Pokeymax v2

[_The Doctor__]

On 2/21/2021 at 5:47 AM, tf_hh said:

 

I´ve had this issue two times now - and removing the caps won´t help. I remove them by default to enable Pokey-divisor 0...2 and prevent the user from having issues with longer SIO chains and Speedy 1050 drives or other.

 

So I was digging a little bit deeper and found the real culprit. The voltage for a "low" (0) is too high. With some SIO devices and PokeyMAX there´s 0.85 or higher the lowest voltage for "low". The old genuine POKEY doesn´t have a problem with it, but PokeyMAX doesn´t recognize it as a "low".

 

Because this problem only was on the 600XL found so far, I compared the circuits and... all XL/XE computers have 100R limiting resistors in line with Data_in and Data_Out, but the 600XL not. So I install them and... PokeyMAX works fine in three different 600XL, with or without the capacitors mentioned above.

 

Here´s a good way to install them:

 

 

Use a dremel or similar tool and cut the traces between SIO jack pin 3 and 5 and their capacitors.

 

 

Install to resistors (1206 case) 100R between SIO jack and pad for the caps. Done.

 

I hope this is in the install notes and where ever pokeymax sells or go's. Thanks tf-hh !!     And in fact where ever the 600XL is listed for that matter... this is a critical fix when considering the 600XL as anyone's machine for most use!

Edited September 25, 2021 by _The Doctor__

[adam242]

12 hours ago, foft said:

See the pokeymax files section:
http://www.64kib.com

I’ll write something up regarding jtag and post it there. Note that the files for jtag flashing are not on my site directly only the ones for in system flashing (10M04+)

 

Thank you. Just one more question - my PokeyMax has a 10M02.. can I use the M04 stereo covox core file?

[foft]

No, the fpga absolutely has to match.

[foft]

21 hours ago, foft said:

See the pokeymax files section:
http://www.64kib.com

I’ll write something up regarding jtag and post it there. Note that the files for jtag flashing are not on my site directly only the ones for in system flashing (10M04+)

Here is an eagle pcb project and schematic for a jtag adaptor.

http://www.64kib.com/pokeymax_files/pokeymax_jtag_adaptor/

Note that I've never made it but I did check continuity with my stripboard one.

It just needs two parts to build:

i) 10 pin socket - solder to top

ii) 6 pin socket or pogo pins - solder to bottom

The board then sits above the top left of pokeymax

 

 

 

[foft]

20 hours ago, _The Doctor__ said:

I hope this is in the install notes and where ever pokeymax sells or go's. Thanks tf-hh !!     And in fact where ever the 600XL is listed for that matter... this is a critical fix when considering the 600XL as anyone's machine for most use!

Popped tf_hh's comments on the site too:

http://www.64kib.com/pokeymax_files/pokeymax_600xl_improvement.pdf

Not something I've had to do to my 600xl.

[adam242]

8 hours ago, foft said:

No, the fpga absolutely has to match.

So an M02 can't be updated?? I don't see any 02 files.

[foft]

53 minutes ago, adam242 said:

So an M02 can't be updated?? I don't see any 02 files.

Sorry yes this is indeed the case. I was getting ahead of myself with that JTAG schematic. 

 

Retronics prefers that we keep JTAG updating via .pof to a select few hardware upgrade experienced members. e.g. @Duddie, @tf_hh and @flashjazzcat. 

 

So at present upgrading is possible via two methods:

i) pokeycfg.xex and core.bin. This does not require a JTAG adaptor, just an sio device with enough space. It does require a recent enough core to begin with for the in-system flash support. It is also only possible on larger devices with space of the in-system flash. i.e. 10M04,10M08 and 10M16. The files for this method are on my site.

ii) Send the board to one of the approved repairers for an upgrade, after checking with them for their charges etc.

[adam242]

So, just to be clear:  Is it just something I can not do at home, or is it impossible to update a 111M02SC?

[foft]

10 minutes ago, adam242 said:

So, just to be clear:  Is it just something I can not do at home, or is it impossible to update a 111M02SC?

The former

[Kyle22]

I have a PoKey FIFO buffer adapter that goes under the chip. Is this needed w/ PoKeyMax? Is there a built in buffer?

 

[adam242]

7 hours ago, foft said:

Retronics prefers that we keep JTAG updating via .pof to a select few hardware upgrade experienced members. e.g. @Duddie, @tf_hh and @flashjazzcat. 

 

ii) Send the board to one of the approved repairers for an upgrade, after checking with them for their charges etc.

Is there anyone approved in the US that would be willing and able to perform this operation for me? @Stephen perhaps?

Edited September 27, 2021 by adam242

[foft]

6 hours ago, Kyle22 said:

I have a PoKey FIFO buffer adapter that goes under the chip. Is this needed w/ PoKeyMax? Is there a built in buffer?

 

There isn’t a built in fifo. Would it be useful? What does it help with?

[flashjazzcat]

Are we or might we eventually be in a place where digital audio from PokeyMAX could be emitted on spare DVI pins (as per DVI ports on graphics cards which are capable of carrying audio) on the Sophia 2 (and thereby be compatible with passive DVI/HDMI adapter cables)?

Edited September 27, 2021 by flashjazzcat

[foft]

1 hour ago, flashjazzcat said:

Are we or might we eventually be in a place where digital audio from PokeyMAX could be emitted on spare DVI pins (as per DVI ports on graphics cards which are capable of carrying audio) on the Sophia 2 (and thereby be compatible with passive DVI/HDMI adapter cables)?

I think they basically emit HDMI over DVI pins, though happy to be corrected if I'm wrong! 

So to do that we'd need Sophia to listen to the SPDIF then re-encode it as data islands in the DVI stream.

[flashjazzcat]

1 minute ago, foft said:

I think they basically emit HDMI over DVI pins, though happy to be corrected if I'm wrong! 

So to do that we'd need Sophia to listen to the SPDIF then re-encode it as data islands in the DVI stream.

This would be quite something if it can be done. I have one or two clients interested in Sophia 2 who are less keen on having a 3.5mm audio jack or tapping audio off the legacy video jack using a custom cable.

[Kyle22]

On 9/26/2021 at 7:54 PM, Kyle22 said:

I have a PoKey FIFO buffer adapter that goes under the chip. Is this needed w/ PoKeyMax? Is there a built in buffer?

 

It helps with Pokey transfer speed, and reduces dropped characters / bytes.

(which isn't that big of a problem anyway), but it's nice to have just in case.

Large buffers help prevent overruns. They are good.

 

[Kyle22]

12 hours ago, flashjazzcat said:

This would be quite something if it can be done. I have one or two clients interested in Sophia 2 who are less keen on having a 3.5mm audio jack or tapping audio off the legacy video jack using a custom cable.

Jon: If you do DVI there is no license fee to the [EVIL CABAL]. HDMI carries a price w/ it.

Same electrically. Simple adapters. DVI -> HDMI.

This is about DIGITAL DVI, of course.

 

[patjomki]

On 1/30/2021 at 1:20 PM, foft said:

Yes. Run the tool and put in D4: the core.bin file for the XXXM08QA. I suggest using Respeqt over SIO2PC.

 

I tried to update my pokeymax the way you described here but whatever I try I cannot assign core.bin to D4 in Respeqt (r5.3 on my mac). I always get the error message "unknown file extension". I can successfully boot pokeycfg_1_3.xex as an ATARI-bootable file (CMD-B) but cannot load core.bin.

 

What do I have to do to assign core.bin to D4 in Respeqt?

[foft]

core.bin needs to be on a disk, it is not a disk itself.

 

respeqt can mount a folder as a disk. So put core.bin in a new folder then point respeqt at that folder.

[foft]

Also it is best to load pokeycfg the same way, since it will need dos. ie boot for example spartados, then load pokeycfg from there.

[patjomki]

10 hours ago, foft said:

core.bin needs to be on a disk, it is not a disk itself.

 

respeqt can mount a folder as a disk. So put core.bin in a new folder then point respeqt at that folder.

 

Thank you. That worked. I put pokeycfg on a bootable SpartaDOS disk, assigned this disk to D1, put core.bin on an empty nonbootable SpartaDOS disk (720k), assigned it to D4 et voilà after flashing that way PokeyMax is updated and I can hear "silent" sio sounds again. ?

 

One thing was a little bit irritating. After the update process all channels were silent due to the new feature that each pokey channel can be silenced seperately and therefore all channels were silenced on default but that took just a few seconds to change with pokeycfg so not a real showstopper.

 

One suggestion. Perhaps you can provide future pokeycfg and core.bin versions on spartaDOS.atr disks for convenience reasons?

[foft]

Ah yes that is a bit irritating! Pleased you figured it out. When flashing with core.bin it does not overwrite the config, which has this (unfortunate) side effect when adding new settings.

 

Yes good idea to provide as an atr too.

[pirx]

After a very long time I was able to try PokeyMax (v2 I guess, bought in Oct 2020), quad pokey + sid + covox in my Atari 800 with incognito.

Right now I can say that stereo works perfectly. But I have a problem - FujiNet does not work - it tries to communicate something, but fails. FJN works OK with a different Atari.

 

I do not have a different SIO device at the moment, but will get some to test further.

Possibly I have an old firmware in PokeyMax (?)

 

@foft - What should I do to further diagnose / fix the issue? Thank you :] 

[foft]

2 hours ago, pirx said:

 

 

@foft - What should I do to further diagnose / fix the issue? Thank you :] 

Could you check the firmware version you have please? i.e. run pokeycfg.xex and let me know the version string.

I'll check what changed vs the version you have. Another possibility is the low voltage levels. It needs to be <0.8v to reliably register as low and >2v to reliably register as high. Some SIO devices use diodes for the low, so they are very touch and go in terms of being LVTTL compatible. http://www.interfacebus.com/voltage_threshold.html

+ of course the old SIO capacitors mod.

Edited January 4, 2022 by foft

[pirx]

Thank you @foft!

It looks like I've got 116M08QS

I'll look up caps mod. Can I check the voltage levels with a simple multimeter?

 

THX!