+selgus Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 Has anyone tackled the issues of getting a devOS BIOS modified 7800 to work with a modern PC without a parallel port? I was looking at a few different possible solutions, but wanted to see if anyone has already solved this problem first. The angle I was going to take was modifying the BIOS/PC application to talk serial, and the cable to a DB9, interfacing to a USB-to-serial adapter. A more complex solution would be to create a small interface to mimic a parallel port that has a USB connection to the PC. This wouldn't require changing the BIOS, but would need to modify the sending application to use the USB chip's dll API to do the communication. --Selgus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadow460 Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 Never tried it. My 7800 sits atop the monitor on my 98SE box. You might send Eckhard Stolberg an email about it, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Mitch Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 Yep, Eckhard is the one you need to talk to. Mitch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 http://www.driverlinx.com/DownLoad/DlPortIO.htm Use the driver in the link. Works with OS's from 95 up to Win XP 32bit for use with the 7800 dev os communcating with the parallel port on your pc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+selgus Posted January 14, 2009 Author Share Posted January 14, 2009 http://www.driverlinx.com/DownLoad/DlPortIO.htm Use the driver in the link. Works with OS's from 95 up to Win XP 32bit for use with the 7800 dev os communcating with the parallel port on your pc. I will try and get in touch with Eckhard, and I wasn't talking about security issues with accessing the parallel port, but for PC's without such a port. Laptops these days don't have legacy ports any longer. --Selgus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 http://www.driverlinx.com/DownLoad/DlPortIO.htm Use the driver in the link. Works with OS's from 95 up to Win XP 32bit for use with the 7800 dev os communcating with the parallel port on your pc. I will try and get in touch with Eckhard, and I wasn't talking about security issues with accessing the parallel port, but for PC's without such a port. Laptops these days don't have legacy ports any longer. --Selgus oh, then your up shit creek my friend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mimo Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 I can confirm that ShawnSr's disk image works fine with my XP laptop which fortunately has a parallel port. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eckhard Stolberg Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 Has anyone tackled the issues of getting a devOS BIOS modified 7800 to work with a modern PC without a parallel port? I was looking at a few different possible solutions, but wanted to see if anyone has already solved this problem first. The angle I was going to take was modifying the BIOS/PC application to talk serial, and the cable to a DB9, interfacing to a USB-to-serial adapter. A more complex solution would be to create a small interface to mimic a parallel port that has a USB connection to the PC. This wouldn't require changing the BIOS, but would need to modify the sending application to use the USB chip's dll API to do the communication. --Selgus I started working on a serial version of DevOS a while ago. I've build a serial cable and got some basic transfer code working. I was planning to buy a new computer myself and thought it would be a good idea to be prepared for the case that it doesn't come with a parallel port anymore. But since I haven't found a computer I really like yet, I never included the new transfer code into DevOS. But if there is a demand, I could try to finish the modification. Ciao, Eckhard Stolberg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 Has anyone tackled the issues of getting a devOS BIOS modified 7800 to work with a modern PC without a parallel port? I was looking at a few different possible solutions, but wanted to see if anyone has already solved this problem first. The angle I was going to take was modifying the BIOS/PC application to talk serial, and the cable to a DB9, interfacing to a USB-to-serial adapter. A more complex solution would be to create a small interface to mimic a parallel port that has a USB connection to the PC. This wouldn't require changing the BIOS, but would need to modify the sending application to use the USB chip's dll API to do the communication. --Selgus I started working on a serial version of DevOS a while ago. I've build a serial cable and got some basic transfer code working. I was planning to buy a new computer myself and thought it would be a good idea to be prepared for the case that it doesn't come with a parallel port anymore. But since I haven't found a computer I really like yet, I never included the new transfer code into DevOS. But if there is a demand, I could try to finish the modification. Ciao, Eckhard Stolberg PLEASE DO!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+selgus Posted January 14, 2009 Author Share Posted January 14, 2009 Has anyone tackled the issues of getting a devOS BIOS modified 7800 to work with a modern PC without a parallel port? I was looking at a few different possible solutions, but wanted to see if anyone has already solved this problem first. The angle I was going to take was modifying the BIOS/PC application to talk serial, and the cable to a DB9, interfacing to a USB-to-serial adapter. A more complex solution would be to create a small interface to mimic a parallel port that has a USB connection to the PC. This wouldn't require changing the BIOS, but would need to modify the sending application to use the USB chip's dll API to do the communication. I started working on a serial version of DevOS a while ago. I've build a serial cable and got some basic transfer code working. I was planning to buy a new computer myself and thought it would be a good idea to be prepared for the case that it doesn't come with a parallel port anymore. But since I haven't found a computer I really like yet, I never included the new transfer code into DevOS. But if there is a demand, I could try to finish the modification. Well if you are going to do it, I will hold off. The serial route didn't seem that hard to do, it just would require a new protocol for the BIOS/send application. --Selgus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Mitch Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 A USB version would be nice. Mitch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 A simple GUI for the more novice users (and for plain old ease of use for everyone) would be aces, but I know beggars can't be choosers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eckhard Stolberg Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 Well if you are going to do it, I will hold off. The serial route didn't seem that hard to do, it just would require a new protocol for the BIOS/send application.--Selgus OK, I'll try and see how far I can get over the weekend. But a proper release might take a little longer. The problem is that the PAL and NTSC 7800 run at slightly different speeds. It's a bit tricky to get the timing right for both consoles at hight serial transfer speeds. Also some bankswitching formats need to be read with code running in RIOT RAM at 2600 speed, so you need a really compact version of the transfer code too. And the 7800 menu code is an ugly mess. I'll better clean that up too, if I'm working on it anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eckhard Stolberg Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 A simple GUI for the more novice users (and for plain old ease of use for everyone) would be aces, but I know beggars can't be choosers. There already is a frontend for DOS and one for Windows. I'm not sure how well they'd work on non-ancient versions of Windows though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 A simple GUI for the more novice users (and for plain old ease of use for everyone) would be aces, but I know beggars can't be choosers. There already is a frontend for DOS and one for Windows. I'm not sure how well they'd work on non-ancient versions of Windows though. Thanks for the link. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+selgus Posted January 16, 2009 Author Share Posted January 16, 2009 Well if you are going to do it, I will hold off. The serial route didn't seem that hard to do, it just would require a new protocol for the BIOS/send application.--Selgus OK, I'll try and see how far I can get over the weekend. But a proper release might take a little longer. The problem is that the PAL and NTSC 7800 run at slightly different speeds. It's a bit tricky to get the timing right for both consoles at hight serial transfer speeds. Also some bankswitching formats need to be read with code running in RIOT RAM at 2600 speed, so you need a really compact version of the transfer code too. And the 7800 menu code is an ugly mess. I'll better clean that up too, if I'm working on it anyway. It's your project, so however you feel is the best way to go about it, is great in my eyes. To be honest, I was looking at using this to do 2600 development, so 7800 was just an added bonus. --Selgus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roland p Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 I'm working on this too, to test my ballblazer code. I hope it supports bankswitching... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+selgus Posted January 16, 2009 Author Share Posted January 16, 2009 I'm working on this too, to test my ballblazer code. I hope it supports bankswitching... It does, if you create the proper SRAM cartridge to plug into the 7800. I am making a few right now for different configuration. I could make you one too, if you like? --Selgus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mimo Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 I'm working on this too, to test my ballblazer code. I hope it supports bankswitching... It does, if you create the proper SRAM cartridge to plug into the 7800. I am making a few right now for different configuration. I could make you one too, if you like? --Selgus what would the cost be? what games will, or maybe easier to list games that it will not do Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roland p Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 I'm working on this too, to test my ballblazer code. I hope it supports bankswitching... It does, if you create the proper SRAM cartridge to plug into the 7800. I am making a few right now for different configuration. I could make you one too, if you like? --Selgus That would be nice. What cartridge do you use? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+selgus Posted January 17, 2009 Author Share Posted January 17, 2009 I'm working on this too, to test my ballblazer code. I hope it supports bankswitching... It does, if you create the proper SRAM cartridge to plug into the 7800. I am making a few right now for different configuration. I could make you one too, if you like? --Selgus That would be nice. What cartridge do you use? Here is the link to the information about making carts to work with Eckhard's 7800 dev system (Devcarts.pdf). There are 74LSxx logic chips that you will need to apply to a standard 7800 cartridge, and replace the ROM chip with an SRAM chip (I use a 62256LP-10 SRAM IC from Jameco). If you sent me a cartridge to modify, I could make it for the cost of the parts and shipping. It just depends on the configuration you needed. --Selgus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roland p Posted January 17, 2009 Share Posted January 17, 2009 Here is the link to the information about making carts to work with Eckhard's 7800 dev system (Devcarts.pdf).There are 74LSxx logic chips that you will need to apply to a standard 7800 cartridge, and replace the ROM chip with an SRAM chip (I use a 62256LP-10 SRAM IC from Jameco). If you sent me a cartridge to modify, I could make it for the cost of the parts and shipping. It just depends on the configuration you needed. --Selgus I didn't know about the document, there is really a lot of information in it. The cartridge I have is Joust and has only one IC, the ROM. A 32KB cart, would be nice, maybe with superchip RAM, if it's on/off switchable. I've to read the document carefully to know all the possibilities. My Atari 7800 already has a modified bios (modded by Mr-Atari). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+selgus Posted January 22, 2009 Author Share Posted January 22, 2009 OK, I'll try and see how far I can get over the weekend. But a proper release might take a little longer. The problem is that the PAL and NTSC 7800 run at slightly different speeds. It's a bit tricky to get the timing right for both consoles at hight serial transfer speeds. Also some bankswitching formats need to be read with code running in RIOT RAM at 2600 speed, so you need a really compact version of the transfer code too. And the 7800 menu code is an ugly mess. I'll better clean that up too, if I'm working on it anyway. So did you have any luck this weekend? --Selgus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eckhard Stolberg Posted January 23, 2009 Share Posted January 23, 2009 So did you have any luck this weekend? --Selgus I didn't do any programming last weekend, because I got a bit side-tracked. Since you seem to be looking for a USB version, I was looking into the possibilities of building one. After some searching I found out that FTDI offers a serial-to-USB cable that works at TTL levels. It would be ideal for this purpose, since it would make building the serial cable as easy as building the old parallel cable was. But ordering a single cable from FTDI directly would be quite expensive due to the high costs for shipping and money transfer. Therefore I wasted the rest of the weeking trying to find a cheaper source. Unfortunately I haven't really found one yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Mitch Posted January 23, 2009 Share Posted January 23, 2009 Interesting, which model were you looking at? I might try contacting their US office and see how much a couple cables cost. Mitch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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