Jump to content

Curt Vendel

Members
  • Posts

    5,089
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    42

Everything posted by Curt Vendel

  1. The hope is eventually see something like the FujiNet adapter using the XM SIO port.
  2. No, as a matter of fact, other than it not having Motor connected or power out (due to not wanting to overstress the power draw on things) the SIO port, once a PIA is installed, makes it a full SIO compatible port. I just don't envision people using Tape drives on it and any peripherals would use their own power source, so those pinouts are not connected on the XM SIO.
  3. So, normally a cart in the 7800 is about 5 1/2" High. In the XM its an additional 2" higher, so you'd be looking at 7 1/2" total height.
  4. Couple of photo's, one is a HSC (High Score Cart) signature test Mark added into the BIOS to detect if someone were to plug their HSC into the XM and for the XM to disable its built into HSC. The other test is of the PIA functionality. While the XM does not come with a PIA, I still need to make sure that if a PIA is installed, it is fully functional. The PIA fully enables the SIO port and will allow hardware hackers to enable a 2nd POKEY or many other features beyond what the XM will already do.
  5. Someone asked me this question a while ago, I’ll measure and post up, but it’s gonna be probably 3” or so...
  6. Don't worry Shawn... yours will go out once the end user BIOS is done as discussed... not send you a Dev BIOS version as its just better you get the end user one. Everyone is getting the newer PCB's.
  7. Yup... You're getting the newer board Mitch, needed to weed out the deep timing issue in the XMRAM.... you are for compatibility testing, so I wanted that sorted out before you get one... I'll put yours to go out end of this week. Sorry for the delay and my fault for not keeping you updated.
  8. I love love LOVE this!!! Can’t wait to hear the updated intermissions don’t forget the little bump sound! ?
  9. Sorry Andrew... I've only ever designed for tooling, so that was how I had done it. I don't even own a 3D printer yet, so I haven't done anything to accommodate the nuances of 3D printing.
  10. Hi, Update: The new boards that correct the deep timing issue arrived and I have built one of them out and did testing with RevEng's ROF Test program and now the timing issue is resolved. I will complete this board (only did the left side of the board with all of the memory components) now I'll finish the Audio and I/O section on the right side and do some additional testing. Mark has given me the first pass and a small revision of his End User BIOS... all I can say is, its even better than expected... let me allow him to finish it and then I can post a full walk through of all of the area's of the menu. Its a beautifully polished design and it really rounds on things. So, while we are all stuck in COVID limbo, I've been working away, so has Mark and I am going to check in with all of the Dev's and see how they are progressing. I saw Bob's great update announcement and I think he made a great choice in just getting himself used to working with his XM to develop on and hopefully we'll see what the guys are up to. Everyone please stay safe and hopefully once we get through this crap and everything gets back to some type of normalcy, then these units can go out to everyone, but the downtime is definitely being put to very good use to complete these final items. Curt
  11. The back panel can be reconfigured for any SBC.... I added a power button and holder in the top part so anyone can make a small tactile button board with an LED and connect a cable to the GPIO, update the OS with the power off patch and then you'd be able to properly power off/on the Pi's instead of cutting the power. The SDCARD opening can accomodate all of the microSD to SD extenders so then you could remove and install whatever Boot Image you wanted on the fly.... I also gave the sides a more traditional VCS look vs the rounded one... the top section is also solid, the ribs going all the way over just looked stupid IMHO and I think this design is a little bit nicer over all... I hope everyone likes it.
  12. Anybody who wants to have their own VCS now... put a Pi4b into it and actually have something REAL that can play all Atari games up through Playstation and Dreamcast, use Chromium, play Netflix and pretty much anything that Atari thing can do... here is your starting point, please distribute this freely to anyone who's interested. Full 3D model of the VCS case, but I made some improvements like a slot of an SD card to act like a cartridge and a few other things, yeah its still rough but its a great starting point. Its the DIY VCS... DIYVCS.zip
  13. Can you post up for ignorant persons like me the difference between the two?
  14. That was Brad Seville and the story was unfounded and given many other verified and hard copy evidences that contradict that statement from him, most likely it never happened and was more of less an event that never took place recounted by a bitter employee who was fired when Atari was sold.
  15. I will post up when I myself know... I am waiting for new revision boards to arrive thurs to correct a timing issue that the Dev's found while pushing a lot of data in and out of the XMRAM, I had to fix a missing power trace to a pad and I have made 2 electrical changes to the PIA footprint to enable something I'll show soon. After 10 years of stops, starts and having to deal with a system I love, but a system that is a mess in many aspects, to get this running the way it needed to be. I'm not going to, at the final stage, rush this out to people only to find that many would have issues and others none. Whats the point then. After all this time, if its gonna be an extra month give or take, then let it be. I want this to deliver as promised. So please hang tight on ordering, it'll come.
  16. I've started the 1st and 2nd pass of updating the Atari XE section of Atarimuseum.com - new engineering memo's and technical documents from July through December 1984 have been adding, giving a much broader look into what the Tramiel Atari was originally planning for the XL series of computers, how the product designs changed by September into a cost reduction roadmap for the Atari 800XL and 800XLF series and how the lower cost 900XLF series would become the 65XE. How a 128K 800XLF prototype would then become the 130XE... Details on "MUFFY" a combination FREDDIE and MMU chip that Atari worked on through August of 1984 and details of the use of an integrated 8049/1770 disk controller originally designed for the cost reduced 1450XLD called the 800XLD were originally planned for all of the new XLF systems, but dropped at the end of August 1984... Much more coming in that whole section along with updated photo's and more memo's and documents, this really gives a much better window into what happens from the XL to XE series, though it is much more clearly understood that the XE's were just 800XLF's from the Atari Inc days renamed XE's... http://www.atarimuseum.com/computers/8BITS/XE/xesystems.html
  17. I do have them, and they are crystal clear and on 36" x 24" sheets, so I have to take them to Kinko's to use their large format scanner... unfortunately we have this zombie apocalypse going on right now and as of tonight at 8pm they are limiting travel in NY, so I'm afraid I will have to get more creative and see if I can try to scan in sections and then run them through an Image Compositor and assemble them together and hope the stitching is clean.
  18. Its a nice idea, but not at this juncture and its something that could always be considered down the road. Its exactly why the XM BIOS is upgradable.
  19. That's not something I would even consider... If it were to ever happen it would come as a BIOS update down the road, not something in the current release. Right now its about completing the current End User BIOS and sweeping out these last couple of bugs and challenges.
  20. Hi, Sorry, trying not to leave everyone in the dark too long, just not much to report. The next batch of boards just shipped, I just got the DHL notification. Also Mark just sent me another BIOS update for testing the PIA if installed. This is doing some loopback tests just to make sure the BIOS can control the PIA. Going to be testing something very important in the next week and hoping to have something real eye opening to show everyone that will be in the End User BIOS, this is something that will be an important element to the XM for the Dev's and for the End users alike. So, I'll have the new boards this week, will see if the timing issue that the Dev's found is resolved, I added the missing +5 to the pad that was missing. Hopefully the Dev's will have some goodies coming to show off to everyone again soon and as I mentioned, a key part of the End User BIOS should be ready soon and will see how much is left to pull these remaining things together. As for adding power, its not that complicated a feat to do. I'm kinda hoping to see if I can use standard Atari 9v 500ma P/S's and put together a clean VR circuit and then isolate the XM power from the 7800's... My only other thought is looking to sense if the 7800 is off and turn off the XM as well...
  21. The XM will identify if a 2600 cart is in the top slot on power up, if a 2600 cart is detected, the XM is disabled and acts as a pass-thru device into the the 7800. It will not provide any capabilities to 2600 games.
×
×
  • Create New...