Neo-Rio Posted May 17, 2016 Share Posted May 17, 2016 (edited) Hi, I'm new to the Atari scene after having picked up an XEGS off ebay some time ago. I got the SIDE2 cartridge to be able to play some games on the machine only to discover that I need the ultimate 1Meg upgrade to access ATRs. So now I have the ultimate 1Meg board (lotharek's latest revision), but just trying to figure out how to install it. The device comes with no instructions and what I do know about the device is very sparse. There's nowhere to mount the board with the screw provided as far as I can tell. All the holes in the board are needed by the case with the exception of this one hole in the board up near the composite ports. This seems like it could be a good fit with the board sitting over the TV box, but the screw is too long and the top metal shield of the motherboard won't fit back on. Do I have to drill extra holes in the motherboard? (I don't want to) I'm thinking I might be able to get away with mounting the board up there... so long as I cut the screw with a hacksaw as well as the plastic screw cover to make them shorter to fit. Then I'm worried about grounding the board out on the TV box as I have to position the board lower. What have other people done to mount the board in an XEGS? As for the CPU pins... the kit came with no header for this. I am going to try and source one from a PC parts shop (perhaps a molex to PC floppy drive 4 pin prong) and hack it to fit I guess. The standard square PC fan-esque 4-pin headers don't fit because the P3 2-pin headers are in the way. Speaking of which, what are these P3 pins for? The board says "XEGS mode". I read somewhere that jumpering those pins allows you to load replacement roms to missile command or something. How about wiring up the cables to the CPU? So far I've desoldered the CPU and intend to drop it in a socket. I'm thinking of soldering the wires to the revelant pins on the top side of the socket. Any ideas, suggestions? Edited May 17, 2016 by Neo-Rio Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted May 17, 2016 Share Posted May 17, 2016 (edited) You may find something of interest in this recent thread: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/227779-resistors-for-ultimate-1mb-atari-xegs/?do=findComment&comment=3510761 Lotharek does not provide an abundance of fixings, so you're better off purchasing some M3 screws of appropriate length, washers, standoffs, and nuts, together with a 4-way Dupont connector (crimp connectors and housing) for the CPU signals. A jumper across the XEGS pins does indeed put the board into XEGS mode. Edited May 17, 2016 by flashjazzcat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoSch Posted May 17, 2016 Share Posted May 17, 2016 I just soldered the four cables to corresponding pins on the CPU. I put the two cables under the board and fixed the board with some tape to the XEGS board for now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mytek Posted May 18, 2016 Share Posted May 18, 2016 Hi JoSch Welcome to the XEGS U-1meg Club! If you have any specific questions and/or need some additional photos of my installation (from a different angle or closer up) just let me know. The great thing about the XEGS as I recently found out, is that you have all kinds of headroom once you dispense with the metal shields. - Michael Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoSch Posted May 18, 2016 Share Posted May 18, 2016 Yes, but I only shed the shield, after I installed the VBXE. Well, I have to think about what I do with the remaining free space and how to get Maxflash/IDE to work with the Ultimate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neo-Rio Posted May 18, 2016 Author Share Posted May 18, 2016 Welcome to the XEGS U-1meg Club! If you have any specific questions and/or need some additional photos of my installation (from a different angle or closer up) just let me know. The great thing about the XEGS as I recently found out, is that you have all kinds of headroom once you dispense with the metal shields. Yes, I was trying to keep the upper shield. It sounds like some of the other modes demand it be gone though :/ I did manage to get some more of those M3 screws (only one comes from Lotharek, and it's a bit long), and the Dupont connector from the electronic parts shop. Had trouble finding a tube for the extra screws, so I got some wall mount braces instead. I will experiment with the placement a bit. I'm trying to avoid having to mod the XEGS beyond all recognition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mytek Posted May 18, 2016 Share Posted May 18, 2016 (edited) Yes, I was trying to keep the upper shield. It sounds like some of the other modes demand it be gone though :/ I did manage to get some more of those M3 screws (only one comes from Lotharek, and it's a bit long), and the Dupont connector from the electronic parts shop. Had trouble finding a tube for the extra screws, so I got some wall mount braces instead. I will experiment with the placement a bit. I'm trying to avoid having to mod the XEGS beyond all recognition. Neo-Rio welcome to the XEGS U-1meg club as well. I really don't understand the desire to keep the shields. If it's about electrical noise concerns, unless you are still watch analog TV transmissions with an aerial, or using the XEGS's RF output, this is a non-issue. I used two 4-40 threaded metal spacers for my U-1meg mounting, and 4 screws. If you look at that link that FlashJazzCat posted, you'll see that I drilled through two ground p!ane points on the motherboard (they and the U-1meg mounting holes are all at the same ground potential). I provided my own mounting hardware which I happened to have on hand, but depending upon where you live, might be available at a local hardware store. However my mounting location only worked because I first removed the RF modulator, something that might not be an option for you. Also if you dispense with the shields, you'll have plenty of room to use the DuPont (I call them Waldem) connectors, and with long enough standoffs be able to go above the RF modulator, thus leaving it in place. My location was also dictated by wanting to leave clearance for other upgrades (stereo board and UAV). What ever approach you take, good luck on your installation, and enjoy the end result. - Michael Edited May 18, 2016 by mytekcontrols Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoSch Posted May 18, 2016 Share Posted May 18, 2016 (edited) I should add that the shield is of no concern for me after I removed the tuner. I use the room and the hole in the case to thread a SCART cable for the VBXE through it. Edited May 18, 2016 by JoSch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neo-Rio Posted May 18, 2016 Author Share Posted May 18, 2016 (edited) Well I finally managed to install the Ultimate 1Meg into the XEGS and keep the shield in place with the 1Meg board installed.... but it only JUST fit! This was not easy! Atari OS ROM, MMU and CPU were all socketed for the job, with the CPU having a nice ribbon cable for the connections to the 1Meg board. What I did do was to drill a hole through one of the shield bottom mountpoints for the screw to mount the 1Meg board (much like the XEGS in the other link). Then I realized that the place where the screw sits is lifted up by a "ramp" on the bottom part of the shield. Since the screw was pushing it up further, I had to push the "ramp" in so the screw had room to sit. I had to use a dremel with a steel cutting blade to hack the screw down to size to keep it in the case (remember to wear eye protection for this - sparks will fly!) The problem with getting the board inside the shielding was the header pins on the top of the board. There's plenty of space UNDER the board for them to go, but nowhere on top. So I ended up hacking the 1Meg board itself by desoldering the header pins and sticking them around the other way and UNDER the board.... NOW.... DO *NOT* TRY THIS AT HOME! I did you see... and while I'm pretty good with desoldering chips from boards, those headers are not only soldered in, but placed tightly in the holes. They are hard to desolder out and I think in trying to pull them out I must have busted a trace on one of the connections on the 5-pin header to one of the nearby resistors! So possibly I screwed up my ultimate board if I try and attach anything to those pins!! In future, I think it would be safer to ask Lotharek to do this for us instead. The board itself leans on the TV out box, in addition to leaning on the wires that are attached to the pins now under the board. The wires were fixed with the dupont plugs and cut very fine. Then shrinktubing was done on the outside to protect them from making any unwanted connections down there. Despite fears of possibly breaking the 1Meg board, I powered it on and it all seems to work. I think I will put a jumper on the XEGS mode, because, well.... it's an XEGS after all I just hope there's enough space for further mods... but as you guys were saying... the VBXE mod probably won't fit without the shield removed. In any case, I'm fairly happy with the approach I took. If I wanted to dismount the 1Meg board and go back to stock, it won't be very hard. Just annoyed at myself for potentially busting a trace on the 1Meg board... which I am more comfortable with, rather than breaking my XEGS beyond repair. Edited May 18, 2016 by Neo-Rio 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mytek Posted May 18, 2016 Share Posted May 18, 2016 Congrats Ne-Rio! Although it sounds like you really had a struggle to get it to fit, and came close to breaking your U-1meg in the process. Any thoughts on if you had it to do all over again, would you do anything differently? - Michael Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neo-Rio Posted May 18, 2016 Author Share Posted May 18, 2016 (edited) The only thing I'd do differently is be more careful with desoldering the 1Meg pin headers... OR asking Lotharek if he's got a board without the pins in there, or if he could do one with the pins in the other side. Also if he had any shorter cables for the OS and MMU hookup. There was some real effort expended trying to get the ribbon cables to fit as the 1Meg hovers above both OS and MMU chips. I had to twist them to fit underneath without pushing the board up. Also had to be careful to avoid covering the centre hole in the board with ribbon cable as that's where the top of the XEGS case screws in I *might* be able to put a VBXE on my XEGS too, but as you can see... a ribbon cable twist is hovering over the ANTIC.... but given that I've probably popped a trace on one of the hookup pins on th1 Meg board I'd probably need a new 1Meg now... Edited May 18, 2016 by Neo-Rio Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted May 18, 2016 Share Posted May 18, 2016 You could always put the Ultimate in the other way up. Might have saved some trouble. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mytek Posted May 18, 2016 Share Posted May 18, 2016 You could always put the Ultimate in the other way up. Might have saved some trouble. Great idea! And it would also make changing out the battery easier as well. - Michael 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roydea6 Posted May 18, 2016 Share Posted May 18, 2016 You could always put the Ultimate in the other way up. Might have saved some trouble. GREAT!! Now that the frequency of Bricked roms has been reduced with the use of Uflash this is how intend to my 600XL.. Thanks for the Tip.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted May 18, 2016 Share Posted May 18, 2016 GREAT!! Now that the frequency of Bricked roms has been reduced with the use of Uflash this is how intend to my 600XL.. I still think the likelihood of bricked ROMs is greater than that of a flat battery, but if space is at a premium, it doesn't really matter which way up the board goes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neo-Rio Posted May 18, 2016 Author Share Posted May 18, 2016 (edited) You could always put the Ultimate in the other way up. Might have saved some trouble. I tried that, but the brown chip socket on top of the board ends up sitting on the MMU and pushing the board up too high. With the battery topside, I'd be concerned about the battery shorting itself out against the metal shield.... whereas in my current setup, it's that brown square socket that prevents this issue and it touches the shield. Again,... the pin header move on the 1Meg board was pretty much my last resort to getting the 1Meg card to fit in the shield. Edited May 18, 2016 by Neo-Rio Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doctor_x Posted May 19, 2016 Share Posted May 19, 2016 does lotharek do installs????? I have an XEGS thats just DYING to have VBXE and U1Meg but I'm not about to try it myself... If he will do the work I have zero problem sending the thing to him.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mytek Posted May 19, 2016 Share Posted May 19, 2016 does lotharek do installs????? I have an XEGS thats just DYING to have VBXE and U1Meg but I'm not about to try it myself... If he will do the work I have zero problem sending the thing to him.... Yes he does. But you have to make sure the computer is properly working before sending it to him. I think somewhere on his website he mentions how much it costs. - Michael Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neo-Rio Posted May 19, 2016 Author Share Posted May 19, 2016 (edited) Been playing with the 1Meg, and I jumpered the "XEGS mode" pins to see what that does. Sure enough it enables the XEGS game ROM selection in the ultimate setup menu, but the feature doesn't really seem to work. Starting up the XEGS without the keyboard and holding SELECT (or nothing for that matter) doesn't get me Missile Command at all. It just drops me to BASIC. I assumed that this might be because of the cold reset and BIOS functions can be set to use the SELECT button, but even when this is not the case it still doesn't work. I *assume* that Missle Command has been flashed into the 1Meg. After all, the menu features to swap BASIC out with Galaxian or Frogger sure seem to work OK. Also been having some issues getting some ATRs to mount. It seems that the ATR mounting won't work if OS-B is selected. As I only have a SIDE2 for storage, how am I supposed to load an ATR-based game that depends on OS-B being present? (Case in point: Eggnapper) Also trying to figure out how to mount multiple ATRs and swap disks (Yes, trying to get the Numen Demo to work) I'm still very much an Atari noob here. I'm coming across from the C64 world. Edited May 19, 2016 by Neo-Rio 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doctor_x Posted May 19, 2016 Share Posted May 19, 2016 Thanks for the reply re: lotharek doing mods. Will take a look. Neo-rio - keep asking your questions.. Others who are viewing who haven't bought these products yet are learning while you learn. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mytek Posted May 19, 2016 Share Posted May 19, 2016 I haven't tried accessing the Game slots yet, although they are selectable as you mentioned. So if I remember I'll do that tomorrow. However I doubt if I'll be using those slots for games, probably put some more diagnostic stuff in there instead. With the SIDE2 loader, I have lots of storage for games on the CF card. - Michael Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoSch Posted May 19, 2016 Share Posted May 19, 2016 (edited) I *assume* that Missle Command has been flashed into the 1Meg. After all, the menu features to swap BASIC out with Galaxian or Frogger sure seem to work OK. Actually, it is not, because in the end, Lotharek doesn't have a licence for that. You have to break the law yourself, i.e. flash the ROM on the Ultimate Edited May 19, 2016 by JoSch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted May 19, 2016 Share Posted May 19, 2016 Missile Command has been on all the U1MB boards I've handled, AFAIK. The Atari OS is there, after all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoSch Posted May 19, 2016 Share Posted May 19, 2016 (edited) Ok, on mine it's not. But I didn't get it first hand form Lotharek. And I had in mind, that you have to put there yourself. Edited May 19, 2016 by JoSch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neo-Rio Posted May 19, 2016 Author Share Posted May 19, 2016 Ok, on mine it's not. But I didn't get it forst hand form Lotharek. And I had in mind, that you have to put there yourself. As I was saying.... Galaxian and Frogger are flashed to the latest Ultimate 1Meg, because you can change the BASIC ROM to those games and it worked. I assume Missile Command is in there too - but in the XEGS game rom section, but I can't/don't know how to access it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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