ctirad Posted November 26, 2014 Author Share Posted November 26, 2014 (edited) I will start a new thread. BTW, does anyone know a good and cheap distributor of Xilinx CPLD in Europe? Farnell is expensive, RS even more expensive, Mouser does not have Xilinx at all and TME has excellent price, but they don't have the particular components in stock. Edited November 26, 2014 by ctirad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillC Posted November 27, 2014 Share Posted November 27, 2014 I will start a new thread. BTW, does anyone know a good and cheap distributor of Xilinx CPLD in Europe? Farnell is expensive, RS even more expensive, Mouser does not have Xilinx at all and TME has excellent price, but they don't have the particular components in stock. Digikey does carry Xilinx CPLDs at lower prices than Farnell. I don't know what particular CPLD you are using, so I just choose a couple that both carried for the examples below. XC9572XL-10TQG100C Digikey Germany: € 2.49 each (1598 available) Farnell Germany: € 3.58 each, € 339/100 (166 available) XC95144XL-10TQG100C Digikey Germany: € 5.05 each, € 434.59/100 (2943 available) Farnell Germany: € 6.34 each, € 580/100 (106 available) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted November 27, 2014 Share Posted November 27, 2014 The cold reset empty cart thing can damage a good bank switching cart yes? Is there a way to prevent that? This memory upgrade will allow a cartidge and pbi/eci and sep antic access... I guess at this point a complete re-description of the finalized project would be cool. Many ideas and much discussion is making it hard to know what's what... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctirad Posted November 28, 2014 Author Share Posted November 28, 2014 Digikey does carry Xilinx CPLDs at lower prices than Farnell. I don't know what particular CPLD you are using, so I just choose a couple that both carried for the examples below. Yes I know, but Digikey ships from USA which means additional VAT and customs procedures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
576XE Posted November 29, 2014 Share Posted November 29, 2014 We can not kill THE SYSTEM ... They all want to earn from us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctirad Posted November 29, 2014 Author Share Posted November 29, 2014 The import taxes for personal packages from outside EU are indeed idiotic and the procedure itself most probably costs more than the amout of money coming from these taxes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctirad Posted November 29, 2014 Author Share Posted November 29, 2014 Here is the preliminary version of user manual for the RAM320XE/576. Any corrections of the grammar, typos and overal czenglish are welcome. RAM320XE_english_unfinished.pdf 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+CharlieChaplin Posted November 29, 2014 Share Posted November 29, 2014 (edited) Here is the preliminary version of user manual for the RAM320XE/576. Any corrections of the grammar, typos and overal czenglish are welcome. RAM320XE_english_unfinished.pdf Okay, I did proof-read your manual and the czenglish (czech+english) version has now become a denglish (deutsch+english) version... All I could find were a few typos and spelling errors. Think someone else could do the proof-reading better than me... Used the old 80s RTF (Rich-Text-Format) for the "corrected" version and like a teacher I marked the errors with red colour... RAM320XE_english_unfinished.rtf Edited November 29, 2014 by CharlieChaplin 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marius Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 One correction: useful is with one 'l' (not usefull) Good work guys! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctirad Posted December 1, 2014 Author Share Posted December 1, 2014 Thank you CharlieChaplin, I'll make an updated version as soon as possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mgr_inz_rafal Posted December 1, 2014 Share Posted December 1, 2014 Hi, And one more typo spotted: "For installation turn off the...". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctirad Posted December 14, 2014 Author Share Posted December 14, 2014 Here is the fixed and updated (but still lacking pictures and final formatting) version of the manual: RAM320XE_english_unfinished_v2.pdf I now have 35 cards finished and components for antoher 50 on the way. I will start the order thread in the next few days. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Audronic Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 @ctirad I would like to purchase 1 (one) to suit an Atari 130xe. Please put me on the list. Thanks Ray Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Larry Posted December 19, 2014 Share Posted December 19, 2014 Thinking out loud about the vertical ECI pass-thru... It strikes me that one should be able to remove the case and desolder the cart adapter, then solder in a regular 130XE ECI (horizontal). These were still available from BEST when I checked and ordered a couple maybe two years ago. The case would have to go, but it should give you the ability to use Black Box, MIO, etc. It's a nice case, so I'd have to think about this long and hard, but it seems like a viable alternative. Note that I don't have one in-hand, so this is speculation, and you would likely need to adjust the "feet" on a Black Box to make the height correct. -Larry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted December 19, 2014 Share Posted December 19, 2014 I still like the idea of the eci/pbi adaptor board with the slots.... it makes perfect sense... it would help maxflash sparta users out with the extra slots... it would allow multiple pbi cards like the ram expansion/mio/carts and diags co-exist... the black box would need some code changed but would eventually work in the end.. I think the right angle connector is a good compromise if clearance allows it in the meantime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctirad Posted January 14, 2015 Author Share Posted January 14, 2015 I have a problem.Durning completing the production versions with the Covox I found that using the $D280 address produces horrible distored sounds on the pokey output when used. It is same for any $D2xx address. You can try it yourself with NEOtreacer set to one of this address or with a XL DIGIT music demo. You don't have to have any Covox hardware for that check. I'm not sure if it is the NEOtracker bug or it is deeper problem. Mappaing the atari says: Locations 53776 to 54015 ($D210 to $D2FF) are duplications of locations 53760 to 53775 and have no particular use at present. But it seems that there are mirrored Pokey registers in fact. Maybe I should return the Covox address to the most used $D600? I have to sort it out before I start sending any of the Covox enhanced RAM cards. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mathy Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 Hello Ctirad $D600 is used by PBI devices like the Blackbox, MIO, etc. VBXE can also use this address. All "unused" hardware address ranges are duplicates. PIA for instance uses $D300 - $D303. This means that $D304, $D308, $D30B, etc. are duplicates of $D300. $D305, ... are duplicates of $D301. POKEY and GTIA are similar, although they use larger address ranges IIRC. Sincerely Mathy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctirad Posted January 14, 2015 Author Share Posted January 14, 2015 But the $D2xx adress is then almost unusable for Covox, because the outputs cannot be mixed and also it is impossible to combine Covox audio with pokey audio in songs. The base address in the VBXE, MIO, bLackbox is fixed? What about $D500? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mathy Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 Hello Ctirad Yes, $D6xx (and $D1xx) are reserved for PBI devices, so older PBI devices use (read: are fixed to) these addresses. $D5xx is reserved for cartridges, but most cartridges use only a couple of addresses. The cartridge experts here on AA can tell you which addresses are used/unused. But this should help: http://atariwiki.strotmann.de/wiki/Wiki.jsp?page=Cartridges Sincerely Mathy PS maybe it is possible to install an extra row of switches, so the user would be able to select an address in the $D5xx range that doesn't collide with the cartridges (s)he is already using. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+CharlieChaplin Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 Hmmm, the Covox here is only an "extra" for the RAM 320/576 XE. The RAM enhancement is still the main hardware... Afaik, MIO and VBXE already have XRAM available. Why would someone who already has a MIO or VBXE (and thus who already has XRAM available) require the RAM 320/576 XE to be in the same Atari computer ?!? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mathy Posted January 15, 2015 Share Posted January 15, 2015 (edited) Hello Andreas Ctirad is still working on his hardware, so why not try to avoid as many incompatibilities as possible? In another thread, people are talking about devices not working together. For both the user and the developer life is a lot easier, if incompatibility is avoided as much as possible. With some hardware, it's hard to predict what will and will not work together, but if you start using for instance $D6xx, you know beforehand that your hardware will be incompatible to some hardware from the get go. Sincerely Mathy PS and to you the Covox might be an "extra", but those of us that want this "extra" (and are willing to pay extra for it) want it to work. With as much hardware as possible. Edited January 15, 2015 by Mathy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctirad Posted January 15, 2015 Author Share Posted January 15, 2015 Well, why the $D2xx adresses are consiered free for use when they are conflict with Pokey, which is in every machine? I don't get it. And CharlieChaplins is right. Who have internal mods it would most probably does not care about the external device with a duplicate function. Also, the covox was originally planned as a bonus almost for free, but it looks like I'm spending all my free time last couple of weeks with this damned device instead of making something more useful namely finishing the RAM576XL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+CharlieChaplin Posted January 15, 2015 Share Posted January 15, 2015 (edited) Hello Andreas Ctirad is still working on his hardware, so why not try to avoid as many incompatibilities as possible? In another thread, people are talking about devices not working together. For both the user and the developer life is a lot easier, if incompatibility is avoided as much as possible. With some hardware, it's hard to predict what will and will not work together, but if you start using for instance $D6xx, you know beforehand that your hardware will be incompatible to some hardware from the get go. Sincerely Mathy PS and to you the Covox might be an "extra", but those of us that want this "extra" (and are willing to pay extra for it) want it to work. With as much hardware as possible. Hmm okay. Some years ago, hardwaredoc from Abbuc had the idea to create a cart. with Covox inside, alas he never did and he surely never will - but maybe someone else could come up with a Covox on cart ?!? Not sure what adress this Covox-cart would use then (maybe set to some $D5xx adress, but maybe also changeable to other adresses)... I would buy such a cart for sure ! offtopic: Somewhere I have read that there is a new soundboard available for the A8 named Evie, it has SID, Yamaha and other soundchips onboard (maybe also Covox). To me it looked huge, but I do not really know what space it requires inside the A8 or what adresses and/or hardware it will conflict with... My first question as always: Does it have SDX onboard ? I cannot have enough polish A8 hardware with SDX onboard... Edited January 15, 2015 by CharlieChaplin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Stephen Posted January 15, 2015 Share Posted January 15, 2015 Well, why the $D2xx adresses are consiered free for use when they are conflict with Pokey, which is in every machine? I don't get it. And CharlieChaplins is right. Who have internal mods it would most probably does not care about the external device with a duplicate function. Also, the covox was originally planned as a bonus almost for free, but it looks like I'm spending all my free time last couple of weeks with this damned device instead of making something more useful namely finishing the RAM576XL. Terribly sorry to hear this, as I was one pushing for the $D280 address. Maybe that is another reason my Simple Stereo 2 never worked? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mathy Posted January 15, 2015 Share Posted January 15, 2015 Hello guys $D280 is unused by the Atari. But I have no clue as to why using it produces the effects Ctirad mentions. Maybe some hardware guru can tell us why. If $D280 can be used (without the above mentioned problems), I'ld prefer that address to any other. I've talked to HARdwareDoc at more then one meeting in the last couple of years. His Thunderblaster cartridge will become available as soon as he finds some time. And I'll be one of the first to buy one. Sincerely Mathy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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