TheEditor

So I have been working with my Arduino SIO2PC device with the ATMEGA chip removed and utilizing the FTDI for Serial to USB communications. It works pretty good but after several disk changes in AspeQt it will only read a few 'sectors' when I boot the Atari and then stop but after a few reboots it will load the whole 'disk'. Have anyone seen a problem like this with AspeQt and SIO devices? RodCastler, have you ever seen this type of issue? On a side note, after days of looking I finally found a way to keep the ATMEGA chip on the board but utilize the FTDI for SIO comms. I intend to test it this weekend and will report back. Popmilo: how is your experimentation going?

Resolved. The bad side had a broken trace. A friend soldered in a jumper and that appears to have resolved it. While he was in the machine and since it was apart anyway I had him add a momentary contact switch from CPU rst to ground as a cold reboot for less wear on the power switch.

Three Arduinos, sounds like you are read to do some battle. I got a bit side tracked with my keyboard issue but I will have that resolved tonight or tomorrow I hope. I am going to drop a message on the Arduino forums and see what I can find out about the ATMEGA causing isses with the FTDI and having them not step on each others feet.

I tore the A8 down and found the following. 1. the unit is very clean for the age and 2. it appears to be a second generation unit, thanks for the gentleman at B&C for his confirmation of this on the phone today. My testing shows the following: (Image of the back of the keyboard at the solder points for the Space Bar is attached.) Depressing Space Bar button produces no response on screen Continuity check results with button pressed: Green to Blue = Good Green to Yellow = Good Yellow to Blue = Good Green to Purple = BAD, should be good with key pressed Yellow to Purple = BAD, should be good with key pressed No evidence of anything on the bottom of the board being damaged No evidence of damage to the key switch from the outside Under the key cap there is a square plunger that is hollow which has a solid fin on the left side and a fin of 4 tiny fingers on the right, when the square key cap socket is depressed the center of the button goes down and the fins come together to complete the circuit. There is evidence of any damage to the back side of the keyboard or the end near the Space Bar button. On the back side of the keyboard there are four screws on either side that appear to remove the bottom circuit board from the front side key switch area. I removed them and still cannot remove the board. Down there center of the board back is a double sided foam tape strip to protect the cable from being pierced by the solder connections. I guess it is possible there are screws under the tape that I am not aware of. Anyone have thoughts or input? I am going to have a colleague of mine look at the keyboard tomorrow and see if he can fix it. T.E

Thanks eeun, I will check ou the keyboard further and also have a colleague of mine, who knows a crap load more about electronic than me, take a look at it and see what he can do.

Well, after geting my SIOviaArduino project up and running and having access to more software for the A8 I was able to really test it and found out the Space Bar either was dead prior to me getting it or died not soon after. I took the machine apart and there is nothing evident wrong with the Space Bar but it does not work. I have pictures of the unit and the are of the Space Bar that I can upload if any thinks it would be worth it to see and possibly provide insight into why it is not working. I am going to call Best and B&C tomorrow and see if they have replacemants and what they cost. I can say the keyboard have a rainbow wire colored cable, not a ture as we know it today ribbon cable, as I believe it is a very early production run 800. Any help, thoughts or input appreciated. T.E

I believe you may be right in you assertion about the ATMEGA and FTDI trying to communicate at the same time. The TX/RX connections go to both chips on the schematic. I am wondering if there is a way to programmatically turn off the ATMEGA or connect a switch to the power pin to disable it at will. While I like the idea of a separate FTDI board, which I may pursue, I would love to get it all working in one package. I wish I knew more about the code and how SDrive worked so I could assist but sadly I don't. Is it possible to reach out to the creator via email and maybe enlist his assistance? I tried the trial of APE and after seeing that and the 810 Emulator as well as having AspeQt work correctly I am staying with the later. As to the difference between the DragonCart and an Arduino based solution doing much more in a sinlge package, that is exactly what I am trying to accomplish. The Arduino is a great starting point for it I belive. I also agree that having an A8 live in the networing world would be an awesome idea not matter what the task. ps. Thanks for the kind words. I have been in the IT Field for over 30 years and it has not been often in that time I have had something defeat me. Having it working is purely awesome. As to the ATMEGA and FTDI issue I am going to post some questions on the Arduino forums and see what I can find out. T.E

Final Update for tonight. I put the chip back on the board and tested. The TX is received by the PC and the AspeQt software does see it, in the log window it shows Disk 1 and counts to either 27 or 28 (during the Atari boot fart) but does nothing else and the Atari boots to MEMO PAD. I have a feeling the ATMEGA is doing something to the information either before or after it passes thru the FTDI and the ApseQt software has no idea what to do with the resulting information so it fails to initiate the sequence to send data back to the Atari for it to boot. Now I know I said I am not an electronic person before and figured out how to get this working but I am REALLY not a programmer and C looks like a foreign language to me. If there was some way to get AspeQt to work with the ATMEGA in place that would be a step toward my dual purpose idea.

Update 4 and SUCCESS!!!!!!!!!! I had put the ATMEGA chip back on the board as an early test and not thought anything about it. I pulled it again and made sure the connection was 1x COM3 19200 and I am now booting the 800 off ATR files on my PC. It actually works via the Arduino with AspeQt but I cannot get it work via the ATARI810 emualtor software, not sure why but am not complaing as AspeQt works. I am just curious what the ATMEGA is doing to the X3 connector or the TX/RX that could be causing it to not work when the chip is installed. I am going to try it again with the chip installed and see if it was a fluke. If the chip cannot be used then the dual-purpose SIO2Arduino/Ardunio Floppy Emulator I envisioned may be a moot point. More to come.

Update 3: Ok, I know a bit more about electronics than I thought, I can actaully read a schematic and the Arduino Duemilanove X3 has the following configuration to the FT232RL chip. Pin1 CTS, Pin2 DSR, Pin4 RI so I am going to try a few other things to see if I can get this working. Will update further once I do some testing.

Update 2: Well, the different drive looks to have made things worse as now when I turn on the Atari the TX light on the Arduino is not flashing prior to the MEMO PAD. Kinda of at a stuck point...any help or insight would be appreciated.

Update: with everything, reverse wired, via the SIO cable end still no luck. I did watch the Arduino when I turn on the Atari and the TX light flashes before the MEMO PAD appears on the screen which tells me the Atari is sending data and the Arduino is seeing it. When I run the Serial Monitor in the Arduino software I get '<some double quote character shifted to the bottom of the line> and then 1S" repeated on a single line repeated 28 times. The COM Port is set to to 19200, 8, None, 1 in Windows and 19200 CTS in ASPEQT. Not sure why it isnt working but I did just see a different driver on the Arudino Duemilanove page so I will try that and report back the results.

Well, so far I have an Arduino Duemilanove with a header soldered to X3, thanks Bainesville Electronic in Baltimore Maryland for that, USB cable, Arduino jumpers and I ahve removed the chip from the Arduino. I connected everything up the way it is shown here http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=19177.0. Verified the connections to the 800 SIO port, verified the connections are correct, verified the Arduino is connected to the PC (Windows 7 64-bit) correctly. Driver is loaded and showing the Arduino as COM3. Ran ASPEQT, set for 1x, connected the emulation, assigned an ATR to drive 1 and turned on the 800. Guess what happened..........Nothing, straight to MEMO PAD. ARGH. Not sure what the problem is but I will rewire and see if the help and also try rewiring via the SIO cable for the 810 (albeit reversing the wires). I have also tired the Atari810 emulator, same result. RodCastler, show me the light at the end of the tunnel and a booting 800 via an ATR served from the PC via the Arduino....

Do you think it would be possbile to use the Ethernet board that I link is replacement of the one you linked to allow for possible future expansion to Ethernet? If so, would any recoding be required for the config.h or any other part of the code?

Thanks to everyone for responding and keeping this thread and idea alive you have given me the drive to learn more about the Arduino hardware even tho I am not a programmer. RodCastler: A1 makes complete sense to me but like you said in your PS do not return the Arduino. I have decided to move forward and use it but I do have a couple of questions: 1. What jumpers are you using? The only ones I could find at my local store were these https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11242 and the appear different than the ones you used in that yur are slipped over pins the case of the grey wire on the Arduino and the connections to the SIO port on the Atari. 2. In your original post on the Arduino forums you have a header that is solderd to X3 that you mention is the only soldering needed. Where did you get the header? I have the same board and would love to add the header. 3. In your original post you mention you had removed the socketed Atmega328 chip but stated it may not be necessary to do so. Were you able to determine if the chip could be left connected? Wouldn't that chip be needed if I wanted to make a combo device between your instrucitons and Farb's? eeun: Thanks for the Prolific information and I am abandoning that idea in favor of the Arduino. You mentioned you built Farb's device and I am curios what SD board you used? This is the one I believe is used in Farb's design http://www.adafruit.com/products/254?gclid=CPzqveK63LkCFU2Y4AodaH4A2A which I unfortuantely cannot get from my local store but I can get this http://www.microcenter.com/product/401442/Arduino_Ethernet_Shield_Rev_3 and this states it has SD onboard (http://store.arduino.cc/ww/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=11_5&products_id=199. If this is close to or exactly what 'popmilo' used when he mentions 'Arduino Ethernet board' in his post then it it would fit the project perfectly. popmilo: Great to hear it may be possible to have an Arduino act as a 'network adapater' for an Atari. To my knowledge there is only this http://atariage.com/forums/topic/161158-atari-8-bit-ethernet-and-contiki-want-your-help/ dealing with Ethernet on the Atari and that work may be adaptable. Something tells me that protocl and driver would have to be created but I think it would only have to strip the Ethernet encapsulation from the packets and send the resulting data, HTML/FTP/whatever, to the appropriate program on the Atari. I am not talking about full blown Flash based web browsing here but more a way to show that the machine can do it also allow it to become part of the network with PCs, albiet a lot slowere and older. Kind of like a great-grandmother getting her first PC and access to the internet, LOL. I think, overall, the Arduino can bring alot of new technology to the Atari in ways of connectivity for those who want to tinker with it. I for one can come up with the ideas and get my point across to someone, I just dont have the knowhow to build them. Let's keep the discussion moving....

I agree, the Incognito would be the end all be all but where can I get it one and what is the price? I have purchased the Arduino Duemilanove, a USB cable and a pack of jumpers but while I was as the store I saw another item and wonder a few things. 1. RodCastler mentioned this post: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/182392-sio2usb-with-a-ftdi-basic-breakout-board/ which uses FTDI Basic Breakout board (http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9716) and in my local store (Micro Center) they had this: http://www.microcenter.com/product/389986/OSEPP_FTDI_Breakout_Board which appears to be the same thing. If they are functionally the same can they be interchanged? 2. There are tons of USB to Serial cables available for PCs to allow interfacing of older serial equipment to a newer PC and generally utilize a Prolific chip I believe. Has anyone tried one of these by making the correct Atari SIO pin connections to the correct pins on the male D-SUB on the USB to Serial adpater? Would it work? If either of the above would work then I have an inexpensive option moving forward as I have not opened the Arduino stuff and can return it.

Rod, I would like to investigate the second option further and the combining which you mentioned as that seems along the lines of something I would love to have, one unit dual purpose with simultanesous use capability.

Recently started feeling a bit nostalgic, just recently celebrating 31 years in the Computer/IT Field, and started playing with 8-bit emulators like Altirra and Atari800Win PLus. This lead to me looking for an 800, to replace the one I got rid of years ago after I got my 130xe, as it was my first computer all those years ago. I am now the proud owner of an 800 and 810 in awesome shape and have been researching the different options for accessing my ATR file collection on my PC from the 800. I know there are flash cart and SIO2x devices and I am on a bit of a budget so right now they are a bit too pricey but I did come across two different Arduino projects and am wondering if anyone has tried either. The first is a SIO2USB style connection that uses the Arduino, http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=19177.0 while the second is similar to some of the drive emualting flash carts that are out there, http://www.whizzosoftware.com/sio2arduino/index.html. Both projects use the same base and I believe, with my limited electronice experience and alot of reading, that they can be combined into a single Arduino device with some buttons to control which is active, SIO or Drive emulator. I am wondering if anyone has built or worked with either of these and what their experience was with them. Any comments or feedback would be greatly appreciated. As a side note, the Arduino has so many capabilites I am wondering if an SIO to Aruduino to Ethernet type setup would be possible with the Arduino acting as an intermediary for the connect thereby giving the ability to be on an network. I imagine that and the abilites to run ATR in an SIOEthernet style connector. Sounds kinda cool to me. Thanks T.E

Sticker from back of 800. Inside the unit in the back of the left cart slot is a small white sticket with 'DOM' on it in black text.

Sticker from back of 810.

Updated now with the pics of my haul. Hopefully someone can tell me if they are US or non-US manufacture. The ROM/RAM carts are 10K ROM (in a case), 32K RAM (bare board) and 16K RAM (in case).

I have been looking all over Craigslist and eBay for an 800 to get into my old 8-bit days and I finally found something I think is a great start: Atari 800 home computer, 48K Atari 810 floppy drive 2 Original Atari Power and SIO cord Pac-Man & Frogger carts Music Construction Set diskette Pinball Construction set diskette all manuals several Atari 800-specific books several disks, no idea what is on them all working for wait for it.... you won't believe it.... ready... 50 bucks. So how did I do? Alot better than some of the prices I have seen on RAPebay.

I am playing around with Altirra and it emulates quite a few of the addons for the 8-bit, U1MB, SIC! flash cartridge and several 1Mbit and 8Mbit cartridges. The problem, how to use them? Anywhere I can find the manuals or help?

I am getting back into the 8-bit world, but only with emulation, and want to know what DOS to use. I am using Altirra for emulation and tried the SDX 4.46 and it wants to load different ROM for different addons. How can I get a plain vanilla version of SDX?

I am wondering if the author of Altirra has thought of a release on the Android platform. His emu has alot more features and the UI is so nice I would love to see it on the Android platform for my tablet.