1088XEL Atari ITX Motherboard DIY Builders Thread

[+KayBee]

Hi 1088ers,

 

I am gearing up to start building my 1088, I have the initial 1088XEL-GBB, AA board. Purchased November of 2017. Have there been revisions?

 

Thank you.

 

KB

 

 

 

Edited April 12, 2020 by KayBee
Edited for better detail in my question.

[bfollowell]

Not sure, but if you bought your board from The Brewing Academy, and recently, then you have the most recent version of the board.

 

[+mytek]

2 hours ago, KayBee said:

I am gearing up to start building my 1088, I have the initial 1088XEL-GBB, AA board. Have there been revisions?

Never heard of a 1088XEL board with that designation. V1.1 was the official release version.

 

 

[+KayBee]

Thank you for the picture mytek, that's mine. I missed the version number on the PCB, so I stated the part number on the B.A. invoice from Nov/2017.

 

KB

[+mytek]

2 hours ago, KayBee said:

Thank you for the picture mytek, that's mine. I missed the version number on the PCB, so I stated the part number on the B.A. invoice from Nov/2017.

That's cool . Glad we got that cleared up. Totally makes sense that the Brewing Academy would assign it's own part number for internal use.

 

The release model number would be 1088XEL V1.1, and unless someone raided my prototype board stash, nothing other than that should be sold as far as I know. However for historical reference there were ten V1.0 boards made and distributed for beta testing. They required considerable mods to get running properly, but that's the nature of development.

 

[rj1307]

I launched the Wavebird interface for 1088XEL.  

For people who have never met this controller, I present a photo:

 

 

 

The interface allows you to control the basic functions (right / left / up / down / fire) and additional functions (the rear buttons emulate the simultaneous pressing up / right and up / left, this is useful for example when jumping, there is also autofire). The interface also allows you to control some keyboard keys. For now, it supports Pause (space), Start (F5), Select (F6), Option (F7).

 

 

 

 

 

The interface is loop-through, allowing the simultaneous connection of a simple joystick.
In the attachment you will find documentation and additional photos.

 

Do not ask for additional modules and cables visible in the pictures, I will write about it soon  

 

 

 

 

joy.zip

[+mytek]

1 hour ago, rj1307 said:

The interface also allows you to control some keyboard keys. For now, it supports Pause (space), Start (F5), Select (F6), Option (F7).

Nice!

 

Thanks for mentioning that the space bar = pause in many games. I forgot all about that, and will need to add that to my 'iTari' project design spec in addition to the console buttons .

 

[ivop]

12 minutes ago, mytek said:

Nice!

 

Thanks for mentioning that the space bar = pause in many games. I forgot all about that, and will need to add that to my 'iTari' project design spec in addition to the console buttons .

 

Before you know it, you are adding a whole lot of other keys to play Flight Simulator and Rescue on Fractulus

[+mytek]

Just now, ivop said:

Before you know it, you are adding a whole lot of other keys to play Flight Simulator and Rescue on Fractulus

That's right

 

No I'll refrain from that. But the pause key is used in a lot of games, so would be nice to have when a keyboard wasn't desired.

 

[+MacRorie]

18 hours ago, mytek said:

Never heard of a 1088XEL board with that designation. V1.1 was the official release version.

 

 

Yeah, it was just an easy way to differentiate between the different colors.  I have an inventory list of over 1,000 items now, so I need a quick shorthand to type them into a receipt.

[rockdoc2010]

On 12/26/2017 at 4:03 PM, mytek said:

On those stacked video connectors, observe that two of the anchor points that will be soldered have a plastic post on one half (don't know why they made them this way ). So be sure to only apply heat to the metal side when soldering, otherwise you'll have a stinky mess.

Too Late!!

 

I thought it was foam from the anti-static and it was a mess.

 

Douglas

[rockdoc2010]

On 12/30/2017 at 11:16 AM, mytek said:

Good question DrVenkman.

 

Whether its a RevC or a RevD the UAV needs to be configured for use in an XE in order to work properly with the XEL.

 

Here's are all of the jumper settings for a RevD UAV

 

 

 

Here are the specific XE jumper settings for a RevC UAV

 

 

- Michael

Would this be the same for an 1088XLD?

 

Douglas

[rockdoc2010]

On 1/10/2018 at 7:33 PM, DrVenkman said:

Exciting times ... I used the JOY2PIC-Stik I got from Firedawg to program the three PIC chips for my build tonight. Thanks to both him and Michael for the incredibly easy-to-use hardware tool and the collection of .ATRs to do the job.

 

Then once I did that, I decided to go ahead and install them and the rest of the ICs. Of course I'm still waiting on the UAV, the aforementioned video jack that Michael and Mac were discussing earlier, and some more header pins (plus the XEL-CF interface I'll be building), but it's incredibly gratifying to see it all start to really come together.

 

 

 

This is a lovely photo; stereo POKEY in da' house!

 

 

 

DrV  those resistors look like a machine bent the leads.. Did you use one of those pin bender guide thingys?

 

Douglas

[rj1307]

I present a cart-adapter that allows you to move the cartridge socket to the back of the housing (without ECI) and adds a new socket for the 1088XEL expansion modules. I will introduce them soon.

 

The adapter splits signals from the 1088XEL cartridge socket into two paths:
- the first goes to the socket on the back of the housing, has 33ohm resistors on all signals and is connected 1: 1
- the second goes to the expansion socket, has 33ohm resistors on DATA lines and buffers on the control lines A0-A7, R / W, CCTL, PHI2. The power supply for this socket is separated from the cartridge socket and is taken from the additional J22-J24 connectors on the 1088XEL board.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I got the cartridge socket from Commodore CDTV, it's good quality and it's gold plated. I printed the mount on a 3D printer.

 

Perhaps my solutions will be someone's inspiration or help in their own projects  

 

 

 

 

cart_adapter.zip

[+DrVenkman]

5 hours ago, rockdoc2010 said:

DrV  those resistors look like a machine bent the leads.. Did you use one of those pin bender guide thingys?

 

Nope. Every every component that needs bent leads was hand-bent by me, one at a time.

[rockdoc2010]

On 1/10/2018 at 7:33 PM, DrVenkman said:

Exciting times ... I used the JOY2PIC-Stik I got from Firedawg to program the three PIC chips for my build tonight. Thanks to both him and Michael for the incredibly easy-to-use hardware tool and the collection of .ATRs to do the job.

 

Then once I did that, I decided to go ahead and install them and the rest of the ICs. Of course I'm still waiting on the UAV, the aforementioned video jack that Michael and Mac were discussing earlier, and some more header pins (plus the XEL-CF interface I'll be building), but it's incredibly gratifying to see it all start to really come together.

 

 

 

This is a lovely photo; stereo POKEY in da' house!

 

 

 

DrV  those resistors look like a machine bent the leads.. Did you use one of those pin bender guide thingys?

 

Douglas

[rockdoc2010]

On 1/14/2019 at 1:01 PM, Mr Robot said:

Almost finished, just the mouse select board mounting, the front panel cutouts, and waterslide decals to go.

 

 

how did you get a Serda Midi in the XEL?

[+MacRorie]

10 hours ago, rockdoc2010 said:

Would this be the same for an 1088XLD?

 

Douglas

Yes.

[+mytek]

6 hours ago, rj1307 said:

I present a cart-adapter that allows you to move the cartridge socket to the back of the housing (without ECI) and adds a new socket for the 1088XEL expansion modules. I will introduce them soon.

 

 

 

I got the cartridge socket from Commodore CDTV, it's good quality and it's gold plated. I printed the mount on a 3D printer.

 

Perhaps my solutions will be someone's inspiration or help in their own projects

cart_adapter.zip 15.3 MB · 5 downloads

That's a very creative and useful idea you came up with rj1307 . I would love to add this to the 1088XEL-Accessories page on my website, but only if it's ok with you. I would of course give you full credit.

 

You said the socket was from a CDTV. Any idea where someone could find that without having to locate and disassemble an actual CDTV?

 

 

4 hours ago, rockdoc2010 said:

how did you get a Serda Midi in the XEL?

That's a MIDI XEL S2 carrier board, and the gerbers plus schematic can be found here: https://ataribits.weebly.com/midi.html

The bare board is also available for purchase directly from OSH Park ($8.65 gets you 3 boards).

 

[rj1307]

2 hours ago, mytek said:

I would love to add this to the 1088XEL-Accessories page on my website, but only if it's ok with you.

Everything I present here can be placed wherever you want, maybe someone will like it  

 

2 hours ago, mytek said:

Any idea where someone could find that without having to locate and disassemble an actual CDTV?

To be honest I wasn't looking anywhere, I made the project for the elements I have. But you can use a simple socket https://www.ebay.pl/itm/5pc-Industrial-Card-Edge-Slot-Socket-Connector-15x2P-30P-2-54mm-0-1-3A-240-30/140888497123?hash=item20cd9bdbe3:g:yFwAAOSw24hclGXj and connect with wires to the adapter, or buy angled https://www.ebay.pl/itm/10x-Industrial-Card-Edge-Slot-Socket-Connector-31x2P-62P-2-54mm-0-1-Right-Angle/130970285291 and cut to width.

 

Tomorrow I will try to present the first of the modules using this adapter.

Edited April 17, 2020 by rj1307

[rj1307]

It's time to present the first module using the adapter.
This is a music card called YAMARI using the Yamaha YMF262 FM synthesis (AdLib / OPL3).
The author of the original design is tOri, here is his website: http://raven1.magix.net/yamari/yamari.html  and here is his post on the Polish forum: http://www.atari.org.pl/forum/viewtopic.php?id=13062

The card would be useless without software, the player wrote this card in mono, here is his page: http://mono.i-demo.pl  and here is his post on the Polish forum: http://www.atari.org.pl/forum/viewtopic.php?id=16504

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To prove that the card is working, I present the video just recorded:   

 

 

 

And here the same sound ripped from 1088XEL:

 

Full documentation, player and sample .rad files attached.  

 

Yamari.zip

[+mytek]

Very impressive!

 

So how many modules are you planning to create, or have already created?

 

I can see now that I'll probably want to make a webpage dedicated to your XEL modular expansion system. Truly great stuff ? .

 

[rj1307]

I have three modules ready and running, the fourth in plans.

Returning to the subject of the adapter, if someone does not want to move the cartridge socket to the back of the housing, then it can be redesigned to keep the cartridge sockets in their original position, they would be just a little higher.

[ebiguy]

I like very much the concept of hardware modules where each one plugs on top of the others.

This concept of modules reminds me a lot what we would love to see in the 800.

Now that everyone can buy an Incognito and have 3 free slots, i would love to see your modules, whatever they do, in the form of 800 boards.

Any chance that one day you redesign your modules into some 800 boards (if the signals you expect are available on the 800 connectors)?

 

[rj1307]

Redesigning from the electrical side is not a problem, but it must fit mechanically, and for this you need testing on the target equipment, I do not have Atari 800.