candle Posted August 30, 2011 Author Share Posted August 30, 2011 there is preliminary version of ROM generator for Ultimate1MB boards its quite primitive, though it works any feedback is welcome Ultimate1MB ROM Generator tomorrow i'll add some code for generating ready ATR files with flasher that would allow upgrades on real equipment now i need to write some stub for bios and test everything up basic idea behind bios is to read configuration from NVRAM inside RTC and configure the extension accordlingly if NVRAM CRC is bad, or key combination was pressed then interactive configuration panel will show up if configuration is valid, then machine will boot up seemlessly as expected i haven't decided where to leave mechanical switches inputs, or turn them into outputs to extend config for controling - say stereo enable or other yet undefined extensions frankly, i could use some advice here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+rdemming Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 i haven't decided where to leave mechanical switches inputs, or turn them into outputs to extend config for controling - say stereo enable or other yet undefined extensions Normally I prefer switches to set the extended memory mode and OS or enable/disable SDX. But if I can get to a configuration menu by just holding a key while turning on the Atari, I don't need switches anymore and then you can use the inputs as outputs to enable/disable stereo/covox or other things. (But then you must make a new batch of the simple stereo board (or soundboard) and IO board ) Robert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 Some of these would require input/s too, and some logic to work. How about: - Write disable for certain RAM areas, e.g. $8000-$BFFF or $C000-$FFFF which could allow cart or OS ROM testing. - Select VBXE location page D6 or D7. - Stereo Pokey enable/disable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 Is this a Win application? I can't get it to work... it just sits iconified on the taskbar and won't respond. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
candle Posted August 31, 2011 Author Share Posted August 31, 2011 it is, standard windows 32 executable we have only 5 GPIO pins available, so we need to choose wisely stereo enable/disable is possible selectable vbxe base address is also possible blocking ram of being written to - possible, but then how would you write something there after leaving bios? I'm not very convinced its nessesary - Phaeron did a great job making Altirra, so why not using it? configuration register is only accesible after RESET was pressed, and dissapears when 0x8X value is written to it soundboard is in production, but just for prototypes - 4 boards being made Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 Are the RAM banking schemes set in stone yet? It'd be cool to have a multitasking mode, where the whole base 64K + 64K or more of Extended could be changed on the fly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+rdemming Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 It'd be cool to have a multitasking mode, where the whole base 64K + 64K or more of Extended could be changed on the fly. Is disabling the internal base 64KB possible with the current hardware. As far as I understand, the base memory is still always the internal 64KB and not in the boards SRAM. What will happen with the 64KB extended memory of an 130XE? Must this be disabled on the motherboard or is this disabled automatically by the board? Robert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 Any part of internal RAM can be disabled. VBXE does it, so does RAM 320XL. Not sure about Ultimate 1 Meg, but with the above two, PORTB shadowing is done, ie - the device keeps track of what writes go to the data register so they know what banking is required at any point in time. The shadowing method has the advantage that you don't need the actual phyiscal connection to the PIA, you just monitor any writes to $D3xx and mirror the function. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 (edited) it is, standard windows 32 executable Well I can't get it to work under Windows 7 32-bit. Any suggestions would be appreciated. EDIT: It's OK. Call off the dogs. It works on the PC, but not on the Laptop for some odd reason. Edited August 31, 2011 by flashjazzcat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
candle Posted August 31, 2011 Author Share Posted August 31, 2011 (edited) base 64k can be disabled, but as in ram320xl it will also disable access to vbxe memory (cas inhibit signal being constantly asserted) there is no need of removing any standard memory upgrade one may have installed already i can't say anything about windows 7, because i don't have one all i got on my disposal is xp 32bit box and vista 64bit, and i haven't checked it on vista it does almost nothing though, so i don't see anything that could go wrong perhaps some misterious security settings on programs downloaded from internet? here is a picture showing ultimate setup inside xegs - as you can see no pia connections whatsoever Edited August 31, 2011 by candle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+rdemming Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 it is, standard windows 32 executable Well I can't get it to work under Windows 7 32-bit. Any suggestions would be appreciated. EDIT: It's OK. Call off the dogs. It works on the PC, but not on the Laptop for some odd reason. It works on my Vista32. Unfortunately no W7 box to test. I was counting the rom slots in the application: SDX: max 320 K BIOS: max 64 K Basic: 8 K Game: 8 K OS: 4 * 16 K = 64K Total: 464K Thus the question is, where is the remaining 48 K? Robert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
candle Posted August 31, 2011 Author Share Posted August 31, 2011 next public release of rom generator will tell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mimo Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 I like the look of the ROM generator, looks nice and simpe, great for nice simple people like me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariGeezer Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 (edited) @Candle regarding Ultimate1MB ROM Generator I just tried this on my XP and Win95 PC's and seems that the GUI has a Hard Coded "Start-up Window Position" that is set for too far off the right edge of the screen. On XP, I only see it in the task bar, but on Win95 I can see it Grow/Shrink to the far right of the screen, but since that display is only 1024 x 768, I don't see any visible part of the GUI Can you change the startup position to "Center Screen" instead? Jay Edited August 31, 2011 by AtariGeezer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+rdemming Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 I just tried this on my XP and Win95 PC's and seems that the GUI has a Hard Coded "Start-up Window Position" that is set for too far off the right edge of the screen. On XP, I only see it in the task bar, but on Win95 I can see it Grow/Shrink to the far right of the screen, but since that display is only 1024 x 768, I don't see any visible part of the GUI I can confirm the problem. I didn't noticed it at first because I run 1680*1050. But even here a small bit of the right is off the screen. This explains the problems FJC had on his laptop (screen resolution too small). Robert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
candle Posted August 31, 2011 Author Share Posted August 31, 2011 sorry guys, fix is ready since 3pm, but not properly named, thus unavalable through that link use this instead and just browse for the proper one it was hard coded as x=1289, so it was invisible on some configurations i'm running 1920x1200, so i haven't noticed ;] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariGeezer Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 sorry guys, fix is ready since 3pm, but not properly named, thus unavalable through that link use this instead and just browse for the proper one it was hard coded as x=1289, so it was invisible on some configurations i'm running 1920x1200, so i haven't noticed ;] Working on both PC's now thanks... Jay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beamer320i Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 I'm running XP and even clicking on the above 'fix' link and then downloading, unzipping and running 'ultimategen.zip' still leaves me with nothing, what am I doing wrong, help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
candle Posted August 31, 2011 Author Share Posted August 31, 2011 basically, you're downloading wrong file Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beamer320i Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 basically, you're downloading wrong file Ok then, where can I download the right file please? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
candle Posted August 31, 2011 Author Share Posted August 31, 2011 (edited) hint: use the link 4 posts above, and download THE OTHER ZIP FILE Edited August 31, 2011 by candle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marius Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 Is the subject changed to the firmware part of this great piece of hardware because the shipping is near..... Or is this a wrong conclusion? Thanks Marius Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
candle Posted August 31, 2011 Author Share Posted August 31, 2011 this is very good conclusion BIOS code is almost done, but hey - i need some sleep Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
candle Posted September 4, 2011 Author Share Posted September 4, 2011 here is little something i've been working on past few days bios ultimate: BIOS starts up every time RESET key is pressed, if NVRAM checksum is good, then it sets read configuration, locks hardware and starts selected OS, if not, or user pressed INVERSE VIDEO key, then interactive menu pops up. Changing OS or EXT RAM size forces cold boot, remaining options can be changed on-demand (though warm-boot will follow) You can download bios in Altirra runable format here later, i'll make some video presentation... ps. Ultimate1MB can also work as FREEZER - including reading write-only hardware registers, unfortunatly someone has to write some dissasembler and monitor code for it ps2. logo is not very pretty, but hey - i'm no graphican, so - feel free if you can do any better Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mimo Posted September 4, 2011 Share Posted September 4, 2011 Inverse video key is used to reset Atari to load from s-drive, would this cause problems? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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