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U1MB, Incognito, SIDE2, SIDE3, 1088XEL/XLD Firmware 4.0 Released


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18 minutes ago, Gryfon said:

I've completed flashing u1mbs3fw to the firmware slot .  The U1MB still boots correctly, buy when the SIDE3 is in when I try to open the loader I get a solid green light in the cart and black screen.

Oh God. Although I never want to 'rule out' bugs, I see and hear of this problem so much, and it is - when the machine is on my desk - invariably fixed by replacing 74LS08 with 74F08. I have emptied an entire tube of these ICs and had to order more of them.

 

Assuming this is the same problem, I will publicly request that anyone for whom this turns out to be the problem and solution consider allowing Candle to have a hands-on look at the machine (with the original IC still installed). I realise this might be a logistical pain, but it's probably the only way we'll make progress.

 

Even if your issue turned out to be something else, the foregoing appeal stands. :)

Edited by flashjazzcat
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18 minutes ago, Gryfon said:

 

 

I've completed flashing u1mbs3fw to the firmware slot .  The U1MB still boots correctly, buy when the SIDE3 is in when I try to open the loader I get a solid green light in the cart and black screen.

 

My issues were a result of me having the wrong OS ROM selected, resulting in an inability to see extended memory, due to the fact that I updated U1MB/PBI BIOS and SIDE3 all at once it wrote over one of my saved OS ROM slots and defaulted to the wrong ROM.

 

Perhaps make sure that's not your issue? Are you sure you updated the SIDE3 loader?

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Holy shit. That's an awesome update. But, I have one question. Is there a way for more combinations of plugins?

I'm using a 600xl pimped with U1MB, Stereo Pokey, Sophia2 AND VBXE and my APT device is a SIDE2 cart. Now my problem. If Iwant to configure the Sophia2 and the VBXE and the Stereo Pokey on/off, I could use the VBSOX3.ROM    VBXE (PAL palette), Sophia 2, XEL-CF3 plugin (for 1088XEL/XLD). But then I can't use my SIDE2. (No APT Devices found message in FDISK and no D3: /C: device.

Using the VXS2STCO.ROM    VBXE (with PAL/NTSC palettes), SIDE2, Stereo and Covox plugin makes the SIDE2 working but i can't configure the Sophia2 in the BIOS and have to load the sconf tool for any change of the sophia settings.

So I think I need a combo of VBXE pal, Stereo Pokey, SIDE2 APT and Sophia2. Maybe it's very special because not many people are using VBXE and Sophia 2 together in the same machine. But I do and I like it. VBXE RGB out to my 1084 CRT at HOME and Sophia DVI/HDMI out (without VBXE features) to connect to LCDs  on atari/retro-meetings and ... maybe ... hotel-tv. :) 

 

Okay, long txt, short question. Is there a way to get my own 'crazy' combo of plugin rom ? Or is there a tool to make the combo by myself? 

 

greetings Mario130xe

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2 minutes ago, MARIO130XE said:

Holy shit. That's an awesome update. But, I have one question. Is there a way for more combinations of plugins?

I'm using a 600xl pimped with U1MB, Stereo Pokey, Sophia2 AND VBXE and my APT device is a SIDE2 cart. Now my problem. If Iwant to configure the Sophia2 and the VBXE and the Stereo Pokey on/off, I could use the VBSOX3.ROM    VBXE (PAL palette), Sophia 2, XEL-CF3 plugin (for 1088XEL/XLD). But then I can't use my SIDE2. (No APT Devices found message in FDISK and no D3: /C: device.

Using the VXS2STCO.ROM    VBXE (with PAL/NTSC palettes), SIDE2, Stereo and Covox plugin makes the SIDE2 working but i can't configure the Sophia2 in the BIOS and have to load the sconf tool for any change of the sophia settings.

So I think I need a combo of VBXE pal, Stereo Pokey, SIDE2 APT and Sophia2. Maybe it's very special because not many people are using VBXE and Sophia 2 together in the same machine. But I do and I like it. VBXE RGB out to my 1084 CRT at HOME and Sophia DVI/HDMI out (without VBXE features) to connect to LCDs  on atari/retro-meetings and ... maybe ... hotel-tv. :) 

 

Okay, long txt, short question. Is there a way to get my own 'crazy' combo of plugin rom ? Or is there a tool to make the combo by myself? 

 

greetings Mario130xe

I can't offer you an answer, but Sophia 2 and VBXE...Impressive. It must be a tight squeeze in that 600XL.

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3 minutes ago, Mazzspeed said:

I can't offer you an answer, but Sophia 2 and VBXE...Impressive. It must be a tight squeeze in that 600XL.

:) :) :) Sophia2 is a small device. I have posted some photos in th eSophia2 thread.

If you like, check it out.

 

Sophia 2 - improved GTIA replacement - Page 14 - Atari 8-Bit Computers - AtariAge Forums

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7 minutes ago, MARIO130XE said:

:) :) :) Sophia2 is a small device. I have posted some photos in th eSophia2 thread.

If you like, check it out.

 

Sophia 2 - improved GTIA replacement - Page 14 - Atari 8-Bit Computers - AtariAge Forums

I know, I fitted mine to my 600XL only yesterday.

 

 

Edited by Mazzspeed
There's already an impressive link to pics. Awesome!
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29 minutes ago, MARIO130XE said:

So I think I need a combo of VBXE pal, Stereo Pokey, SIDE2 APT and Sophia2. Maybe it's very special because not many people are using VBXE and Sophia 2 together in the same machine. But I do and I like it. VBXE RGB out to my 1084 CRT at HOME and Sophia DVI/HDMI out (without VBXE features) to connect to LCDs  on atari/retro-meetings and ... maybe ... hotel-tv. :) 

 

Okay, long txt, short question. Is there a way to get my own 'crazy' combo of plugin rom ? Or is there a tool to make the combo by myself? 

I have VBXE and Sophia 2 in my 1088XEL, so I already considered this niche requirement. It's perfectly possible to fit all these plugins into the available 2K of space, and immediately before I released the firmware last week, I spent an afternoon optimising the sources to ensure everything would fit.

 

The plugin source code is available on the download page, but if you don't want to mess around with the defines at the top of the file, I'll make you a build myself. So - to be clear - you want an VBSOS2ST plugin, basically (VBXE without the NTSC palette option, Sophia 2, Stereo Pokey and SIDE2 support).

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7 minutes ago, flashjazzcat said:

So - to be clear - you want an VBSOS2ST plugin, basically (VBXE without the NTSC palette option, Sophia 2, Stereo Pokey and SIDE2 support).

Exactly. :)❤️  And big big thanks to you FJC, for all your work to the atari community. 

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3 hours ago, flashjazzcat said:

Oh God. Although I never want to 'rule out' bugs, I see and hear of this problem so much, and it is - when the machine is on my desk - invariably fixed by replacing 74LS08 with 74F08. I have emptied an entire tube of these ICs and had to order more of them.

 

Assuming this is the same problem, I will publicly request that anyone for whom this turns out to be the problem and solution consider allowing Candle to have a hands-on look at the machine (with the original IC still installed). I realise this might be a logistical pain, but it's probably the only way we'll make progress.

 

Even if your issue turned out to be something else, the foregoing appeal stands. :)

I'll PM @candle  If it helps others too, I'm more than happy to send the whole kit to him to evaluate.

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3 hours ago, Mazzspeed said:

My issues were a result of me having the wrong OS ROM selected, resulting in an inability to see extended memory, due to the fact that I updated U1MB/PBI BIOS and SIDE3 all at once it wrote over one of my saved OS ROM slots and defaulted to the wrong ROM.

 

Perhaps make sure that's not your issue? Are you sure you updated the SIDE3 loader?

I've not been able to locate the individual OS ROMs to test this.  The OS ROMs all appear selectable and saveable in the U1MB settings.  Is there somewhere on FJC's website I can download them and manually upload them in UFLASH?

 

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35 minutes ago, Gryfon said:

I'll PM @candle  If it helps others too, I'm more than happy to send the whole kit to him to evaluate.

That would be incredibly helpful - thank you! :)

21 minutes ago, Gryfon said:

I've not been able to locate the individual OS ROMs to test this.  The OS ROMs all appear selectable and saveable in the U1MB settings.  Is there somewhere on FJC's website I can download them and manually upload them in UFLASH?

Nothing special is required: standard XL/XE OS built into the ROMs as provided will suffice (even the XL/XE OS provided in the original U1MB ROM, so you must already have what you need).

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I've added to the release archive the two new plugins uploaded to this thread, plus a copy of S3PBI (U1MB PBI BIOS for SIDE3) in case that's useful.

 

Rememer, too, that you can dump to disk individual components of the firmware using UFLASH (although you should never mix and match different major revision numbers).

 

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Can I ask a dumb question - what does the Covox plugin do?  I finally got around to installing the new Firmware on my 1088XLD.  I have the VX3 plugin, the NTSC palette looks great on my PAL machine (haha - just had to try it) and the stereo pokey stuff works.  I have a P-Covox installed and running at $D7## - it does work.

 

P.S.

I did notice that after running this, I had to put my Transcend CF card in the master slot else SDX wouldn't see the drives.  The Loader did, FDISK via SDX saw them, but I couldn't access them.  When running the Transcend as master, and the other CF card as slave, I can now see and use all drives.

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53 minutes ago, Stephen said:

Can I ask a dumb question - what does the Covox plugin do?  I finally got around to installing the new Firmware on my 1088XLD.  I have the VX3 plugin, the NTSC palette looks great on my PAL machine (haha - just had to try it) and the stereo pokey stuff works.  I have a P-Covox installed and running at $D7## - it does work.

The Covox plugin does nothing but toggle the M1 signal on the U1MB and is there for compatibility with the original U1MB firmware. I also found it was worth adding when emulating an U1MB setup in Altirra, the reason being that the emulator hooks M1 to ANY emulated Covox device. Took me a while to realise why Covox registers weren't showing up.

55 minutes ago, Stephen said:

I did notice that after running this, I had to put my Transcend CF card in the master slot else SDX wouldn't see the drives.  The Loader did, FDISK via SDX saw them, but I couldn't access them.  When running the Transcend as master, and the other CF card as slave, I can now see and use all drives.

That's interesting, since not one thing aside from some alterations to the memory map changed between the last major point release of the XEL-CF PBI BIOS and this one. I wouldn't have been too surprised if I had messed up Slave enable/disable when revising the plugins, but it seems I didn't if swapping the cards results in everything working. I have no idea why the placement of the cards would suddenly become a critical factor; it's not because of any changes to the driver code.

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On 6/7/2021 at 8:38 PM, flashjazzcat said:

The PokeyMAX core you have, IIRC, is set up for the original U1MB Stereo POKEY control (via a wire on the M0 pin). So you should either change PokeyMAX cores, or just install one of the 'ST' plugins (which control stereo via the M0 signal).

Here's the plugin:

sos3st.rom 2 kB · 10 downloads

:)

Goodmorning Jon

 

To pick up on this conversation, since I'm stuck with a burnout at home, I finally got around to updating firmware on both my AVG cart and U1MB.
I have an SophiaV1 in my 1(0)30XE and have both an PokeyMaxV2 SU (Stereo with the pin control for U1MB) and a PokeyMaxV2 Quad only available for install.


If I install the PokeyMax V2 Quad , can I switch between Stereo/Quad mode using a (which ? ) plugin with the new firmware ?

RTFM Erik !

PokeyMAX Plugin (P2) The PokeyMAX plugin is designed for PokeyMAX 2 and PokeyMAX 3 boards with anything EXCEPT the U1MB Stereo Control core (for which you should use the standard Stereo POKEY plugin) and the ‘Auto’ Stereo core. All other PokeyMAX cores (Stereo/Covox, Quad/Covox, SID, PSG, etc) will benefit from the PokeyMAX plugin, which allows full software control of the several of the most commonly changed audio settings. Features such as Stereo, Quad, Covox, linear mixing, mono detect, SID emulation, PSG, etc, may be toggled via settings in the ‘Device control’ menu. Since PokeyMAX has a ‘features’ register, only those settings relevant to the installed core are activated (the rest being dimmed). Moreover, U1MB will maintain separate PokeyMAX settings in each configuration profile, allowing convenient switching between up to four different PokeyMAX configurations.

So for most bang for buck I'm better off installing the PokeyMaxV2 Quad only version into my U1MB machine then I guess ?

Do the Sophia plugins support or add anything beneficial to my older SophiaV1 ?

And well, understatement of the year probably but what a banging firmware update again !

Edited by Lastic
RTFM LOL
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On 6/12/2021 at 3:23 PM, flashjazzcat said:

That would be incredibly helpful - thank you! :)

Nothing special is required: standard XL/XE OS built into the ROMs as provided will suffice (even the XL/XE OS provided in the original U1MB ROM, so you must already have what you need).

I took advantage of your recent upload of the individual SIDE3 PBI BIOS for U1MB file and tried flashing that into the PBI slot.  It flashed without issue, but I still get the same symptoms.


Candle has agreed to take a look and the courier arrives to collect the whole kit today.

Fingers crossed.

 

Thanks to everyone for their advice so far.

 

Gryfon

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3 hours ago, Lastic said:

If I install the PokeyMax V2 Quad , can I switch between Stereo/Quad mode using a (which ? ) plugin with the new firmware ?

Anyone with PokeyMAX 2 or PokeyMAX 3 and the appropriate core may install the PokeyMAX U1MB plugin and select between Stereo/Quad Pokey, yes.

3 hours ago, Lastic said:

So for most bang for buck I'm better off installing the PokeyMaxV2 Quad only version into my U1MB machine then I guess ?

The plugin is able to determine the capabilities of the PokeyMAX core in real-time, so will present you with whatever options are appropriate to the hardware. :)

3 hours ago, Lastic said:

Do the Sophia plugins support or add anything beneficial to my older SophiaV1 ?

No. The Sophia 2 plugin will detect no supported hardware with a v.1 board.

3 hours ago, Lastic said:

And well, understatement of the year probably but what a banging firmware update again !

I'm glad you're enjoying it. :)

2 hours ago, Gryfon said:

I took advantage of your recent upload of the individual SIDE3 PBI BIOS for U1MB file and tried flashing that into the PBI slot.  It flashed without issue, but I still get the same symptoms.


Candle has agreed to take a look and the courier arrives to collect the whole kit today.

Fingers crossed.

Thank you so much for agreeing to this.

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Here's an update for the SIDE3 loader which includes some fixes for MegaCart and Sic! cart types, the addition of type 75 (AtariMax 1MB 'New', startup bank 0) and correction of AtariMax 1MB tyie 42 (startup bank 127).

s3loader_0.39_150621.zip

 

In addition, a bug in 'Hard Emulation' mode concerning only AtariMax 1MB images has been corrected. Note that the activation of 'Hard emulation' mode is rarely required (and was not even required for the test cases), but a problem was noticed and corrected anyway.

 

Many thanks to @Wrathchild for reaching out by PM regarding issues with the recently released PoP images. Had he not got in touch, I would never have been aware of the issues which required attention (no issues at all having been reported from other sources before these images were released). Apologies for any inconvenience caused and for any confusion regarding the reason for issues (although I understand that the cart images in question had/have some issues of their own, disconnected from the SIDE3 cartridge emulation table errors; nevertheless, everything I was sent now appears to work, whether patched or not).

 

As tirelessly stated already: I am anxious to hear of problems which might plausibly be caused by bugs in the firmware, loader, etc; less so regarding issues caused by software which is self-evidently, or by design, incompatible with the firmware and hardware under discussion. Problems falling into the latter category need to be taken up with the provider of the boot loader, etc.

In any case: I would appeciate any testing of the loader update, and once I am sure the corrections did not cause breakage elsewhere, I will absorb this build into the firmware set on the webite. :)

 

Edited by flashjazzcat
typos
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