selgus

XEGS donor board, pretty much picked clean, for this project and some parts that other folks needed..

Just have the ATARI custom chip sockets remaining, on the new revisions with SIO support..

LOADOUTBUFF $da51 Initialize the "inbuff" zero page registers ($f3 and $f4) to point to the floating point output buffer at $580. Used by BASIC and MAC/65.

Yeah, I talk a lot with Sijmen, and know all of those spots where compatibility is needed. I am supporting as much as I can, with functionality that is needed for the portable, but if some game made use of knowing there was a function as part of the self-test, and calls it directly.. it won't work on my system.

Actually they went up $75 last week..

Yes, I've removed the self-test code, and the international character set, which are the largest ROM-savings. I've also removed PBI support, since I don't have one. I've removed printer support, back when I didn't have an SIO port (but I don't have the need for it anyway on my portable). I've also removed attract-mode, as I have a built-in LCD and no worries about burn-in, plus it takes cycles from VBLANK and I have been looking to add high-speed SIO support. There is no support for cassette functions, and little things, like light-pen support, PAL hardware support, etc. I had removed paddle support, since it's not part of my hardware, but might add it back to be used on my joystick-1 port on the top of the unit. Like I said, I've done all of this with assemble-time feature flags, with IF/ELSE/END cases when needed. These are some of my flags: .define PALVIDEO FALSE ; no PAL video support .define PARALLEL FALSE ; no parallel bus interface support .define PERIPHERAL FALSE ; no peripheral loading support .define CARTRIDGE FALSE ; no hardware cartridge support .define CASSETTE FALSE ; no cassette support .define PRINTER FALSE ; no printer support .define SELFTEST FALSE ; no self-test support .define ALTSET FALSE ; no International alternate character-set support .define LEDS FALSE ; no PORTB led support .define PADDLE FALSE ; no paddle controller support .define FNKEYS TRUE ; function keys disabling support .define CFLASH TRUE ; IDE/CompactFlash support .define LOGO TRUE ; ATARI rainbow boot logo support .define LOGOMARK FALSE ; no registered copyright mark on ATARI rainbow logo support .define INLINEVBI TRUE ; inline the deferred vertical blank interrupt return .define ATTRACT FALSE ; no attract-mode support .define LIGHTPEN FALSE ; no light pen support .define FASTFP TRUE ; fast floating-point math support .define FASTSIO FALSE ; no fast serial input/output transfer support .define BIOSMENU TRUE ; BIOS loader and configuration menu support .define BIOSBMAP FALSE ; no BIOS bitmapped 50 column menu support .define BIOSDEBUG TRUE ; BIOS debugger support

Here are some tests of my 3D printed key-caps and one set of uniques on my keyboard PCB. Each uses a different material, as I wanted to see the quality vs. cost of printing. As for quality, they are all perfect for this project, where I will be painting the keys, then applying water-slide decals that I've laser printed up (the sheet in the upper-right side) and then clear-coat over the decals. I used two different services to see which would be best to do multiple keyboards, if I choose to do so. The lower left, grey key-caps (HP Multi Jet Fusion/Nylon 12, Glass-Filled, Gray) are the ones I would go with (and I printed up a full set of keys in this material), was by far, the cheapest with similar quality. The ones on the keyboard were the most expensive, printed in Natural White, Versatile Plastic.

I haven't seen anything arrive yet, but I'll keep my eyes open for a package in the US.

Thanks I am an old-school assembly language programmer at heart, so I enjoy both the software and hardware sides. I've been working the last 14 years at Electronic Arts, so I don't really get an opportunity to do this kind of development any longer at work. This BIOS is very specific to my hardware, as I remove support for all the hardware I know won't be in the portable. But I have been doing this with assemble-time feature flags, so I could build I version with some of the areas I've removed, put back in.. but some are not as easy, because I reuse that ROM-space for other features.

I started looking at the high-speed SIO code today, and since I already overload this vector for the CF support, I will look to add this support too.

Sure, first and foremost is support for the CompactFlash. The BIOS has the SIO vector to see if it's dealing with the CF, and if so, handles the R/W, etc. operations. Then there is built-in partitioning of the CF, and a loader that can be enabled from the one of the BIOS menus.. That is another addition, a BIOS menu system, that is entered if you RESET while holding down the HELP key. It has a few configuration options, commands, etc. This is one of the menu screens: I am using P/M graphics and DLIs to do a custom display list, and the screen memory used for building all of this, is another feature of my portable (i.e. the RAM under the PBI). I have made multiple changes to the OS ROM, to remove functionality I don't support on my hardware or want, to get more ROM space. There is also a built-in debugging mode, that current has a way of looking through memory and modifying it. I have plans for breakpoints, watched memory locations, etc. but I need to get the rest of the BIOS working and see how much ROM space I have available. Oh, and of course, I have a color scrolling Fuji when you boot the system.

I did assemble it enough to do some testing.. I had to do a few mods, which I worked into this new CPU board and was able to bring it up under my scope to see the clock and the different signals working, and the 6502 pulling the reset vector. I still have more work to do on my BIOS, as its a heavily modified version of the XEGS OS, with a lot of additional functionality added.. which I still need to organize to get all the constant vector entry points at their correct org locations.. Depending on how long it takes me to make my BIOS bootable, I might take the XEGS OS, as is, and just NOP out some of the hardware differences so I can get it running well understood code. Though I'd rather spend that time on getting my BIOS working properly.

Spent some time today on Father's Day, to start soldering up the new CPU board.. about half the passives and the compactflash connector down, lots to go..

I've gotten really good at removing 40-pin DIL chip packages from motherboards/cartridges lately..

Oh, and the top-mounted D-pad "joystick" for the portable..

Wow, very nice! Very compact! I see you are putting some SMD parts on the back, I had thought about that early on but wanted to keep mine with parts only on one side.. but it looks like the packages you are using on the back will be pretty low profile, so not much vertical space.

From my XEGS motherboard.. same place I got many of my custom ATARI chips and the crystal.

Got my revision 2 boards today, so test-fitted one of the major additions.. the SIO port..

Been working on the keyboard, should have some of my 3D printed key-caps soon, and been doing some modeling for the case. These are the layouts of the different circuit boards, inside the portable, and current prototype work on the enclosure. The keys aren't to proportion right now, but more for blocking out where it would be..

3 now remaining... B

I have 4 ATARI XGES Console Switches, from a used motherboard that I am stripping for parts. Happy to send one to anyone that needs it, you just pay the postage for it. B

Just found them, thanks!

What is the font that is used for the 130 and XE, do you know? I've been trying to find it for my portable. Thanks.

Yes I have.. the dimensions to my boards were given on post #34, I believe. The form factor is something like a Nintendo Switch, but with a keyboard on the top and the 5" display on a bit of an angle also on the top of the unit. There is a joystick on one side of the keyboard, and a fire button on the other. I am modeling the case using the ATARI XE computer line as the design language, along with the key caps being scaled representations of a 130XE keyboard.

Getting some revision 002 boards made, with my modifications and support for a full SIO port. As soon as I get the blanks, I'm going to build one up while using the revision 001 board for testing and debugging the bios..