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1088XEL Alternative Mother-Board Project


mytek

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Glad you found it. This stuff has gotten scattered about unfortunately. I just need to make the time to do the website update which creates a central repository for all this stuff, making it much easier then digging through the topics on this forum.

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Is it supposed to play a tune when it's powered on? The led doesn't light during power up and i get no sounds.

 

I made two xel-midi boards today, flashed two mcus too, just to make sure I didn't do anything wrong. If I try to play a mid file it says it's playing, the led lights up but I get no sound.

 

I need to work out how I can test the dreamblaster to make sure that works ok.

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If you look at the larger of the two headers, you'll see a dashed line on the middle pins indicating where a shorting jumper block would go if you are not connected to the DIN interface board. Installing the jumper should route the PIC's MIDI-OUT to the Dream Blaster's MIDI-IN, thus giving you sound.

 

The LED shouldn't light up when powering up, only when the MIDI board is being enabled by whatever application you are running.

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I am not going to start a new thread.

 

I just wanted to show you my build.

 

post-31447-0-36916800-1544358292_thumb.jpg

 

It cost a bit more, more..

 

But i have no intention or need to do this again with gold contacts.

I will do the same when the 1088XLD comes of age.

I was the last of the few that did this.. I wish I was involved when it happened.

 

I cannot wait until i get my flashed PIC's

 

Douglas

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I had to rewind to figure out how this topic got derailed into talking about emulation, and specifically about the new Xformer project. Maybe I should go to it's topic and start posting stuff about the 1088XEL just to balance the equation :) .

 

Or lets take about 100 of these boards hook them up to a custom video switcher to recreate the effect with real hardware.

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Can I bring this back on topic by asking if the vgate works with an installed vbxe?

 

Thank you :) .

 

No the onboard V-Gate only works for the composite and S-Video outputs. The VBXE firmware would require modification to work in a similar way, and would also require a hook in the U1MB BIOS to have it activate by the same menu selection. However both the RGB and DVI versions of Sophia have a V-Gate function built-in with the necessary hooks in the U1MB BIOS to enable or disable it through the common VGATE menu item.

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Thanks.

 

The Sophia just keeps coming back as the best video add-on for the xel. The VBXE does have a bunch of software that it is required for though and one of my fave games Rick Dangerous is going to have a VBXE mode when it finally gets released for the Atari, that is a significant draw for me. I am so torn over which one to get, higher quality but wonky NTSC pixels vs less authentic but new hotness. I'm using PAL so I don't mind the wonky NTSC pixels, but Rick Dangerous with extra colours, but that's not authentic "Atari". ahhhh!

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hi,

 

I´m assembling my first XEL. :-)

 

I´ve a question about mounting of some parts:

 

In the BOM (Rev. 1.1), there are three parts I´m wondering if / where to place them: C5, C13 (0.01µ) and R53 (2.2k). They´re marked with "VSYNC MOD".

 

C5 I found on the mainbord, but what about C13 and R53? I can´t find them...

 

Must I assemble them or is it an optional mod?

 

Sleepy

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Hi,

 

I´m assembling my first XEL. :-)

 

I´ve a question about mounting of some parts:

 

In the BOM (Rev. 1.1), there are three parts I´m wondering if / where to place them: C5, C13 (0.01µ) and R53 (2.2k). They´re marked with "VSYNC MOD".

 

C5 I found on the mainbord, but what about C13 and R53? I can´t find them...

 

Must I assemble them or is it an optional mod?

 

Sleepy

C13 & R53 go on the underside of the board at the RGB out (DIN13) connector. If you plan to hook up an Atari ST monitor that is NOT a JVC model, you should install the mod. IN general, if you plan on putting anything on that port it is always better than not. If you are never going to use it, I suppose you could skip it.

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Ah, ok...

 

my plan for the RGB-output is to fit the XEL with a VBXE (I use flashjazzcat´s amazing The Last Word with VBXE´s 80-column-mode for my correspondence), as Sophia sadly doesn´t support 80 column (as far as I know).

 

Only disadvantage using this setup seems to be that I can use The Last Word´s VBXE-version with the RGB-output only, while the Sophia-DVI-output probably doesn´t run with this version...

 

 

I already fitted a XEGS with VBXE, and this one works fine with my monitor and TV-set. So I probable can forgo the mod. But I´ll keep it in mind. ;-)

 

Thx, Sleepy

Edited by Sleepy
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However, TLW's software 80 column mode probably looks razor sharp on a DVI Sophia. :)

 

Yes, no question, but the 8x8 font using VBXEs higher resolution is much more readable than the 4x8 font using original resolution... ;)

 

Sleepy

 

BTW: Thx for your videos assembling the board; it gives me some helpful hints. :thumbsup:

Edited by Sleepy
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Why the Atari logo sticker on the F11 key? If you are running a recent version of the TK-II firmware, that's the launch key for the XEL Loader. I know way back in the early days, that key would have been assigned as the inverse key, but that got changed to the tilde key many moons ago.

 

Curious minds want to know :) .

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I was going to get some waterslide stickers made for my keyboard, it's about $30 for an 8x10 sheet so I can get labels for the front/back of the xel, the keyboard decals and the keyboard/mouse branding on a single sheet. Probably have a bunch of space left over.

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