1088XEL Atari ITX Motherboard DIY Builders Thread

[+DrVenkman]

The Realan H80 cases are metal, either black or silver. I don’t have an H60 but I believe they are basically the same, just shorter in overall height.

[+DrVenkman]

Excellent. I guess I should just get on and prepare the release packages, otherwise it would be possible to hold off indefinitely in the face of red-herrings and third-party "variables".

 

Hi Jon - out of curiosity, have you had the chance to package up your "final" version of the 1088XEL firmware? I checked your site but still see the "Firmware coming soon" placeholder. Thanks!

 

And for any of the rest of you guys with custom front/back panels - has anyone sprayed clearcoat over the anodized aluminum? I adore the look of my panels and I shudder at the thought of something with a sharp edge accidentally scraping across that beautiful blue.

[flashjazzcat]

Hi Jon - out of curiosity, have you had the chance to package up your "final" version of the 1088XEL firmware? I checked your site but still see the "Firmware coming soon" placeholder. Thanks!

 

Not quite yet. Made some last minute changes to the Incognito build yesterday which took time to debug, so I've set myself back a couple of days.

[Mr Robot]

Not quite yet. Made some last minute changes to the Incognito build yesterday which took time to debug, so I've set myself back a couple of days.

 

 

You need a project manager

[flashjazzcat]

If the project manager can write code, clean and fix motherboards too, then yes.

[flashjazzcat]

I suppose while I prepare the firmware update packages, everyone will want to read the updated docs.

 

https://atari8.co.uk/firmware/1088xel/

[+Stephen]

I suppose while I prepare the firmware update packages, everyone will want to read the updated docs.

 

https://atari8.co.uk/firmware/1088xel/

Holy shit - a developer that also writes documentation!! How is that even possible?

[+mytek]

Having a little fun today playing Pole Position on 3 different video standards simultaneously.

 

And the best part is they all look great! No vertical lines, fuzziness, or bleed. Kinda hard to see that in the photo,

but in reality the images are perfect.

 

Everything has the proper connector (the RGB via DIN-13 goes through a NEW 1088XEL-to-SCART cable.

Note1: cable will soon be available for purchase on-line

 

Note2: does require either Sophia RevB or VBXE upgrade board installed in 1088XEL,

and some minor mods on the 1088XEL motherboard under side (mod link). This cable

should still work on an Atari ST, with the only caveat that sound will only be on one speaker.

[+MacRorie]

I am making them 4 at a time now!

[+LarryL]

Hi,

 

From my recent build of the 1088XEL, I am having some components/PCB left, which I like to offer to builders out there.

 

I do not want to create any competition to MacRorie, but maybe somebody just needs a few of the special items.

Since I am from Germany, maybe this offer should preferably address people in Europe due to lower rates for postage within Europe (compared to trans-Atlantic).

 

So, what do I have:

 

1) Mouse Select Board with complete BoM - EUR 7,- +pp

 

2) LED Status Panel Board with complete BoM - EUR 6,- +pp

 

3) PIC2Stick with complete BoM (I have this two times) - EUR 12,- +pp

 

4) XEL-CF-II, PCB only - EUR 12,- +pp

 

 

All PCB above I made at OSH park with Minimum Order quantities of three each - two I needed myself, the third one is for sale (for the PIC2Stick, I only needed one)

 

5) MPBI headers, 2x17p, 6x available - EUR 1,- +pp

 

6) ZIF18 sockets, 3x available - EUR 3,- +pp

 

7) UM61512AK-15, 64kx8 CMOS SRAM, 4x available - EUR 1,50 +pp

 

2PJ-AV18-001, RCA+MiniDIN, 1x available - EUR 3,- +pp

 

9) Atari Monitor Jack, 13p, 15x available - EUR 1,- +pp

 

10) Card Edge Slot Socket 2x15p, 2x available - EUR 1,- +pp

 

11) Card Edge Slot Socket 2x7p, 7x available - EUR 1,- +pp

 

For pp (postage/packing) please ask, since this depends on size/weight and your destination.

 

BTW: above prices are costs - I do not want to make money from this.

 

Interest, details, questions via PM please

 

Cheers

Michael

[+DrVenkman]

And done! Not quite 8 weeks since I installed the first component, I finished my build today by making Dupont connectors and wiring up the LEDs for the case display and connecting the mouse select board, both of which I built yesterday. At some point on a warm spring weekend, I'm going to spray paint the case filler board either black or royal blue but other than that small cosmetic touch, I've finished.

 

As you can see, and as someone else noted a few days back, having the CF card interface up top/front means you end up having to trim one of the adhesive mounting pad fairly severely. But it's not like this board weighs all that much or like it'll be routinely jostled around. And it did all fit together just fine.

 

 

 

Once I had it all wired up, I enabled Stereo and VGATE in the BIOS, then ran an RWTEST on the hard disk image I have mounted in D1: in RespeQt to get a photo.

 

 

Finally, I verified that my Mouse Select board seems to be working. Well, the LED cycles color as expected at least. I'll connect a mouse and try a game of Missile Command later to verify that the XEL is reading the mouse port properly (I had previously tested mouse function with mouse select header on the motherboard hard-wire to select Port 1).

 

Anyway, it's been a hell of a lot of fun along the way. Thanks to Michael, as always, for creating this project and help along the way; to Jon for his amazing firmware; to MacRorie for putting my kit materials together neatly, professionally and fast; to Mike (Firedawg) for the JOY2PIC-Stick early on and encouragement during my build; and to everyone else who offered advice and support.

​Now to play use and the hell out of this thing!

 

[+Firedawg]

Professionally done with a personal touch. Great job DrV!!!

[imacav8r]

Well I start building mine tonight!

I will have zero problems getting it together I feel..... but i may (will) need some hand holding getting all the firmware and settings up to speed. I did get all four pic chips pre-programmed from Macrorie.

[+mytek]

Well I start building mine tonight!

I will have zero problems getting it together I feel..... but i may (will) need some hand holding getting all the firmware and settings up to speed. I did get all four pic chips pre-programmed from Macrorie.

 

Welcome to the build club .

 

Do you have the means to re-flash PICs? Reason I ask is that there will soon be another minor revision of the TK-II chip ready to download.

 

So why have we been seeing so many revisions of firmware in that particular chip? Things are being discovered that go hand in hand with improvements and changes also being made in the 1088XEL version of the U1MB BIOS (the system as a whole is evolving at a rapid pace).

 

- Michael

[imacav8r]

 

Welcome to the build club .

 

Do you have the means to re-flash PICs? Reason I ask is that there will soon be another minor revision of the TK-II chip ready to download.

 

So why have we been seeing so many revisions of firmware in that particular chip? Things are being discovered that go hand in hand with improvements and changes also being made in the 1088XEL version of the U1MB BIOS (the system as a whole is evolving at a rapid pace).

 

- Michael

I did purchase the Joy2Pic kit as well, but i have an 800 which it does not work with. Question... will i be able to program the Pic chips with my 1088, with the pic chip(s) removed for programming? its a chicken and egg issue

Edited February 20, 2018 by imacav8r

[+MacRorie]

I did purchase the Joy2Pic kit as well, but i have an 800 which it does not work with. Question... will i be able to program the Pic chips with my 1088, with the pic chip(s) removed for programming? its a chicken and egg issue

The JOy2Pic will work on the 800. Do you have a means to load ATRs on the 800? If not, you can convert the ATR to a real floppy disk and then use that to boot the ATR.

 

Unfortunately, you cannot flash the chips for the 1088XEL in the 1088XEL (with the exception of the MouseSelect chip, but even that requires you to disconnect the mouse select board from the main board and connect it to the PICStick).

[+mytek]

The JOy2Pic will work on the 800. Do you have a means to load ATRs on the 800? If not, you can convert the ATR to a real floppy disk and then use that to boot the ATR.

 

Unfortunately, you cannot flash the chips for the 1088XEL in the 1088XEL (with the exception of the MouseSelect chip, but even that requires you to disconnect the mouse select board from the main board and connect it to the PICStick).

 

If you had an extra PIC16F1847 then it would be possible to flash it with the 1088XEL via Joystick port 1, just like you could re-flash the Mouse Port Select board's chip as MacRorie pointed out. If you only have enough chips for the build, one way to accomplish this is to pull out the Mousetari chip and re-flash it with the newer TK-II firmware, and then swap it for the existing TK-II chip which you'll be able to re-flash back into the mouse chip. Kind of like playing musical chairs, but it would work .

[imacav8r]

 

If you had an extra PIC16F1847 then it would be possible to flash it with the 1088XEL via Joystick port 1, just like you could re-flash the Mouse Port Select board's chip as MacRorie pointed out. If you only have enough chips for the build, one way to accomplish this is to pull out the Mousetari chip and re-flash it with the newer TK-II firmware, and then swap it for the existing TK-II chip which you'll be able to re-flash back into the mouse chip. Kind of like playing musical chairs, but it would work .

I think ill just purchase a spare set of all 4 Pic chips.

Send me a Paypal request Macrorie.....

Kirk J

[+MacRorie]

I think ill just purchase a spare set of all 4 Pic chips.

Send me a Paypal request Macrorie.....

Kirk J

 

 

 

Will do.

[+mytek]

I think ill just purchase a spare set of all 4 Pic chips.

Send me a Paypal request Macrorie.....

Kirk J

 

Kirk just so you know, there is no urgency to re-flashing any of the PIC chips since the revisions are very minor and in most cases won't interfere with your ability to use the system.

[imacav8r]

The JOy2Pic will work on the 800. Do you have a means to load ATRs on the 800? If not, you can convert the ATR to a real floppy disk and then use that to boot the ATR.

 

Unfortunately, you cannot flash the chips for the 1088XEL in the 1088XEL (with the exception of the MouseSelect chip, but even that requires you to disconnect the mouse select board from the main board and connect it to the PICStick).

What do i need to convert an ATR disk image to a real floppy? I do have an 810 for the 800 and a 1050 for the 1088 soon-to-be.

[+DrVenkman]

What do i need to convert an ATR disk image to a real floppy? I do have an 810 for the 800 and a 1050 for the 1088 soon-to-be.

Just use a disk copy utility on your Atari, or format a blank disk with whatever DOS Michael used (MyDOS? Can’t remember) and copy the files over from the .atr to the physical disk manually.

[+mytek]

The flashing ATRs are using BWdos which is a variant of SpartaDos and readable and writable by such. The actual .com file can be extracted with makeATR and directly copied to any DOS you wish to use.

 

So you guys don't like my musical chair idea of borrowing the Mousetari chip as the temporary go between

 

I'll upload the naked flashing .com file when I do the TK-II firmware release.

 

 

makeATR.zip

 

This is a Windows executable, but I use this with Wine under Linux. Should also work on a MAC in a similar way.

[imacav8r]

The flashing ATRs are using BWdos which is a variant of SpartaDos and readable and writable by such. The actual .com file can be extracted with makeATR and directly copied to any DOS you wish to use.

 

So you guys don't like my musical chair idea of borrowing the Mousetari chip as the temporary go between

 

I'll upload the naked flashing .com file when I do the TK-II firmware release.

 

 

makeATR.zip

 

This is a Windows executable, but I use this with Wine under Linux. Should also work on a MAC in a similar way.

Sorry for the noob question, but if i run this on Windows, select it to save an image as a DOS 2.0, you still need to put it on a 5.25 floppy.... I logically assume this is what needs to be done (duh me) who makes a old school floppy i can run from my laptop / usb?

Does this format the floppy as well, or do i need to format first in an Atari machine?

[+DrVenkman]

Sorry for the noob question, but if i run this on Windows, select it to save an image as a DOS 2.0, you still need to put it on a 5.25 floppy.... I logically assume this is what needs to be done (duh me) who makes a old school floppy i can run from my laptop / usb?

Does this format the floppy as well, or do i need to format first in an Atari machine?

 

The easiest way is to put the files onto a floppy using your Atari.

 

The most flexible solution is to use another A8 computer and something like an SIO2PC or SIO2SD device to copy the files to a blank disk. Then flash the PIC chip(s) and install them into your 1088XEL.

 

Another solution - since your PIC chips are pre-programed and you said you plan to buy spares - is to build your 1088XEL and then use it, once built, to copy the files to a floppy. Of course, once it's built you can simply attach the 1088XEL to your Winbox via a USB cable, run RespeQt or APE on your computer as a virtual floppy, and flash your spare chips as necessary and swap them into the XEL when you're done.