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1088XEL Atari ITX Motherboard DIY Builders Thread


Firedawg

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Something of a side note, but I just noticed in everybody's photos that they have nice blue plastic no-ears DE9 plugs on their Joy-2-PICs, and I'm wondering where they come from? @mytek's schematic for the Joy-2-PIC has a Digi-key part number for the connector, but as far as I can tell that's a normal metal plug with ears.

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10 minutes ago, Eyvind Bernhardsen said:

Something of a side note, but I just noticed in everybody's photos that they have nice blue plastic no-ears DE9 plugs on their Joy-2-PICs, and I'm wondering where they come from? @mytek's schematic for the Joy-2-PIC has a Digi-key part number for the connector, but as far as I can tell that's a normal metal plug with ears.

Those are modified versions with the metal casing removed. However with the casing removed the 2 halves of the plastic holding the terminals will naturally want to come apart, so they will need to be glued together (Super Glue).

 

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38 minutes ago, mytek said:

Those are modified versions with the metal casing removed. However with the casing removed the 2 halves of the plastic holding the terminals will naturally want to come apart, so they will need to be glued together (Super Glue).

 

Aha! No wonder I couldn't find a supplier. Thanks, I thought I'd lost my internet search mojo :)

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I added an extern swap-button for the CF3-interface.

 

My first, intern solution, looked like this:

1001098426_1Swapintern.thumb.jpg.71b322247027a3d0cad1529d5fceef9c.jpg

 

But it was a bit inconvenient, because I always have to reach behind the computer and the LED was hard to see... ;-)

 

On ebay, I found an illuminated switch like this:

 

1818827938_ih-bh.jpg.bf71270ad7ab4a431f47b87fa07ecb75.jpg

 

Unfortunately, the description was somewhat ambiguous; the ordered part did not contain a button, but a switch. I replaced the switch and rewired the part so that the pushbutton and the LED are led out on their own lines to a four-pin jack plug:

 

313509966_6Swap_unit_extern.thumb.jpg.60a6eb613d25224397e30c73f51c2aa3.jpg

1841005116_4Swap-Button.thumb.jpg.47da51ebd859b7730983aface32ca04a.jpg

 

I had to rework one of the holes in the housing a bit with a countersink (for M8 thread), so that I could screw the bushing tight:

 

1947024701_2Swap_exten_1.thumb.jpg.e69c759c822dcd9ef161c77789c0f944.jpg

 

The connecting cable is wired as follows:

connection.thumb.jpg.12fea4263309c280df65f0e9f34f8bf9.jpg

Ground is the outer contact, so that the contacts of the connector are "grounded" first when plugged in. Also, the aluminum housing is at the same potential! The connection to "+5V" is made last to avoid short circuits when plugging in when the computer is switched on.

 

Sleepy

 

 

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  • 3 months later...

Has anyone else had trouble with cabling not making good connections. I've replaced my cables twice now. Just in an effort to clean things up, but both sets have had issues. I've tried contact cleaner and deoxit, both help for awhile but didn't cure the issue. I finally brought home a set of contact file tweezers from work and scrubbed the pins on the mother board. This seems to have worked. Maybe it's the radioshack rosen flux I've been using?

 

Then a similar issue. Recently bought and installed a cf3. It didn't want to work even though it was lighting up the adapter and showed up in the loader. Ordered the recommended cf card, even though the one's I had, work in my XLD. Same thing. Plugged and unplugged things several times and checked pin 1 etc. Finally I unplugged the cable going to the cf adapter.. and swapped ends. All is well? Strange but happy solution. 

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I also had problems with the reliability of the CF card in the beginning. I know from another user that he had to re-solder the CF slot on the pcb itself, i.e. the additional part into which the CF card is inserted.


At first I had a CF card from AGFA, then the recommended types from Panasonic. I replaced the ribbon cable CF3<>card holder while troubleshooting; no real improvement.

 

BTW: The ribbon cables make a very flimsy impression; I would NOT pull on the cable to unplug it, but gently pull the connector.

 

Then swapped the CF slot; it got much better with that.


However, after a while, especially when transporting the computer, I have had dropouts accessing the CF card.
The last problem was my "VBXE construction". I had used a low-cost socket as the lowest IC socket (I fitted the 1088XEL-board with lc-sockets). I prefer them to precision sockets, because they are a bit more tolerant concerning the thickness of the IC legs. And in case of need you can change single spring contacts. This is not possible with a precision socket; the complete socket has to be removed.

 

Anyway, the tower of VBXE adapter board, VBXE and Antic didn't sit tight enough in the socket, so that there were contact problems, which became noticeable when accessing the CF card. If I pushed the whole thing down a bit, it got better.

 

So I exchanged the 1088XEL-pcb lc-socket for the Antic for a precision socket and put the VBXE in there. Now it sits tighter and since then I have peace. :-)

 

Also the AGFA card works perfectly.

 

Sleepy


Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

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  • 1 month later...

I had the following questions sent to me in a PM that I felt deserved a public answer in order to benefit everyone.

 

Quote

Would there be any advantage to using the newer Antic chip C021697 as apposed to the more common Antic chip C012296D in my 1088XEL?

The difference between Antics of the same type (NTSC or PAL) has to do with DRAM refresh. Since the 1088XEL uses SRAM for both it's main and extended memory, this is not a concern, nor an influence, so any Antic will work in this system. With that in mind, I would suggest when purchasing an Antic chip for your XEL to go with the older one that was used in the original 400/800 series since often times that one will be considerably cheaper to purchase.

 

Quote

And does the PIC16F1847 chip under U6 generate a  lot of heat?

No it doesn't, and should not be a concern in this regard. In fact it generates so little heat that I doubt that there would be any appreciable difference in the heat generated by the Pokey chip sitting directly above it. So this really is a non-issue.

 

------

 

And this is a good opportunity for me to say: I would prefer that people do not PM me with questions about stuff that really could be handled via the main forums. This way the information becomes part of the public knowledge base, accessible by anyone. Better to help many, instead of just one ;-)

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 1/6/2018 at 11:50 AM, DrVenkman said:

I had a few only a little while this morning, so rather than fire up the iron for soldering work I decided on the brutal part-surgery I'd been worried about.

 

Success! Thanks for the tips, Michael!

 

post-30400-0-85167900-1515261013_thumb.jpg

 

I haven't yet soldered them in. I'm going to tackle removing the U1MB 90 degree headers this evening or tomorrow, I think.

I got my Ultimate 1MB a few days ago and I was looking at the 10 pin header.  The direction on my board is different from the XEL board.  Will I have to make

a short cable to connect the two 10 pin headers?  Attached is my U1Mb board...

David 

CIMG0870.JPG

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3 hours ago, DavidMil said:

I got my Ultimate 1MB a few days ago and I was looking at the 10 pin header.  The direction on my board is different from the XEL board.  Will I have to make

a short cable to connect the two 10 pin headers?  Attached is my U1Mb board...

David 

CIMG0870.JPG

That's the JTAG header. Ignore that. The 5x2 header on the 1088XEL mates with the 5 way and 4 way rows of pins at the bottom right of.the U1MB as pictured.

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Good news!  I finished the buildout my 1088XEL board.  I many have set a record too.  Just three years and two months!  No one can ever call me a

speed demon!  Anyway, I got the yellow light when power was applied to the board and the green LED stayed on after I jumpered pins one and two

of J3.  So; is there a manual of test procedures and setup for the 1088XEL floating around somewhere?  And lastly; How do I turn the green light off?

I've added a couple of pics.

 

DavidMil  

CIMG0871.JPG

CIMG0873.JPG

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I'm not sure about the LEDs - but when I initially assembled my board, really all I did was verify that the board had a clean 5VDC supply, and that the Atari specific chips had power and ground.  Then I just plugged everything in and hoped for a power-up.

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35 minutes ago, DavidMil said:

And lastly; How do I turn the green light off?

Pins 1 and 2 on that header is meant to have a momentary push button switch connected to it. So for every button press you will see the power toggle ON-OFF-ON-ect.

 

37 minutes ago, DavidMil said:

So; is there a manual of test procedures and setup for the 1088XEL floating around somewhere?

I never wrote anything, but there was a 3rd party document called the "missing manual" and @flashjazzcat did an excellent 3 part video showing a complete build from the ground up, followed by programming the various chips and some final testing. You can find links to all of that on the bottom of my 1088XEL page: https://ataribits.weebly.com/1088xel.html

 

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6 hours ago, mytek said:

Pins 1 and 2 on that header is meant to have a momentary push button switch connected to it. So for every button press you will see the power toggle ON-OFF-ON-ect.

 

I never wrote anything, but there was a 3rd party document called the "missing manual" and @flashjazzcat did an excellent 3 part video showing a complete build from the ground up, followed by programming the various chips and some final testing. You can find links to all of that on the bottom of my 1088XEL page: https://ataribits.weebly.com/1088xel.html

 

His part 4 was where it got really interesting.  I would have sworn that I tried shorting pins 1 & 2 a second time without anything happening.  But I tried it again

and it shut off.  I also noticed two small LEDs on the BOB board were flashing.  I'm now waiting for my joy2pic stick to arrive so I can flash the two PIC's and I

should be ready to go.  I've already downloaded and printed the, "missing manual".  There is so much info in those 35 pages!  This project has been fun, but now

it's time to start thinking!  Thanks again to everyone that has had a hand in this very sophisticated and very well thought out project!

 

DavidMil

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6 hours ago, flashjazzcat said:

Don't forget the not missing manual: https://atari8.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/Ultimate-1MB-Incognito-1088XEL-1088XLD-SIDE-SIDE2-and-SIDE3-Firmware-Manual.pdf

 

There is a chapter covering 1088XEL specifics.

I got it downloaded, now I'll have to print it out.  I am old school, and  I like a paper manual in my hands.  I seem to absorb and retain it better than reading from 

a computer screen.  Thanks for the info!

 

DavidMil

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 9/25/2021 at 1:08 AM, DavidMil said:

I got it downloaded, now I'll have to print it out.  I am old school, and  I like a paper manual in my hands.  I seem to absorb and retain it better than reading from 

a computer screen.  Thanks for the info!

 

DavidMil

 

I may have done something, I don't know.  But now when I boot up my 1088XEL it goes directly to Sparta DOS and a D1: prompt.  I can access my 1050 and

call up Basic and load basic files from the 1050 but, pressing F10 does nothing.  Pressing F12 brings up the picture bellow.

 

David

CIMG0882.JPG

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6 hours ago, DavidMil said:

I may have done something, I don't know.  But now when I boot up my 1088XEL it goes directly to Sparta DOS and a D1: prompt.  I can access my 1050 and

call up Basic and load basic files from the 1050 but, pressing F10 does nothing.  Pressing F12 brings up the picture bellow.

 

David

CIMG0882.JPG

That’s the original stock U1MB firmware. You should download and flash Jon’s 1088XEL-specific firmware as soon as possible. 

 

https://atari8.co.uk/firmware/1088XEL/

 

 

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8 hours ago, DavidMil said:

I may have done something, I don't know.  But now when I boot up my 1088XEL it goes directly to Sparta DOS and a D1: prompt.  I can access my 1050 and

call up Basic and load basic files from the 1050 but, pressing F10 does nothing.  Pressing F12 brings up the picture bellow.

It's been so long ago that last used a U1MB with the original Candle BIOS that I'm not sure what to tell you other than doing as DrVenkman suggested, and re-flash with FJC's 1088XEL U1MB BIOS. What I can tell you for sure is that the only way you'll have a working CF Drive is with the new BIOS installed. Once you've done that, the last 4 function keys will do the following...

 

image.png.47231d36bd5fdad29b7e65638ee83c11.png

 

https://ataribits.weebly.com/tk-ii-manual.html

 

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you may have to update the .jed file first for the ultimate... then do the FJC update...

I'd update everything that's update-able to honest... even if someone says you don't need to... because inevitably things get moved around and change. A thread of a bunch of troubleshooting follows, it ends with a simple fix and an update.

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If the original firmware already has the 'SIDE hardware' setting, then no JED update is required prior to the firmware update.

 

F12 issues Help+Reset, so it's entirely proper that this should bring up the setup menu with both old and new firmware. F10 simply issues the Help key, which on its own will do nothing unless you also press the Reset key.

 

The last observation is that a new U1MB would ideally take you straight to the setup menu on first power-up, but it appears that part of the vendor testing involves saving the configuration after inserting the battery, and once the configuration is saved, the system will boot straight to the OS/SDX prompt.

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