timothyscarlson

Oh, yes please. Then I don't have to figure out the dimensions for the PCB edge connector. Or the board dimensions - other than extending it a bit for the prototyping area. Link?

This has me very interested in producing a prototyping board for the Lynx. I have my own ideas on what should be incorporated, but I won't mind if others chime in with their own. Here's my quickie list: 1) Lynx card edge connection (of course) 2) PCB length sufficient so the prototyping area extends outside of the body of the Lynx (both Lynx 1 & 2) 3) 34 pin 0.1" header for connecting a 'daughter card' (this is where SMT devices can be incorporated) 4) Secondary Lynx connector (if I can find them), which will allow plugging in _any_ game cart, along with the proto board 5) 15x20 (or whatever it works out to) 0.1" spacing bread boarding area I've got a line on a PCB manufacturer here in SEA - I need to figure out some prelim pricing with the PCB, parts and shipping/taxes.

Interesting ideas. Related: is there a 'breakout' board for the lynx? Something that plugs into the cart slot and has a breadboarding area for HW development? Maybe even having a second cart connector so you can plug in a real cart, in addition to the proto hardware? That would be extremely useful for those of us interested in both software AND hardware development. It might be something worthwhile and in demand in the community.

Thanks! It's late here now, so I'll peruse this tomorrow.

Ah, okay - so the TESTFLASH image has the baud rate on the Lynx fixed at 9600. So if I either find another loader image like MegaPak I, or modify TESTFLASH for a higher baud rate, the FTDI device will work okay. Cool. My FTDI device is on COM7:, which works just fine. At 9600 baud. We'll see about the higher baud rates later. I'm not too concerned about the flash/serial eeprom writing (for now) - I just want to do a bit more comprehensive diagnostic - basic stuff like checking the address/data/control lines to the ROMs, a RAM test, interrupt tests, screen test, button tests, MIKEY/SUZY tests, etc. My career background was in new silicon validation/writing validation & diagnostic code. I find the best way to understand the hardware is to write the diagnostics for it. So that would be a good first Lynx program for me to tackle. It would also help me validate the emulator hardware I am developing. Source code? Yes, please Thanks in advance. And I'll pass back anything good I may come up with.

Yes! Thanks, Karri - that works! Only at 9600 baud, tho. I will have to see what I need to do to get the FTDI USB-Serial device to run the other Lynx baud rates. BTW: you created the TESTFLASH.LYX image that has the BLL-Loader incorporated. Very nice, thanks! I was playing around with some of the flash/eeprom tests, and the address test fails (on my hardware) with the error message "problems". Heh. Since part of my project is wiring up the Lynx ROMAX lines to the PIC18F4550, I would be interested in having some expanded information as to what the "problems" are. Is the source code / build tree for TESTFLASH available anywhere?

Karri, Nice Atari logo at boot. I've got your TESTFLASH.LYX image loading - logo, then menu. While it's sitting at the menu, it's ready to receive data over the COMLYNX from the PC - correct? What object is it expecting - a 'LYNX' emulator image, 'BS93' image, raw cart image, or ? I'm assuming that since the loader is by Bastian, the images should have 'BS93' headers. However, I don't get any change in the state of the Lynx after SEND_OBJ has finished. I'm going to verify my COMLYNX cable in the meantime.

Back to the BLL Loader - can someone point me to a link that has a good copy of the BLL loader? Both the old (bll991112.zip) and new (bll020409.zip) archives I have found on the net are bad in the same way (stripped of hex $1A characters). Edited: I would like to put the BLL loader as working on my list, even though it's not really necessary for my development. I do have a BLL cable I gen'ed up using a USB FTDI part, and it would be nice to see if it works with the loader. Edited again: Nevermind - searching the forums, I found Karri's TESTFLASH.LYX and SEND_OBJ.EXE files. Going to test it now.

Well, the BLL loader was my first line of attack when I started this project. But, as I became more familiar with the Lynx and Lynx images and putting images in the PIC program memory, the BLL loader priority dropped. It's the last image on my list of images I wanted to have working on my setup, so I could have a bit of closure before I continue on. Eventually I want to have either a USB interface so I can connect a thumbdrive with images, or an SD Card interface - again, with images. Or something else, if I find some hardware that's more compelling than what I have available now. So the current limit of (slightly less than) 32K will eventually disappear. This all started because I have a Lynx I and a Lynx II, but no game carts. Unfortunately, those all went away after my previous life imploded. I was going through boxes of leftover stuff and found the Lynx systems and decided I either needed to figure out a way to load games on the systems or scavenge the systems for parts - and I didn't want to destroy them. This is just a retirement project, something to keep me busy and interested and learning.

Yup - corrupted loader in the archive. All hex $1A stripped. I guess my goal was to get everything that would fit in the PIC memory to work. Since I can load images from the PIC already, I really don't need the loader - unless my images grow beyond 32K-$140. So now that I know I'm not crazy and the image is actually broken, I'll move on. I'll also search the forum for the loader info you mentioned. Thanks!

Hey all, I'm working on a ROM emulator for the Lynx based on a PIC18F4550. I have a few questions about the BLL loader found in the BLL020409.ZIP archive, the loader.lyx file, dated 01/02/1997. For background, I am able to load and run raw cart images (without an emulator header), LYNX emulator images, and BS93 images. I also have Karri's fast boot loader working. Images I can run are Karri's PONG, Pong1K, Ghosts And Ghouls demo, Megaman demo, T-Tris, Centipede, and Cartshow. I am limited to small images - just under 32K - which is a limitation of the PIC (for now). So - here's the questions: 1) Is the loader.lyx file a raw cart file? Should you be able to just burn it into a ROM and run? 2) What size ROM does it expect to reside in? All I get when I attempt to run the BLL loader is - it reads the first block of 52 - then it reads the next block - then it reboots and starts again. I see the 'INSERT GAME' message barely flashing on the screen. I thought that since it has a .LYX (instead of .LNX) extension, it would just be a raw ROM image. It doesn't seem to work that way, however. BTW: I am using a LYNX I for my development. Thanks in advance!

Thanks for all the help! I have plenty to keep me busy for a while.

I have a couple of question about the BS93 header - what the heck is it? From what I can tell, it appears to be an emulator only header. It's not just a ROM image, or a ROM image with the LYNX header (for emulators) prepended. The files appear to be raw Lynx code without the ROM processing, but with the BS93 header attached. Is this correct? Where can I find the format for this header, so I can strip it off and then process the image as a ROM? (If this is what the image is - code that is not processed for ROM). I've looked around the web, but all I can find is code that looks for the 'BS93' tag and then flags the image as 'HOMEBREW'. Thanks for your help. BTW: I will need to add an octal buffer and an AND gate to my ROM emulator design. The PIC being on the data bus is really problematic for the Lynx. I can tristate the data port I am using on the PIC, but then I cannot re-enable it for output fast enough to present data to the Lynx when /CEO (or /CE1) goes low. So much for a clean, 1 part solution using the PIC18F4550.

Thanks for the tip. I have seen the code for o2lyx before, but hadn't gotten around to really looking at it yet. I figured out my problem with the paddles - I'm not tristating the data bus from the PIC after the code is completely loaded, so it's interfering with the operation of the paddles - I guess I'm stomping on the I/O for the buttons. Tri-stating (holding in reset) the PIC after the game load allows the buttons to control the paddles. I will have to modify the PIC code to release the data bus. I found a larger image - Centipede (PD) - that still fits in the PIC program memory. Stripped the trailing 0xFFs as suggested for it to fit. Not working yet, but I have to adjust the ROM size again in the PIC code. Something else I need to make automatic. And - from looking at the pong code that Karri provided, I don't thing his pong produces sounds. So that answers that question. I'm getting close enough that I am going to start the USB portion of this project.

Thank you so much for this, Karri. I'm working on a ROM emulator for the Atari Lynx based around a PIC18F4550 and have been trying to find a ROM image small enough to fit in the 32K of program memory space of the PIC (eventually I want to load ROM images from a USB thumbdrive, also interfaced to the PIC). I have a few questions: 1) This is a .LNX file, for emulators. From what I have read, if I strip off the first 48 bytes from the file I will then have a .LYX ROM image that can work with hardware. Is this correct? 2) The numblocks at the start of the file (once stripped) is 0xFF - does this image incorporate your quick boot code? 3) Will this image (once stripped to be a .LYX file) work on actual Lynx hardware? I have managed to get the Pong1K image working - but not the BLL loader or your PONG. I think it is related to image size and there may still be some hardware issues. Your PONG image should help me with my debugging. Thanks! ---- I've been doing some debugging and this is what I see: 1) It pulls in the 0xFF as the numblock value 2) It pulls in 51 bytes for the first block. Supposedly chews on it a bit for decrypt, etc. This takes about 450ms. That's quite a long time. 3) It pulls in a LOT of bytes from the 'ROM', starting where it left off after the 1st block. I haven't counted the bytes read, but the sequence is 82ms long, with each read taking about 6.67us each, so around 12,300 bytes or so. 4) And that's it. All cart bus activity stops, the screen is blank, no sound. Considering that the PONG.LNX image is only 5600 bytes - it's pulling in almost 3x what it should. ---- Ah - the block size is 1K - I had to adjust the PIC code to emulate that size ROM. So now - I have your PONG booting! Yay! So - a few more questions: - There's no sound. I this is correct? - The paddles cannot be moved, no matter which buttons I press. I am using a LYNX I, not a LYNX II. Does that matter? - The ball is always being served - it isn't waiting for a button press. Is the emulator different from the actual hardware? Again - thanks! I love it when something other than "INSERT GAME" shows up on the screen.