1088 XEL without Ultimate?

[flashjazzcat]

3 hours ago, mytek said:

If you don't want to use SDX, but still wanted to utilize the XEL-CF3 add-on board, I suppose you could use a patched version of the MyIDE OS and point it to the correct IDE register locations.

Oof... You went there. Ironically, after I railed against the suggestion on Polish forums that XEL-CF was basically a MYIDE.

Edited February 12, 2020 by flashjazzcat

[candle]

u1mb costs 249pln in basic configuration (without Jon's firmware)

1088xel board plus basic components (including UAV - you can't do without video output, can you?) is 995pln and you still need Atari ASICs (prices from brewingacademy - 15$ board, 210$ for board level components and 30$ for UAV)

if economy is a reason for going for this - i strongly suggest to reconsider and buy something else instead

you can have 3-4 stock computers for this kind of money

 

 

[Sikor]

Good point @candle, but you must add time to resolder pins from U1MB, solder again, and risk of damage it. But yes, U1MB is much cheaper than I think,

[candle]

whatever for?

u1mb is just plug'n'play solution for 1088xel - your information is outdated

 

[Sikor]

Ooo, 339PLN instead 249PLN - if I remember firmware for 1088XEL is from flashjazzcat. On lotharek's page is no info about fully compability with 1088XEL, and - why I spoke with him (long time ago, yes) he told me, than I must desolder angle pins and solder straight. Maybe will be useful to update info on sellers page? And why is there such a big difference in the price of standard charge and charge from flashjazzcat? I must pay nearly half of cost higher for it? I prefer use standard chips from Atari, because I don't neead half things from Ultimate for now. And yes, i buy PCB from xangel, becase it is enought for me.

[flashjazzcat]

35 minutes ago, Sikor said:

but you must add time to resolder pins from U1MB

Fortunately the puzzling right-angle open pin headers are no longer used. All boards are fitted with the proper enclosed IDC housings now.

21 minutes ago, Sikor said:

And why is there such a big difference in the price of standard charge and charge from flashjazzcat?

You'd have to discuss that with Lotharek. I certainly don't see all of it. But don't forget I offer my firmware free of charge (I simply encourage donations, but they are not mandatory) at the point of download; I simply don't allow it to be distributed pre-installed on commercially sold products without some compensation (since the appeal and functionality of said hardware is greatly increased by the newer firmware).

 

But there is no point at all ordering an 'FJC' firmware U1MB from Lotharek for your 1088XEL anyway, since Lotharek does not offer the 1088XEL version of the firmware pre-installed.

 

So: you should buy the stock U1MB, install the 1088XEL firmware yourself for free, and leave a donation or not... it's entirely your choice. Note that the special 1088XEL U1MB firmware includes several unique features, including an initial power-on delay to allow the keyboard controller to boot (otherwise, it would be impossible to cold power on the machine with the Help key pressed and reach the BIOS setup menu, since the controller takes a couple of seconds to come up). The 1088XEL version also has loader/PBI BIOS targeting the XEL-CF hardware, so is essential if you want to use the CF hard disk.

 

But since you already elected for another solution, such queries are largely hypothetical now.

Edited February 12, 2020 by flashjazzcat

[Sikor]

10 minutes ago, flashjazzcat said:

Fortunately the puzzling right-angle open pin headers are no longer used. All boards are fitted with the proper enclosed IDC housings now.

Good news

11 minutes ago, flashjazzcat said:

But there is no point at all ordering an 'FJC' firmware U1MB from Lotharek for your 1088XEL anyway, since Lotharek does not offer the 1088XEL version of the firmware pre-installed.

Really?

https://lotharek.pl/productdetail.php?id=56 - standard version

https://lotharek.pl/productdetail.php?id=246 - with your firmware, when is info about commision for You

On photo most of PCB are with angle pins, especcialy with version with your firmware.

[flashjazzcat]

1 minute ago, Sikor said:

https://lotharek.pl/productdetail.php?id=246 - with your firmware, when is info about commision for You

Yes, but this is my 'standard' replacement U1MB firmware for XLs, XEs, etc (I completely rewrote everything from scratch four years ago). The 1088XEL version is a modified version of that, and is not offered pre-installed by Lotharek.

2 minutes ago, Sikor said:

On photo most of PCB are with angle pins, especcialy with version with your firmware.

Yes: there is some vagueness on those pages. Unfortunately I have little or no influence over how what I provide is promoted or described.

[Sikor]

O.K. So I can buy cheaper version and all will be ok Thanks again.

[Marius]

1 hour ago, flashjazzcat said:

You'd have to discuss that with Lotharek. I certainly don't see all of it. But don't forget I offer my firmware free of charge (I simply encourage donations, but they are not mandatory)

So let me get this straight. Lotharek asks 21.12 euros more for a SIDE2 with FJC firmware, but does NOT pay you 21.12 euros for every SIDE2 + FJC FIRMWARE he sells? Huh? What? 

 

So you write a fabulous piece of firmware for U1MB, or in the case of my example for SIDE2. ... 

Lotharek both offers SIDE2 with, and without your fabulous firmware.

Lotharek asks more money for the SIDE2 with your firmware, but does not pay all of that to you?

 

If I buy a SIDE2, I will pay you 21.12 euros for every non FJC-SIDE2 I buy from Lotharek then. 

 

I think your firmware is one of the key features of U1MB and SIDE2. That does deserve a proportionate reward, well... that is my opinion. 

 

 

[candle]

remember about taxes and other legal issues 

i remember situation when bakery gave away bread for homeless people (returned from markets as unsold, basically loss for bakery) and was accused of hiding income and tax avoidances by Polish fiscal police

silly? this is how things are...

 

[Marius]

2 hours ago, candle said:

remember about taxes and other legal issues 

i remember situation when bakery gave away bread for homeless people (returned from markets as unsold, basically loss for bakery) and was accused of hiding income and tax avoidances by Polish fiscal police

silly? this is how things are...

 

 

Seriously? Well it is silly indeed. And wrong. 

 

[candle]

245000pln fee was requested, 10000pln was paid after trial and appelation - i might be wrong, but this is what i found on the net

fun

 

[+mytek]

11 hours ago, flashjazzcat said:

Oof... You went there. Ironically, after I railed against the suggestion on Polish forums that XEL-CF was basically a MYIDE.

I was merely talking about the possibilities of how one could approach this from a bare bones perspective, not promoting that this should actually be done in reality. Although for the record, I don't care what people end up doing with their 1088XEL. Sometimes it's just fun to ponder and discuss other approaches. Life would get boring otherwise .

 

The XEL-CF concept did originate from the original MyIDE circuit. Anyone can look back at the beginnings of that topic and see that this was true. Over time the circuit that was eventually to become the XEL-CF3 had evolved beyond that, and through incorporation of my ideas combined with design ideas by other people, Bob Woolley being a big influence, it became much more then it's roots.

 

 

[Marius]

47 minutes ago, candle said:

245000pln fee was requested, 10000pln was paid after trial and appelation - i might be wrong, but this is what i found on the net

fun

 

That is seriously bizarre. But I agree with you that things are not always as simple as I sometimes think they are. The world is a weird place isn't it?

[Marius]

10 hours ago, flashjazzcat said:

Oof... You went there. Ironically, after I railed against the suggestion on Polish forums that XEL-CF was basically a MYIDE.

Actually a good thing still after all these years I love MyIDE. 

[flashjazzcat]

47 minutes ago, Marius said:

Actually a good thing still after all these years I love MyIDE. 

I suppose anything which hooks up an IDE controller to the bus is doing essentially the same thing. What makes each implementation different is a) reliability, and b) software. I personally don't care how simple or sophisticated the hardware is, as long as it works and isn't let down by the software. When I look back to 2009 and compare things with today; how spoiled we are by sophisticated PBI hard disks and (almost) universal support for a standardised partitioning scheme.

Edited February 12, 2020 by flashjazzcat

[Marius]

1 hour ago, flashjazzcat said:

and (almost) universal support for a standardised partitioning scheme.

This is one of the most important things that is on top of my wishlist for myIde (or MyBIOS to be more specific). APT is amazing and should be supported by any mass storage device in A8 land.

[flashjazzcat]

7 minutes ago, Marius said:

This is one of the most important things that is on top of my wishlist for myIde (or MyBIOS to be more specific).

There are two obstacles there, and one of them is the amount of code required to run an APT implementation. It's not really an ideal case for a custom OS ROM.