Potential new hardware

g007 · February 16, 2014

Hi everybody!

I'm also a digikey customer and got my board about 3 weeks ago - unsurprisingly with the 'edbl' SRAM chip and the same problems other people told before.
Foft's hint to change the pin setting does the magic - no ram problems anymore :-)

Thank you Foft!

I added the following lines to the qsf (atari800core_20140119.tar.xz):

set_instance_assignment -name CYCLONEII_TERMINATION "SERIES 25 OHMS" -to SRAM_CE_N
set_instance_assignment -name CYCLONEII_TERMINATION "SERIES 25 OHMS" -to SRAM_LB_N
set_instance_assignment -name CYCLONEII_TERMINATION "SERIES 25 OHMS" -to SRAM_OE_N
set_instance_assignment -name CYCLONEII_TERMINATION "SERIES 25 OHMS" -to SRAM_UB_N
set_instance_assignment -name CYCLONEII_TERMINATION "SERIES 25 OHMS" -to SRAM_WE_N
set_instance_assignment -name CYCLONEII_TERMINATION "SERIES 25 OHMS" -to SRAM_ADDR[0]
...
set_instance_assignment -name CYCLONEII_TERMINATION "SERIES 25 OHMS" -to SRAM_ADDR[17]
set_instance_assignment -name CYCLONEII_TERMINATION "SERIES 25 OHMS" -to SRAM_DQ[0]
...
set_instance_assignment -name CYCLONEII_TERMINATION "SERIES 25 OHMS" -to SRAM_DQ[15]

I encountered the same SRAM problems with the ZX Spectrum project where the termination resistors also resolved the problems.

I also patched the 'DE1 Control Panel' binary to fix the anoying 'Quartus version bla bla' message, you can download it here.

Greets
G.

Edited February 16, 2014 by g007

foft · February 17, 2014

Cool:) Thanks for building/testing.

Its actually an engineer at Terasic's suggestion. The engineer also suggested adding these:

set_input_delay -max -clock CLOCK_50 -1.5 [get_ports SRAM_DQ*]

set_input_delay -min -clock CLOCK_50 -1.5 [get_ports SRAM_DQ*]

I'll add these + resistors as above to the source and build on my site.

jugac64 · February 19, 2014

Hi Foft and everybody!

My name is Juan and I am a C64 fan, I hope you don’t mind if I post this information here :-)

Foft: Do you know the Turbo Chameleon 64? It is another FPGA system developed in the form of a Commodore 64 cartridge, but it works also in standalone mode (without a real C64) and it can emulate very well the Commodore 64.

There it is also an accessory for it that offers four joysticks connections: the Docking Station.

Actually the Chameleon emulates 4 platforms (cores) very well: Commodore 64, Atari 2600 (done by the creators of the Chameleon) and from other devs: ZX Spectrum and Amiga 500 (Minimig).

It would be awesome if you could port the Atari 8-bit core to the Chameleon, I guess you can get some support from the Chameleon’s developers (it seems that they helped also the other core’s developers).

Here you can get useful information about the Chameleon:

http://wiki.icomp.de/wiki/Chameleon

http://syntiac.com/chameleon.html

The Docking Station:

http://wiki.icomp.de/wiki/Chameleon_docking_station

The Manuals:

http://beta.icomp.de/bin/Chameleon_usermanual.pdf

http://beta.icomp.de/bin/Chameleon_progmanual.pdf

And this manual is specifically targeted to core’s developers:

http://syntiac.com/pdf/chameleon_coredev.pdf

Here it is the Chameleon’s Yahoo mailing list where we (beta testers) communicate with the Chameleon's developers:

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/chameleon_64/info

Hope you get some interest on this platform and we can have the Atari 8-bit ported to the Chameleon some day!

Best regards, Juan

PD: Hi Mark! (NML32)

NML32 · February 19, 2014

Hey Juan, I really wish I could afford the Chameleon 64 with docking station.

Also good to see you here on AA forum.

-Mark

NML32 · February 23, 2014

@foft, How's it going any updates?

Thanks,

Mark

foft · February 23, 2014

@foft, How's it going any updates?

Not much this weekend - guests...

MIST starting to run. Memo pad + keys with wrong mapping!

foft · February 23, 2014

Hi Foft and everybody!

My name is Juan and I am a C64 fan, I hope you don’t mind if I post this information here :-)

Foft: Do you know the Turbo Chameleon 64? It is another FPGA system developed in the form of a Commodore 64 cartridge, but it works also in standalone mode (without a real C64) and it can emulate very well the Commodore 64.

Hi Juan.

This Atari XL core wouldn't be so good without the Turbo Chameleon's great 6502 core. So it's definitely a candidate.

I've got plenty of porting to do already though. Replay, MIST, MCC216 and SOCkit. Then I have to fix some bugs Mark (NML32) reported... Oh and make the DE1 breakout board. So it might be a while!

pik33 · February 23, 2014

I tried this core - on "old" DE1 with no success. Maybe I did something wrong.

I flashed this: atariroms3.bin at address 0

Then I used this: atari800core_20140120.sof

Results was mixed from time to time. Black screen (sync signals OK), white rectangle on black screen (several times) and one time I got something like OSD menu.

My board has damaged SW1, it is difficult to get it pressed (it seems OSD menu appeared after succesfullu pressing SW1)

Edited February 23, 2014 by pik33

foft · February 23, 2014

I suggest trying the old version with internal rom and/or ram to narrow it down. I think Hias posted some instructions in this thread.

Before that, try these:

I) Erase flash rom before flashing.

ii) Turn off sd mode. With a valid sd card it hangs.

jugac64 · February 23, 2014

Hi Juan.

This Atari XL core wouldn't be so good without the Turbo Chameleon's great 6502 core. So it's definitely a candidate.

I've got plenty of porting to do already though. Replay, MIST, MCC216 and SOCkit. Then I have to fix some bugs Mark (NML32) reported... Oh and make the DE1 breakout board. So it might be a while!

Hi Foft!

It is great that you are considering porting the Atari 8-bit core to the Chameleon 64 on the future, thank you!!! :-)

It seems that Peter's 6502 core is very good indeed.

Take care and keep the good work!

Juan

foft · March 1, 2014

I put a newer version of the build on my website. The only change being the inclusion of the 25ohm resistors on the SRAM. So should work on the newer boards.

TheMontezuma · March 2, 2014

I put a newer version of the build on my website. The only change being the inclusion of the 25ohm resistors on the SRAM. So should work on the newer boards.

Hello foft,

since a few days I have an Altera DE1 Board at home (with IS61LV25616AL SRAM Chip).

My board is connected to a TFT VGA Monitor (640x480).

All tests with DE1 Control Panel were successful.

I have just tried atari800core_20140301.sof and I can see only black screen

http://youtu.be/kVlywCjFHaQ

Actually I tried older versions too and I had the same results.

I realized that SW9 UP enables VGA, otherwise the monitors display "No signal". All others SW switched are down.

I ereased the flash and flashed the OS XL (16kb) at address 0x0000. Then I read it and verified it against the original file and they were the same.

Then I flashed BASIC at 0xC000.

Did I forget anything? Does anybody work with VGA monitor at all?

I really appreciate your efforts for the community.

Perhaps you could find some time and setup a small wiki for the project.

At the moment the only documentation available seems to be the readme.txt file and the forum with over 300 postings...

Best Regards

TheMontezuma

foft · March 2, 2014

Flash the OS XL at 0x4000.

There are 4 banks and since most people are flashing atariroms3 from my site I changed it to default to bank 1 without thinking!

Edited March 2, 2014 by foft

xxl · March 2, 2014

can user adjust speed of the 6502?

NML32 · March 2, 2014

@TheMontezuma If you are using your SD card to load files you need SW0 up also.

TheMontezuma · March 2, 2014

Flash the OS XL at 0x4000.

There are 4 banks and since most people are flashing atariroms3 from my site I changed it to default to bank 1 without thinking!

Thanks! That helped

can user adjust speed of the 6502?

Yes, via OSD (press KEY0)

foft · March 2, 2014

Thanks! That helped

Yes, via OSD (press KEY0)

Great:-)

As for speed adjustment - it doesn't really work properly at the moment. Breaks PMGs and Pokey! I had it working, but when I added multiple levels I broke it. I need to fix this and add a cache - so it runs at effectively 57MHz...

foft · March 2, 2014

can user adjust speed of the 6502?

xxl - I think you are a bit of an illegal ops guru. This core is pretty good at matching them, but I get some blitting issues on some games using them. Do you know what opcodes are commonly used for that?

Also any chance of helping me out getting the gtia sound running properly? I take 4 digital pokey channels -> non-linear mixing filter then just add on gtia 1-bit (at low vol) before sending to whatever the board dac is.

Edited March 2, 2014 by foft

xxl · March 2, 2014

for undocumented code look here: http://xxl.atari.pl/?p=824 or even better for you to atari800 sources http://sourceforge.net/projects/atari800/files/atari800/3.0.0/ / cpu.c, about gtia/pia PWM sound ask Fox - he make it works fine in ASAP http://asap.sourceforge.net/ (sources available)

I keep my fingers crossed for your project

TheMontezuma · March 2, 2014

Hello foft,

is it correct that you are working on a breakout PCB for Altera DE1?

I would be very interested in it

Greetings

TheMontezuma

foft · March 3, 2014

Something like this?

Just need to double check it then I can order a few. Note the DE1 is not 5V tolerant though and this board uses 5V freely. I built some other boards to make the DE1 5V tolerant so it will end up quite big. But this is V1;-) Eventually this will be all in one with the FPGA on board too.

foft · March 3, 2014

for undocumented code look here: http://xxl.atari.pl/?p=824 or even better for you to atari800 sources http://sourceforge.net/projects/atari800/files/atari800/3.0.0/ / cpu.c, about gtia/pia PWM sound ask Fox - he make it works fine in ASAP http://asap.sourceforge.net/ (sources available)

I keep my fingers crossed for your project

Thanks. I'll check out the ASAP code.

candle · March 3, 2014

could i help?

jhusak · March 3, 2014

hello foft, is there an a800 core for mist to download and test?

It would be good to have a deeper look into sources (for read), so everybody interested in involvement in this great project (I mean Candle, for example who wants to help and he can surely)

As xxl said he does, I keep fingers crossed for this project, too. There is quite a few fingers crossed already. I am ready to test some games/demos on mist platform.

foft · March 4, 2014

@jhusak: Mist rbf file uploaded: http://ssh.scrameta.net/www.scrameta.net/mist/readme.txt

Regarding source: Now I've ported it a few places I'm going to clean it up/refactor it all into one archive then release again. The DE1 one I last uploaded isn't _that_ different.

edit: Works pretty well but extended RAM is broken...

@Candle: Help always appreciated. Its in Eagle though - which I think you aren't a fan of:-)

Edited March 4, 2014 by foft

Potential new hardware

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