option based on Gazoo's 1024K hack of the original boards. Jumpers are in place to set the pins on the EPROM to that mode, and space is there to put in a resistor and a switch to allow the user to select between two 512K banking zones. I'm still testing everything to make sure I didn't make any mistakes in the layout, so they are not available yet. I also included a picture of one of the 128K boards used for the Rasmus Trilogy cartridges. Arcadeshopper will have more of them available as soon as I can ship them to him, as you can see from the picture. The last picture is of a nearly complete 128K card for the PEB (I just have to put a single 430K resistor and a heat sink onto it before I start experimenting with it). This card is based on the original 128K card designed by Mike Bunyard back when TI was still doing things for this system. It never went into production back then, but a few prototypes exist. Mike didn't have any issues with me trying to make some new ones when I talked to him several years ago. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted July 6, 2014 Share Posted July 6, 2014 A little off topic, but your 128K card got me to thinking about it: Any reason to use a real PEB over something like a CF7+? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted July 6, 2014 Author Share Posted July 6, 2014 The value of a PEB is flexibility. It lets you use a host of TI peripherals that aren't available when using the CF7. There are Something like 30 different cards that fit into the PEB (I'm speaking of cards with different functions here, not similar cards from different sources). That variability lets you build a system that really meets your specific needs--and those needs may far exceed what you can do with the CF7. The CF7 is great as a simple expansion system, and probably meets the needs of a goodly subset of the TI users--the PEB is the tricked-out super system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+hloberg Posted July 6, 2014 Share Posted July 6, 2014 Currently space is my problem not using PEB. Also the simplicity of moving files to and from the CF7 to my PC where I do most of my development. If I did have the space I guess the way to go would be a PEB with HDX Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+arcadeshopper Posted July 6, 2014 Share Posted July 6, 2014 If you see "2 MULTICART", then the AVR has (probably) executed the startup code, and it is no longer involved in anything until the multicart scans GROM. If you get a blank screen, I would suspect that your flash chip is having trouble being read - check for good connection with the socket and clean the pins, perhaps? Tried two chips, same issue.. they verify fine in my programmer but nothing on the TI after the menu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+arcadeshopper Posted July 6, 2014 Share Posted July 6, 2014 Currently space is my problem not using PEB. Also the simplicity of moving files to and from the CF7 to my PC where I do most of my development. If I did have the space I guess the way to go would be a PEB with HDX That's why i got a nanopeb.. serial so i can use cfhdxs1 to copy to/from hdx. Course I have a PBOX 99/4a as well with hdx..and a geneve with hdx.. and another pbox for testing Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted July 6, 2014 Share Posted July 6, 2014 A little off topic, but your 128K card got me to thinking about it: Any reason to use a real PEB over something like a CF7+? 1) Insured compatibility with all existing software, the Nano/CF7 fails in this area. 2) Future expand-ability - Why lock yourself into a path limiting future growth or options. 3) Dependability - There are known quality and flakiness issues with some units. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted July 6, 2014 Author Share Posted July 6, 2014 Tursi, I can send you another board with the 378 installed so you can do the non-inverted tests on your end too. . .I'll put it in the mail this week (and it already has the capacitor mod that I put on all boards in the field, so it should be stable on the hardware side). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tursi Posted July 6, 2014 Share Posted July 6, 2014 Tried two chips, same issue.. they verify fine in my programmer but nothing on the TI after the menu But how did you verify the /socket/? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tursi Posted July 6, 2014 Share Posted July 6, 2014 Tursi, I can send you another board with the 378 installed so you can do the non-inverted tests on your end too. . .I'll put it in the mail this week (and it already has the capacitor mod that I put on all boards in the field, so it should be stable on the hardware side). I already have 378-based boards (and if you could tell me what the capacitor mod is, I can do it myself). If you look at the picture I posted, you can see that I hand-wired in the 379 in my test. Also, you don't have my correct address! So we need to communicate a bit. I don't know if I have your correct email anymore as you didn't respond to the last questions I sent out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+arcadeshopper Posted July 6, 2014 Share Posted July 6, 2014 But how did you verify the /socket/? I guess by the fact that the gazoo multigame worked.. well one of the burns did.. perhaps my socket/adapter is the culprit. I'll be ordering a zif one here shortly. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted July 6, 2014 Author Share Posted July 6, 2014 Message sent on the e-mail issue, Tursi! Many thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asmusr Posted July 6, 2014 Share Posted July 6, 2014 A little off topic, but your 128K card got me to thinking about it: Any reason to use a real PEB over something like a CF7+? There are several great improvements that Mr Malilong could add to his devices. One is more RAM, another is HDX capability. But I guess 128k of static RAM would add considerably to the cost, which is currently very reasonable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RXB Posted July 6, 2014 Share Posted July 6, 2014 (edited) A little off topic, but your 128K card got me to thinking about it: Any reason to use a real PEB over something like a CF7+? With Real Iron yea, can not use a SAMS or PGRAM or HSGPL or Asgard Mouse Serial Mouse. Edited July 6, 2014 by RXB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted July 7, 2014 Share Posted July 7, 2014 Since I'm just a game player, looks like the CF7+ is a better choice. I still do have my PEB hooked up just in case though (plus it makes a convenient monitor stand). I might use the PEB just for the hell of it if there was an easy way to transfer disk images to actual disks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+arcadeshopper Posted July 7, 2014 Share Posted July 7, 2014 Since I'm just a game player, looks like the CF7+ is a better choice. I still do have my PEB hooked up just in case though (plus it makes a convenient monitor stand). I might use the PEB just for the hell of it if there was an easy way to transfer disk images to actual disks. There is: http://www.arcadeshopper.com/wp/?page_id=11#!/~/product/category=5051340&id=36126191 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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