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ijor

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Posts posted by ijor

  1. Posted

    On 11/2/2016 at 5:06 AM, tf_hh said:

    The reason here is, that Freddie is manufactured in CMOS, all the other custom chips from Atari are manufactured in NMOS

    Hi Jurgen,

     

    I know it's a very old thread ... Are you sure all versions of FREDDIE are CMOS? There are at least two versions and the older one was released in 1983 for the 1400XL.

     

    And BTW, I'm pretty sure MMU and EMMU are CMOS gate arrays.

  2. Posted

    2 hours ago, shoestring said:

    The XE was released in 85. So manufacturing FREDDIE in CMOS was not a problem.

     

    The XE was released in 85, but again, FREDDIE was released in 83 for the 1400XL. And some 130XE computers, including mine, use exactly the same FREDDIE chip that used the 1400XL.

     

    2 hours ago, shoestring said:

    I read it was manufactured in CMOS here, I’d trust that it’s correct info seeing that Jurgen is an engineer and makes some great add ons for the A8.

    He helped me with my 65XE repair, reach out to him. He is very helpful.

     

    I'll ask Jurgen in the thread you linked. He might have some info. But again, there are at least two different versions of FREDDIE, so it is very possible that the newer version (and only the newer version) is CMOS.

     

    I'm sure he could repair my computer. Unfortunately I'm not located in Europe. Thanks again.

  3. Posted

    9 hours ago, BillC said:

    I was going through some stuff I got a while back and found 4 INGOT power supplies, 3 are within spec @ 5.1 to 5.2V but the last was @ 5.95.

    I recently took the bottom off it, leaving it otherwise intact to investigate how it failed, it appears that it is the 78S05 voltage regulator that has failed and not a resistor in the voltage divider/boost circuit as discussed in another thread ...

    Thanks again for all the info.

  4. Posted

    12 hours ago, shoestring said:

    Machine is over 30 years old so I wouldn’t always suspect the PSU but considering it’s an ingot, I’d not be using it in the long term. It’s definitely not uncommon for more chips to fail on your bench one after the other as you’re working on it, I see it constantly with arcade stuff I’ve worked on.

     

    Thanks for the advice.

     

    12 hours ago, shoestring said:

    My understanding is that FREDDIE is CMOS as opposed to the other chips which are NMOS ...

     

    Interesting. I'm not so sure, where you read that? If you look at the values at the preliminary engineering datasheet, it seems to be an NMOS device. And 1983 was probably too early for a fast CMOS LSI anyway. Of course, the final product might be different and by 1985 CMOS fab was much more advanced. But FREDDIE was already produced for the 1400XL which was released earlier, and seems the 130XE used, at least initially, exactly the same NCR part. There is a later FREDDIE version with a different part number, conceivable could be a CMOS redesign.

     

    The chips that I'm pretty sure are CMOS gate arrays are MMU and EMMU. May be this caused some confusion?

     

    FREDDIE engineering datasheet is here: https://web.archive.org/web/20060214093449/http://www.atarimuseum.com/ahs_archives/archives/pdf/computers/8bits/freddie-mcu.pdf

     

     

  5. Posted

    11 hours ago, Wrathchild said:

    Typically have a certain named file on an SD Card or in a specific folder or with a certain extension. When that file is chosen then the firmware on the micro in the cart is flashed

     

    Ah, you mean to update the FPGA core (firmware). Yeah, not being able to update the core without an Usb Blaster can be a problem when the product is not mature enough.

     

    In theory it should be possible, the FPGA used in the Ultimate Cart does have a method to update its own firmware. It requires a little bit more resources, but not too much. So it should be possible unless it is currently almost full (if the core is already close to 100% utilization).

  6. Posted

    On 12/20/2020 at 5:49 PM, tane said:

    That's right. Just thinking about using a USB Blaster is cumbersome.

     

    images.jpg.8091824a47e3506760b3524cbf170569.jpg

     

    I wouldn't recommend an USB Blaster clone like that one. They are all known to be problematic. Terasic official USB Blaster is available at Amazon at a reasonable price. The newer and faster Usb Blaster II is quite expensive, but there is, AFAIK, no Usb Blaster II clone. Even those that claim to be Usb Blaster II, they are actually a Usb Blaster I clone.

  8. Posted · Edited by ijor

    On 12/19/2020 at 5:59 PM, BillC said:

    I don't think the INGOT was restricted to 110V, the post linked below has a 220V power supply that looks similar.

    How heavy is the power supply?

     

    I stand corrected, I wasn't aware. Indeed, my PSU is precisely that mentioned in the post you linked. And yes, it is quite heavy. Surely it's filled with epoxy. But not all epoxy filled PSUs are that bad, are they?

     

    However doesn't look that my PSU suffered yet the dangerous death as mentioned in other INGOT threads. At least it seems to output a, more or less, reasonable voltage. And at least the first time, it didn't fry my computer because only one RAM chip was damaged. Of course, I didn't test yet for spikes, so the PSU might still be the culprit. And now with FREDDIE gone, I don't really know if the other chips are working or not. Difficult to test when FREDDIE doesn't produce the main system clock.

     

    Is the Ingot PSU know to produce spikes as well? Or, as reported in other threads, it's ok until something breaks inside and start outputting a crazy voltage level? Just asking to have a reasonable idea about what produced the damage in my case.

  10. Posted

    2 hours ago, bob1200xl said:

    You should measure the output voltage of the PSU, both loaded and unloaded. It may be high (>5.25 v), which will stress all the chips.

    ...

    Worse scenario is the PSU randomly spiking over voltage. Put a scope on it and see if it triggers once in a while. I set mine to a very slow time, like 1s/DIV. Or, you can use Single Sweep.

     

    Good tip. I measure 5.20-5.23V without load, and 5.17-5.20V with load.

     

    Detecting spikes is a little more complicated for me. Will try to hook a reasonable instrument later.

     

    2 hours ago, bob1200xl said:

    It took two weeks for Freddie to fail after the DRAM died, right?

     

    More or less, but according to the calendar! But I barely use this computer. So if you ask how much time it was actually turned on between both events, I'd say just minutes, may be half an hour. Sounds too bad?

     

    Thanks again

  11. Posted

    I was performing some tests on my 130XE and suddenly it stopped working. After some diagnosis seems to be that FREDDIE is dead. At least there is a good 14.3 MHz input signal, but no 3.57 MHz output to GTIA. As a matter of fact FREDDIE pin 37 (OSC output) doesn't seem to be fully stable (guess it is floating).

     

    PSU seems to be fine. It works on a different computer. And trying a different PSU on this 130XE still gives the same, FREDDIE dead, behavior.

     

    A couple of weeks ago on of the DRAM chips died. But being an "MT" chip, known to be problematic, I didn't pay too much attention. But now I'm a little bit suspicious to get two chip deaths one after the other. Might still be the PSU, even when it seems to be working fine on another computer? Or may be it was just a coincidence and bad luck? Or this behavior is not so uncommon?

     

    Thanks

  12. Posted

    43 minutes ago, flashjazzcat said:

    It's related to the usability of SDX on the respective platforms; I mention it because when the desired pass-thru support presumably fails to materialise on the Ultimate Cart, you may end up purchasing something else. The reason I suggested SIDE3 as a solution is that it has SDX built into the ROM, and has an RTC which keeps the date and time. You can turn on the machine and boot immediately to the SDX prompt with the date and time already set, and when auto-mount carts are implemented, typing CAR will silently load the chosen emulated cartridge without recourse to the loader.

     

    I only mention these things in light of AVG subsequently being presented as the solution to your problems.

     

    Fair enough. But in this particular case, AVG would actually be a solution to my problem. The reason I might not end buying one is because it is not open source. I don't always avoid closed source projects, but in this particular case it is important to me. As a matter of fact, being open source, I might end implementing pass through support for the Ultimate Cart myself.

    • Like 2

  13. Posted

    32 minutes ago, tmp said:

    my random videos are always confusing although this one had at least some description (that is not visible when embedded)

    ...

    the reason you saw ACTION CAR was that sdx was seeing the same directory as the avgcart browser (same fat32 partition on sd card)

    this is all W(N)IP so the final behavior is still subject to change

     

    Thanks. Not confusing anymore! Yeah, I watched the video embedded and then I missed the description (my fault).

     

    Not very important, but while we are here ... I don't see the SDX CAR image there? It was on another directory, or it is integrated in the hardware?

  14. Posted

    34 minutes ago, flashjazzcat said:

    Almost certainly, but things like maintaing the system clock (used by SDX for file time stamps, etc) without having to manually set the date and time at every boot on any cartridge which lacks a battery could be a confounding challenge. :)

     

    You are correct, of course, but I don't see how this is related to pass through cart support.  Well, except that you obviously can't fully emulate stacking an R-Time-8 cartridge, if that's what you mean.

  15. Posted · Edited by ijor

    Very nice @tmp . Good job, seems very powerful. I wasn't aware about AVG CART.

     

    But I understand AVG CART is not open source like Ultimate Cart, is it?

     

    Also, if you don't mind, I find the video a little bit confusing regarding the operation of this feature. Do you select a secondary (connected to SDX pass through) cartridge from the AVG CART menu? What I find it confusing is the presence of the [email protected] file in the D1: directory. I would expect the cartridge image not to be visible to SDX at all. Or that file image was there just by chance without a direct relation to loading Action?

  18. Posted

    On 12/17/2020 at 1:36 AM, Frankie said:

    Most SDX images don't have much room to add your own executables, but it can be done. You need the SDX imager found on this page -

    http://sdx.atari8.info/index.php?show=en_addons

     

    Thanks. No problem if the images are full as long as I can remove files that I don't need.

     

    On 12/17/2020 at 11:37 AM, TGB1718 said:

    What I do for extra functions is use CONFIG.SYS to set the PATH as below and put executables in the D6:\BIN\ also runs Batch files from the D5:\BAT\

     

    Appreciate all the other ideas, but I'm not sure they fit my current goal. I need to put everything in a single normal CAR image.

     

  20. Posted

    19 hours ago, geneb said:

    Is there a specific reason you folks are using 96tpi drives to image 48tpi disks?  It was my understanding that from an imaging standpoint, "best practices" were to use like-drive with like-media.

     

    Each type of drive has its own pros and cons...

     

    Some damaged disks can sometimes be read successfully on 96tpi drives only, and sometimes the other way around. Most, but not all, 48tpi drives can access the flippy side without index hole, while almost none 96tpi ones can. 48tpi drives are better for writing back; 96tpi drives require bulk erased disks. 96tpi drives are usually faster (360 vs 300 RPM).

     

    Oldest drives require higher current drivers. They might not work, i.e., with the simple unbuffered Greaseweazle. It could be an issue even with buffered devices if you connect multiple drives at the same time.

     

    But I guess most people just use what they have :)

  21. Posted

    16 hours ago, phaeron said:

     

    Quote

    Are there any known commercial Atari disks that were not index aligned ?

    Yes, plenty, including just plain DOS. Any disk that was originally mastered on an 810 or 1050 and didn't have its track alignment adjusted will have sectors spanning the index.

     

     

    Phaeron is of course, right. Furthermore. Most Atari 8-bit original disks are NOT aligned to the index hole. Even those duplicated and mastered by professional duplicators. Of course, some do are aligned. This depend mostly on the specific publisher, and also on the period. But on the earlier classic period, very few publishers duplicated disks aligned to the index hole. Notably EA disks do are aligned since day one. Synapse disks, except the latest titles are NOT aligned to the index hole. Even most Synapse titles that are among the ones with the most advanced copy protection, they still are not aligned. And that includes a couple of Synapse titles with a skew align protection!

  23. Posted

    19 minutes ago, bob1200xl said:

    The holes are plated thru from one side of the board to the other, so soldering either side connects both.

     

    That's what I thought. Many thanks.

     

    20 minutes ago, DrVenkman said:

    Alternately, if the chip is well and truly dead, you can clip each leg off at the "shoulder" where it meets the plastic or ceramic body of the chip. The legs can then be removed from each hole by melting the solder with a soldering iron. Once all the legs are removed from the board, remaining solder may be removed from the holes via solder wick, a solder sucker or a desoldering pump.

     

    Good recommendation. Thanks.

  24. Posted

    One of the RAM chips on my 130XE stopped working correctly. Soldering is not one of my few talents, so I asked a friend to replace the chip. I thought it would be better to solder a socket instead of soldering the new RAM chip directly. He is not very familiar with old through hole systems, but said it will be ok. While desoldering the old chip he noted that it was soldered on both sides of the board. He said he won't be able to do that with the socket, and it might be then better to solder the new chip directly instead of installing a socket.

     

    Does this make any sense? Is is really important to solder the socket on the top side of the board as well? I searched and I found some special sockets that have pins like a chip, and I guess those sockets could be soldered on both sides of the board. But is this really needed, or important at all?

     

    Thanks

  25. Posted

    17 hours ago, E474 said:

    Thanks very much for extending the ATX spec, I'm guessing it should cover almost all situations, but is there any way to handle data stored between sectors, as used by Disk-Master 1050, described here:

     

     

    There is still no support for the FDC read track command and data outside the sectors. Note that as I commented already, this is not strictly required for running DiskMaster 1050. It doesn't use it as a copy protection but only for hiding part of the protection when using the program to analyze its own disk.

     

    Adding support for gap data at ATX images is not very difficult. But there are significant complications for emulating the read track command accurately, especially at MFM. The extra size required to store all the track data shouldn't be a big problem. Not only that this would be, of course, optional, but also it is possible to store full track data on specific tracks only.

     

    It's not top priority for me anyway. There are a few other issues that IMHO, are more important. E.g., we need to add support for weak bits at the header (a weak sector header). This is required for running SuperArchiver.

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