Piotr D. Kaczorowski

VBXE core is written using VHDL, so Quartus do the compilation and at the end you will get the compiled output file size.

The short story is that a member of the MadTeam group asked for such a core and Electron did it. MadTeam has quite a bit of work related to VBXE. Hence the favor. So.. IMHO is possible to endorse also NTSC region users. U1MB is great board and this is always my first recommendation but still those users are a little bit forced to buy it. The question is why US users would want to buy VBXE. I think that better display, maybe new games, but also 80 column native mode would be tempting.

@electrotrains, By the way, I'm a user of your previous creation and despite more advanced designs like SIDE or AVG, it's my favorite multicart. In fact, many people use it, including Thomas Cherryhomes and "8bitandmore" Lopez. What are the limitations to go further and transform such an A8bitPico into an UltimateCart?

Two versions of the enclosure can be made: "production" and "R&D" (with a hole for USB) - you can even label them as such. Unfortunately, people make mistakes, and as I said, I have to start fixing the Atari XE soon, which someone mistakenly connected to a C64 power supply that provides 9V AC.

In the meantime, in the real world... Person #1 makes 50 boards of the project and distributes them at the next SillVenture or another party. Person #2 gets more than one board, for example, 10 boards. Then decides to make money on it. Builds the devices and sells them already in cases, without instructions. Person #3, who is the buyer, inserts the cartridge into the Atari and connects it via USB to the computer. THE END.

It's important to remember that there are different types of USB cables. There are those that have both power and data transmission, and there are also those that either lack data transmission or lack power.

If I can't get it done with the authors, I'll make a small board that I'll give away for free, which will take control during startup and set the palette immediately... Let's say it'll be 1/100000 of U1MB This should be doable. Of course, it would be best if one could compile the core. There will also be other solutions, but I'll mention that in the future.

Maybe it should be renamed to XXLRAM

@xxl, Will it work with Ultimate 1MB?

In my opinion, this standard VBXE palette seems a bit faded, and I'm not particularly fond of it. Though there are voices saying that there used to be some special measurements and such... I've installed quite a few VBXE cards this year, and people often say that these standard colors are slightly different. I only found out about the Rocky palette cores relatively recently. I was a bit skeptical at first, as you had to download software, install the core, switch it, etc. Generally, this always makes me wonder if everything will still work properly. It turned out that the update is super easy, and the colors remind me of the standard saturated 600XL - well, maybe not that intense and a bit brighter than NTSC, but still pretty nice. I highly recommend it! Don't worry. You're not alone in this. We'll get through it.

The Ultimate 1MB paired with VBXE is obviously my first choice. What's more, by adding SRAM 64K under the processor, you can remove Freddie and activate 3.5Mhz directly on the board. At that time, Freddie doesn't manage memories, nor does it divide 14Mhz into 3.5Mhz. This is significant because those two rectangular signals in the Fourier series equate to an infinite number of sinusoids. At least that's the theory, and in practice, normally, rectangles don't go there, but something more characteristic of NMOS shape. Overlaying these frequencies creates a broad spectrum of noise. Additionally, Freddie occupies the BO2 line (Buffered Phase 2) as another chip. So once again, these are devices that work great together. For greater stability, you can use the O2/Fixer from Lotharek (a small advertisement, but I think it's okay since I don't benefit from it). But... it's 2023 and some people read more and discuss more. So... Does VBXE/VBXL without Ultimate 1MB make sense? Beside me is a 600XL board on which I'm currently mounting a VBXL without the Ultimate 1MB. Why? Because: you can activate a core in VBXE/VBXL that adds an additional 320KB of Rambo, alternately, you can also use the AVG Cart, which adds up to 1MB without an internal installation. So... you can use it without U1MB. Sometimes, for financial reasons, people plan their subsequent installations.

https://madteam.atari8.info/index.php?prod=vbxe https://madteam.atari8.info/vbxe/rocky_pal.7z If there is a PAL (LAOO) palette and a PAL (ROCKY) palette and there is no NTSC palette, then it's probably not a technical obstacle. If someone doesn't have the software, it can be found. If one wants to be more legal, they can find a company that legally acquired it years ago and commission a recompilation.

I rediscovered my love for Atari only in 2020 and have been rummaging through some things, sometimes finding beautiful apples, but with a worm inside. In fact, I bought Atari because I saw that there were such great solutions as Ultimate 1MB or VBXE. There are probably many others to list. New solutions also change the situation from the 80s and 90s, making it possible to achieve most things internally without the need to drill into the casing. Before I installed my first VBXE, I asked at least four leading creators here in Poland for help with a Sega Saturn connector board project. To no avail. Later, I took the DipTrace program and made it myself. I decided to use the product name once every few days, as there are also people here who think that I am purposely promoting it (I don't have to... it's already sold very well). However, I am interested in popularizing VBXE, because I believe it's looking to the future. The product is great, but it has a few minor issues that can be easily resolved. The palette is an example. Yesterday I started searching and I have a whole set of software that allows you to change what is needed. I also offered Lothar that I can build him (free of charge) a VM machine that will already have the software installed. I haven't discussed whether he has the rights to it. Can it be done? Yes, it can.. There is a core with a different palette in Poland. It's clear that changing the palette purely in software is an incomplete solution. I don't know why the people responsible for the project haven't done this so far, but of course, it's not serious. Just... one can be a great engineer but still have a child's mentality - it happens Either way, there are other methods, without special involvement from the authors, to address the issue. Of course, it would be easier with the authors.

The new beautiful cable has arrived, so we can start testing... I'll try to assemble a prototype this week. We'll see how it goes for me..

...and that has been fulfilled. The project is fantastic, as practically only a PICO PURPLE board is needed, which is great for R&D purposes. The only reservation I have is about the fact that a 3D casing has been added to it... Overall, that's also great. As long as, of course, people don't start producing it themselves and selling it, because of the text below... it's visible on the circuit board, but it's not on the casing. I don't know what options there are to add this information to the casing, as I'm completely unfamiliar with 3D printing. Since the beginning of this year, I have repaired almost 30 Atari 8-bit computers and I have insight into what people are capable of doing. They even managed to connect a C64 power supply to Atari XE - imagine what the AC PSU did... So unfortunately, someone might make a mistake at times, and sometimes they won't know and will connect the Atari together with the USB. So... This subject should not be considered a blocker, but rather open for reconsideration. The issue is that a mistake won't just brick the device; it will fry the Atari. Maybe, for example, the casing shouldn't intentionally have holes for the USB connector. This way, it will be clear that to connect it, you need to disassemble the cartridge. Of course, this poses a certain problem because you need to unscrew the screws. So perhaps someone who is skilled in 3D casing design (which I am not) could modify the casing in a way that it still consists of two parts, but without screws. It could look like this: the bottom part would be slid from the top into the upper part, like on rails, with a small lock at the end (top of cartridge) that would secure the proper assembly. This solution would enforce that in order to connect the PICO via USB, the casing needs to be taken apart, but it's not excessively complicated. This might require some effort, but it's incomparable to repairing an Atari later on after an accident.

In my humble opinion, the PCB should be corrected, and additional components should be added. Otherwise, we should start a new thread (like "Another U1MB Bites the Dust" )with the counter. It's highly likely that someone working during the night might make a mistake.

@mytek... This power chain is available on the green board, not on the purple one, which has been extended but simplified.

Thanx! This is an important update. I bet that now, with the PCB files available, people will start manufacturing and selling them to others who might not be as familiar and could potentially damage the computers.

I really appreciate the simplicity of this project. Nevertheless, it might be interesting to consider adding a circuit in the future version that separates the power supply from the USB port and the power supply of the Atari. You can take a look at the Fujinet circuit, where this issue is resolved: https://github.com/FujiNetWIFI/fujinet-hardware/blob/master/ATARI/FN32ROV-1.7/FN32ROV-1.7-Schematic.jpg

@mytek I might have misled a little bit. You see that the board on the left is slightly different than the one on the right. The one on the right is a photo that I took of the proper board I bought for the project. The one on the left is a photo from the internet. It has a slightly different layout - notice the number of GND (Ground) connections on each side. This is proper PICO RP2040 128Mbit 16MB board:

Another point of view

In fact, it is possible to program the EPROM with a special machine program that will load the CPU. Placing the processor on a prototype board and supplying an external clock to PHI0, which can be variable. You can connect a multimeter with a thermocouple and set it to a specified cutoff temperature, which we will take from the specification or consider appropriate. You can continue to increase the clocking. In this way, characteristics can be determined.

@electrotrains Here are the views of the above files. It might be useful for further discussion here.

If possible, could I also request a PDF with the schematics? ^^

It was just an example... In a moment, I'll have to type two asterisks in the middle so there are no suspicions In the last 24 hours, I wrote that I am impressed with the work that has been done over the years. I am full of admiration for the talent, but I am most impressed by people who can cooperate with each other, rather than argue. I hope such people are here as well.