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1088XEL Atari ITX Motherboard DIY Builders Thread


Firedawg

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You say nothing’s happening but there’s not much that *can* happen without the chips. :) If you mean the yellow and green LED’s aren’t lighting up, then it could be as simple as the LED being soldered in backward (I did that the first time, d’oh!). Also, the power circuit of the XEL requires you to momentarily short two pins to turn the board on. These are intended to be wired to a momentary contact switch such as the front panel button on a mini-ATX case but you can touch the two pins with a metal screwdriver or something to trigger it.

 

But if the LEDs are installed correctly, it could be anything, really. Have you verified tip polarity and the actual voltage coming from the the power supply? If so, then you need to break out the multimeter and start checking the power at some points around the bare board and see what’s going on. Google up the Atari IC pinouts or check Michael’s schematics to find the Vcc (+5V) and Vss (ground) points for each and ensure that you’re seeing very close to 5 volts at each Vcc point. If not, start tracing the schematics back to find out where the issue is. If those look good, start checking the Vcc and Vss points on each logic chip, etc.

I know that my supply's polarity is Positive.

 

I'm going to try and poke around the board for voltage this morning and see what I can get.

 

Thanks!

 

 

EDIT: I dug out my volt meter and guess what....

 

1. I soldered the LEDs backwards :D (Always confused on what the long pin means)

 

2. the Variable PSU I got from Best Buy is real finicky when it comes to the 5v channel. There's nothing indicating that all the way right means "0v" as it just sat 5v. Everything is getting 5v okay so I'm going to insert my chips and get her booting :)

Edited by esplonky
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esplonky that is a very risky power supply to be using. One wrong flip of that power selector switch, and there goes your very expensive U1MB, and likely other IC chips as well.

 

It would be much safer to go with a fixed output voltage PSU such as one of these: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=5vdc+1.5x3.5+mm&_sacat=0

 

Be sure to check with the vendor on the polarity of the connection before ordering (+ in the center).

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Thx. :-) If you already installed some, it would be helpfull. Maybe you find things to improve or add. :-)

 

Sleepy

 

 

Did this ever get finished? Now I have my VBXE (Thanks MacRorie, it arrived today!), I need install instructions :-)

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I know I probably shouldn't, but I'm really wanting to start one of these 1088XEL projects later this year or next. I had a question about all of the add-ons for it, such as the Sophia DVI, or 1MB Ultimate Upgrades. Are these special versions made just for the 1088XEL project, or are these just the standard upgrades you'd purchase and put into any normal 8-bit?

 

The reason I ask is that I'd like to start purchasing the components in batches so that I don't have to shell out so much all at once. Also, many of these upgrades are more expensive if ordered from the 1088XEL sellers as opposed to ordering them straight from the original manufacturers.

 

Thanks.

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The actual U1MB fits to the XEL; older version had angle plugs - they have to be modified.

Sophia-boards also fits to the XEL without modifying.

 

The UAV I got needs a little modify; I removed the connector block for the wires and replaced it with a fitting terminal to plug it on the XEL-mainboard. Maybe there is an adapted version available.

 

To be shure, If you order a part, tell that you´re going to assemble an 1088XEL. ;-)

 

You can start without sophia rgb / dvi (only necessary for RGB respectively DVI out) / VBXE (alternatively for sophia rgb) /CF-board. But you need U1MB and UAV to run.

 

Sleepy

Edited by Sleepy
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I know I probably shouldn't, but I'm really wanting to start one of these 1088XEL projects later this year or next. I had a question about all of the add-ons for it, such as the Sophia DVI, or 1MB Ultimate Upgrades. Are these special versions made just for the 1088XEL project, or are these just the standard upgrades you'd purchase and put into any normal 8-bit?

 

The reason I ask is that I'd like to start purchasing the components in batches so that I don't have to shell out so much all at once. Also, many of these upgrades are more expensive if ordered from the 1088XEL sellers as opposed to ordering them straight from the original manufacturers.

 

Thanks.

 

Both SOPHIA (optional) and Ultimate 1MB (required) are normal parts, straight from their suppliers.

 

I basically did the same with my current 1088XLD build - I bought the Ultimate 1MB ahead of time, then I bought the synth module (XLD only, though it can be fitted to the XEL), then I bought most of the discrete parts from Digi-Key, Mouser, etc. Totally do-able, you just have to have your master Bill of Materials and be organized and careful about what you've ordered, quantities, etc.

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The actual U1MB fits to the XEL; older version had angle plugs - they have to be modified.

Sophia-boards also fits to the XEL without modifying.

 

The UAV I got needs a little modify; I removed the connector block for the wires and replaced it with a fitting terminal to plug it on the XEL-mainboard. Maybe there is an adapted version available.

 

To be shure, If you order a part, tell that you´re going to assemble an 1088XEL. ;-)

 

You can start without sophia rgb / dvi (only necessary for RGB respectively DVI out) / VBXE (alternatively for sophia rgb) /CF-board. But you need U1MB and UAV to run.

 

Sleepy

 

 

 

I specifically sell UAVs for the 1088XEL/XLD: LINK

 

I also sell everything you need for an XEL. You can buy it piece by piece or all at once. CLICKY

 

To be clear: You need **some** way for video to get out of the XEL. The UAV is just the least expensive way to do it. In other words, you don't HAVE to have a UAV, but you have to have at least one of the following: UAV, VBXE, Sophia rev B, Sophia rev C. You could also have all four at the same time and out put video to five different screens simultaneously, but that may be going a bit far . . . . (maybe!).

 

-M

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I know I probably shouldn't, but I'm really wanting to start one of these 1088XEL projects later this year or next. I had a question about all of the add-ons for it, such as the Sophia DVI, or 1MB Ultimate Upgrades. Are these special versions made just for the 1088XEL project, or are these just the standard upgrades you'd purchase and put into any normal 8-bit?

 

The reason I ask is that I'd like to start purchasing the components in batches so that I don't have to shell out so much all at once. Also, many of these upgrades are more expensive if ordered from the 1088XEL sellers as opposed to ordering them straight from the original manufacturers.

 

Thanks.

 

 

If I may be so bold: I can save you some money on shipping at least: I have all of the parts necessary to build a XEL. You can buy them all at once or piece by piece. Also, as a head's up, some of the pieces are not being sold by their vendors in reasonable quantities (the CVBS connector, for example, is no longer on eBay). But I have them all!

 

https://www.thebrewingacademy.com/

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That would be great, thanks Sleepy. I'm sure with your help and MacRories hand holding I'll get there.

 

 

I am about to do an install of one of these in a customer's XEL, I will take it step by step and provide video and pictures. I would look for it tomorrow or the next day.

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One thing that occurred to me is to ask about the SIO2PC option. I see it listed but really don't know which version it is. Is this the generic/homemade SIO2PC or an AtariMax SIO2PC? Having already used an AtariMax version for a while, and being a big fan of Steven's Ape & ProSystem software, I'd much prefer the AtariMax version to the generic/homemade version.

 

Does anyone know?

Thanks.

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One thing that occurred to me is to ask about the SIO2PC option. I see it listed but really don't know which version it is. Is this the generic/homemade SIO2PC or an AtariMax SIO2PC? Having already used an AtariMax version for a while, and being a big fan of Steven's Ape & ProSystem software, I'd much prefer the AtariMax version to the generic/homemade version.

 

Does anyone know?

Thanks.

 

 

It's a SparkFun FTDI board. Works great, all the way to POKEY divisor 0 on RespeQt. Never tried it with APE software though.

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One thing that occurred to me is to ask about the SIO2PC option. I see it listed but really don't know which version it is. Is this the generic/homemade SIO2PC or an AtariMax SIO2PC? Having already used an AtariMax version for a while, and being a big fan of Steven's Ape & ProSystem software, I'd much prefer the AtariMax version to the generic/homemade version.

 

Does anyone know?

 

Thanks.

 

The BOB-12391 (SparkFun) is what is used. It is very robust and works very well with RespeQt. It does not play will with APE/ProSystem. I mean, I would say it works about 20-30% of the time on APE.

 

On RespeQt (especially the Win version), it is amazing. Just amazing. The Mac OS X build of RespeQt is not as robust IMHO. Now, I have not tried it in a couple of years, so that could have changed, but I use RQ under Parallels on the Mac Mini on my test bench/daily driver.

 

The only consideration I would say is that once you get a USB cable that works with it 100%, DO NOT CHANGE cables. I had to go through quite a few to discover one that worked flawlessly and it is now dedicated to the 1088 area.

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Thanks MacRorie. I may take you up on that when I get a little closer. I'll check with you then and then compare your prices to mine and we'll go from there.

 

Thanks again for the offer.

No worries. Just as an FYI, when I sell kits, everything is labeled (value and PCB identifier) and grouped according to sub-category (from the BOM) in bags, so you never have to worry where a part goes or what its value is. The big difference, of course, is that you do not have to go to twelve different vendors and pay them each a shipping fee.

 

Now, some people like to hunt the parts down, that is part of the fun. I get that. However, part of the service I give is that you have every single part in one place with an eye towards building a 1088 and the guess work has been minimized as much as possible.

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Well, I guess that would actually give me the best of both worlds. With the BOB-12391 SIO2PC, I'd get to use RespeQt, and I'd still have my AtariMax version that I could use with my 1088XEL and APE/ProSystem. It would just be external rather than built into the finished project in one case like everything else.

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I'm curious about the key placement on a 1088XEL. It uses a standard PS2 style keyboard, but many of the keys aren't in the same location. For example, on the Atari keyboard, the double-quotes are above the 2, the single-quotes are above the 7, the ampersand is above the 6, the at symbol is above the 8, etc. So, how do these work with a PS2-style keyboard on the 1088XEL? Do they work as they're shown on the PS2 keyboard, or as they would on a real Atari? Also, what keys on the PS2 keyboard correspond to Inverse, Reset, Option, Select, Start, and Help?

Thanks.

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I'm curious about the key placement on a 1088XEL. It uses a standard PS2 style keyboard, but many of the keys aren't in the same location. For example, on the Atari keyboard, the double-quotes are above the 2, the single-quotes are above the 7, the ampersand is above the 6, the at symbol is above the 8, etc. So, how do these work with a PS2-style keyboard on the 1088XEL? Do they work as they're shown on the PS2 keyboard, or as they would on a real Atari? Also, what keys on the PS2 keyboard correspond to Inverse, Reset, Option, Select, Start, and Help?

 

Thanks.

 

 

The keyboard layout follows the map as designed by Mytek. I ship a copy out with every 1088 I sell, but it is also on his website. I have attached a copy here for perusal.

 

As for the "" and the &, I am not in front of a 1088 (or any TK-II A8 machine) right now, and it has been awhile since I verified that function.

post-16779-0-62757200-1555542641_thumb.png

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