Level42
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Posts posted by Level42
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That is a lot of questions, not proof of it happening....
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You’ve only described one of its failure modes. They can fail quite spectacularly as well, when they short v_input to v_output. Bye bye Atari...
In my 35 years of electronics I haven't found one 78XX go bad like that. You might be confusing this with other Atari power supplies which do NOT use 78XX's but other voltage regulators instead. These control a power transistor and THOSE DO go bad and can short input to output.....like the famous Ingot does....
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So.....did anyone watch the video.......and can explain me why this works ?
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I am positive I measured level changes in the S signals during boot-up. This is what causes the machine to crash, because the result of this toggling between 0 and 1 means AntiX is switching between ANTICs during boot-up....
If this is because of VBXE detection: you cannot have a VBXE AND AntiX inside your machine at the same time, so if one chooses for AntiX there is no use in sensing VBXE........would this open up the route to two versions of your firmware ?
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.....and now you can pray this will run 35 years just like the original power supplies have....
I'll never change them to cheap Chinese switching stuff....78XX's may not be the most efficient, they are VERY reliable and IF they die, they die peacefully by lowering their output voltage to something safe. Switching PSU's can die in much worse ways.....killing your machine.
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I wish I would understand more about hardware and software....I'm really not that great at electronics. I learned enough to service it, not design complex things.
This is why AntiX is a very simple device.
I stand corrected on the M ports /stereo pokey detection at boot up by U1MB.
What I still don't understand it why the S ports need to toggle during boot up. This would affect _any_ device connected to it....and is surely not desirable for any other device as well...
The _only_ requirement AntiX has is one of the S ports to be either high or low _and remain_ in that state for the rest of the time the machine is running....
My brain is probably to simple to not understand why U1MB cannot behave that way with your firmware Jon.
Candle's firmware does NOT toggle the S outputs during boot. They are either high of low depending on what you choose in the menu the next time you do a cold-boot. This is what we need...and I just don't understand why it is not possible to have your firmware act the same way.Look, there is zero obligation for you to even try to get this working...but it feels like something _so_ simple for me.
Please explain me....WHY do the S ports toggle during boot with your firmware, but not with Candle's ?
[EDIT] Mmmm, I might have had AntiX connected to one of the M ports and use the Stereo toggling in the menu with the original U1MB firmware. Are the M and S ports so much different then ?
Wouldn't adding anything in hardware cause the selection between ANTICs be "too late" ? In theory, the selection probably has to be done before the very first clock-cycle because a regular machine has ANTIC "ready" from the very first instance ?
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There will be only one version.
The only difference will be for the 400/800 which will require an extension flat-cable PCB.
I am sorry about the delay in the project. The main reason for this is a little thing I have been going though and it's called... divorce. It's fun, you guys should try it !
Anyway...I am actually now through the divorce process.....and my ex will be leaving my house march the first which should bring me back to having some peace and quite and time for fun stuff.....OK back on topic:
Here's a little video I shot during the ABBUC JHV demonstration. It's interesting because it shows switching ANTICs by using one of the outputs of U1MB and the menu to switch WITHOUT resetting.
As you can see this works.The U1MB switching possibility is very much depending on the firmware you use. (By the way you do NOT need a U-switch to switch AntiX. You only need to hook up one wire between AntiX and U1MB).
I have tried it with the original Candle firmware (the version that Lotharek delivers when you buy U1MB) and it works absolutely flawless. Not saying always without reset, but not resetting between switching ANTICs is just an (interesting) gimmick.
With Jon's Firmwares I had very mixed results depending on the version of his firmware. As it is now, it works for me. I use my 600XL with NTSC ANTIC 95% of the time. Only when I run a demo or game that is PAL specific I switch back. This sometimes requires me to execute a few resets before it works.
The issue is that Jon's firmware does advanced tricks to detect f.i. if there is a Stereo POKEY installed. Personally I wouldn't need that detection because I "know" I have one installed. Maybe a special version of the U1MB firmware could be made that refrains from this advanced toggling of the U1MB output ports during boot-up and include AntiX as one of the devices in the menu.
I don't know, Jon definitely put a number of hours of trying to get it to work but I think he lost interest because AntiX is a pretty dumb and "rough" device in that it is not a software controlled thing. This normally requires that AntiX is switched BEFORE powering up and left alone until switched off. I'm not saying it damages anything when you try to switch on the fly, but it sure crashes anything that is running when you try.
I have actually deliberately hard-switched between ANTICs numerous numerous times to make sure it wouldn't damage anything....
Anyway....so....either you use a mechanical switch OR you live with whatever (small) issues there are using U1MB with Jon's firmware (IMHO, a U1MB _without_ Jon's firmware is only half as great....Jon's work is simply brilliant and everyone should send him 10 euro's or so if you use his firmware).
Here's the video which shows that potentially....switching is very possible...
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I still have to use CRT on my real rigs. I gotta say though - PAL flicker is rough on me, living in NTSC land, and being ultra sensitive to flicker even at 60Hz monitors, fluorescent tubes, etc..
It's funny how we never "noticed" the 50Hz flicker in Europe BITD......we didn't know better !
I do remember noticing it from the corner of my eyes more than when directly looking at it, this is because of the "design" of our eye...movement from the sides is faster detected around the center of our view field because of obvious reasons....
Today I run my 600XL in "semi" NTSC mode about 95% of the time because of the the obvious advantages: faster games, 60Hz much steadier on the eye, correct aspect ratio, better colors.
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1088XLD First Tests Looking Very Good
Over the last couple of days I've been bringing up the first assembled board piece by piece, and slowly testing different aspects as I go. So far it's been a wonderful and satisfying experience to see things are actually working, with only a few minor and easily fixable issues popping up. Sorry I didn't do a first power-up video, but that was the last thing on my mind when making the decision to apply power and switch it on.
Features
- Made to drop into a 1050 case with minimal modification.
- U1MB runs the show, and now that Lotharek has replaced the right angle headers with straight ones, it's a simple matter of plugging it into the 1088XLD motherboard.
- Dual on-board PAL/NTSC primary crystals selectable with a jumper block.
- PS/2 keyboard.
- PS/2 Mouse.
- Dual SIO ports.
- Dual Pokeys for stereo sound.
- Built-in MIDI controller, as well as Wave Blaster (or equivalent) support.
- New Improved built-in IDE with dual CF card support (now with fully buffered data and address bus).
- +5 and +12V regulated power, available from the SIO ports or a 4 pin header.
- Precisely regulated color adjustment that doesn't shift with temperature.
New TK-II keyboard firmware with XLD related hot key assignments...
ALT+M = toggles the mouse port selection similar to the push button on the XEL mouse select board. This assigns a given joystick port to the PS/2 mouse (which emulates an ST mouse).
ALT+N = set swap latch for "next" disk. Used by XEL Loader with multi-disk ATRs, to initiate next disk to boot.
Edit: On Friday I got the rest of my missing parts, and fully populated the board. So this gave me a working CF drive and MIDI playback. I'm happy to report everything now looks to be 100% functional
.That is one of the horniest video's I watched this week..........
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Yes, basically it's just this. After power-up (and after pressing reset) you can select the desired mode.
If you haven't used your Mega Speedy for quite some time you probably missed the firmware/software update from 2017 which fixed highspeed issues on NTSC Atari systems when using one of the Speedy modes.
Mmmmmm, that explains it !!! Need to update......uggghhhhh....no time...
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Am I the only one having loads of crashes ?
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....or it could be one of those Russian dancers......
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Damn you beat me too it....but as Dutchmen we probably had the same association.... Volendammer Klederdracht !
SO the mystery is solved it is this guy (they couldn't make the trousers black because of the black background....so that explains that
)
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A game that looks better on the C16 than on the A8 ?
Impossible !
:D Great work José.
If he doesn't like it...you could release a "patcher"....
Can't believe the A8 can't do the lower....more bass sounds either....
It's amazing that people find time today to program one game for one system, so what Misfit did with supporting so many platforms is amazing but this of course leads to the game not using the most powerful possibilities of all the systems.
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Level42,
I'm not able to repeat the issues you had with Scramble, either the sound or the keyboard issues. It could be a Preferences difference of some sort that you are seeing it and I am not. If you send me your ~/Library/Preferences/com.atarimac.atari800macx.plist file, I can try it here.
Which kinds of Atari machines are you not able to select? Those are the same Roms I have. You should also open up Preferences, and look at the Roms tab to make sure the correct ROM files are selected there.
Mark
Mmmmm, OK so first things first, forget to point to those ROM files...no idea what kind of strange folder were listed...
Selecting between machines often crashes Atari800MacX but not always....like every 4 or 5 switches between machines.....re-opening and then selecting the desired machine works. Seems random. But I can manage to choose the right machine now.
What version of Scramble so you use, the "official" one by Playsoft or the one that was "illegally" converted by Homesoft ?
I just tried the Homesoft conversion and with the new settings for the ROMs the keys only "mumble" for a very short time in the first screen and in the menu screen I can select options just fine. With the version from the original programmer the options seem to toggle extremely quickly when pushing buttons....sometimes I manage to change a setting but it's very tricky...
interesting...
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So this should be drag and drop for the firmware flashing ? Did you try it ?
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Another issue: I can't seem to select all kinds of Atari machines.
I have this set of OS roms in the OSRoms folder:
atari5200.rom
ATARIBAS.ROM
Atariosa.rom
ATARIOSB.ROM
ATARIXL.ROM
Need I more ?
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Downloaded it....very nice to have this back.
I just noticed some weird behavior with Scramble:
When in the first (attract) screen I push any keyboard key, (except Tab which emulates the joystick's fire button) a distorted sound starts.
When in the menu screen (where you can select the options by pressing the number keys) the options start to toggle "randomly" and constantly when I press one of the number buttons...
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As if there is that much choice in
20182019..... -
Good work BigBen. This makes me want to buy an Arduino with a socketed DIL ATMEGA instead of the current SMD one I have.
You can easily integrate a switch between that pin and the socket so it will be possible to flash and run it just by using the switch.
Not so keen on making that extra PCB....yeah I know....I'm lazy.
This looks like a suitable candidate.....a bit more expensive than the full SMD one I have now...but whatever....still a just a few bucks....
Another (stupid ?) question: can't another spare port of the Arduino be used for this ? Or are all ports used by the LCD ?
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Great news !
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Did you install the USB serial port drivers necessary for your Arduino? For example, if you are using a Chinese clone Arduino with a CH340 chipset, you will need to manually install the drivers first.
LOL you are absolutely right Farb, thanks ! ProWizard and I were communicating on Messenger and he already pointed me to the driver....yes that is what I forgot....
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Depends on your screen, not chipset. Look up what screen you use and move my script file in that folder.
Did you install the AVRDUDE file I linked to first ?
Here is a direct link to the latest version,
If your Mac refuses to open it, you need to go to the security settings to allow it to run. (this is also true for my script).
Also disconnect ALL USB devices other than Sdrive Max.
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Jeez....trying to flash my Sdrive and can't get it to work myself .....have to say that I have another iMac now and did a fresh re-install of High Sierra and when I connect the Sdrive it doesn't show up in my USB devices ?!?!?
It's been SO long I've flashed (or used) the Sdrive that I may have forgotten something ??
I did install the latest AVRDUDE...
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Introducing: AntiX, the ANTIC Switch !
in Atari 8-Bit Computers
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