Gunstar

January 21

Thanks @_The Doctor__, but apparently I won't have to do that at this time, because my dumb-ass forgot to install the CP210X driver! :dunce: I installed it and everything worked and I already have the firmware updated!

January 21

@tschak909 Ok, I just spent the better part of an hour going through all twelve pages of that thread, and see absolutely nothing about PC's not recognizing the Fujinet and no fix you describe. I found one thing about the flasher program not recognizing the Fujinet, but your answer was to make sure it's a data USB cord and not Power, and that's it. Nothing further. Can you give me a post number or something to look for? Or how about just telling me which two pins I need to bridge on the UART chip?

January 21

When I plug my Fujinet into my PC (Windows 7) and power Fujinet on for flasher updating (straight into PC USB, no hub or other) it says device unknown and in the details it says it shut it down every time.

January 21

2 hours ago, 8bitguy1 said:

Is there an IRC client that works with Fujinet?

Well, honestly I don't know, yet. I assumed there would be or will soon be, but I'm just learning to use it and find out what there is still.

January 21

WOW. Now we just need some .xex's from you so we can see them on the real McCoy.! Those are incredible

January 20

33 minutes ago, Mazzspeed said:

No 80 columns, just good 'ol 40 column mode. It actually doesn't feel at all limiting as a result, the software recently copped an update and as a result it's much faster now.

These youngins and their Discord, get off my lawn!!

Well, hopefully I can join you guys there once I get my Fujinet up and running. But I don't have the proper type of USB cable to hook up to it and download firmware and other stuff yet to get going. I have the same issue with my new 3D printer that I got, and also didn't include a USB cable, and I don't have the right type for either one, so I can't do much with either until the cables I ordered off Amazon get here...

And, of course, they are both different types so I had to buy 2. Mini and Micro, and all I have on hand are either USB A, USB B or USB C. I do have a couple Micro ones, from my older smart phones,but they don't work anymore. I used to have a couple of the Mini's, but I couldn't find them.

January 20

53 minutes ago, Mazzspeed said:

And IRC works! Great channel, nice and busy.

What, no 80 columns?

January 20

20 minutes ago, Gavin1968 said:

The USB port is used to flash the firmware, and to power it if needed. You must supply external power if you use it with the original Atari 800 as well as the 1200XL.

Thanks, but of course neither my 800 or 1200XL are stock machines, they've been modded and upgraded to act as later XL/XE models, including the addition of PBI's on both, so I don't think that necessarily applies in my case, but I do intend to use USB PSU on the Fujinet with both, regardless, because that way the Fujinet can stay on when I power cycle or cold reset the machines.

My 1200XL:

My 800: https://atariage.com/forums/blogs/entry/17138-upgrading-and-modding-the-atari-800-too-an-800ai-advanceincognito/

January 20

On 1/19/2021 at 11:18 AM, amarok said:

Coins, 20 colors, 1,850M evaluations.

I select 10,000 solutions (/s=10000) for my conversions and it requires more iterations to get image which satisfied me.

In some of my conversions the number of evaluations exceeds 1G and I have to wait couple of days for result.

If you whish you can check the number of iterations for my conversions on my gitlab: https://gitlab.com/amarok8bit/rastaconverter/-/blob/master/README.md

But please note that I am not so experienced in conversions like Gunstar and other users on this forum and my approach might be not the best one.

amarok_coins.xex 22.03 kB · 12 downloads

My "sweet spot" in number of solutions is about 8000. I actually have this "theory" that Rastaconverter can work better with multiples of 8 that computers are based on. I started out years ago using 1024, then 2048, then 4096, then 8192. and I kept going higher than that but images would take much longer to render and weren't any better in the end than with 8192 and errors where much more frequent the more evaluations they had to run, so I went back to 8192 and that's what I stick with for all my images now and they are resolved good enough between 150-500M. Of course every image is different for me when it comes to other settings, and the more you do, the better you get at knowing what settings work best for different types of images. You can judge for yourself by the quality of my images and lower number of evaluations I use if my "theory" is a good one...

This is a great image, IMHO, by the way.

January 20

@777ismyname The image of the Smoky Mountains I posted was just an image I pulled off the net, as are most of my conversions, so I can't say exactly what part of the mountains it's from or what polar direction it was taken from.

January 20

On 1/18/2021 at 6:01 PM, 777ismyname said:

A flower photo I snapped in late September 2020. ~200 million evaluations.

Gunstar, the Smoky's are not far from me, but I don't get down there but a few times per year. I will check back and see what you posted from this area

Just a tip on conversions: If you are getting a lot of horizontal line segments in your images, it due to not having the contrast set high enough, and Rasta is having trouble distinguishing between shades of color; it has to reduce image colors from 256 in the destination picture down to a 128 color palette, and then on average you get about half that many colors in the output image, because it can only average about a dozen colors per scan line. This is one of those things were if you are seeing too many line segments by 50M evaluations, stop the conversion and raise the contrast and start over. The higher the contrast the easier it is for Rastconverter to pick and change colors. Of course it's all about compromise and you may have to change color brightness and gamma to make the picture still look good with the higher contrast. The more images you do, the more you'll notice what works and what doesn't.

January 20

1 minute ago, Mazzspeed said:

For lack of a better phrase...

...It's farkin' awesome! No C64 user should do without one.

Playing back MOD files using the 1541 Ultimate II+ ultimate audio module, I also emulate dual SID's (6581 and 8580 SID's to snoop at a variety of addresses between $D400 and $D780 for stereo SID's with six channels via a standard stereo jack output. Easier than relying on internal SID solutions and more versatile.) for stereo/6 voice output via the 1541 UII+.

I will do that for sure! Thanks my Friend.

Sounds very cool. I have a Pokeymax Quad + Covox upgrade in my 800, that can play MOD files and a bunch of other stuff too. 8 channel stereo with Covox and up to 16 channels of stereo with 4 emulated Pokeys. There's a version of Pokeymax you can get with SID emulation too, maybe even stereo SID. Pokey channels can be 8-bit 3 1/2 octaves or 2 combined for 16-bit 7 octaves, Just a bunch of cool stuff can be done with it too.

January 20

30 minutes ago, Stephen said:

Come hit the ##atari (yes, two hashes) channel. We get the occasional Atari 8-bit online.

Where and/or what is the ##atari channel?

Oh, is that an IRC? Something I'm also not familiar with, all I ever do is go to forums and websites, so I'd still need more info...if I can get on it with my Atari and Fujinet I'd love to try, But with my PC I only ever use it for forums and websites...

January 20

1 hour ago, DrVenkman said:

How do you folks miss this entire sub-forum pinned to the top of the A8 forum?

https://atariage.com/forums/forum/346-fujinet-sio-network-adapter/

I've gotten into a bad habit of automatically scrolling past the pinned topics and sub-forums at the top, because most of them either don't interest me or is about something I already know all about. (slaps self on forehead and back of other hand)

But like I said, often I don't bother with sub-forums and topics for stuff I don't own, or threads about on-going developments that haven't been released yet, as I'm a hands-on guy. Now I own Fujinet, so NOW I'm interested. But my bad habit made me not even bother to look at the sub-forums to see if the Fujinet info was there.

January 20

10 minutes ago, Mazzspeed said:

Same here, I got rid of the landline due to the influx of spam callers and just use the mobile. These days I rely on ACIA emulation via Ethernet on my 1541 UII+, if anything it's vastly faster depending on the machine I'm connected to at the other end.

https://1541u-documentation.readthedocs.io/en/latest/howto/modem.html

I'll have to get one of those UII+'s when I get my C64! It seems to be a Swiss army knife device like the Fujinet.

January 20

32 minutes ago, Mazzspeed said:

I just noticed your 1030 modem, does it still work? I dumped my analogue modem a while ago as it no longer works reliably with the VOIP implementation in Australia. I'd love to hear that handshaking tone again...

I love getting online with retro devices, I even chat via IRC on my C64.

It works, as far as I know, but I have no land line anymore so no way to use it. I was going to use it with an old router I have that has phone line connections on it and hook it in with my Internet modem and Netgear wi-fi, but then the Fujinet came along so I got it instead. I'll put the case to another use for something eventually, but I'll probably just salvage the electronic components and the SIO ports off it's PCB for other uses. Maybe I'll convert it into a 3.5" drive or I have a 27XX eprom burner for my Atari's that could use a case, maybe I'll use it for that. But it's more for collection purposes right now, too look pretty. I suppose I could make a DIY Fujinet for my 1200XL and install it in the case too, and set up a local area network between it and my new Fujinet I just got for my 800.

January 20

@MazzspeedThanks, just edited post above...

I bought those cartridge caddies from another AA member, but now I can print them myself!

What is the black box on top of your 1541?

January 19

1 hour ago, Mazzspeed said:

Awesome! Good job, great machines. Do you find yourself using the good 'ol 410 tape recorder much anymore? I like the way your speakers match the colors of the 1200XL.

Thanks! I just got the 410 a few months ago and have not used it yet because it needs new belts installed, which I have, but too many other projects going on so it's way down the list.

Plus I have a 1010 with my 1200XL which I do use quite a bit, but it's also upgraded for super speedy loading with Rambit.

The speakers do match the 1200XL, but I need to retro-bright or sun-bright or paint my other XL peripherals soon so they all match!

Of course under the incandescent room lighting everything there looks like it matches well, it's only when photoed with the white flash of my phone camera that shows the dingy-ness of the 1050 drives and 1010, 1020 and 1030.

I love your Commodore set-up too @Mazzspeed and hope to have a similar system myself soon. The only issue is where I will put it. I'll have to move some stuff around to make room, and I just made this desk area over-crowded already since I just set up a new 3D printer, out of picture to the left of the 1200XL! If you want to see pictures of it, you'll have to visit this thread here:

https://atariage.com/forums/topic/289596-3-d-printable-atari-8-bit-cartridge-holder/page/5/#comments

January 19

Can I assume that the SpartaDOS X + U1MB + Fujinet utilities configuration works with my Incognito too, since they are pretty much the same, even though the Fujinet documentation doesn't say "Incognito" anywhere? And if I am in XL/XE mode on my Incognito, do I still need the USB power? That is only an academic question though as I do intend to use USB power just to keep Fujinet on when I may need to cold start my 800.

January 19

50 minutes ago, Gavin1968 said:

The project Wiki is the best bet

https://github.com/FujiNetWIFI/fujinet-platformio/wiki

You also want to make sure and power it with USB if using on the the original Atari 800

Have fun

Oh, is THAT what the USB port is for! I was kind of wondering why there was one there since it's already WI-FI! Thank you very much!

January 19

I received my 'The Brewing Academy' version of Fujinet today, with a 400/800 style case and extras like the Jtag and power switch. But I didn't really keep up with all the threads on Fujinet (I searched and there are many threads for Fujinet) as I like to learn about things hands-on, so now that I have it, I've no idea how to use it all or even all of it's features. So, I'm looking for any documentation on instructions and features for it now. Can someone point me to them?

January 19

I have two similar monitor stands I also made myself, one for my 1200XL and one for my 800. The one I made for my 1200XL is exactly the same height as the XL, meant to give some extra depth so I can have my two 1050 drives sitting on top of it and the 1200XL too, resembling in a small way the Atari 1400XLD. My 800 stand is slightly taller than the 800 so I can have my 800 partially underneath to give me extra desk space in front of the 800 to rest my elbows while typing (the area of my L shaped desk where the 1200XL sits is much deeper) though I also have my two Indus GT drives on top of it too. Both also do an excellent job of hiding all the cables and PBI attachments coming out the back.

January 19

On 1/8/2021 at 6:43 AM, Mr Robot said:

From the pic it looks like a mashup, reversed mobo, magnetic bed, 40x40Y, no idea if the PSU is a meanwell.

What I'd call "essential" Ender 3 upgrades...

Metal (or dual gear) Extruder (standard plastic one cracks really quick)

Glass Bed (the genuine one has a nice grippy texture to it as well)

BLTouch ABL (genuine, I had endless grief with a knockoff one)

Solid bed mounts (with the BLTouch, these mean you *never need to adjust your bed level again)

*Never = every maintenance cycle

What I'd call "essential" things to print.

Decent cooling duct (Stock cooler is poop, this is the one I use, there are many others)

Z-axis shim (If sainsmart has the same issue as Creality)

Side mount spool (stop wearing out your extruder, make the printer more stable)

Now that I have the printer and it's set up, I can tell you that the Z-axis does not need to be shimmed. The mount is a perfect square bend and everything is in perfect alignment. The rest I'll have to see how they work, but the bed seems to be pretty good and has a grippy texture to it, but only use will tell how good it is. I'll definitely get the BLtouch and solid bed mounts. It is a plastic extruder, so I'll probably get a metal one. The cooling duct seems to be a well built one, it's a metal box, not plastic, but only use will tell how well it works. As to the side mount spool, I think I'll make the filament roller guide that @toddtmw linked too first, as due to where I have my printer and the space I have for it, I'd rather not have a side mount one if it can be helped. I like it up top. Also, @skr suggested some noise dampeners, but after doing a test print to confirm proper build leveling and proper nozzle height, that it's a pretty quite printer, no noise dampeners required as far as I'm concerned.

The only plastic parts on this printer are the front cover for the Y-axis pressure/contact switch, the side mount plate for the X-Axis pressure/contact switch, the extruder and the build level dials. Everything else is made of metal. If this is a knock off the the Creality Ender 3 pro, it's a quality built knock off.

January 19

20 minutes ago, Doug_in_NC said:

Probably a bit late to say it, but if you haven’t worked on it yet, have a look at some of the how-to-assemble videos on YouTube. I found it helped when building mine.

I was able to figure it out on my own, in spite of very spartan set-up guide with some bad English that made it a bit hard to understand. It's been finished for a couple of hours. It took me quite a while to get it leveled properly though. I'm taking a break before I start test-printing and setting up the Cura software on my PC. I am very happy with the build quality of this printer, It's mostly steel and aluminum with a very few small plastic pieces, a solid machine. Hopefully it prints as well as it seems to be made.

January 18

1 hour ago, ivop said:

The best conversions in this thread didn't need that much iterations. 25M-50M should be enough. And if it doesn't look good at 50M, it won't look much better at 500M. Or 2.5B. But if it does look good, you might resolve some errors in the next 50M-100M evaluations.

It's all about source material, optional preprocessing, and tweaking the rastaconv parameters.

Perhaps we should start a how-to thread or something, a tutorial thead

Yep, most of my images I did in about 150-200M, and as you say, if it's not looking like 90-95% complete by 50M, I stop, change settings and start over. Though the last 10 or so images I have let them run to between 250-500M, as I think I found a sweet spot in the number of solutions I use so no errors have been showing up like they used too beyond 150-200M. Honestly though, they really don't look much better than when I was stopping around 200M, but as long as errors aren't showing up, that's fine.

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