trekkie22

Never thought about timing issues as I had experienced the Atari as really stable in this regard, but it makes sense. As that machine is something special to me and I'm really curious, I'll investigate further, bringing in more isopropyl alcohol, other CF cards and (if needed) the logic analyzer into the equation. We'll see what I can find. Thanks for the help.

I made an interesting discovery today with my SIDE2 Cartridge. First some basics - I own a 600XL in stock configuration, with 1064 expansion, a 800XL in stock configuration and my "daily driver", a 130XE that I freshly extended with a U1M from Lotharek this week and that has a built-in a SIO2SD that I added a long time ago. I also own a SIDE2 cartridge since 2015, but the SIO2SD i built into the 130XE was always "good enough" and familiar, so I never used the SIDE2 much. Yesterday I decided to give the SIDE2 a go together with the U1M and updated it's really ancient firmware with the most recent one from FJC. Had a few issues with that because UFLASH didn't like the Cart at first, but the alternative way with SIDE2.COM worked fine and after the update UFLASH also started to work. Flashed the SIDE2OSS ROM. So far everything works great on the 130XE with U1M. Today I wondered what happens if I use the SIDE2 with the other machines and discovered an interesting difference between the 800XL and the 600XL with 1064. As I had not used both machines for a longer period of time this was intended to also test the machines to make sure they still work fine - I loaded the CF Card with games and digged the machines out of storage. I am aware that the 64K of a stock machine is only enough for basics, so I didn't expect too much. I first tested the 600XL and everything worked surprisingly well - I could run games using the SIDE Loader. I tried SpartaDOS X - everything was accessible and I could even run SIDECFG and switch the ROMs: Tried UFLASH and got a "179 Memory conflict", but that was expected. If I remove the 1064, the SIDE2 is not able to run at all. So far, so good. The 600XL seems to work fine. Then I tried the 800XL and to my surprise it behaved differently - the SIDE Loader was not able to detect the CF card properly: I then switched to SpartaDOS X - after turning on the machine, drivers were loaded, but no partitions visible or accessible: If I reset the machine with the reset button, I can access the CF card and the partitions on it: But trying to run SIDECFG gives me a "179 Memory Conflict" here. I first thought that the machine might have hardware problems, but it works fine otherwise - the builtin memory test is fine and I was able to run several games from an external SIO2SD without problems. So the hardware of the 800XL also seems to work fine to me. But now I'm lacking an explanation, why the machines behave differently. The only idea I got after a lot of googling: Does anybody know if the SIDE2 is able to use the 16KB RAM of the 600XL that the 1064 disables by default? From my understanding it should be the only difference between the two machines and 16k more memory might really be the big difference here. Otherwise I am lost what the problem of the 800XL is, that the SIDE2 behaves so different with the same amount of memory while everything else seems to work. Would appreciate any help in getting this sorted out. The 600XL and the 800XL were my first two computers, so I want to keep them in stock configuration and working as good as possible.

Fixed it! I forgot one of the basics with old electronics. I measured the connection and it was broken. Just needed to reseat the FDC and now the drive works Thanks a lot!

That was the exact issue. I read the datasheet this morning and I found the note: "NOTE: To maintain internal VCO operation, ensure that TEST# = 1 whenever a master reset pulse is applied.". I tried again with that information and the signal is there. I was switching around the drives for comparison without removing the jumpers. It's always the small things that let's you pull out your hair... Thanks for the further help, I'll test the connection between RIOT and FDC.

I try to repair a 1050 I just bought. It looked first like a simple issue - from the text of the offer I assumed the drive had a problem with the drive speed. And after it arrived, that was exactly the problem for single density. I adjusted the drive speed and repaired a few broken solder joints and single density worked like a charm with the unmodified drive. I could read, write and format single density and the disks were interchangeable with my other drives without problems. I then bought a Mini Speedy and installed it - and here the trouble began. Single density still works without problems. But no double density at all. The drive refuses to read, write or format DD disks. It is not the Speedy, tested that with another drive and there it works without problems. I started adjusting the analogue part of the drive as described in tf_hhs post here in the forums. There's a weird thing with the measurements - Other than in the post I have no 125 kHz on Pin 16 of the FDC or on TP10. But the other two signals I can measure just fine and they both have perfect 125 kHz frequency and I adjusted them to a length of 1µs respective 230ns (both were a bit off). But I have this issue with the measurement on Pin 16 on all the drives I have (three in total, including the patient). Speed is bang on 288 +/-0,3 RPM measured with the Speedy System Disk. I measured the RPM with two different original game disks, to be sure that the measurement is as correct as possible. Any ideas what could be wrong with this drive that only breaks DD? I'm a bit lost here as single density works fine and double density is a real big mess. I have done all the basic things - the drive is cleaned and lubricated and I also tried a mechanism of one of the working drives with no difference.

I second Lotharek if you want external help for manufacturing and shipping. I bought many products from him and never had any problems. On the other hand if you want to do it for yourself, you could also consider to ask Gideon Zweijtzer for help, the creator of the 1541 Ultimate and the Ultimate 64. He was in the same situation about two years ago that he was not able to fulfill the demand, keep up his job and do new development at the same time. He managed to outsource the complete manufacturing and testing to a company in china, so that he can focus on development and the only task left for him is shipping (and occasional tests to ensure quality for sure). I think he could help you if you want to go this route.

I would like to have one for my recently bought Atari Lynx 2. Please add me to the List