VBXE 2

[Rybags]

Although you could quite easily have VBXE addressed on page $D1 or $D5, there would be one major problem - practically no software would work for you.

 

As is, I've decided it's just easier to do any complex program with seperate $D6 and $D7 versions to make the programming easier.

 

VBXE registers occupy $D640-$D65F in default install, not sure if any other locations in that page are used e.g. for flash programming, but it should happily co-exist with e.g. another upgrade which only uses lower addresses on that page.

[candle]

Hi Wolfram,

cosider using page address decoder provided on VBXE - it might be some way out for Your trouble

i have no knowlege about bibomon, but you can find description of vbxe fx core registers in vbxe programmer's guide (see on my page)

 

Sebastian

[mega-hz]

hmm, $D640-$D65F... Thats exactly the Range for Bankswitching of the Bibomon...

I tried to delete this in the ADR-GAL of the Bibomon, but it seems to be the most importend Adresses..

And the $D7XX is fully filled with Banks of the Bibomon Eprom

 

Well, i think i have to decide: With a little logic in a GAL select XL-OS with VBXE on D7XX or Bibomon with VBXE in $D1XX...

 

Thats the best way to use both of them i think.

 

By the way, Sebastian: Why shouldn`t the VBXE work with a 14.xx Mhz Oscillator on the 130XE?

Does the Clock have to be invertet or buffered?

 

regards,

Wolfram.

[candle]

why shouldn't?

You just connect it diffrently - as an input for atmega chip on vbxe, not as an output from vbxe as it is normally

this is valid both for 130xe and xegs machines equipped with oscillator rather than crystal

in this case C24 and C25 should be removed from vbxe2 board

 

please remember that d1xx is out of official specs, and you can expect no software will work with it

to make matter worse this is pbi device range, and should stay that way

 

sure you can map it even on page 0, your rom might span across half of memory, and the other half serve as a switchable bank, but we do have some standards settled for over 30 years, and thus they should be followed

sure - novadays some are obsolete, for others history proved they are not important, but hey - one have to draw a line somewhere

 

Sebastian

[flashjazzcat]

For those interested, I'm busy doing a direct port of The Last Word 3.11 which will be identical to the current beta apart from the fact it will use (and require) VBXE 80 column hardware support. There'll be no dual 40/80 column mode, either, since I have done away with ANTIC display lists entirely. The was a version of LW for VBXE floating around but it's completely out of date now as the core code has changed so much over the past six months.

 

I've been looking at Draco's "S2:" driver for SDX (and other systems), and it seems to negate the need for a custom OS ROM to support VBXE.

[candle]

Jon, have you discussed using _rawcon symbol with Konrad?

 

Sebastian

[Rybags]

Hey candle... where's that demo from electron you posted about a few weeks back?

[flashjazzcat]

Jon, have you discussed using _rawcon symbol with Konrad?

Yes, we had quite a good chat about it last night. I think it's a little late for this quick and dirty conversion to use a device-independent screen driver, but it's almost a definite feature of the next major version, which won't use DLI and DL effects, leaning instead on graphics characters, windowing, menus, etc.

[flashjazzcat]

Not using the "S2:" driver with this version, but have taken the opportunity to increase the number of lines in the editor from 20 to 22:

 

 

Should have this finished in a day or two and will release it along with the finalized "standard" version.

[drac030]

Not using the "S2:" driver with this version

 

Speaking of that, there is a new version on my website, here: http://drac030.krap.pl/en-vbxe-pliki.php

[IndusGT]

What's the ETA on the boards? No rush

[candle]

I would like to annouce that most of them are ready to be shipped out

all of ntsc versions of vbxe are already tested, pal versions are waiting their turn (this is a bit bitchy, because i need to solder and desolder a crystal to every one to make it running, and then clean up mess i made with soldering so the unit would look like never touched by soldering iron - for crystal that is

so, to all of concern : start PM me yours shipping adresses, as i'm not going to use those paypal/bank transfer provided

[Defender II]

I would like to annouce that most of them are ready to be shipped out

all of ntsc versions of vbxe are already tested, pal versions are waiting their turn (this is a bit bitchy, because i need to solder and desolder a crystal to every one to make it running, and then clean up mess i made with soldering so the unit would look like never touched by soldering iron - for crystal that is

so, to all of concern : start PM me yours shipping adresses, as i'm not going to use those paypal/bank transfer provided

Are there any more of these for sale? Or are they sold out again/

[candle]

i need to check this, because some people pm after preorder was closed, some never paid for their boards, and some just resigned

in theory i have 12 boards more

[Defender II]

i need to check this, because some people pm after preorder was closed, some never paid for their boards, and some just resigned

in theory i have 12 boards more

How much are they + shipped to US?

[IndusGT]

Thanks for the update. I'm sure it will be an outstanding batch.

 

After you're done,

 

Here's Hoping you make another run of your stereo + Covox boards

[+orpheuswaking]

_waits patiently by the mailbox_

[+Guitarman]

I second the Simple Stereo and I/O boards!!!

 

Thanks for the update. I'm sure it will be an outstanding batch.

 

After you're done,

 

Here's Hoping you make another run of your stereo + Covox boards

[candle]

with current exchange ratio vbxe2 costs 124$ +6$ shipment to the States

 

Simon: I know

[Rybags]

http://www.amigamaniac.com/RGB_to_PAL_NTSC_adapter.html

 

Just got my RGB to S-Video/Composite adaptor from Amigamaniac. Haven't tried it with VBXE yet, have to make up an adaptor first.

 

 

But here's a couple of screenshots from an Amiga 500. First 2 here are Composite, next 2 through S-Video:

 

 

 

[Rybags]

Just wondering - do any other VBXE owners out there also have an AtariMax 32in1 OS module installed on the same machine?

 

I put mine in yesterday (800XL) ... all is great except I'm getting random glitches in graphics (character set).

 

Somehow, both Antic and 6502 (I did a test program) occasionally get corrupted data when reading the OS ROM space.

Despite that, I've not encountered any otherwise weird program behaviour or system crashes.

 

I've resoldered the R87 connection thinking it might be that... but the machine appeared to behave for a while then started doing it again.

 

The other annoying thing is that the problem can be intermittent and sometimes is worse when the machine is busy, and other times is virtually constant except when the machine is busy.

[mellis]

Just wondering - do any other VBXE owners out there also have an AtariMax 32in1 OS module installed on the same machine?

 

I put mine in yesterday (800XL) ... all is great except I'm getting random glitches in graphics (character set).

 

Somehow, both Antic and 6502 (I did a test program) occasionally get corrupted data when reading the OS ROM space.

Despite that, I've not encountered any otherwise weird program behaviour or system crashes.

 

I've resoldered the R87 connection thinking it might be that... but the machine appeared to behave for a while then started doing it again.

 

The other annoying thing is that the problem can be intermittent and sometimes is worse when the machine is busy, and other times is virtually constant except when the machine is busy.

 

This reminds me of the problem Bob1200XL was looking into for Tempest. In that case, it was causing a Congo Bongo cart to fail, but IIRC, the specific problem had to do with reading from the OS ROM space on that machine.

 

It might be worth looking over that thread.

[+rdemming]

Just wondering - do any other VBXE owners out there also have an AtariMax 32in1 OS module installed on the same machine?

 

I put mine in yesterday (800XL) ... all is great except I'm getting random glitches in graphics (character set).

 

I've a PAL 130XE with VBXE, candle's IO-Board + Simple Stereo board and build-in MyIDE interface and all works perfectly together.

Maybe it has to do with the 14MHz clock-signal wire. I used a shielded cable for that.

Do you have a XE version where you must solder the crystal from the XE board onto the VBXE board? Or the XE version where you must leave the oscillator on the XE board? In the 2nd case, try to get the right crystal for the VBXE board and remove the oscillator on the XE board. That is more stable than feeding the oscillator signal on the XE board in the VBXE.

 

 

Robert

[candle]

Hi Robert,

Gary has XL, so no crystal at all - so it must be the first case after all

 

what comes to my mind is access time of flash chip being too slow, but otoh its flash, can't be any slower than 150ns, and atari bus time is around 280ns (low or high part), so shouldn't be the case

OTOH (yes, third one), i remember having flash chip (150 or 120ns rated) that FAILED to work with stock atari 800xl - replacing this with 70ns chip fixed the issue

 

Sebastian

[Syfo-Dyas]

I picked up two of those RGB to S-Video/Composite adaptors from Amiga Maniac as well. Still waiting on my S-video to VGA adapter to arrive, but thus far these devices were totally worth the money, and "should" in theory be able to interface with the Atari as well.

 

BTW, has the lastest batch of the VBXE's been shipped yet?

Edited September 3, 2010 by Syfo-Dyas