Can't solder? External U1MB

[Geister]

I would like a couple of these.  Not because I can't solder, but because they can be moved between machines easily.

[1200XL M.U.L.E.]

Just wanted to say, above all else that was mentioned here in 11 pages of posts, that I think it is absolutely fantastic and outstanding the Atari community has people all over the world developing upgrades, modifications, and other bits of new hardware for what is essentially a dead and historic product. Such a vibrant community! People like @candle and @flashjazzcat deserve some sort of medal!

 

I'm actually a little surprised that someone in China hasn't tried making an 1:1 8-bit clone/knockoff and selling it on eBay or AliExpress for $100-$200. I'm not talking about emulated hardware but a real machine with reverse engineered GTIA, ANTIC, 6502, etc chips. Make the whole thing socketed so it can easily take these awesome upgrades. U1MB, Sophia, 32-in-1 ... it would be an experimenter's dream come true.

 

 

[mikesk8]

Will it require 16kb->64kb mod in Atari 600xl first? Or it will have it included as well?

[Beeblebrox]

3 minutes ago, mikesk8 said:

Will it require 16kb->64kb mod in Atari 600xl first? Or it will have it included as well?

@mikesk8 I'd guess it's unlikely it would be included and you would have to upgrade your 600XL to 64kb first as the mod would presumably be standardised/require a base minimum. (Just a guess mind).

 

It's dirt cheap to upgrade to 64kb (in the UK see here and in EU here). Of course the 64KB upgrade itself requires some desoldering/soldering work which if you are after an external memory upgrade in the first place to avoid such work rather defeats the object. 🤓

[BillC]

1 hour ago, mikesk8 said:

Will it require 16kb->64kb mod in Atari 600xl first? Or it will have it included as well?

 

58 minutes ago, Beeblebrox said:

@mikesk8 I'd guess it's unlikely it would be included and you would have to upgrade your 600XL to 64kb first as the mod would presumably be standardised/require a base minimum. (Just a guess mind).

This upgrade is supposed to combine  a 1064 type 64KB RAM upgrade, U1MB upgrade, and SIDE 3 cartridge into a single external PBI/ECI device.

The first post video was done with a stock 16KB PAL 600XL.

[mikesk8]

7 minutes ago, BillC said:

 

This upgrade is supposed to combine  a 1064 type 64KB RAM upgrade, U1MB upgrade, and SIDE 3 cartridge into a single external PBI/ECI device.

The first post video was done with a stock 16KB PAL 600XL.

It would be amazing! Do we know any timeline? ;)

[Beeblebrox]

51 minutes ago, BillC said:

 

This upgrade is supposed to combine  a 1064 type 64KB RAM upgrade, U1MB upgrade, and SIDE 3 cartridge into a single external PBI/ECI device.

The first post video was done with a stock 16KB PAL 600XL.

@BillC I stand corrected. Thanks. Sounds amazing. 🤓

[mikesk8]

Is there maybe any timeline shared for this device?  do we talk months or years?

[atarilux]

Hi, yes, following on from the post above, is there any news on when this would be available? Otherwise I may buy another 800xl and mod that. I quite like to keep some unmodded kit as well you see, the original is sometimes the best  Or at least the most authentic.

[flashjazzcat]

23 minutes ago, atarilux said:

Hi, yes, following on from the post above, is there any news on when this would be available?

All I can say is that I still haven't had hands on it yet (supposedly it currently travels from Poland to my house) and have yet to begin the long job of writing the firmware for it (which will require porting the existing U1MB firmware with significant changes, and blending into that the SIDE3 loader which is currently experiencing a huge re-write), so 'imminently' can safely be ruled out.

 

[Marius]

When this device will see the day of light, I would most certainly be interested. But... I really hope it will have -just like the Turbo Freezer 2011, and just like the black box- a button that make the atari stop doing everything and let the user jump to a menu. So the user can make changes, like mounting/demounting another ATR, or swap drives... and then return to the program the user was running. 

 

[flashjazzcat]

17 minutes ago, Marius said:

So the user can make changes, like mounting/demounting another ATR, or swap drives... and then return to the program the user was running.

I wholly agree and asked Candle months ago to remember to implement a PBI IRQ. And even when the IRQ doesn't work (say, if the application disabled interrupts), entering the setup menu via RESET and running the loader should be a non-destructive operation (unless one actually launches software from it) so that reset-protected applications will still be intact when one leaves the loader after performing volume mounts, etc.

 

Edited March 12 by flashjazzcat

[atarilux]

6 hours ago, flashjazzcat said:

All I can say is that I still haven't had hands on it yet (supposedly it currently travels from Poland to my house) and have yet to begin the long job of writing the firmware for it (which will require porting the existing U1MB firmware with significant changes, and blending into that the SIDE3 loader which is currently experiencing a huge re-write), so 'imminently' can safely be ruled out.

 

Thanks for the update, it does indeed sound like a lot of work. Also thanks for your hard work in supporting the community, plus thanks also to the others involved in this project.

 

 

[candle]

all i have right now is 2 xe prototypes and 3 xl ones

any production runs are postponed till noone knows when since the situation on component maket - there is absolutly lack of any CPLD/FPGA chips that would be usable

I was cosidering even a board redesign just to address the issue, but there is nothing i could change current CPLD to (in comparable price range)

[flashjazzcat]

Well, hopefully I'll get a prototype soon so that when production is possible, the firmware will be done.

[HiassofT]

5 hours ago, candle said:

any production runs are postponed till noone knows when since the situation on component maket - there is absolutly lack of any CPLD/FPGA chips that would be usable

Maybe it's time to go oldschool and switch back to good old TTL chips again 🙂

 

Or maybe not, even those are low on stock ATM. Damn crisis...

 

so long,

 

Hias

[reifsnyderb]

28 minutes ago, HiassofT said:

Maybe it's time to go oldschool and switch back to good old TTL chips again 🙂

 

Or maybe not, even those are low on stock ATM. Damn crisis...

 

so long,

 

Hias

I wouldn't be surprised if it would take 20 or 30 TTL chips to do what one of those CPLD's are programmed to do.  The beauty of a CPLD is you can re-program it to add features or fix a problem after you get the boards made.

 

[HiassofT]

32 minutes ago, reifsnyderb said:

I wouldn't be surprised if it would take 20 or 30 TTL chips to do what one of those CPLD's are programmed to do.  The beauty of a CPLD is you can re-program it to add features or fix a problem after you get the boards made.

Absolutely - or maybe even more. My comment wasn't meant too seriously 🙂

 

so long,

 

Hias